Was there ever an historic foot-braced hand-drawn bow and arrow?

Factual Questions
1

Apologies in advance to people who actually know about this stuff because I’m about to mangle terms and definitions.

Basically I was wondering if a ‘bow and arrow’ setup was ever designed with the user sitting down, bracing the bow with their feet and pulling the string back with both hands before releasing the bolt (perhaps with some sort of system where a bicycle handle like grip could be used rather than holding the string directly).

I figured it would be possible to use a larger bow and bolt setup than standing upright and hand-held and the wielder would be putting a lot more body strength into it, pushing with their legs and pulling back with basically all their upper body, so more power and range on release.

I hope that makes at least some kind of sense, its hard to describe what I’m visualising.

2

here is someone who shoots an arrow with her feet

IT'S AMAZING A Girl Do Bow and Arrow Shot with Feet - YouTube

3

I vaguely remember seeing a photo of a guy shooting an arrow using a foot held bow, just as you describe. I think it had been some kind of world record, but I cannot find a reference to it online now.

4

Thismight be what I remember. This photo though, looks like a standard bow, not a special “foot design”.

5

Here’s another.

6

Thanks Bijou Drains and RedSwinglineOne, I was kind of thinking of a specially designed contraption though, rather than just using a conventional bow and arrow in an unorthodox way. :slight_smile:

I kind of figured that the inventive medieval mind must have come up with some sort of system!

7

nm

8

Arm drawn bows are good for hundreds of yards, which is probably far enough for most purposes.
Crossbows can be foot drawn, but the extra power is used to propel a heavier arrow (or bolt) rather than go for extra distance.

9

We have a footbow class in archery flight shooting competition. Typically the draw weight is around 300#. Harry drake holds the record with one of these at something over 2,200 yards I believe. We seldom have more than 1 or 2 archers competing in this class and sometimes none.

10

I think I’ve seen somewhere that footbows were used in ancient China. Of course, “ancient China” covers a lot, both in time and space.

11

Sitting down to shoot your bow in battle could get a bit cumbersome, I’d imagine.

12

Well, you don’t do it when the enemy soldiers are raging through your ranks. The whole point is that it gives you such extreme range that you have plenty of time to get off a few volleys before they can even return bowshot, giving you a chance to get back on your feet again before they close.

And I think it’s more a matter of lying on your back than sitting down, anyway.

13

That’s more than a mile.

14

Indeed. Wikipedia says it was 2,028 yards.

15

I have no idea how historically accurate it is, but in the 1986 movie the Mission they depict the Indian archers using this method to shoot arrows over the walls and into the fortified compound

16

Definitely. I think they would be most effective when strategically stationed in the battlements of a castle or, conversely, in the siege of a castle where they could harass the occupants from a safe distance.

17

Some sites report this as a crossbow, rather than footbow record, which I can visualize a little more easily.

18

I was thinking of the scene in Hero but this MB says not in the Qin army. The Han army had foot-drawn crossbows; the archers stood to fire them, though. In Wiki’s list o’ bows no foot bows are mentioned.

19

"I shot an arrow with my toes
Where it landed goodness knows. "

20

If I was conscripted into an ancient army, I would be the first to volunteer for a position(hehe) sitting on my ass, as far away from the enemy army as possible.