Chief Cross Bow with Arrows Dream Catchers

An excellent, decorative Chief Cross Bow with Arrows and decorative Dream Catchers. The leather is dyed Doeskin with hand strung beading, beads mean Dreams Come True. The bow is natural wood and wrapped with sparkling, glass seed beads for bright highlights and decorated with plenty of feathers, fur and beads. It comes with three hand woven Dream Catchers. It measures 54" with two stone tipped 24" cross arrows. Artifact art at its finest. Due to the hand made nature of our artifacts, some variations may exist from piece to piece.

Indian warriors gained status not only from their success from battle, but also their skills in crafting weapons. The wood for Bow and Arrows is cut during the winter when the sap is down and goes through a curing process where it is hung up to dry. Typically Bow woods used are Ash, Black Locust, Black Cherry, Osage Orange, White Oak and Hickory. Arrows were made mostly from dogwood, yaupon holly, witch hazel and willow because they could be smoothed and straighten easily. Arrow points made of noviculite and obsidian are chipped with a moose and deer antler. Youths learned that turkey or buzzard feathers made better arrow fletching than hawk or eagle feathers because the later were more easily ruined by blood. Weapons gain spiritual potency from the divine power of the natural materials from which they are made, such as attaching a bears jaw bone to a metal blade to tap into the bear's super natural might. Some bows and arrows displayed are intended for wall decoration.

Bows became smaller -as short as two and a feet in some cases, as the need for weapons that could easily be carried on horseback increased. A few western tribes were able to craft good bows from the horns of elk and bighorn sheep. Smaller bow packed less power, warriors compensated by using them at closer range and firing faster. Claims of such skills were often exaggerated, but Cheyenne braves were said to be able to unleash six arrows in such rapid order that all would be in flight before the first arrow struck its target. The Western Apache used potent toxin made from deer's spleen and various roots and plants.