In all my wild life, I never saw arrows made of split wood. The young choke-cherry and June-berry furnish most of the arrows, though the coast tribes sometimes use reeds. The usual length is twenty-eight inches, including the head. They are about one-fourth of an inch in diameter and very light. The man’s arrow is feathered with three feathers five inches long, but most boys’ arrows have but two feathers, and these may be anywhere from two to five inches long, and must curve around the body of the arrow in screw fashion, otherwise it will not fly straight.
The Indians made arrow-heads of bone, horn, claws and bills of birds, and sometimes of clam-shells. After the coming of the white man, they used iron. The stone arrow-head was used apparently by an earlier race, for most of those that we pick up are too heavy for the Indian arrow. As children, we often played with them but never made practical use of them, unless for shooting fish. Indeed, the boy’s arrow needs no separate head, but is merely sharpened at the point, or has a knob at the end, in which case it needs no feather. This is the safest and most convenient weapon for shooting in the woods, for it brings down all small birds and animals, and is readily recovered.
When you have made your own bow and arrows, which you can easily do, the first thing to learn is the correct position for archery. Your attitude is that of one who is ready to jump from a spring-board. Then you must accustom yourself to the strength and spring of your bow, and it is well to know your arrows individually, their swiftness and peculiarities of flight. The highest success in marksmanship depends partly upon one’s natural gifts, yet faithful practice must bring a good degree of satisfaction. The arrow does not alarm the game, is not dangerous to the hunter or his companions, and seems to be distinctly the boy’s weapon.
The exceptional Indian, with his sinew-backed, four-foot bow and bone-tipped arrow, was able to shoot clear through the body of a large animal, such as elk or buffalo, unless he chanced to hit bone. All Indians could kill the largest animal with this convenient weapon, using the quick off-hand shot. You can learn it, too.
VI—PRIMITIVE MODES OF TRAPPING AND FISHING
It is boy’s instinct to try to outwit and capture wild animals. This is as true of the outdoor boy among the whites as of the Indian boy. The point of interest in the Indian boy’s way is that he depends more upon his own ingenuity and resources. While he is trying his grandfather’s tricks, he often devises a better one.
The first trapping that I ever did was mere childish play, engaged in by Indian boys of seven to ten years old. We snared wild mice by placing slip-nooses of horsehair or fine sinew across their well-beaten thoroughfares. However, it is no easy thing to handle a mouse thus caught, for he can and will fight with his sharp teeth. We used to turn them loose upon some islet or in a mimic fort of clay or sand, to watch and play with.
We also used the slip-knot for birds, especially crows and magpies, which may be attracted to the snares by a bait of fresh meat or corn. A few crows may be caught and hung up to drive their mates from the maize fields; or, by tying your solitary crow prisoner in a lonely place, he will summon all the rest to a pow-wow. This gives the boy, hidden near at hand, a fine opportunity to study their ways.
We caught squirrels with our bowstrings, on the same principle as the horsehair noose, only in this case we stayed by the trap, and when the squirrel put his head through, we pulled on the string. This works well with ground squirrels, or gophers, and prairie dogs, although in the case of the latter we sometimes caught one of his house-mates, the screech-owl or rattle-snake, instead.
The trapping of rabbits is a simple affair. A bended sapling is secured above a rabbit run in such a manner that when the victim runs his head in the noose, he is swung high in the air. Partridges are caught in the same fashion.