(09-17-2023, 08:31 AM)BIAD Wrote: Just for the record, I am not a pheasant-plucker, I'm a pheasant-plucker's son.
I'm actually a pheasant-plucker, an avocation which my Dear Old Dad eschewed once he graduated beyond short-pants. I've also been known to "fly the bird" upon occasion, in a couple of different meanings of the phrase...
I have no compunctions against demonstrating that I am still fully physically equipped to bend the arc, and at times take delight in such demonstrations... especially in traffic.
I don't know of anyone who plucks a bowstring with less than 3 fingers when using a full-strength bow, however, and fail to see how simply removing the middle finger would slow an archer down. Some people do use just one finger - the index finger - in combination with a thumb to draw a bow, by pinching the butt of a nocked arrow and drawing the arrow itself against the string, rather than drawing the string. However, that would be a feat to accomplish with a full powered bow, and English longbows are VERY full powered. Reconstructions of the long bows dredged up from the Mary Celeste drew in the neighborhood of 100 to 125 pounds at a full draw, which is pretty hefty for a hand-held bow rather than a crossbow.
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