by Kraig Mcfadden

Created on: March 21, 2010

Oh no.  You, my friend, are lost in the woods.  Don't laugh; this happens to a multitude of people every year, in just about every season.  If you ever do find yourself in a position like this one, then I do have one handy tip for you:  how to make a survival bow. 

Sure, you need to find water.  That's important.  Sure, you need to make a fire so you can boil that water (to make it safe).  That's also important.  Shelter is usually a necessity as well.  But if you're going to be in the woods for a long period of time, you're going to need to eat eventually.

Some people say that hunting your food is foolish if you're lost.  It'll probably get away.  It'll probably survive your attack.  Build traps instead.  Those people are probably right too, but it doesn't hurt to build a trap and hunt while you wait, does it?  No.  Definitely not.  If anything, you could drive animals into your trap that way. 

So back to the bow; here's a quick overview of the project.  First of all, you need to make sure you have a knife.  You need a knife for pretty much everything you'll do in the woods, so make sure you have one somehow.  If you don't have a knife, for the most part, you're screwed.  So have a knife.  The second thing you'll need is a good piece of wood.  I'll tell you more about that in a minute, but the wood is the key part in a bow.  It's not the string that makes an arrow fly, it's the wood.  The third thing you'll need to do is cut the wood correctly, and then you'll need to have a string to tie on the bow.  After that, you'll need to make arrows, and then you'll be ready to rock and roll.  Let's go into detail:

You have a knife at this point, and now you're looking for a piece of wood.  But which wood, and in what shape?  This is the harder part.  Good wood is springy, and won't break when bent.  Usually, fruit, nut, and pricker bearing trees meet this requirement.  For example, when I made a bow like this for fun, I used apple wood.  If you can't find any apple, oak works too.  If all else fails, just bend some tree limbs.  Some will feel elastic almost, and others won't.  But you're lost in the woods, so it's not like you have anything else to waste your time on. 

So, you've found the tree you need, but you don't know what branch you need.  Look for one that has a good

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