Minneapolis Boys Scouts and Archery 
By H. H. McChesney. 
F ROM early boyhood the ring of the bow- 
cord, the sharp hiss of the arrow curving 
gracefully in its flight, and the soft “thud” 
as the distant mark it struck, have held a peculiar 
fascination for me. 
Owing to the pressure of modern business life, 
I was compelled to lay aside the bow for some 
years, but in the summer of 1910 in passing a 
store where some bows were displayed, the desire 
to once more see the swift flight of the feathered 
arrow came over me, and soon the music of the 
monichord rang in my ears. 
At this time I thought that I was the only 
“bow bug” in Minneapolis, but early the next 
spring on the Boy Scout page of one of our big 
dailies the statement appeared that a Minneapo¬ 
lis minister was beginning a troop that was to 
be equipped with bows and arrows. His name 
had been withheld, but thinking that at last I had 
found a kindred spirit I determined to find out 
his name and address. After unwinding con¬ 
siderable red tape I found his name to be Mr. 
G. L. Wilson, pastor of Shiloh Presbyterian 
church. 
The troop of which he was Scoutmaster was 
composed of about sixteen boys from twelve to 
fourteen years old, and the first thing to do was 
to properly equip them. The bows offered at the 
stores at prices the boys could afford were poor 
affairs; in fact worse than good for nothing, so 
we were forced to use American wood and our 
own skill to provide the necessary equipment. 
We have used hickory, white ash, ironwood, 
southern red cedar (self), southern red cedar 
backed with ironwood, and lately lancewood, 
lemonwood and washaba backed with hickory. 
Ironwood has proved the best of the American 
woods thus far tried, as it is hard, has a fair cast 
and takes a fine polish. It also keeps its power 
after long continued use. Hickory, if of close, 
even, straight grain, makes a fair bow if well 
seasoned. White ash seems to be somewhat 
brittle after use for a few months. Southern red 
cedar has a good cast and makes a pretty bow, 
but is easily scratched in going through brush, 
wire fences, etc., on the “hike.” Washaba backed 
with hickory, self lancewood and self lemon- 
wood are the best bow woods for the purposes 
of scouting. These woods have a quick, sharp 
cast, wear well and are so hard that they are not 
easily scratched. 
The bows used by the scouts are five and one- 
half feet long, and pull from twenty to thirty- 
two pounds; those used by some of the larger 
boys and a few of the scoutmasters are the regu¬ 
lar six foot length and weights. 
Bowstrings have given little trouble. They are 
made of No. 12 shoemaker’s thread, and will 
stand use (and abuse) for a long time; in fact 
some put on bows two years ago are seemingly 
intact and as good as ever. 
Good arrows have been hard to make. At first 
we used hickory shafts 5-16 of an inch in diam¬ 
eter, for both target shooting and wild-wood 
archery. These were feathered with turkey wing 
feathers, low cut and short, and have not proved 
very satisfactory for either purpose, being too 
heavy for good target shooting, and flying too 
far for sylvan archery. They had also the nasty 
habit of “snaking” in the leaves, grass and under¬ 
growth. 
For the scouting arrow we have adopted the 
heavy, blunt, broad feathered style so ably de¬ 
scribed by Mr. J. M. Challis of Atchison, Kans., 
in the March 15th issue of Forest and Stream. 
This winter we expect to make some good target 
arrows. 
No shooting gloves or finger tips have been 
used, the boys finding that after a little practice 
the fingers became hard enough to stand the 
work required of .them. Some of the scoutmasters 
have used an ordinary kid glove as a shooting 
glove. 
After making the weapons for the boys it was 
necessary to teach them how to shoot. We soon 
found out that though the bow may be the “natu¬ 
ral” weapon of man, it certainly was not of boys, 
and it took much time and more patience before 
the boys were able to handle their bows in an 
effective, graceful manner. 
Then came the first hike. Early in the after¬ 
noon of a beautiful summer’s day we left Scout¬ 
master Wilson’s house and walked about two 
miles out in the woods. As we walked the bows 
were much in evidence. Trees, stumps and now 
and then a tin can became in turn the targets for 
the boys’ arrows. At supper time the blazing 
campfires, the bows leaning against the trees and 
the quivers of arrows hung to small projecting 
branches, made one think of the feastings of 
Robin Hood and his bold company in Sherwood 
Forest. After the good things put up at home 
by mother or sister had disappeared, shooting 
was resumed till the fading light warned us -that 
it was time to go home, so our bows were un¬ 
strung and the walk for home began. 
From this small beginning archery has grown 
to be a regular part of the “hike,” and many a 
happy day have I spent in the woods with the 
boys of different troops. There are at present 
nearly one hundred boys in Minneapolis who are 
devotees of “the king of sports and the sport of 
kings.” Of course some of these, boy-like, will 
tire of the sport, but I am sure that in the com¬ 
ing years some of the recruits to the National 
Association will have received their early train¬ 
ing in the ranks of the Boy Scouts. 
Though at the semi-annual contests there is al¬ 
ways an archery contest, we have encouraged 
sylvan archery the more, especially since Minne¬ 
sota is a land peculiarly adapted to wildwood 
shooting. Some of the scouts have tried hunting 
with the long bow and have had fair success. 
One boy got three wild ducks, another a couple 
of owls and others small game of various kinds. 
One of the boys made a burlap deer, as de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton. in a re¬ 
cent issue of Forest and Stream, but we have 
not had a “deer hunt” yet. When we do I will 
report the result. 
St. Marks Troop of Boy Scouts at Target. 
215 
