Stringing the Bow
With the Bow Strung 
Pulling the Arrow - 60 PoundsOne of our WAA artist members, Tom Lucas, was at the convention. He does regular painting, usually of beautiful still lifes of Indian artifacts, such as beaded moccasins or other items. But he is also well known for learning years ago how to build the famous Sheepeater Indian Sheep Horn Bow exactly like they made them centuries ago. He also is an expert flint knapper, which means he makes authentic stone arrowheads. He makes the arrows too which are very beautifully fletched. He has produced four videos of the various Native American artifact replicas he makes. The Sheepeaters lived a very reclusive existence in the Wind River Mountains. They hunted sheep and their bows were very prized by other tribes and were famous in the fur trade era. There happens to be one of the real Sheepeater bows in the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, which was found some years back on the Upper Green. I'm not sure if this is the only one ever found, or if there are a few more somewhere. Apparently the Smithsonian doesn't even have one. I should have asked Tom how many of the bows he has made, but several. It takes a set of bighorn sheep horns to make one bow. I was happy to get these photos of Tom with the bow and arrows.
2 comments:
This Sheepeater's bow, and how it was created, was the most facinating story I ever read, thanks to the "Rendezvous" magazines you lent to me. I'd commission a bow and a couple of arrows from him if I weren't fairly sure I'd have to mortgage the "farm" to pay for it!
Amazing workmanship. Is there some place to see his art work? Or were some of the paintings at the MM Museum his? I'll have to dig out the brochures I picked up that day.
Me upset?? What makes you think a terrible thing like that? Just because I give you a hard time, all the time, doesn't mean I'm upset! :-P
~Judy~
FYI, I did go to his website where I discovered that making these bows, not including arrows or anything else, start at $5,000. While that is not unreasonalbe for the work involved, I will never own one! Sigh .....
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