New to arrowmaking, question?

[JackCrafty]

You might find good Yaupon shoots growing along the trails in the local greenbelts.  There probably isn't much, though....there's a lot more if you go East.  I have a friend who has wooded acreage in Lockhart and he's got a bunch of it.

[xin]

There is a yaupon growing in front of where I live that has turned into a small tree and it probably has a dozen arrows in its crown.  Yaupon, when fully seasoned, makes a very hard dense arow.  The Commanches routinely used yaupon as well as the Caddo.

[captyn cron]

Totally glad I stumbled upon this thread. I would have never thought of using yaupon either and it grows everywhere round here!

[Pat B]

Any woody shoot material will make an arrow. Some are better than others. For hardwood shoot arrows I prefer sourwood and viburnum but have made arrows with maple, willow, spice bush, red osier dogwood, silky dogwood, gray dogwood, red twig dogwood and a few others.

[xin]

Pat B, Interestingly enough, the only wood you mentioned that  Captyn Cron and I have available is willow and Maple.  The only maple occurs in lost Maples State Park where if you were caught cutting a shoot you would be summarily skinned alive, disembowled, skin and bowls burned before you in a fire of the aformentioned Maple shoots, and then executed by lethal injection in our very active social justice machine.

[Pat B]

Like I said, any hardwood shoots, not just the ones mentioned. How about salt cedar, an invasive exotic in the western states. They might reward you for helping to eliminate these plants. Also, check your State Cooperative Extension Service or State Forestry Commission. They may have a list of multi-stemmed plants, invasive or not, that you can use for arrows.  Another source would be landscape contractors or tree farms or landscape shrubbery growers...or a midnight run through the neighborhood yards!

[captyn cron]

the problem w/that is you can still get shot in Tx for trespassing.....woulda cut down that straight as hell maple down the road otherwise

[Pat B]

You don't get shot if you ask permission first. Bring along your bows and arrows to show the owners. If they let you cut some shoots, pay them back with a sample of your work. 

[xin]

Captyn Cron,  I hear ya.  People in other states just  don't understand how it is here.  Asking pemission is just fine however the likelyhood of it getting you anything is nill.  I once asked the owner of a lot, a neurosurgeon,   if  I could cut a couple of pieces  of Osage before it was thrown in a large fire that was already burning some nice Osage.  He wanted to know how much i was willing to pay and i offered him a bow which he declined in favor of cash at which time I declined and departed to the crackling of a huge Osage fire.  I guess he needed the cash since it was a two million dollar house. 

[captyn cron]

 

Too bad most ppl nowadays don't want to help folks out even if it is something trivial. I mean if someone asked me for some wood I was BURNING I'd give it up without asking for anything. He must of had a couple lawsuits on him he needed to pay off

[stickbender]

     Xin, the surgeon, must've been from California.   We have a few like that starting to come into Montana.  Got a few like that down here in Fla. also.

                                                                             Wayne

[xin]

Most of the people in tx live in or near a half dozen population centers.  If you go to some rural county and inquire about rock hunting or gathering natural material for bow and arrow building you will almost certainly be turned down.  If you were a long time resident of that rural county and known by reputation or personally, you will probably gain access to trees and rock.  Being a stranger, will usually get you zilch.

[El Destructo]

Most of the people in tx live in or near a half dozen population centers.  If you go to some rural county and inquire about rock hunting or gathering natural material for bow and arrow building you will almost certainly be turned down.  If you were a long time resident of that rural county and known by reputation or personally, you will probably gain access to trees and rock.  Being a stranger, will usually get you zilch.

You are soooo right....these Texans will not let you have CRAP!!
I have lived in Hutchinson County for 26 years and still can not get permission to look for Flint or Osage any where....I have to grab mine off of one little Ranch that the Old Man will allow me on....and I know that when He passes away...there will be the End of the Rock Hunting Totally....unless I want to get Busted on Federal Charges for getting it from the Alibates Flint Quarry National Park!!!

[stickbender]

     Man, I will have to make a note to stay out of Texas.
 
                                      Wayne

[xin]

Stickbender, I don't mean to make Texas sound like a bad place;but, people here seem to be more sensitive about property rights than in other states.  I guess that probably stems from the way property was originally acquired and retained here.  Just a little over one hundred years ago the six gun settled a lot of property disputes and I think there is a lot of carry-over from that era.  Squatters beware!!!!