Mongolian Archery Video on Bizzare Foods

Looked like they were using the thumb draw, but still had the arrow on the the bow,s left side ( right handed archer) Markus.

Yes, that is what many of the archers in Mongolia do for some reason. Personally, it's easier for me to aim when I have the arrow on the outside of the bow as a normal thumbring shooter does.
But my focus is on the construction of the bows. One of them, the black one, seems to be peculiar, a design I don't see often with Mongolian archery videos.

the archers in this video are members of the mongolian traditional archery federation who try to revive the empire era archery equipment. as of now there is no bowyer making this type of bows in large scale but probably there will be in the future.

mongolianarcher wrote:

This video here shows Andrew Zimmer meeting some archers in Mongolia.
One of the archers is using a bow that doesn't seem very Manchu-Mongolian, but actually Tang or Yuan style with its peculiar ears. Are there actually bowmakers that make the bows in that style in Mongolia still?

Check it out:
http://youtu.be/gMAGNzwl5qY?t=3m

Maybe Yokhua gifted one of his bows to them?

https://www.youtube.com/user/yokhua

Could be. It is pretty sad that no true "mongol" bows are being used there. But, they still are pretty good shots in spite of it all.

All three bows were awsome I thought, I havent a clue as to which period that they belong, but they are definitly different. The one that Zimmern cant pull is massive, I love it ! I would love to see stills from this video to look closer at them.

Thanks for posting this, I skip his program generally just because much of what he is eating is disgusting, I was actually surprised that he visited there but I do see the attraction of the archery, music etc. Going to the Naadam is one of my dream trips.

At least they have values towards preservation of tradition.:)

Exactly, from bows to raiment, and targets.

I would love to examine and shoot all three, but, dont know about the big gray one, it looks for sure massive.

As I said, thats one of my top dream trips.

Fwiw my first composite attempt will be a long Mongolian style with ash core, but it wont be as heavy as that big gray one featured here. That one is awesome !

I hope it turns out well!

Thanks Lucas

I am going to use a short ash High Plains style flat bow that I was going to sinew for a horse archery bow, but now I will use it for a composite core.

I will be taking a lot more wood off the belly, it looks like over a 1/2 inch to get it down to about 4-5 mm overal. The siyahs will come next then adding the horn. I have plenty of whitetail tendons, I was going to use just 3 but will be using quite a few more. I am also going to use sinew wraps over the siyah splice and probably mid limbs.

I havent located the horn yet but see a couple possible sources on here.
I am open to suggestions on that. A pair of about 18" and at least another pair of 20" -22".

I have a couple more pcs of ash that I am going to plan on use for composite horn bows. These will probably all lean towards a manchu/mongol dimensioned bow just because they are where my current interest lies.

Its a learning curve, but will be interesting and fun. I am already relying on information from this site and will be reporting progress as I go along. Next week I am going to stop at a Woodcrafters Store in Saginaw to pick up some wood for the siyahs. Right now I am looking at making them moderate in overal length.

The goal is to make a shooting composite heavy enough for hunting. We'll see what will be.

Well good luck on that! I have no idea about the dynamics of bowmaking...I focus on just making bamboo arrows.

I am a perfectionist and bowmaking would be something that would give me a heart attack since I try to do exactly as a plan whenever I make something. To spend hours on a bow and have it break is not my cup of tea.

Just fletching alone gives me heart palpitations! ahah

Arrows are a bit more straightforward so I prefer them over bows.