by Jon E. Lewis
Loosing
Letting go of the string, or loosing, is one of the most important aspects of archery.
It is a lot easier to achieve a correct loose than it is to describe it accurately, a fact agreed upon by all writers on the subject! The loose should be both sharp and smooth, with the bow arm kept rigidly in place.
This is important, as the sudden release of the load on the muscles of the bow arm tends to make you push the bow to your inside before the arrow has cleared the bow, or to pull hard the other way in anticipation. Something similar happens when a rifleman or machine-gunner tenses in expectation of the recoil after squeezing the trigger, and pulls or pushes his weapon off the aim.
Stay in the aim
It is best to “follow through”, that is, stay in the aim, eyes on the aiming mark, until the fall of shot, just as you do with a firearm – unless, of course, your target can do you some damage, or is likely to escape!
In all the above aspects of archery, strange as it may seem, your posture and movements should be smooth, graceful and pleasing to the eye of the beholder. This has been accepted by all writers and instructors of archery through the centuries. It is not just for aesthetic appeal; for various reasons, if it is not done gracefully and smoothly, missed targets and pulled muscles are the result!
The quarry
This may be fish, fowl, four-legged and furry – or your enemy. It is important to have the right bow and the right arrow for your particular prey. A heavy bow, shooting steel broadheads, will kill anything including an elephant – if it hits it. English fifteenth-century war bows and arrows would kill a man at 300 metres – even through chain mail and steel plate. But this is ridiculous overkill for fish and birds: a heavy bow is difficult to aim, tiring and unnecessary. Ordinary arrows are alright.
On larger game, you achieve the kill by penetrating a vital organ, or by causing a haemorrhage. Tests indicate that flint has better flesh-penetrating properties than steel. American archer Bob Swinhart boasted of shooting buffalo and rhino with a 90 lb bow and steel broadheads, leopards with a 70 lb bow, and a five ton bull elephant from 15 yards using a 100 lb bow and five arrows. But he did have a back-up rifleman beside him, and it would have been some sort of world record to have missed an elephant at 15 yards!
Barbed arrows are only for holding fish; on birds and game they are cruel and unnecessary. For an evader they can be positively fatal – to you. If you shoot game with an unbarbed arrow, it either kills it, or falls out in a very short time. If you do not retrieve it, there is not much chance of it being found by anyone. But a barbed arrow will stay in, and, if you don’t find your prey, it will probably fester. A dead animal surrounded by scavengers will surely be spotted, and you have left your calling card stuck in it!
SPEARS
On your foraging excursions, you have spotted signs of large mammals. If you can catch one you will provide yourself with a large amount of meat that can be preserved and stored, as well as useful skin and bone. But how do you catch the animal? Of the many hunting techniques at your disposal, the age-old method of spear hunting is a practical answer. Spears are easy to make, easy to learn how to use, and allow you to hunt while on the move.
In fact, spears are so effective that early man, hunting in bands, was able to catch animals as big as mammoths. In areas where there are large carnivores that pose a serious threat to your survival (obviously best avoided), a spear is about the most effective deterrent you can carry with you, as these predators will almost certainly have encountered horns and antlers and have therefore learned to respect long, sharp points. There are even native American tales of grizzly bears backing away from spears, but don’t count on it!
Simple spears
The quickest and simplest spear you can make is the “self spear”. In its crudest form, this is simply a straight piece of hard, natured wood with a sharpened point. You can vastly improve it by fire hardening the point and fashioning it into a leaf-shaped blade. But the self spear is a primitive and brutal weapon and a skilled survivor should make every effort to kill as cleanly as possible, reducing the suffering of his prey to the minimum.
An effective spear must have a sharp cutting edge that is wide enough to cause maximum bleeding, but not so wide that it prevents the spear penetrating to the vital organs. So the most important part of a spear is the point. As a survivor, you can never be certain of precisely what raw materials you will have to hand, so the broader your knowledge of spear design the better.
Basically, spears fall into one or both of two categories: thrusting spears and throwing spears. As the name suggests, thrusting spears are used at very close range so the spear point can be broad, as the impact force is guaranteed to be great. Throwing spears, on the other hand, are used at a distance: they need to be light so that they can fly fast, and the point needs to allow penetration as the impact force of a throwing spear can vary greatly. Throwing spear points are also often barbed.
The design you choose should be tailored to meet your circumstances, and with a specific prey in mind. Obviously you will be limited in raw materials. If you have difficulty finding a suitable spear shaft, consider using a lighter material – reed bamboo or elder – with a short, hardwood foreshaft.
The length of the spear is also important. Where dangerous animals are concerned, you will obviously need a long spear, but if you are in an area of scrub bush you may find a long spear too unwieldy. Try to achieve the right balance of factors. Lastly, make sure you are happy with its feel and heft.
Hunting with spears
To hunt with spears you need to be as close to your prey as possible. You can do this only by careful stalking and attention to camouflage and descenting.
