The dedication of this man to learning what has been lost to time, and conquest is admirable. Comanche were rightly feared as warriors, and I'm glad to see them being depicted here as the proud and skilled warriors they were.
They were also the scorch of all surrounding neighbouring tribes, a band of murdereous gypsies living of raiding andcp slavery, nothing to be proud of. Beautiful lifestyle though.
@@will9134 yea but the texas rangers were trained in the ways of Comanche before that they didn’t have the success they had the texas rangers were basically white comanches with a fast shooting pistol
@@cpt.honklerof3rdkekistania400 Seeing as they had other technology that some may call primitive, It hat to be built around the people. The shorter bow and lance works extremeley well for light cavarly. Also In the world wars cavarly were given carbine rifles as they coud not use a full rifle effectively on horseback.
@@jareth7456 I think the reason he refers to Lars as a legend, is bringing up, popularizing and promoting this style of Archery which we most likely would not have known about if Lars had not put in the effort and work to show how impressive it is despite all criticism against him
In the 70's I got to see a Native American archer shoot 3 aspirin that were throw into the air. Hitting all 3 before they reached the ground. I took me 43 years to figure out he was not pulling back the sting but the bow and pushing it at each target. New Subscriber.
If you haven't already you should so upload a video showing what you mean by that. Even if you haven't perfected the technique it would still be cool to see
I saw a video of a master archer shooting an arrow (I sadly forget what distance, considerable) and hit within a wedding ring attached to a target. Quite a feat with a longbow. Annie Oakley as part of her show would reportedly regularly use a rifle to shoot a small coin flipped into the air... while riding horseback. There are mutants among us. ;D
@Wishbringer7 My Grandpa used to put pennies up in trees and have me shoot them down with a BB gun. Kids are capable of amazing things and if they are allowed to flourish, become even more incredible adults.
I picked up bow and arrows after watching these videos as a complete beginner. Lars is right the Comanche style is an extremely intuitive way to load arrows and shoot quickly. The low and short draw naturally makes you aim instinctively, just as shooting Mediterranean style facilitates slow aiming with one eye. Thanks for bringing this method to modern popularity Lars. It is a really fun way to shoot.
Absolutely awesome. My grandfather was a full blooded Indian and tales about him shooting like this were passed down from generation to generation. Absolutely awesome that he did this video
Definitely! Combined with an how to - tutorials-series. Its so hard to find teacher in those techniques, most local teachers teach the common modern techniques. Its a lot of work for lars, maybe he could get payed via including advertising in the videos ? (Im not deep into youtubes payment system, but maybe an option to honor the work) ?
Hello! I was wondering if you could make a video on how someone would transport and "have at ready" a bow and a lance simultaneously like Lars shows in the beginning. Trying to wrap my head around it, and it's difficult!
We also have the stories of Hiawatha of the Onondaga who was said to have seven arrows in the air before the first arrow would hit its target. (A feat that Lars Andersen has already replicated.)
There was a turkish bowman from early modern times, some centuries ago, who shot the 14th arrow before the first one hit the ground. But the turkish had already different disciplines in bow sports in medieval times. Quick shooting, far distance shooting f.e.
Shared this with my class today and they were in awe. Thanks for this video/exhibition. It was a great way to show how talented the Comanche warriors were.
Having started at early childhood, watching the elders, constantly striving for proficiency, pressed by an overhanging need for survival, and with the epigenetic influence of forefathers, both humans and animals being designed for adaptability, one begins to realise the enormous, almost superhuman, skill the warriors of old attained.
we are like nothing compared to our warrior ancestors. we are like empty shells compared to the skills our forefathers possessed. very strange to comprehend.
@@steviechampagne The thing is , if we talk about certain specialized warriors thats true, but with modern common people being thought modern martial arts and modern education they are in general probably better at fighting than peasants . If we exclude the fact that people of old day are more survival oriented and vicious. But it's true that if all you do in your live is real fighting with medieval weapons you are better than any person trying to recreate it in modern days in their free time.
@@steviechampagne if your sole measure of success is murdering people with sharp objects then yes, we are hollow shells. It’s cool to think that our society is less about that now rather than romanticising the absolute brutality and disregard for human life back then. I’ll take a nice warm house and a beer from the fridge over that any day
@@steviechampagne you overlooking a huge fact of: our common soldiers today being significantly more proficient with their weapons and tactics than the warriors of old when talking about an army (excluding the romans who practiced constant standardized training much like modern militaries do today). And on top of that, we also have our own superhuman, highly trained, years of combat experience warriors today in the form of special units like the navy seals. Plus as someone else mentioned, practicing martial arts and self defense is really common among the general public. So when looking at historical societies as a whole on average, our modern society is generally probably better at martial prowess, even ignoring the clear technological differences
@@IsThisHandleTaken Can you hunt your own food by making your own bow and arrows? Because most herbivores are faster than us. The Great Plains Indians were said to be able to chase down bison with their own two feet plus maybe moccasins, and they did that for _fun._
As someone who struggles with thick accents I really appreciate the narrator taking over the bulk of the explanation. I am not not an archer but watching these videos make me want to pick it up as a new hobby. Thanks for all the research and sharing of knowledge Lars!
Lars is truly a man of science and practicality. He does not settle with the dogmas but instead searches relentlessly for the truth. And then he takes it one step further and undeniably proves his theories by applying them to himself and other non professional people. What else can we do but applaud and respect this great man. Cheers Lars
I was always fascinated by stories of the Comanches, but thought that stories their abilities with a bow were just fabrications of the real truth. Lars proves without a doubt that those stories were true. It’s hard to believe that someone can be so proficient with a bow and arrow. Wow!
Obviously the Mongols are more famous for mounted archers. We know what is possible by master archers who are master horseman. I supposed you could defeat guns by sneak attacks and numbers, and they hopefully have guns that cannot be reloaded, but other than that, the idea is mostly just hype.
@@gravewalkers Mongols had superior bows though. Comanche bows were basic stickbows not recurves nor hornbows. They aren't very powerful compared to a standard length bows. At close range like he shows, sure they could do some damage. Beyond 20yrds it's debatable. I wouldn't mind seeing some gel tests using his short draw method. Heck even a full draw.
@don't be silly If launching forward then sure but not that much. Many of these shots are being taken sideways where the forward momentum would give no benefit.
@@jameswitts3793 They had no anchor point and chose the draw as they saw fit to the situation. Lars usually uses 35 to 55 pounds bows as the comanche had too. These kind of bows do not draw that many inches, the used wood is strong. As Lars shot, he would kill probably people in 30 yards distance that way, Comanche for sure from 50 yards distance. As the modern comanche tells from the family history it was not unusual to shoot at targets in 100 yards distance. The problem is that people see the arrow coming and dodge it but they had to look for the other 3 or 4 too. Since people rarely wear armor any arrow even from 100 yards distance is possibly deadly but definitely causes a severe injury. The round shield was able to deflect arrows but also simple musket rounds if they did not hit from a 90° angle.
Your command of English is great - your modesty and enthusiasm are infectious and inspiring - and the archery coupled with history and cultural lessons are a genuine blessing - thank you so much
I didn't have a clue what to expect from this video, but man, this was so worth watching. This was way more than entertaining or historical info; he just gave us instructions for learning actual, practical skills! Thank you.
After seeing the Video where he shots arrows (and actually hits targets) even around a corner, nothing he does can surprise me any more. But that doesn't mean that I'm not impressed (in fact I'm very impressed) of that awesome archery skills. Big respect!
I know, right? That 'I'm going to shoot around a corner' thing boggled my mind. Then the 'I shoot at a line of people and hit the target right behind them' thing. Gah!
