Making Chief Geronimo's Last Bow! A Bow Maker's Journey

Apache Chief Geronimo had a rich history in early American and Native history. Geronimo fought against the Spanish and US calvary and would become the most recognized outlaw Indians in modernity. Because if his warrior spirit, Geronimo's legacy is alive and well today. In this video Primitive Lifeways shows how to make one of Chief Geronimo's final bows before his passing in 1909.
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[@PrimitiveLifeways]

I said Ft. Still in the voiceover. I know it’s Ft Sill and that’s what I have in the script. I actually went to Ft. Sill a few months ago too to collect information for this video. Sometimes mistakes happen and the pronouncing of Ft Sill was it. I hope you all enjoyed the video though.

[@Spiderdan-59]

You can't blame him for wanting revenge, I would go out to get it to for the same reason

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Not at all. The wild west was sure something!

[@poochersmontgomery8825]

Thank you for taking the time to do this. I am mescalero and lipan, not chiricahua, but this still means alot being Apache. You are part of the reconstruction of our people, and im grateful.

[@GrayBlanket]

Heckuva bow Geronimo gave to Martin! Thanks for posting your pics from Fort Sill. 📸

[@organicarchery]

Looks like a fast bow! Well done! I’ll always be amazed by the quality of bows that can be produced from so little osage.

[@benaubid2254]

Awesome, i really appreciate that you are willing to share your knowledge with the rest of us. Been trying to learn more about building these old bows. These skills need to be kept alive

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Thank you. Not too many people doing these skills now.

[@matthewmaxcy1574]

Ohhhh man!! I can't wait!

[@AlanMacdonald-j6n]

I remember that many years ago whilst in the Parachute Regiment we were told to shout Geronimo when exiting the aircraft.

[@Anson120]

I was born around where he was born: Morenci,AZ. They need to return his remains to his people. Oklahoma is a hellscape LOL

[@johngonzalez5593]

Beautiful work

[@petervanderbeek9518]

Geronimo is looking at you that bow is fast man. Good job great story

[@donhippy]

My great great grandfather was not a Chief, people just called him Chief. But thank for the story and lesson in bow making.

[@RavenCro-g8t]

Much respect to Chief Geronimo, the Apache people, and all American Indians. Early colonials would have done much better to treat the original inhabitants of this country with the gratitude and respect they deserved. Our country today would probably be much better off as well. Mitakuye Oyasin... we are all related, and we should live like it. Thank you for this wonderful video... That's a gorgeous bow you've made... I love short bows, and will likely be shopping in your online store in the near future. Philamayaye, ~RavenCro

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

10,000 views. Thank you all. Keep sharing!

[@uncletoad1779]

Good work! I am sure Geronimo would be proud.

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Thanks!

[@azcoueshntr]

Beautiful work, great job.

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Thx!

[@jonathanbizotii-rj4rv]

That is so cool... Beautiful bow

[@C-24-Brandan]

Super cool build! Awesome back story as well, the history of this countries native people and the tools/weapons they used for hunting, protection, everyday life etc never gets old or boring! Itd be cool to use the native materials of each prominent tribe & then make and compare/contrast their style/type of bows and arrows and see how each bow performs compared to each other! Would be a super cool & interesting/educational video and fun to watch how they all shoot/perform to determine the best( most accurate, most powerful/shoots fastest, most reliable, easiest to build & use effectively the fastest) or something like that! Haven't seen or heard of anyone doing a video like that at all , should definitely consider it! Maybe make it a series with the finale being the shootout & comparison tests.

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

That would be cool, but for one person, a ton of work. I am going to compare this bow to the Hupa one in the future.

[@C-24-Brandan]

@@PrimitiveLifeways yeah, could always do a bi weekly or monthly series comparing one to another then doing a final showdown for best two at the end. Lookin forward to that comparison, love learning about and seeing how ancient societies did things and why!

[@JayCWhiteCloud]

A very nice bow, and thanks for sharing your approach to it in this video... As for getting the color correct (and other subtle characteristics) I don't think most modern traditional bow makers can match their work to the vernacular as it seems most insist on starting with dry wood when this was simply not the way it was done for most traditional cultures including those here in North America. Wood historically for the most part from timber frames and furniture within as well as wood utensils and tools (aka a bow) was started with green wood. Wood in general statistically within the historical context of board footage actually harvested and used was "worked green to dry" 70% of the time. Working wood this way has a lot to do with the way a piece of wood oxidizes (colors) and how it performs as well...including how durable it is over time...I base this very conservative percentage estimation on 40-plus years of only traditional modalities of means application of natural materials within this craft, and having learned traditionally as well from those from taught the same way...