Hunting with thrusting spears
These are used from “Lying up positions” beside frequently-used animal runs. As the animal passes by, you thrust the spear into it. The best hiding place is in a tree above the run, as large game rarely looks up. An added bonus in such a hiding place is that you can drop on your prey, imparting the full force of your body weight to your spear. The disadvantage of this hunting method is that it is static; you may spend many fruitless hours waiting to pounce with no luck.
Hunting with throwing spears
Success comes more from stalking than from throwing, and a good stalker should be able to get within touching distance of most prey. If necessary, though, a throwing spear can be used over some distance.
Throwing a spear is not like throwing a javelin. Having stalked to within a few metres of your prey, you cannot risk a “run up” or a large movement of your throwing arm, “pulling back” before the throw. You should launch the spear before your prey detects any movement at all. Try at all times to remain hidden; if your first shot misses, you may be allowed a second chance.
Having stalked close to your quarry, very slowly draw your throwing arm back like a coiled spring. Do not draw it back beyond your shoulder; to do so means that you will have to turn your body. Instead use the resistance of your shoulder as the buffer from which all your throwing force is generated. If you feel it will help, raise your free hand as an aiming aid.
When you are ready, cast the spear like a dart in one explosive movement. Follow the movement through and be still. Do not chase after the wounded animal but remain hidden, until the prey is lying down, then swiftly put the injured animal to sleep. This is the theory, but even for experts things do not always go so smoothly; whatever happens, remain calm.
INDEX
AC 100/1, 317
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), 215
air signal panel, 142
airdrop message, 285
ambush, 302
Armalite AR-15 Rifle, 44
arrows, 487
Australian SAS, 15
basha, 407
battle casualty evacuation, 251
battleshock, 237
blowing up bridges, 307
boiler, lazyman, 219
bows, 481
&
nbsp; burns, 241
camouflage, personal, 319
vehicle, 323
casualty carrying techniques, 249
clothing, arctic, 61
communications harness, 318
condoms, 149
covert operations, 277
cratering charges, 308
CT100, 318
desert, mountain, 126
rocky plateau, 126
dehydration, 66, 128, 145, 418
desert still, 132
dispersion pattern, 282
dogs, combatting, 153
evading, 151
dressing, 246
Drop Zones (DZs), 279
dust storms, 138
E and E equipment, 148
emergency flying rations, 168
emergency survival, 138
escape, 195
escape committee, 199
evasion, jungle, 177
long-term, 159
short-term, 159
urban, 172
Exhaled Air Resuscitation (EAR), 230
external cardiac compression, 232
false identities, 277
fire, making, 409
first aid, 226
fish hooks, improvised, 91
fish trap, 449
food, arctic, 83
preserving, 458
fractures, 244
frostbite, 64, 222
fungi, 435
Geneva Convention, 181
go-pack, 166
GPV/25 armoured vest, 317
Green Berets, 40
Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG9), 27
ground air emergency code, 179
HALO, 289
heat exhaustion, 225
heatstroke, 226
Heckler & Koch MP5, 4
heliograph, 141
helmet, special, 317
hypothermia, 65, 220
hysteria, 237
immersion foot, 222
Integrated Personal Protection System (IPPS), 316
interrogation, 181
IR signature, 324
knives, survival 471
Landing Zones (LZs), 279
landings, airborne, 276
waterborne, 293
underwater infiltration, 296
latrines, field, 220
laws of war, 181
level turning radius, 280
LOLEX, 292
Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), 11
M-16, see Armalite
malaria, 138
Mil Mi-26 “Halo”, 57
minefield marking, NATO, 346
Soviet, 347
mines, detection, 351
navigation, alpine, 361
desert, 143
forest, 358
moon, 366
star, 367
without instruments, 363
non-explosive traps, 338
plants, edible, 427
cooking, 433
medicinal, 463
PoW camps, 196
prisoners, handling, 163
searching, 164
raids, 302
rafts, 374
Remington 870, 48
respirator, 318
ropework, 379
salt lakes, 126
sand dunes:, 126
scorpion, 134
SCUBA, 295
Scud missiles, 6, 200
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD), 213
SF10, 318
shellfish, 440
shelter, arctic, 69
desert, 130
survival, 404
shock, treatment of, 235
signals, 141
skis, 95
snake bite, 135
snakes, 135
snow blindness, 67, 221
shelters, 79
shoes, 96
spears, 494
special forces personal protection, 316
Spetsnaz, 55
splints, 247
stretchers, 248
sunburn, 66
take off & approach clearances, 281
tap codes, 192
temperature conversion, 64, 127
tents, 71
the four Bs (first aid), 228
Track plan, 324
tracker dogs, evading, 156
tracking, 383
animals, 389
combat, 400
daylight, 392
night, 392
traps, animal, 92
booby, 328
bridge, 337
rut, 334
spear, 338
trench foot, 66, 222
underwater infiltration, 296
urinal, field, 218
US Army’s Special Forces, 40
water, arctic, 86
desert, 129
purifying, 133, 422
will to survive, 172
wounds, abdominal, 240
chest, 238