At 6:04 part of the written passage states: "while for some reason the Indians had trouble shooting conventional targets...". This matches precisely Lars' own students who he can fairly quickly train to hit small objects thrown in the air at short ranges but when these same students try hitting a 2D stationary target at similar range they don't do very well. I thinks this add a lot of credence to the historicity of instinctive shooting in a real world environment.
Thank you Lars, probably the best way to honour the memory of these great archers and great warriors. Surely it must put a smile on the face of the descendants of the Comanche. Hard to reproduce their technique with 100% accuracy, but with the information we have this is probably the closest we can get. I think you have also done a service to archery lovers as a whole. Thanks again Lars, great shooting.
i can't wait for lars to finally dabble in high speed horse archery. he's already got motorcycle drive-by's in, give it some months of dope practice and he'd nail it
My father was taken from his family when he was two and put in a orphanage and had never really known any of his real culture, but I have always been interested in Native American people and I am blown away by this story, thanks for the video
As a California girl I spent summers in Lawton and Ft. Sill, OK so I'd learn my heritage. We played w archery as kids but never were taught this style. I bought a recurve to learn this technique, thank you so much, your diligence and integrity are much appreciated!
Of note, the Comanche fought and hunted in pairs with tactics similar to a modern L maneuver, where one shooter advanced directly toward the target, while the other flanked. So, you have increasingly accurate fire incoming from one direction and fire incoming, on an arc around you.
I’m from Oklahoma south eastern to be exact and we have some of the best Native American bow builders around very fascinating I think the narrator said the name of the wood used for the bows wrong he said “Ossage” when it’s called osage orange or called bois de arc which is a tree that grows here and produces big horse apples. The old timers called the wood off the trees iron wood . I can see why the native Americans used the wood for there bows. We use the wood here for our barb wire fences and it will last a life time
I knew what he meant. I'm sure most people would figure that out. Bois de Arc is not uncommon in much of N. America. I always wanted to craft an Osage bow, but they are a bit tricky because you have to work around knots in the wood sometimes. But when you're through, I'm told you will have an outstanding bow, comparable to bamboo. Mine are all hickory and red oak.
@@krono5el here's an idea of the landscape for you: at one point, before the western expansion of the US and the plains indian wars, before mass predation even by natives had lessoned the population, the American Bison/"Buffalo" population used to be one massive herd that had a circular migration pattern across the entire central plainsland of north america. make the stampede scene from the lion king look like a small family gathering in comparison.
This was a fantastic video, not just for the advancement in experimental archaeology (HE NEEDS TO PUBLISH HIS FINDINGS, BY THE WAY), but also to show that Lars isn't swayed by the prejudices so pervasive in the most vocal of the archery community. Well done sir!
I don't think there's any credibility for most vocal archery community after Chadiversity and the boys destroyed them last year on "you can only shoot from left side" issue.
@@endlessnoodle3056 Correct. And it was Lars's videos that made me buy a budget horsebow and try for myself what works best for me. I was really tired of that sport bow protective gear etc thing. Now I just pick my bow, put the string on, take a handful of carbon fiber arrows that don't fit the style of the bow at all (but who cares - they are very forgiving when u don't hit the target), go out and have fun. No need for arm protection, finger protection, expensive target stands. Bet that bow gets more use than most in an archery club.
Yeah his narrarator's claims on history are a little dicey though. Its been brought up in the past and I hoped he'd steer away from that approach going forward but I'm still getting a whiff of sensationalism off this
I'm a mounted archer but eveything I do is bast from Mongolian style mounted archy. Now that I know more about the history I definitely want to try that pinch draw and some of the other stuff in this video. You made my 3 awrows in 14 seconds look really slow compared to your 3 awrows in under what seems like 3 seconds and that makes me want to make my self better. Thank you!
Lars is the greatest living archer. I always wanted him to look at the archery styles of Native Americans. No surprise that he exceeded my expectations, it's the natural thing for this man to do! Looking forward for more to come! Thanks for sharing your great work with us, your achievements are beyond exceptional in quality and dedication. PS Among the few surviving cultures that still use archery on a daily basis to do their hunting, there are the Hadza people of Tanzania, an absolutely fascinating, inspiring group of people. I'd love to see Lars meet up with these folks.
@@Massivemeat11 there were very likely dozens maybe even hundreds of archers greater than lars in history that are either undocumented or have attained feats far too great to be believable
@@SCP--mw7tx countless thousands... this video itself mentions many. Imagine people pulling off these shots in the heat of battle. Life or death. Think of all the warriors of rome, greece, japan, europe, the middle east..
@@SCP--mw7tx That's why its such a great thing that Lars is bragging this, because now we can go and re-review books that people used to dismissed due to almost mythological aspect archery as written on historical contemporary pieces.
Dodging 1 arrow and watching for the others would be difficult enough, but that is assuming there is one archer shooting at one target. Think about what it would be like to have a hunting or war party each firing those arrows at multiple targets at the same time. Where would you look, which way would you dodge? Imagine a distraction to the right and 5 archers hidden in the bushes to your left and center. A skirmish could be settled in less than a minute.
I was watching this video casually and suddenly got my extra attention, when the arrow hit the tip of another arrow. And hitting both the eyes of the target accurately, and the arrow into the gun barrel! Wow wow and just wow. You are definitely finest archer I have ever seen.
And he is not truly aiming. Most of this was shot while holding the bow low. Including the keyhole. And the arrow went straight after passing the keyhole. In another video he explained how it was very easy for him to hit a keyhole, but he found out how hard it is to make sure the arrow continues straight after that instead of deflecting off one of the walls.
@@ca1498 thats true, he fires without aiming and accurately into the target. Myth in bow and arrow tales are coming true. He have revive the ancient bow and arrow culture and cherishing himself and others in it.
@@ca1498 That depends on your definition of truly aiming. From what I've learned, if you are "truly aiming" down the shaft of an arrow, you're often taking too much time to line up the arrow with the target, and ultimately becoming a slave to that form of aiming. Whereas if you simply look at the target and become practiced with your body automatically shooting the target you're looking at, in my opinion, that is truly aiming. Because your body knows what it's doing, you are not becoming a slave to looking down a shaft and waiting a few to several seconds to make sure you've got the right aim, seriously handicapping yourself by not believing in yourself and your own body to do what you're telling it to do.
"Do you know what Comanche means? It means enemies forever" "enemies with who?" "everyone" "you know what that makes me?" "an enemy." "no. It makes me a Comanche." Hell or High Water
Lets not forget, ALL Native Plains Warriors horse Tribes were great archers not just the Comanche. They all lived relatively the same life style. Even other tribes were just as fierce and skillful with their bows. But...thanks Lars, I always enjoy your hard work.
What's wrong with folks, that have such aversion to admitting that... More offen than not, someOne. Some Clan. Some team. Some sect. Dome lineage. Are just 'freaken' better at "something", than everyone else. It's life on Earth. Existencial.
Good point, but the Comanches were known to be the most cruel and warlike, even exceeding the Apaches. So they gained more notoriety - for good reason.
It was their mastery of the horse which set them apart. You should read the book- the other plains tribes don’t come close. Their entire culture revolved around war, much like the ancient Spartans. The other plains tribes weren’t that way. They all had art and culture. The Comanche had war. Everything in their society revolved around it. So, they lived similar lives, but also radically different lives. Much like how the ancient Athenians and Spartans were similar, but led very different lives due, in large part, to their opposing ideas of martial ideology.
@@fujikoalfonso7448 For sure! It's almost like a lot of the native tribes came from Asia in the first place... S. C. Gwynne wrote a book about the Commanche called Empire of the Summer Moon. He actually says that they rivaled, if not surpassed, the Mongols in terms of raw horse bowmaniship. There were many more Mongols, yet the Commanche conquered (from the other plains tribes) an area from deep into Mexico, up through Canada, and then from the Mississipi to the Rocky Mountains. Obviously his comparison to the Mongols is speculative since they never met in combat, but it certainly makes one wonder.