[@usnchief1339]

Outlaw? No, he was not an outlaw. He was fighting for the freedom of his people. Unfortunately a scenario that continues to this day.

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Absolutely an outlaw! An outlaw is someone who is defying the law. The law was broken and corrupt. Geronimo fought against corruption and was a bad ass outlaw!

[@calebchristian404]

Towards the end of his fighting days with the US he had very little followers and most Apaches on the reservations disliked him. He made life harder for the Apaches who had already surrendered

[@ronduff4325]

Exactly

[@africanogloriosus7474]

​@@PrimitiveLifeways Forajido es el que roba. Los EEUU robaron la mitad del territorio a Méjico. Y los apaches notaron ese cambio. Ellos tenían una cultura del neolítico. Y los supuestamente "civilizados" gringos, una cultura europea, con mentalidad democrática y religión cristiana. Que los encerraba como animales en reservas y pagaban recompensas por las cabelleras, hasta de niños. Parece mentira, que usted, en pleno siglo XXI, aún opine que era un Forajido. Solo falta que diga aquello " el único indio bueno, es el indio muerto"

[@Man_fay_the_Bru]

@@calebchristian404yeah but at least he knew what plumbing& other modernities they were missing out on

[@GEKKO_Archery]

Very nice, thanks for sharing the story and the bow. I made more or less the same bow myself (without the backing), also using the exactly same tools, but mine is 66" long to provide 28" of draw length. What ist the historical reason for the very short draw length? As far as I know the native Americans are the only ones around the globe who didn't utilize the full draw length.

[@MomoHat123]

Now this is top tier content💪💪

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

thank you!

[@Ozarkwonderer]

Very nice bow. We have a geronimo bow near us at the Springfield bass pro archery museum. I based a hickory bow off it and it shot amazingly at 45 pounds. It got ruined do to some dampness and mold in my old house. But I have made several short bows since and appreciate their compactness

[@davidedmon-eq1yp]

Thank you.

[@jeremymcclary3901]

Could the bow made by Geronimo have been made of mulberry, as your description is spot on....

[@jillatherton4660]

A great help for my current project; 45" Hazel. 😄👍

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Happy bow making!

[@markgibsons_SWpottery]

Wonderful information, great presentation, now I have to go make my own Geronimo bow... Thanks for the inspiration!!!

[@malypejlou4914]

I love this channel. Great videos, keep em coming!

[@jill-ti7oe]

Sweet. 👍

[@joedaniels4646]

That turned out very nice ...great job!

[@BaroqueViolin]

Very interesting! Thank you!

[@davidedwards1566]

yesssss!!!

[@jordachemenard4476]

Excellent video thank you!

[@Jtryan123]

My man😊❤

[@plywoodcarjohnson5412]

Cool! Very good Sir! A 55 pound bow is probably the most useful. I figured out a multipurpose bow, in these days of power walking. A takedown bow with both limbs containing knives hidden in the shafts. So if you are out trekking and a crazy pitbull bites your hiking stick? But I think it might not be possible. Still, you could give it a go. I'll try it. The limbs should be really curvy and raw so it looks as if you picked up two sticks from the forest. In the spirit of "concealed carry". Nobody should be able to figure out that you're holding two knives and that you have a bow ready to be assembled.

[@Creekrock44]

Geronimo be proud.

[@Killianwsh]

What type of glue did you use to attach the Rawhide?

[@hatfieldmccoy0311]

Fort Sill is where he passed. I have made a bunch of Osage orange bows, I have three that are around 10-15 year bows that never took on that darker color for some reason. Could that possibly be the case with this bow, did you see any of the little cracks that are fairly normal with Osage

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Ive been to Fort Sill. Pretty cool place too with rich history.

[@danielspain7231]

THE Chief

[@marcos2103ful]

Excelente!

[@danielspain7231]

Mate where did you get your shirt it’s awesome

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

The BKFC one or the jacket?

[@user-76hanging-on]

I read years ago that some native American bows were tested for pull and how far they would shoot! The 28 pound pull Apache bow actually shot the farthest of them all! Some bows had almost 100 pounds pull! "ISHI" was the title of that book!

[@BarryCherry-r9h]

Geronimo was not a chief, he was a medicine man

[@rohnmiller8063]

Nice!

