Bow hunting, fishing gaining popularity in Missouri

Submitted photo/ Lyle Shaulis of Fair Play, with a 30-pound buffalo he shot with a bow he made from a hickory sapling.

Nevada Daily Mail

What most people see when looking at a tree sapling is only a sapling.

However when Lyle Shaulis looks at one, he sees a bow in the rough. Recently, Shaulis found a hickory sapling he thought would make a good longbow for hunting and fishing, so he took it home and started working it into a sturdy piece of hunting equipment.

Submitted photo/ Shaulis displays an arrow he made using bone for the head and turkey feathers, from a turkey he shot earlier for fletching.

After moving from Iowa, where he did some trapping and a little hunting, he found that Missouri offered good turkey and deer hunting.

He said, "I did things a little backwards. I started with a compound bow, though I really liked traditional bows and so I got into primitive archery and finally building bows.

"Missouri has a lot of good trees and offers many types of trees suitable for building bows. These include Osage orange, black locust, hickory and mulberry. Native Americans used to come to Missouri to trade for the Osage orange. The Osage Indians were so feared because they had superior bow material.

Shaulis with some of the bows he has made.

"I got into primitive archery by building my first bow out of black locust about 25 years ago."

He now has made more than 40 bows over the years. After making bows, Shaulis started making arrows out of bamboo and making hunting heads out of bone and uses turkey feathers from birds he had shot for fletching.

Back in 2012, he shot a turkey on opening day with a traditional longbow and on the following Monday, which was the start of the second week of the spring season, he shot a second gobbler with the same bow. A feat that is difficult to achieve. Getting one gobbler with a bow is hard enough, but two in a season is rare.

Submitted photo/ Shaulis drawing down on a rough fish with a hickory bow he made recently.

The veteran bow maker enjoys working with wood and enjoys the simplicity of hunting with a bow. He said, "Bow hunting and bow fishing are both popular today. Just look at the big U.S. Open Bow fishing Tournament held in Missouri last weekend.

The third annual U.S. Bow fishing Tournament fielded 260 teams of four shooters, representing 28 states. The winning team was from Clinton, Mo. The winners had the largest fish shot in the contest, a grass carp weighing just over 60 pounds. By taking the largest fish, they earned a $5,000 check and also took home another $25,000 for having the highest total weight of fish taken ---- 20 fish that weighed 393 pounds.

Team members are: James Walker, John Marshall, Brett Fickle and Joe Hull. The four were childhood friends who took up bow fishing as a hobby.

Youngsters take an interest in archery as Shaulis has noticed. He is the pastor of Harvest Assembly in Fair Play where he has a ministry called "Outdoor Connections," and also hosts Kingdom Archery. He teaches bow building, shooting form and some shooting skills.

He said, "I have never met a youngster that I have had to ask if they had ever shot a bow. Their answer is usually 'no.' But when I ask if they would like to, their answer is always 'yes.' I was certified by the National Archery School Program. We follow strict safety guidelines and then the fun comes later."

Lyle said, "It's a lot of fun bow fishing with a primitive bow. Shooting a 30 pound buffalo with a bow like this can be a battle. That fish I shot was one of the largest ones I have shot with my bow. I started bow fishing about 30 years ago. Since there are so many good places close to home to bow fish,

"I started checking spots that had lots of carp and buffalo and wanting bow fishing the simple way, by using a primitive bow instead of a compound bow. It's a way to use the bow during the off season of game hunting. It keeps one in the mode for deer and turkey hunting later."

The archer also enjoys eating the fish he gets with his bow. He said, "I have canned 100 quarts of carp and buffalo, that I have taken by gigging in the winter. Carp and buffalo make good table fare."

Carp are popular in Europe and Asia. I remember, Charles Davis once told me that several years ago when he was on a trip to South Korea, he noticed fish tanks with carp where businessmen would stop and catch some fish, have them cleaned and packaged by a fish monger.

On their way home from work, they would pick up the fish they had caught to take home for dinner.

Davis said, "It was big business over there. They love to eat carp, unlike many people in Missouri. I tried some and thought it was very good."