@@patrickdewhurst3378 The Comanche along with their Kiowa allies were said to have raided deep into Mexico and might have seen monkeys and parrots.The raiding parties into Mexico could have lasted up to a year. The Mongols conquered countries and cultures on three continents from the back of their small steppe ponies using their composite bows. The Huns did the same centuries earlier from China into Europe. The nomadic Scythians were famous for fighting from horseback and using archery. It seems that the horse archer created a huge impact throughout history. Native Americans of the plains were no exception , adopting the horse introduced by the Spanish dramatically changing the way they hunted and waged war.
My high school history teacher told us that the Commanche braided a loop in the horses mane, to help support them when they hung down on the side of the horse. Allowing then to use both hands to shoot from under the horses neck. Not sure how true this is but it's something to think about.
The braid seems plausible for decorative or status purposes but shooting under the horses neck is rarely a good idea even with full body control. Seems like a trickshot they would do for showing off when hunting animals becomes mundane.
They actually tied a leather strap to the saddle (Spanish style small saddle) allowing them to hang off the side of their horse and shoot under the neck. This was done because you could not see them riding the horse and the horse provided protection. This wasn't done for hunting but rather for warfare, and the Comanche were known as the very best at horsemanship and archery in this manner. There was no "close one eye" as is done today, but rather going full speed and firing arrows one after another where arrows were fired within less than a second of each other. The Comanche never "showed off" as there was no purpose to this. They were a culture of warriors, they were to be feared and respected.
Have you ever considered how many times he filmed that one shot? It’s like guys who do a bottle flip 100 times and then show you the clip of the one time it actually works.
@@shallomn4746 I can replicate a perfect 3 point basketball shot. The question is if I can do it *consistently* . How many archers, do you think, could *consistently* even just hit a moving target? 1 in 5? 1 in 10? It does matter. Because someone who hits auch a shot 100 times in a row, is good. Someone who hits one shot out of 100 is just okish.
I always say that nothing is impossible. Especially for warriors as fierce as the Comanche were! People have to keep in mind that this was a way of life for these people. They practiced all the time, hunted, and went to war with the bow and arrow! That's why they were some of the best of the best with them.
You know seeing how easily someone who dedicates the time to home archery can get 4-5 arrows in the air at the same time really makes me think back to the battle of Thermopylae the sun wasn’t just blotted out because of the sheer amount of archers but the fact from their vantage point each archer could probably get 6-7 arrows in the air before the first hit combined with 100k-200k archers and over a million arrows were in the sky at moments
I recently moved near an archery range. I bought an old 1980s compound, it was cheap and my size (Im very tall). All the archers at the range have so much gear, yet Im there barehanded with no sights just learning instinctively
@@SveaArrowsSweden Let's be real though, Lars looks like a 50 something office accountant. not exactly built for war. And not all war bows are 160lb in draw weight. an 80-90 lb draw weight bow is already considered a war bow, some even say a 70lb bow counts as one. with those 2 factors, I could imagine a really skilled archer in the past could probably shoot real fast like this.
@@PatrickBergersen Well, right out of the gate they say the Comanche were one of the main reasons the Spanish never conquered North America and that is just absolute nonsense. By 1743, when the Comanche were being noted as being in what’s now Texas, the Spanish were already established in North America. And it’s pretty much the same from there. Just completely bs history.
Lmao what? What is all the hero worship in the comments. Yes he is skilled but any bow that you can draw with a pinch grip isn’t going to be killing anything with that low of a draw weight. Besides Maybe the plastic bugs he was shooting
1:13 - 1:19 1:31 - 1:36 I love how we can see your draw hand at a more relaxed pace and also when you play it back in slow-motion; which fingers are holding the arrows and such. Some advice I've gotten is holding the arrows with the middle finger and thumb while using the forefinger to guide it, and with the cradle/curled middle finger on the nocks with the thumb on the other side then it goes right onto the string without having to rearrange the forefinger. At least that's my experimenting for now based on some other archers' advice, I've been paying a lot of attention to the draw hand with this content
Maybe the initial skepticism of some regarding Comanche archers is simply that there are no living eye witnesses or GoPro videos of buffalo hunts. Thank you, Lars, for verifying the skill of these warriors of the past for those who live in the present.
@@Abhi-by2cq Thanks! It's pretty much what I actually do. But Lars is on a complete different level that I don't see me able to reach any time soon, LOL.
I watched this right after watching the new predator movie Prey. Whoever was in charge of training the actors and fight choreography did their homework. The Comanche fighting style and archery was very well done and captured for the film. I would love more archery videos on the first people of the Americas. :)
@@ghostdog2898 Really? I understand Hollywood doesn't get everything correct but from observing this video and seeing Tabee's fight scenes from Prey, somebody on set did a decent job with choreographing the fight scenes. Left around the bow, fast reflex shooting at both close and long range. The film displayed many of the elements we're seeing in this video. I believe the film did a decent job displaying the fierce warriors of the Comanche. I'm just giving credit where credit is due dude.
@@DrRoo91 There's even a couple of Native archers on UA-cam that are pissed about it. There's plenty of pics of Comanche with bows, books describing the shooting style. So they(movie) got lazy.
@Ghost Dog I've watched the videos I believe you were talking about. I don't think they're pissed off, but they're definitely disappointed. Primarily on the grip of the bow and string. There were moments in the movie where the bow draw and string grip were incorrect to the Comanche archery style. I do agree that the fight choreographer should've done more homework on the style. I love it when movies add little and authentic details. It makes it a little bit more believable. I will stand by and defend that the movie did display the Comanche reflex shooting. Even though the grip was incorrect, it was cool seeing Tabee going toe to toe with the predator.
Love how this fits into an old philosophy of learning, childish experimenting. Often we logic or reason out possibilities, but here Lars tries anything he can despite the doubt. When the video references the JRE podcast that inspired the subject of this current video, I realized the guest was a normal intellectual, I don't have anything against normal intellectuals, it's just that they tend not to experiment and often wait for others to test anything out. The guest argues how myth is possible only after seeing possible evidence, from which Lars thought we should actually test this out. I'm also upset, cause his earlier videos were why I started, and stuck with asiatic shooting of same sided shooting. But I'm only one year into it, despite almost shooting daily, I know there's still more to learn. I'm glad that this video is a lot more clear about the shooting style compared to his earlier videos.
It's easy to be an academic, read a few books and listen to a few talks. But it is harder to be a scholar (a la warrior-scholar), or even more difficult, a natural philosopher.
3:16 "the comanche were the best light cavalery in history" This is a very american-centered statement. What about the mongols? They steamrolled nearly everyone with mounted archery from -500 to 1500
it's not "light cavalery", 60 arrows, an armor, a shield and a sword was caried by mongols. comanches was half naked on horses! that's light as you can! ;-)
there are not many successful light cavalry that come to mind, other than khalid's mobile guard, and as someone replied, mongols horde, not only come in large number, they were also heavily equipped with chinese technology and the one spread the gunpowder from china to europe
It's a difficult comparison to make. I'd say, around the time the Comanche encountered european colonists, cavalry in general had become a bit uncommon. More importantly, armour had become more rare because gunpowder weaponry made all but the most powerful and specialized plate kind of useless, so soldiers at the time wouldn't typically be armoured anymore. This is important because the bows of the Comanche were comparatively weak. 55 pounds is perfectly sufficient for hunting animals or fighting unarmoured opponents, but it's nowhere near the power of medieval warbows which ranged from anywhere between 2-4 times that. European ranged combat had spent a millennia specializing in putting out more and more power and the cost of speed in an attempt to keep up in advancements in defensive technology. When the firepower eventually just overtook the armour by so much that the armour was ditched for good, it left the europeans somewhat vulnerable to lighter but faster ranged attacks. In that regard, the Comanche who had specialized in speed shooting more than anything else arguably got a bit lucky because their conflicts with the colonial forces just so happened to fall into the time frame where strategies like theirs had suddenly become effective again.
