Home of: Francis Cahoon

ST. IGNATIUS — Bull and rattlesnake skins, buffalo sinew, wild rose shoots and the skull of a bighorn ram are only a handful of the raw materials neatly at rest on Francis Cahoon’s work desk.

The local bowhunter and competition archer turned   bowyer, or bowmaker, has taken it upon himself to resurrect what he considers a “lost art” — the act of making traditional Native American bows and arrows that actually pack some heat.

“There aren’t many Indians that shoot,” he said. “I know of no other Indians making bows that actually compete with them.”

Shot through a chronograph to guarantee precision, his two-horn bows, made from one bighorn ram horn, glued in the middle, shoot over 215 feet-per-second at a 28-inch draw length with a 463-grain arrow. According to Cahoon, that’s enough to win at archery competitions all across Montana. He would know, as he won twice last year, including once at Libby’s Fawn Creek Traditional Shoot where competitors dubbed him “Ram-bow.”

“Everything is as traditional as I can get it,” Cahoon said. “But, I had to give up some tradition in order to compete.”

To get more speed out of his bows for hunting and archery competitions, he uses Flemish string made by Arlee’s Ted Foust. Almost everything else comes straight from the Mission Mountains and the lands of his ancestors, the Salish and Pend d’Oreille tribes. An avid hunter, trapper and fisherman, the now logger made his living using those skills for nearly 30 years. Cahoon even has hidden places where he hunts for the long list of materials he needs to stay true to his craft.

For wooden bows, Cahoon, like traditional Salish bowyers, relies on long stays of thorn apple, an accessible wood that provides both the necessary strength and fiborous memory. After splitting the wood with a low-tech saw, he shapes the bow by hand, using files and a lot of draw knife work.

“The longer the bow, the sweeter they shoot,” Cahoon said. “The wood dictates what I do with it.”

Traditionally, Native American tribes used shorter bows when on horseback. They were harder to shoot, but easier to maneuver.

On the back of the bow, he layers strips of buffalo sinew, tough fibrous tissues found along the animal’s back, to make the bow stronger and faster. The sinew must be soaked in water and boiled until it is pliable. Cahoon said his ancestors used natural hot springs to accomplish this task, which he does with a small stove.

The sinew is attached to the wood with hide glue, a traditional adhesive made from hooves and hides, and then covered with snake skin for a textured grip. The snake skin, which Cahoon hunts, stretches and dries in the sun, serves a dual purpose, he said. It both camouflages the bow and water proofs it because the sinew is water soluble and would absorb moisture, affecting the weight, and thus, the performance of the bow over time.

Limb tips, made from bison or the horns of a bighorn sheep, help to protect the lifetime of the weapon, so that the string does not cut into the other tips of higher pound bows.

Cahoon trades for obsidian, just like the Salish and Pend d’Oreille tribes did, then he uses traditional flint knapping techniques to shape arrow heads. He prefers to use strong, but typically small-diameter, wild rose shoots for his arrow shafts and wild turkey feathers as fletching. Finished arrows soon find homes in a variety of hand-made animal-hide quivers.

In 2008, Cahoon placed second in the state of Montana with a wooden bow made by Ronan’s custom bowyer Dan Toelke.

“He makes a good bow, but it wasn’t what my ancestors used,” he said.

Cahoon once saw Valley Creek Tribal Elder Ignace Vanderberg making a bow for his nephew.

“I started talking to him and he said he could remember his grandfather making bows,” he said. “That’s kinda what got me going.”

Seeking advice from Missoula-based bowyer, Jim Rempp, Cahoon started the process of making his own bows and arrows a few years ago. This year, the Polson School District used state-allotted Indian Education For All monies to purchase two of Cahoon’s traditional wooden bows for physics lessons.

“If you ask me, that is a great thing,” he said. “If I had physics lessons like that, I would have loved going to class.”

In October, Cahoon plans to attend the World Traditional Archery Festival in Korea. He was invited by the sponsoring organization who had heard of his unique style of bowmaking through the grapevine.

“I want to go just to see it, and represent the Flathead Indian Reservation,” he said. “They make horn bows in Mongolia, and I would be able to exchange ideas and see how other civilizations utilize their horn bows.”