[@AB-kg6rk]

Cool video. Fort Sill Oklahoma not "Ft. Still". 😅

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Yep, I know I said Ft. Still in the voiceover. I know it’s Ft Sill and that’s what I have in the script. I actually went to Ft. Sill a few months ago too to collect information for this video. Sometimes mistakes happen and the pronouncing of Ft Sill was one of them. I hope you enjoyed the video though.

[@Man_fay_the_Bru]

That wee geronimo guy had some bottle

[@ratamahatta1300]

I am a bit sceptical, if using ash for short bows would be a good choice.

[@uh....-wd3kk]

I read thstvthe Apache made bows out of desert mulberry. Mulberry being related to Osage. Mulberry a great bowwood depending on sub species and individual tree. Much mulberry wood being pretty much even with Osage for performance as bow wood. (used alot in Asia too, and great for long bows also) Mulberry usualy dries/ages to be a lighter colour than Osage. In Geronimo's autobiography there is a passage where he relates one of his warriors supernatural vision of another world via a mulberry tree etc. He said he wasn't necessarily too much for such visions but that this vision was one that stuck with him.

[@uh....-wd3kk]

...desery mulberry that they harvested from a specific area.... Can't remember where I read that but the literatures out there sumwhere if you're interested.

[@spencercumm907]

I made bows out of saplings when I was a kid they were not the best because I used the wood in the woods that were around but they still were pretty good

[@Galkac]

cool

[@whisperingdeath308]

His given name was Goyahkla (“The One Who Yawns”). The Mexicans gave him the name Geronimo which has no consensus as to how it was given.

[@fishmaniachannel]

👌

[@danielspain7231]

Geronibow (sorry)

[@benderbender1233]

🖖

[@Jeff-fv9rk]

American hero

[@mauricedevine7350]

ummmmm - Fort 'Sill' vs. 'Still?

[@davidlee4238]

It’s Fort Sill, lads, also, Jeff, buddy, Geronimo was never a chief, war shaman for the chiricapeople, that’s the fact jack!!

[@lyndonreddick1888]

Geronimo actually surrendered to General Miles.

[@lorenzoarredondojr3737]

I understand what you're doing. GERONIMO WAS NEVER A CHIEF, hello 😢. Even Google knows. Thanks

[@TightwadTodd]

Correct. That title was Hereditary among the N'De.

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

Geronimo was a medicine man but according to written testimony, after leading his people, he took on a chief role.

[@TightwadTodd]

@@PrimitiveLifeways No, he never did by "Apache" Tradition and definition. Naiche the hereditary Chief was right there, along side him during all phases of conflict and relocation as prisoners of war. He was not a Medicine Man by definition as a True "Medicine man or woman, would not partake in raids or war other than defensively when attacked. He was however respected as a warrior and war leader as was for his visions and tactics and was consulted for such, much the same as Lozen.

[@PrimitiveLifeways]

@@TightwadTodd Take that up with the publications and oral traditions. There are written accounts from the late 1800s and 1900s of him being revered as a chief. Maybe he didnt see himself as one, but others did.

[@TightwadTodd]

@@PrimitiveLifeways, Non Natives gave him that Title.

[@user-76hanging-on]

Read the book, "ISHI" ! DESCRIBED the APACHE bow ! 28 pounds pull yet threw an arrow farthest of all tested!

[@stevew2347]

The weight of the arrow definitely comes into play when considering distance shooting. When using 10grains for each pound of draw weight. Bows of similar design will shoot similar distances. Example are a 28# bow with a 280 grain arrow will shoot a similar distance as a 40# bow shooting a 400 grain arrow.... But a 40# bow shooting a 280 grain arrow will almost always outshoot a 28# bow shooting a 280 grain arrow when bows are of similar design. So, to say a 28# bow shoots the furthest is misleading without other details.

[@user-76hanging-on]

@stevew2347 I always wondered, What bow wood did the Apache use? A hundred pounds bow that's not SPRINGY, won't shoot 10 feet.

[@cherchezlesoir7166]

Why the heck are you calling it" primitive" instead of NATIVE???? There is NOTHING primitive!!!

[@XxxXxx-ik5mq]

great video Was Geronimo's bow similar to a Comanche bow or is it a different grometry? which was better?

[@GrayBlanket]

By complications from pneumonia, do you mean falling off his horse drunk at night? His body was found face down in a small stream. RIP Goyakleh. 🏹