Difference here is that the mongols had a lot more advancements over everyone in warfare compared to the Comanche whom was after, but their skills rivaled their equipment. Doesn't change that the Mongols was the biggest force to be reckon with and lowered the population than any other war we know.
I remember people picking Lars apart online. They thought he was a joke. To see him now getting his just do is amazing. He is an incredible talent and his skill is unmatched. The technique they laughed at is now ancient, and proven.
Wow, this was amazing! Years ago I learned archery, but nothing like this! I happened across this video as part of my search of Balearic slingers, which I am also fascinated by! Thank you, I am very keen to learn more!
I don't get involved too much in what now is "modern archery culture." I have followed Lars for a few years and admire his skill and dedication... I am a mixed-race Kiowa/Commanche, and our family traditions of shooting a bow are exactly as Lars has outlined them in this video. I think it's odd that so many believe these skills needed to be "rediscovered" or learned when there are plenty of traditional archers (I thought?) out here shooting this way...It is the way I shoot and was taught to shoot, among others... Thanks, Lars for making this more understood for those out of context with traditional shooting...
Very cool info. I was imagining that there must be some native practitioners left. If only the European settlers etc and the Natives could have coexisted much more than they did. There is probably enough land to share still. If not for the greedy oligarchs...
Makes you think about how history would've unfolded if the Vinlanders re- introduced horses to north america circa 500 years before the spanish came? The natives would've had centuries to reinforce and diversify horsemanship. Alas, the settlers of L'Anse aux Meadows never brought a breeding stock of their famous islandic horses for the short time they tried to get a foothold in the new world.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 To say nothing of how that would have boosted the development of their culture, society, and even technology. Horses would have been a major driver for more trade, larger empires, and possibly agriculture.
@@4Leka Some had agriculture, not only in south and middle america, but also north america. The Mississippian/Cahokia Culture had corn and beans. But yea, the exchange of ideas and tech would've been much greater. There were north american tribes who worked native copper and the Tlingit even forged iron (which they foraged from asian shipwrecks on the west coast). Those techs might have spread over the continent. Also the major military advantage of the Conquistadores wasn't necessarily firearms (although it did help), but cavalry, especially since the natives had no experience in fighting against mounted enemies. All this things would've changed with horses introduced in 1000AD. I estimate the colonisers wouldn't have been able to conquer the north american hinterland, just the soon to be uninhabited coast (because of the diseases they brought).
Honestly, I understand how he's doing almost all of this... except the aiming part. I shoot arrows myself & I always have to pull them up to my face so I can look down the arrow to see where I'm aiming. They don't even pull the arrows close to their heads & they're crazy accurate.
These two need to really team up for a couple of episodes. Lars' experience with all of the different methods of archery and Joerg's experience with making bows could be one of the deadliest combinations of humans across human history.
As a comanche descendant, this makes me extremely happy, im so glad they were able to find a way to recreate how they shot. Short osage would bows, flint and later iron tipped arrows, and the ability to shoot in almost any direction from horseback, even under the neck of a horse, made them the most feared riders throughout the plains, and are one the major reasons the Spanish stopped advancing north, and the Americans stopped advancing west. Truly The Horselords of The Plains.
We of the archery community absolutely adore this man for being creative. The only people who hate him are the armchair archers who adhere to strict MODERN archery and can't see past their blinders. This is what archers should aspire for, not modern practices that don't require the amount of skill Lars has.
I suspect that would be easy for him, haha. Would still be cool to see. I think the hardest part of Ulysses' trial was the stringing of the bow, which took great strength.
When I was a kid I used to run around with my bow and the arrows in the bowhand so I could shoot them faster, noone ever thaught me anything I just had to figure out how to shoot a bow myself. I was never that fast but it came as a natural way of using the bow. In many cases the best way to learn something is to learn by yourself experementing, then you don't get trapped in a one frame of mind of how something should be done. I also tried to hold the arrows, three at a time between my drawhand fingers, but I was not strong enough to grip the long wodden arrows like that.
"Comanche archers were the only archers in history who could easily defeat firearms, but how did they do archery?" a bit too bold of a statement What about the Manchus who conquered China, when the latter was using lots of gunpowder weaponry? What about Crimean Tatar light cavalry (including archers) who had their fair share of victories over gunpowder countries such as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia? Great video nonetheless, didn't know about Comanches being able to hold against gunpowder weapons for so long. Will definitely look into it more.
It’s another Lars claim that makes no sense. He’s a great trick shot, but he’s not a great historian. And similarly his claim that he reinvented archery with holding arrows in right hand shooting off the right side of the bow is also all nonsense. Many people have been doing that.
@@AmateurCaptain He did reinvent it though. I do not think he claimed he was the first one to reinvent it. If no one showed you how then you have to come up with something on your own. I am not going to call him a liar based on nothing. Also, the man barely speaks english. There are bound to be things that are not properly conveyed.
Lars has not won many friends in the Traditional Archery community, by the bragging about so called rediscovering skills, which many people practice every day, he has skills, but this has tarnished them badly. Its like learning some tricks with a ball, then saying you have rediscovered football.
@@Frendh no he didn't, common practice across many Archery traditions in Eastern European and Turkish Archery, these claims are why he is a joke to those who practice in these Countries.
@@LOFIGSD I am not going to stop you from calling him a joke and generally looking down on him. I look up to Lars and Armin. I do not see any others around who are worth my time.
The dedication of this man to learning what has been lost to time, and conquest is admirable. Comanche were rightly feared as warriors, and I'm glad to see them being depicted here as the proud and skilled warriors they were.
They were amazing warriors until Jack Hayes and Samuel Colt got together!
Yes but it's also really sad that the Comanche people have lost the knowledge about how to do it.
They were also the scorch of all surrounding neighbouring tribes, a band of murdereous gypsies living of raiding andcp slavery, nothing to be proud of. Beautiful lifestyle though.
It would be even better if we hadn't genocides them like living plague. Bit good depictions of natives are pretty good
@@will9134 yea but the texas rangers were trained in the ways of Comanche before that they didn’t have the success they had the texas rangers were basically white comanches with a fast shooting pistol
As a native American I am glad to see it not lost to time... thank you to all who help make this video.
Its amazing seeing how well the native american style of archery unserstands human biomechanics.
@@cpt.honklerof3rdkekistania400 Seeing as they had other technology that some may call primitive, It hat to be built around the people. The shorter bow and lance works extremeley well for light cavarly.
Also In the world wars cavarly were given carbine rifles as they coud not use a full rifle effectively on horseback.
@@vivian3371 everyone is a native to somewhere
the north american natives were hunters like no others in human history, their level of outdoorsmanship and survival craft remains unmatched.
@@LIONTAMER3D Lol, fan boy mutch? They are no better or worse than anyone else.
This dude is a living legend.
Are you saying you all can't shoot like this? ....if not then it's a pity...only takes practice and dedication and discipline and you could do it too
@@jareth7456 I think the reason he refers to Lars as a legend, is bringing up, popularizing and promoting this style of Archery which we most likely would not have known about if Lars had not put in the effort and work to show how impressive it is despite all criticism against him
He is the king of the bow, and Isao Machii is the king of the blade.
He really is the goat of restoring historical shooting techniques
he's a skilled trick shooter, but he trying to a be a historian, parkour jumper, or anything else, is just cringe.
In the 70's I got to see a Native American archer shoot 3 aspirin that were throw into the air. Hitting all 3 before they reached the ground. I took me 43 years to figure out he was not pulling back the sting but the bow and pushing it at each target. New Subscriber.
