Hunting With the Bow and Arrow Paperback – January 1, 2007

In 1914, 49 year old Ishi, the last of the Yani tribe walked out of the woods near Oroville, California. Ishi was the last of his people and he was the last "Wild Indian" in America. Anthropologists throughout America wanted to learn as much as they could from this wild man and he was soon living and working (as a janitor) at the University of California, Berkeley. Having no immunities to most disease that we are used to, he spent much time in a nearby hospital where Saxton Pope was a teacher. Anyone who has ever learned of the hardships of Ishi's life can't help but remember this fascinating historical figure.This book however, is not about Ishi although his teachings and skill are an important part of what you will read. This book is about what the title says "Hunting with the bow and arrow". Saxton Pope learned to use a bow from Ishi and carried the love of bow hunting for the rest of his life. This book covers everything from making your first bow to killing your first Grizzly in a pleasant and easy to read style that keeps you reading and wanting more. You can and will learn secrets that you would have never thought of , secrets that before Ishi, had been so completely forgotten that Dr. Pope had to reintroduce the techniques to other Native American Tribes.I am not a hunter, I have never used a bow but I have a great love of the outdoors and I loved every moment of this book. I feel like I have learned enough to supply food for myself and my family if the need arises. Along with the wealth of information I gained by reading Hunting with the bow and arrow, I feel that I have also stood witness to a wonderful adventure and lived through the excitement of the hunt.Even though, once again, there are no diagrams or photos with the Kindle edition, Hunting with the Bow and Arrow will never be removed from my Kindle.

I discovered this book in a sideways sort of way. While working with Native American Rhetoric as a English graduate student, I read Theodora Kroeber's book "Ishi in Two Worlds" the account of the last known member of the Yahi tribe. During Ishi's final years, he developed a close friendship with his physician, Dr. Pope. Kroeber spoke of their mutual love for archery. I wondered if this could be the Pope of the Pope and Young Club who developed the scoring system for wild game taken with bow and arrow. The answer is yes, and that led me to this book. The book contains a brief account of Ishi written by Pope and discussions on the making of a traditional bow, arrows, quiver, and even arrow heads - all skills that were demonstrated to him by Ishi. While researching which of the several versions floating around would be the best purchase, I found several versions that excluded the photographs and diagrams that Pope included in the original book. This Kindle version (yellow and blue-gray horizontal pattern on front with the title in a framed box) includes all the photographs and diagrams. The Kindle price was less than any of the print copies available and the book has been easily accessable on my reader.

The charm of the writing, with its dated, flowery language and romantic tone, is perfectly counterbalanced with the unapologetic, bloody reality of the hunt. These guys did it, as Tred Barta put it, the hard way. But even Tred never had it so hard. They made their own gear. No fleece. No gortex. No GPS. No cell phones or game cams. They hunted until they killed, or found it absolutely impossible to kill. And they tracked for days, practiced for hours, trained for months. If you have picked up a traditional bow to hunt, this is the book for you. If you have killed game with rifle and have picked up a traditional bow to remember what hunting is like, you won't be able to put this book down.

An enjoyable and engaging classic of archery literature, although definitely of its time. The book documents in a lively the exploits of the author in his engagement with Ishi, the last of the Yani Indians, but also of his archery and hunting ideas and exploits. It contains ideas galore concerning Native Americans and their hunting technology, archery, bowmaking, early American archery, and bowhunting.Primarily for those interested in archery and the history of archery this is a book well worth reading and imbued with good humoured dedication to craft and life.

This is a classic, written many years ago by one of the two legendary bowhunting icons who later became the inspiration for the founding of the Pope & Young Club. The amazing hunting adventures of Saxton Pope and Art Young will entertain and delight. The book will also acquaint the reader with their befriending and civilizing of Ishi, the last 20th-century native American Indian to emerge from the wild and come into contact with the White Man. Among many other things, the book is a fascinating historical work, written by a cultural anthropologist --- and a great outdoorsman, to boot!

Excellent book!!! I read this book as a young man and it helped me then to appreciate the history and art of a traditional archery --a sport that I had already loved.Saxton Pope did everyone a great favor in writing of his friendship with Ishi(the last of the Yani tribe)and of his companions, trying to emulate and improve on what the native master had taught them.I ordered this again after losing my original copy years ago, and found it revived my appreciation of this wonderful sport yet again.I have started using the information and techniques this time around to make arrows and soon a bow with my son.

This book should be in the personal library of every series student of archery. What Saxon Pope and Art Young learned and developed is still as useful today as it was in their day. Every modern archery will still benefit greatly from this book.

A nice book with interesting information. Seemed a bit expensive after reading through it the first time. Good photos and well described steps. Good fun for this summer. I just wanted more.