The bow making is underway. We are running at maximum capacity in both the Spirit of the Hunt Apprenticeship and the upcoming Self Bow Making workshop.
There is a great group of guys in the apprenticeship program who are eager to learn and working really hard at finding and following a single growth ring on their hickory bow staves. Several have moved onto the bow layout and everyone else isn’t too far behind.
We will start to focus on making primitive arrows. We will start with harvesting arrow shafts and moving into the proper way to straighten each shaft for the truest flight. In the end each participant should have three arrows in their quiver.
I am looking forward to getting the crew out into the woods and immersing them into the ebb and flow of the natural world. We will be tracking, trailing, and getting to know the deer we will eventually be hunting come the fall.
This is the first year of this program, so far so good. The Spirit of the Hunt was created after running our pilot apprenticeship in 2010. Starting in 2012 a youth version called the Hunters Rites of Passage program will be added to the schedule. I feel this program will help our youth form a mutual respect for life and nature via the spirit of the hunt. The life lessons found during the hunt are profound and endless. Each journey into the forest awakens the deep connections we have to the web of life that are embedded in our DNA.