If you haven't already you should so upload a video showing what you mean by that. Even if you haven't perfected the technique it would still be cool to see
@@jazzthedinosaur2183 Oooh good point I second that. Would love to see the technique.
I saw a video of a master archer shooting an arrow (I sadly forget what distance, considerable) and hit within a wedding ring attached to a target. Quite a feat with a longbow. Annie Oakley as part of her show would reportedly regularly use a rifle to shoot a small coin flipped into the air... while riding horseback. There are mutants among us. ;D
@Wishbringer7 My Grandpa used to put pennies up in trees and have me shoot them down with a BB gun.
Kids are capable of amazing things and if they are allowed to flourish, become even more incredible adults.
Like Punching and Aiming with is Left Hand, Correct?
I picked up bow and arrows after watching these videos as a complete beginner. Lars is right the Comanche style is an extremely intuitive way to load arrows and shoot quickly. The low and short draw naturally makes you aim instinctively, just as shooting Mediterranean style facilitates slow aiming with one eye. Thanks for bringing this method to modern popularity Lars. It is a really fun way to shoot.
I really respect this historical dig in recreating various bow styles! This one was super cool!
Absolutely awesome. My grandfather was a full blooded Indian and tales about him shooting like this were passed down from generation to generation. Absolutely awesome that he did this video
This sould be a kind of series: looking at less known archery techniques.
100 percent agreed.
Definitely! Combined with an how to - tutorials-series.
Its so hard to find teacher in those techniques, most local teachers teach the common modern techniques.
Its a lot of work for lars, maybe he could get payed via including advertising in the videos ?
(Im not deep into youtubes payment system, but maybe an option to honor the work) ?
now Manchu and Korean style archery
@@sahkogile I don't know about Manchu but Korean would be exactly as it was before modern times. They pride themselves on passing down tradition.
his methods and theories when it comes to history are questionable at times, if not entirely made up.
Fascinating stuff, nice to see Lars on a horse!
You should try this!
Yeah something tells me Lars and horses don't do so well together
yuhhh, mounted archery!!!
Hello! I was wondering if you could make a video on how someone would transport and "have at ready" a bow and a lance simultaneously like Lars shows in the beginning. Trying to wrap my head around it, and it's difficult!
this man is everywhere needed
We also have the stories of Hiawatha of the Onondaga who was said to have seven arrows in the air before the first arrow would hit its target. (A feat that Lars Andersen has already replicated.)
DAMN.
the bow was used to eat & the commanche never, ever went hungry
There was a turkish bowman from early modern times, some centuries ago, who shot the 14th arrow before the first one hit the ground. But the turkish had already different disciplines in bow sports in medieval times. Quick shooting, far distance shooting f.e.
@bastiat but if the byzantines made that claim you'd probably believed it right away.
@bastiat ehe :P
Shared this with my class today and they were in awe. Thanks for this video/exhibition. It was a great way to show how talented the Comanche warriors were.
Having started at early childhood, watching the elders, constantly striving for proficiency, pressed by an overhanging need for survival, and with the epigenetic influence of forefathers, both humans and animals being designed for adaptability, one begins to realise the enormous, almost superhuman, skill the warriors of old attained.
we are like nothing compared to our warrior ancestors. we are like empty shells compared to the skills our forefathers possessed.
very strange to comprehend.
@@steviechampagne The thing is , if we talk about certain specialized warriors thats true, but with modern common people being thought modern martial arts and modern education they are in general probably better at fighting than peasants . If we exclude the fact that people of old day are more survival oriented and vicious. But it's true that if all you do in your live is real fighting with medieval weapons you are better than any person trying to recreate it in modern days in their free time.
@@steviechampagne if your sole measure of success is murdering people with sharp objects then yes, we are hollow shells. It’s cool to think that our society is less about that now rather than romanticising the absolute brutality and disregard for human life back then. I’ll take a nice warm house and a beer from the fridge over that any day
@@steviechampagne you overlooking a huge fact of: our common soldiers today being significantly more proficient with their weapons and tactics than the warriors of old when talking about an army (excluding the romans who practiced constant standardized training much like modern militaries do today). And on top of that, we also have our own superhuman, highly trained, years of combat experience warriors today in the form of special units like the navy seals. Plus as someone else mentioned, practicing martial arts and self defense is really common among the general public. So when looking at historical societies as a whole on average, our modern society is generally probably better at martial prowess, even ignoring the clear technological differences
@@IsThisHandleTaken Can you hunt your own food by making your own bow and arrows? Because most herbivores are faster than us. The Great Plains Indians were said to be able to chase down bison with their own two feet plus maybe moccasins, and they did that for _fun._
Lars Anderson slowly but surely mastering different archery skill and technique to prove he is GOAT!
goat?
Greatest of all time
@@QuantumMech_88 🐐
I mean right. 😆 he’s crushing everything in archery. I can’t keep up.
hes not a satanic "goat". hes a master bowman
As someone who struggles with thick accents I really appreciate the narrator taking over the bulk of the explanation. I am not not an archer but watching these videos make me want to pick it up as a new hobby. Thanks for all the research and sharing of knowledge Lars!
Lars is truly a man of science and practicality. He does not settle with the dogmas but instead searches relentlessly for the truth. And then he takes it one step further and undeniably proves his theories by applying them to himself and other non professional people. What else can we do but applaud and respect this great man. Cheers Lars
I was always fascinated by stories of the Comanches, but thought that stories their abilities with a bow were just fabrications of the real truth. Lars proves without a doubt that those stories were true. It’s hard to believe that someone can be so proficient with a bow and arrow. Wow!
He only draws the bow a few inches, at least in the whole of this video
Wouldn't the arrow only travel a short distance?
Obviously the Mongols are more famous for mounted archers. We know what is possible by master archers who are master horseman.
I supposed you could defeat guns by sneak attacks and numbers, and they hopefully have guns that cannot be reloaded, but other than that, the idea is mostly just hype.
@@gravewalkers Mongols had superior bows though. Comanche bows were basic stickbows not recurves nor hornbows. They aren't very powerful compared to a standard length bows. At close range like he shows, sure they could do some damage. Beyond 20yrds it's debatable. I wouldn't mind seeing some gel tests using his short draw method. Heck even a full draw.
@don't be silly If launching forward then sure but not that much. Many of these shots are being taken sideways where the forward momentum would give no benefit.
@@jameswitts3793 They had no anchor point and chose the draw as they saw fit to the situation. Lars usually uses 35 to 55 pounds bows as the comanche had too. These kind of bows do not draw that many inches, the used wood is strong. As Lars shot, he would kill probably people in 30 yards distance that way, Comanche for sure from 50 yards distance. As the modern comanche tells from the family history it was not unusual to shoot at targets in 100 yards distance. The problem is that people see the arrow coming and dodge it but they had to look for the other 3 or 4 too. Since people rarely wear armor any arrow even from 100 yards distance is possibly deadly but definitely causes a severe injury. The round shield was able to deflect arrows but also simple musket rounds if they did not hit from a 90° angle.
He returned when we needed him most.
What a legend.
Fantastic project Lars! One day we have to make Instinctive Knife Throwing/Archery Mix ,))
Yes! That would be one fantastic collaboration, from two unbelievable talents!
I prefer to use sights and crosshairs with my throwing knives. In fact I exclusively use a 4x scope when throwing knives.
@@yugen you’re awesome!
Already on it brother.
Can you do a video on rock throwing? How well you could defend yourself if you only have rocks? How well knife translates to rock throwing?
Your command of English is great - your modesty and enthusiasm are infectious and inspiring - and the archery coupled with history and cultural lessons are a genuine blessing - thank you so much
I didn't have a clue what to expect from this video, but man, this was so worth watching. This was way more than entertaining or historical info; he just gave us instructions for learning actual, practical skills! Thank you.
