by Mark
THE LINK TO THE BOW MAKER HAS EXPIRED. I CANNOT CONTACT HIM AND CANNOT FILL ORDERS FOR HIM. PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO DO SO. IF THERE IS ANOTHER LINK FOR HIM IN THE FUTURE AND I FIND IT I WILL POST IT.
My friend Jeremy received a nice Christmas/Birthday present, a Mongolian bow. The bows are still made by hand. The horn of a wild goat is laminated to wood to give it outstanding strength. This bow design was one element (in addition to tactics) that made Chinngis Khan able to conquer the world. Its laminated design also is the reason (in addition to tactics in jungle) that he was not able to conquer humid areas such as SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand).
These are the same bows shot during Nadaam Festival in the summer. The targets are placed on the ground instead of parallel as western targets are placed. The Mongolian draw is unique in that it used a thumb ring to draw back and release- not a typical 3 finger release as used in the West. The thumb release is very similar to trigger releases that hunters use today.
The bow maker’s family is famous for making bows. He said at one time they made about 10 a year. Now its around 100. It takes quite a bit of time to make a bow.
The arrows are fletched with feathers from a buzzard/vulture. The wood suspiciously looked like a dowel rod but the points were large and heavy. They looked like they were turned from bone.
Bows run around $200 US (maybe a bit more). Not bad for a hand-made bow. The draw strength is around 55 lbs. I believe legal in most states for hunting. For more information you can visit the website of this bow-maker www.hornbow.mn
We hope at some point to visit this
guys home/factory which is between Darhan and the Russian Border.
Mongoliawood's Weblog 
4 comments
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January 4, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Elizabeth
Fascinating! Will Jeremy hunt with this?
January 4, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Cinda
Probably not hunt here in Mongolia with it. Most of the time guys will practice and shoot at targets – its really big for the women as well.
January 4, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Sarah
so are we getting subtle hints about what you’d like for your upcoming birthday?
Andrew loved this post – he’s fascinated by bows and arrows but for some reason, thinks he has to be 7 before he can get one. Fine by me! Think we’ll stick to fischer price before ordering one of those bad boys. Beautiful craftmenship, though!
January 11, 2009 at 8:19 am
stan
Last year I spent 3 weeks traveling throughout Mongolia in a 4×4 AND ACTUALLY WENT TO THE SHED[FACTORY] AND WATCHED MY BOW BEING MADE.
It hangs in in my home over an old stone fireplace.
The craftsman was very gracious and spent a long time showing every aspect of the bow’s fabrication.
I asked that ancient runes for good luck and long life be etched.
I love to draw it while wearing my Kazak golden eagle hunting clothes
and Reindeer People fetish
Stan