Montana Selfbow Jamboree

June 30th, July 1st and 2nd

Mark Baker with a nice whitetail doe taken with an osage orange selfbow.

If you’ve ever wanted to tackle the bow building process, you’ll soon have a rare chance to take advantage of centuries of cumulative knowledge from experienced bowyers. The Traditional Bowhunters of Montana, along with the resources and skills of the membership of the Oklahoma Selfbow Society, are conducting a weekend bow building workshop for those folks wishing to delve into the primitive realm of bow hunting and archery.

On the Bill Owens Ranch, in Logan, MT….we will gather and teach folks the fine art and science behind crafting these one of a kind tools. There, you will be able to acquire a fine Osage Stave – the best of bow woods – and utilize the tools on hand (or bring your own) and team up with an experienced bowyer to learn how to build your own selfbow. But that’s not all….

Arrow building, flint-knapping, youth activities, various seminars, an archery course, novelty-type shooting contests and demos, free primitive camping on-site, and more. All of this is available free to the general public. The the hands-on bow building instruction is available for an organizational membership and some investment in the cost of the stave itself (or you can bring your own).

Our friends from the Oklahoma Selfbow Society are really stepping up in their mission to teach this discipline and spread the enthusiasm that it ignites in the participants. They’ll be hauling out trailer loads of Osage staves for the event. Now folks from the Northern Rockies region and anyone else willing to take the drive up and share with us during that weekend can take part in what is the fastest growing segment of Bow hunting in the country.

A well-crafted selfbow is functional art at its finest. It is no less than perfect sculpture, designed to withstand the medium’s outer limits of physical stress and recovery…of perfect balance and transfer of energy…of design simplicity and artistic interpretation all in one. It evokes natural “mojo” like no other hunting or shooting tool.

Be cautions though, it’s terribly addictive. Needing little more than basic hand tools that we’ll have on hand, and a little “know-how”, many take up this learned skill as perhaps a “bucket list” item to check off and find they have gotten in over their heads in a pastime that often lasts the rest of their lives.

It adds another element to your hunting, if that is your goal; one that can’t be touched by anything on “the market”; one that brings the hunter the utmost in satisfaction in his journey. It may be the holy-grail of success, to have hunted and harvested wild game with a simple hand-made bow not unlike one used for millennia.

And for non-hunters, who simply thrill at shooting arrows…to do so with tools you created is a feeling like none other.

Mark Baker checking the alignment on a snakey osage orange selfbow.

The Montana Selfbow Jamboree will take place at the Bill Owens ranch, in Logan, MT, at 2700 Logan-Trident Road, on June 30th, July 1st and 2nd. Everything begins at 8 am each morning, with seminars and fun scheduled throughout the weekend, including after-hours campfire fun. A small fee of $30.00 or Traditional

Bowhunters of Montana membership is required for Bow-building instruction. Participants will also need as a bow stave which the student may bring or purchase. Limited tools will be available so sharing may be required, or the student can bring along his or her own tools. A drawknife, a rasp, and scraper or knife, and a hatchet is really all that is needed. Vendors will have plenty of top-quality bow staves on hand for purchase for those that need one.

This is a rare opportunity taking place so make plans to attend this if you want to learn the skills or even just to find out more about this fun pastime. Click here to see the flyer.

See you there,

Mark Baker

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