I’ve never seen anything like this. What a legend! And no wonder the Comanche were so feared. Such skilful warriors.
also cruel and no mercy for torture enemy
@@Littlewormmm ya every race tortured so what
@@davidm9214 except some Indian tribe didn't attack black people because they darker than him
It also explains how they can fight toe to toe with a Predator without much fear.
@@tristinallen9990 Or interminably, silently sweep up the asylum floor.
After seeing the Video where he shots arrows (and actually hits targets) even around a corner, nothing he does can surprise me any more.
But that doesn't mean that I'm not impressed (in fact I'm very impressed) of that awesome archery skills.
Big respect!
I know, right? That 'I'm going to shoot around a corner' thing boggled my mind. Then the 'I shoot at a line of people and hit the target right behind them' thing. Gah!
Much respect for showing the system behind the legendary Comanche warriors , your methods and skill are also legendary
At 6:04 part of the written passage states: "while for some reason the Indians had trouble shooting conventional targets...". This matches precisely Lars' own students who he can fairly quickly train to hit small objects thrown in the air at short ranges but when these same students try hitting a 2D stationary target at similar range they don't do very well. I thinks this add a lot of credence to the historicity of instinctive shooting in a real world environment.
YEH SHOOTING BOWS IN A WAR IS DIFFERENT THAN SHOOTING FOR HUNTING, NOT MANY OF YOUR ENEMIES IN A WAR WOULD SIT STILL LOL. SO THE COMANCHE KNOW THIS.
Lars is so awesome, when he explains it I am deeply intrigued. His accent makes it all tie together. Archery is a beautiful art!
I respect this man ( warrior) especially for shedding light on my people and the bow skills
I want to practice the bow skills of your great people. Maybe one day I will get on the level of Larz. Or the ancient warriors.
Thank you Lars, probably the best way to honour the memory of these great archers and great warriors. Surely it must put a smile on the face of the descendants of the Comanche. Hard to reproduce their technique with 100% accuracy, but with the information we have this is probably the closest we can get. I think you have also done a service to archery lovers as a whole. Thanks again Lars, great shooting.
Lars may have his critics, but I enjoy everything he brings us. Its amusement, skill, knowledge, and dedication, all combined.
i can't wait for lars to finally dabble in high speed horse archery. he's already got motorcycle drive-by's in, give it some months of dope practice and he'd nail it
Dude that would be awesome
Ive no doubts thats exactly what hes been doing while his editor put this together.
@@misterturkturkle 😂 Lars about to crush the horse archery game. Give him 2 weeks
A few months of dope practice will ruin any man
@@BLACKXARCHERY na. Mans isnt gonna take a few weeks and nail it. Hes gonna take a month or two, come back, and flat out flex cavalry archery.
This channel freaking rocks . Preserving history for the future
Thanks Lars for continuing to challenge the status quo in archery! I love your stuff!
I cant believe he hasn't gotten more recognition. Dude is such a legend. A modern master without doubt
Did you see when he try to do it? Many modern archery communities rebuke his teaching.
OUTSTANDING! Historians will forever be indebted to Mr. Anderson and the others working to recreate these skills.
My father was taken from his family when he was two and put in a orphanage and had never really known any of his real culture, but I have always been interested in Native American people and I am blown away by this story, thanks for the video
As a California girl I spent summers in Lawton and Ft. Sill, OK so I'd learn my heritage. We played w archery as kids but never were taught this style.
I bought a recurve to learn this technique, thank you so much, your diligence and integrity are much appreciated!
Love how excited Lars sounds when he is explaining archery. 😊
Of note, the Comanche fought and hunted in pairs with tactics similar to a modern L maneuver, where one shooter advanced directly toward the target, while the other flanked. So, you have increasingly accurate fire incoming from one direction and fire incoming, on an arc around you.
woah
A half attack
Damn that sounds pretty scary for the receiving end
@@nyalan8385 Yeah, dodging one arrow means being aligned for another.
What’s wild is this is pretty much standard for for setting ambushes in today’s militaries.
As a horse archer, respect to lars for making this video informative, yet still extremely entertaining
Incredibly interesting. Thank you for your dedication to experimental archaeology. It provides great historical analysis.
I've watched this video already three times, and even shown it to my friends and parents! They watched it in awe!
I’m from Oklahoma south eastern to be exact and we have some of the best Native American bow builders around very fascinating I think the narrator said the name of the wood used for the bows wrong he said “Ossage” when it’s called osage orange or called bois de arc which is a tree that grows here and produces big horse apples. The old timers called the wood off the trees iron wood . I can see why the native Americans used the wood for there bows. We use the wood here for our barb wire fences and it will last a life time
AFAIK, osage is quite popular in tradbow hunting community
I knew what he meant. I'm sure most people would figure that out. Bois de Arc is not uncommon in much of N. America. I always wanted to craft an Osage bow, but they are a bit tricky because you have to work around knots in the wood sometimes. But when you're through, I'm told you will have an outstanding bow, comparable to bamboo. Mine are all hickory and red oak.
damn, imagine how beautiful it must have been there when it was just the Ancient Americans before the foreigners.
@@krono5el here's an idea of the landscape for you: at one point, before the western expansion of the US and the plains indian wars, before mass predation even by natives had lessoned the population, the American Bison/"Buffalo" population used to be one massive herd that had a circular migration pattern across the entire central plainsland of north america. make the stampede scene from the lion king look like a small family gathering in comparison.
This was a fantastic video, not just for the advancement in experimental archaeology (HE NEEDS TO PUBLISH HIS FINDINGS, BY THE WAY), but also to show that Lars isn't swayed by the prejudices so pervasive in the most vocal of the archery community. Well done sir!
I don't think there's any credibility for most vocal archery community after Chadiversity and the boys destroyed them last year on "you can only shoot from left side" issue.
@@endlessnoodle3056 Correct. And it was Lars's videos that made me buy a budget horsebow and try for myself what works best for me. I was really tired of that sport bow protective gear etc thing. Now I just pick my bow, put the string on, take a handful of carbon fiber arrows that don't fit the style of the bow at all (but who cares - they are very forgiving when u don't hit the target), go out and have fun. No need for arm protection, finger protection, expensive target stands. Bet that bow gets more use than most in an archery club.
@@lifepolicy The dream!
Yeah his narrarator's claims on history are a little dicey though. Its been brought up in the past and I hoped he'd steer away from that approach going forward but I'm still getting a whiff of sensationalism off this
Lars always amazed me with his archery skills.
Thanks a lot Mr. Lars. I've learn so much from your videos.
he was hitting coins out of the air o.0
Great respect to native warriors, amazing what Comanches could do with their archers on the horseback, this is archery brought to perfection!
Outstanding!
Thank you for this video and the research into the old techniques!
Du gør mig så pavestolt over at være dansker Lars! Du fortjener al den succes, som kommer din vej.
As usual, nothing but perfection from the legend himself.
I swear this guy should have his own zombie/survival/apocalypse movie!
He kinda does ;)
ua-cam.com/video/U1uauGZKX9o/v-deo.html
He’s good. Real good.
yea, so that we can watch him do his awkward leaps and listen to his grating accent
@@gordonlekfors2708 his accent is butter compared to your attitude
This makes sense, there is naturally a lot of technique involved.
But being prepared for the shots, the setup was the key to be faster. Nice.
I'm a mounted archer but eveything I do is bast from Mongolian style mounted archy. Now that I know more about the history I definitely want to try that pinch draw and some of the other stuff in this video. You made my 3 awrows in 14 seconds look really slow compared to your 3 awrows in under what seems like 3 seconds and that makes me want to make my self better. Thank you!
Lars has an amazing forensic perspective on history that transcends the limits of its ability to document human behavior and memory. He travels time!!
Lars is the greatest living archer. I always wanted him to look at the archery styles of Native Americans. No surprise that he exceeded my expectations, it's the natural thing for this man to do! Looking forward for more to come! Thanks for sharing your great work with us, your achievements are beyond exceptional in quality and dedication.
PS Among the few surviving cultures that still use archery on a daily basis to do their hunting, there are the Hadza people of Tanzania, an absolutely fascinating, inspiring group of people.
I'd love to see Lars meet up with these folks.
Greatest of all time bruh
@@Massivemeat11 there were very likely dozens maybe even hundreds of archers greater than lars in history that are either undocumented or have attained feats far too great to be believable
@@SCP--mw7tx countless thousands... this video itself mentions many. Imagine people pulling off these shots in the heat of battle. Life or death. Think of all the warriors of rome, greece, japan, europe, the middle east..
Greatest living archer? In what way
@@SCP--mw7tx That's why its such a great thing that Lars is bragging this, because now we can go and re-review books that people used to dismissed due to almost mythological aspect archery as written on historical contemporary pieces.
2:35 so the first arrow could be gauging your movement or guide you to a trap. where the next few are the ones designed to kill/wound
probably because they new that you can dodge their arrows.
That’s the way it was designed. Because anyone can dodge the first arrow. I teach this to all my students. And talked on it a few times.
Dodging 1 arrow and watching for the others would be difficult enough, but that is assuming there is one archer shooting at one target. Think about what it would be like to have a hunting or war party each firing those arrows at multiple targets at the same time. Where would you look, which way would you dodge? Imagine a distraction to the right and 5 archers hidden in the bushes to your left and center. A skirmish could be settled in less than a minute.
@@westvirginian3102 well in a war example you probably use your shield for the first arrow
@@burnstick1380 True, I was thinking of the colonial period in North America, but if you have a shield then use it.
I was watching this video casually and suddenly got my extra attention, when the arrow hit the tip of another arrow. And hitting both the eyes of the target accurately, and the arrow into the gun barrel! Wow wow and just wow.
You are definitely finest archer I have ever seen.
And he is not truly aiming. Most of this was shot while holding the bow low. Including the keyhole. And the arrow went straight after passing the keyhole. In another video he explained how it was very easy for him to hit a keyhole, but he found out how hard it is to make sure the arrow continues straight after that instead of deflecting off one of the walls.
@@ca1498 thats true, he fires without aiming and accurately into the target. Myth in bow and arrow tales are coming true. He have revive the ancient bow and arrow culture and cherishing himself and others in it.
One word... Fuguson! Nuff said.
@@ca1498 That depends on your definition of truly aiming.
From what I've learned, if you are "truly aiming" down the shaft of an arrow, you're often taking too much time to line up the arrow with the target, and ultimately becoming a slave to that form of aiming. Whereas if you simply look at the target and become practiced with your body automatically shooting the target you're looking at, in my opinion, that is truly aiming.
Because your body knows what it's doing, you are not becoming a slave to looking down a shaft and waiting a few to several seconds to make sure you've got the right aim, seriously handicapping yourself by not believing in yourself and your own body to do what you're telling it to do.
@@thomasdude2082 just remember, he is aiming. Just not the elitist modern day "traditional" way.
Practice makes best. Lars may be the only person in the world to recreate these legendary techniques. Fascinating. Subscribed.
This man’s knowledge and skill & ability about the bow is just invaluable thanks for shearing .👍🏾
"Do you know what Comanche means? It means enemies forever"
"enemies with who?"
"everyone"
"you know what that makes me?"
"an enemy."
"no. It makes me a Comanche."
Hell or High Water
That sounds like one of the quickest, and after watching this video wisest cases of 'if you can't beat them, join them.'
He's alive!!!!
Fool. He cannot die.
@@christopherknorr2895 Fool Even The One Who Discovered The Gravity Dies
Lets not forget, ALL Native Plains Warriors horse Tribes were great archers not just the Comanche. They all lived relatively the same life style. Even other tribes were just as fierce and skillful with their bows.
But...thanks Lars, I always enjoy your hard work.
What's wrong with folks, that have such aversion to admitting that... More offen than not, someOne. Some Clan. Some team. Some sect. Dome lineage. Are just 'freaken' better at "something", than everyone else. It's life on Earth. Existencial.
Good point, but the Comanches were known to be the most cruel and warlike, even exceeding the Apaches. So they gained more notoriety - for good reason.
It was their mastery of the horse which set them apart. You should read the book- the other plains tribes don’t come close.
Their entire culture revolved around war, much like the ancient Spartans. The other plains tribes weren’t that way. They all had art and culture. The Comanche had war. Everything in their society revolved around it.
So, they lived similar lives, but also radically different lives. Much like how the ancient Athenians and Spartans were similar, but led very different lives due, in large part, to their opposing ideas of martial ideology.
@@fujikoalfonso7448 For sure! It's almost like a lot of the native tribes came from Asia in the first place...
S. C. Gwynne wrote a book about the Commanche called Empire of the Summer Moon.
He actually says that they rivaled, if not surpassed, the Mongols in terms of raw horse bowmaniship.
There were many more Mongols, yet the Commanche conquered (from the other plains tribes) an area from deep into Mexico, up through Canada, and then from the Mississipi to the Rocky Mountains.
Obviously his comparison to the Mongols is speculative since they never met in combat, but it certainly makes one wonder.
@@patrickdewhurst3378 The Comanche along with their Kiowa allies were said to have raided deep into Mexico and might have seen monkeys and parrots.The raiding parties into Mexico could have lasted up to a year. The Mongols conquered countries and cultures on three continents from the back of their small steppe ponies using their composite bows. The Huns did the same centuries earlier from China into Europe. The nomadic Scythians were famous for fighting from horseback and using archery. It seems that the horse archer created a huge impact throughout history. Native Americans of the plains were no exception , adopting the horse introduced by the Spanish dramatically changing the way they hunted and waged war.
My high school history teacher told us that the Commanche braided a loop in the horses mane, to help support them when they hung down on the side of the horse. Allowing then to use both hands to shoot from under the horses neck. Not sure how true this is but it's something to think about.
The braid seems plausible for decorative or status purposes but shooting under the horses neck is rarely a good idea even with full body control. Seems like a trickshot they would do for showing off when hunting animals becomes mundane.
They actually tied a leather strap to the saddle (Spanish style small saddle) allowing them to hang off the side of their horse and shoot under the neck. This was done because you could not see them riding the horse and the horse provided protection. This wasn't done for hunting but rather for warfare, and the Comanche were known as the very best at horsemanship and archery in this manner. There was no "close one eye" as is done today, but rather going full speed and firing arrows one after another where arrows were fired within less than a second of each other. The Comanche never "showed off" as there was no purpose to this. They were a culture of warriors, they were to be feared and respected.
Always epic content with Lars. He should get more fame and recognition.
I lost my mind when Lars shot his arrow directly into the pistol gun barrel!
That. Was. Insane!
And through a key hole
Have you ever considered how many times he filmed that one shot? It’s like guys who do a bottle flip 100 times and then show you the clip of the one time it actually works.
@@Arcaryon it doesn't matter, he did it eventually and can replicate it.
@@shallomn4746 I can replicate a perfect 3 point basketball shot. The question is if I can do it *consistently* . How many archers, do you think, could *consistently* even just hit a moving target? 1 in 5? 1 in 10?
It does matter. Because someone who hits auch a shot 100 times in a row, is good. Someone who hits one shot out of 100 is just okish.
I always say that nothing is impossible. Especially for warriors as fierce as the Comanche were! People have to keep in mind that this was a way of life for these people. They practiced all the time, hunted, and went to war with the bow and arrow! That's why they were some of the best of the best with them.
You know seeing how easily someone who dedicates the time to home archery can get 4-5 arrows in the air at the same time really makes me think back to the battle of Thermopylae the sun wasn’t just blotted out because of the sheer amount of archers but the fact from their vantage point each archer could probably get 6-7 arrows in the air before the first hit combined with 100k-200k archers and over a million arrows were in the sky at moments
Arrows blocking the sun is obviously an exaggeration though.
@@valdemar-q7n ight so imagine 75k+ archers each with 4-5 each that’s 300k arrows in the air at one time a tree has an average of 200k leaves
Thanks a lot for all your expérimental bow investigations !
I recently moved near an archery range. I bought an old 1980s compound, it was cheap and my size (Im very tall).
All the archers at the range have so much gear, yet Im there barehanded with no sights just learning instinctively
Can you try mongol horse archery to?
This probably requires much more skill than just few lessons on horseback.
Pretty sure one of his first techniques is the mongol way of shooting.
Yeah, and also try it with a 160lb draw weight..
you can't shoot this fast with warbows, it's mostly just for show, lars bow uses strength you give to teenager or children by historical terms
@@SveaArrowsSweden Let's be real though, Lars looks like a 50 something office accountant. not exactly built for war.
And not all war bows are 160lb in draw weight. an 80-90 lb draw weight bow is already considered a war bow, some even say a 70lb bow counts as one.
with those 2 factors, I could imagine a really skilled archer in the past could probably shoot real fast like this.
Fascinating historical research Lars! Much respect ✊
If by "fascinating" you mean he seems to have made it up...then ok....but I wouldn't call it historical...or research.
@@AveragePicker you are average. Lets see u do something Mr. Picker 🤣
@@AveragePicker what?? Explain?
@@PatrickBergersen Well, right out of the gate they say the Comanche were one of the main reasons the Spanish never conquered North America and that is just absolute nonsense. By 1743, when the Comanche were being noted as being in what’s now Texas, the Spanish were already established in North America.
And it’s pretty much the same from there. Just completely bs history.
Lars is one of those once in an era legendary heroes. If he was alive in any previous era he would have songs sung about him.
Hmmm....what happened to the Comanche?
Lmao what? What is all the hero worship in the comments. Yes he is skilled but any bow that you can draw with a pinch grip isn’t going to be killing anything with that low of a draw weight. Besides Maybe the plastic bugs he was shooting
A “hero” cos he is good at shooting arrows from a bow in a non lethal situation ?
This is so incredible, as always.
1:13 - 1:19
1:31 - 1:36
I love how we can see your draw hand at a more relaxed pace and also when you play it back in slow-motion; which fingers are holding the arrows and such. Some advice I've gotten is holding the arrows with the middle finger and thumb while using the forefinger to guide it, and with the cradle/curled middle finger on the nocks with the thumb on the other side then it goes right onto the string without having to rearrange the forefinger. At least that's my experimenting for now based on some other archers' advice, I've been paying a lot of attention to the draw hand with this content
Maybe the initial skepticism of some regarding Comanche archers is simply that there are no living eye witnesses or GoPro videos of buffalo hunts. Thank you, Lars, for verifying the skill of these warriors of the past for those who live in the present.
I'm sorry to say that, but hiring a lector was perfect idea :)
That was really pleasure to watch, thanks a lot for Your passion!
What do you mean?
@@Serjo777 I think he means Lars can be hard to understand, and he appreciate the narrator.
Daaamn, You keep raising your level to unbelievable heights! Good skills, freaking GOOD skills.
You should try out this type of shooting
It fits perfectly to your style
@@Abhi-by2cq Thanks! It's pretty much what I actually do. But Lars is on a complete different level that I don't see me able to reach any time soon, LOL.
As a Pueblo native in central NM. We have stories of the military prowess of the Comanche. Truly awesome to see the stories validated
Excellent video, keep it up Lars!
I watched this right after watching the new predator movie Prey. Whoever was in charge of training the actors and fight choreography did their homework. The Comanche fighting style and archery was very well done and captured for the film. I would love more archery videos on the first people of the Americas. :)
The style used in the movie is WRONG.
@@ghostdog2898 Really? I understand Hollywood doesn't get everything correct but from observing this video and seeing Tabee's fight scenes from Prey, somebody on set did a decent job with choreographing the fight scenes.
Left around the bow, fast reflex shooting at both close and long range. The film displayed many of the elements we're seeing in this video.
I believe the film did a decent job displaying the fierce warriors of the Comanche.
I'm just giving credit where credit is due dude.
@@DrRoo91 There's even a couple of Native archers on UA-cam that are pissed about it. There's plenty of pics of Comanche with bows, books describing the shooting style. So they(movie) got lazy.
@@DrRoo91 ua-cam.com/video/liHlCRpS70k/v-deo.html
@Ghost Dog I've watched the videos I believe you were talking about. I don't think they're pissed off, but they're definitely disappointed. Primarily on the grip of the bow and string. There were moments in the movie where the bow draw and string grip were incorrect to the Comanche archery style. I do agree that the fight choreographer should've done more homework on the style. I love it when movies add little and authentic details. It makes it a little bit more believable.
I will stand by and defend that the movie did display the Comanche reflex shooting. Even though the grip was incorrect, it was cool seeing Tabee going toe to toe with the predator.
Love how this fits into an old philosophy of learning, childish experimenting. Often we logic or reason out possibilities, but here Lars tries anything he can despite the doubt. When the video references the JRE podcast that inspired the subject of this current video, I realized the guest was a normal intellectual, I don't have anything against normal intellectuals, it's just that they tend not to experiment and often wait for others to test anything out. The guest argues how myth is possible only after seeing possible evidence, from which Lars thought we should actually test this out. I'm also upset, cause his earlier videos were why I started, and stuck with asiatic shooting of same sided shooting. But I'm only one year into it, despite almost shooting daily, I know there's still more to learn. I'm glad that this video is a lot more clear about the shooting style compared to his earlier videos.
It's easy to be an academic, read a few books and listen to a few talks. But it is harder to be a scholar (a la warrior-scholar), or even more difficult, a natural philosopher.
If u need any help brother I teach speed shooting
@@BLACKXARCHERY really, yes.
Welcome to the asiatic community, are you getting any faster?
@@BLACKXARCHERY oh come on Mack lemme take care of this student ill train him well , I'll work his ass off
3:16
"the comanche were the best light cavalery in history"
This is a very american-centered statement. What about the mongols? They steamrolled nearly everyone with mounted archery from -500 to 1500
it's not "light cavalery", 60 arrows, an armor, a shield and a sword was caried by mongols. comanches was half naked on horses! that's light as you can! ;-)
there are not many successful light cavalry that come to mind, other than khalid's mobile guard, and as someone replied, mongols horde, not only come in large number, they were also heavily equipped with chinese technology and the one spread the gunpowder from china to europe
Comanches definitely not one of the best Calvary war was fought much differently compared to all other Calvary eras which had more impressive feats
It's a difficult comparison to make. I'd say, around the time the Comanche encountered european colonists, cavalry in general had become a bit uncommon. More importantly, armour had become more rare because gunpowder weaponry made all but the most powerful and specialized plate kind of useless, so soldiers at the time wouldn't typically be armoured anymore.
This is important because the bows of the Comanche were comparatively weak. 55 pounds is perfectly sufficient for hunting animals or fighting unarmoured opponents, but it's nowhere near the power of medieval warbows which ranged from anywhere between 2-4 times that. European ranged combat had spent a millennia specializing in putting out more and more power and the cost of speed in an attempt to keep up in advancements in defensive technology. When the firepower eventually just overtook the armour by so much that the armour was ditched for good, it left the europeans somewhat vulnerable to lighter but faster ranged attacks. In that regard, the Comanche who had specialized in speed shooting more than anything else arguably got a bit lucky because their conflicts with the colonial forces just so happened to fall into the time frame where strategies like theirs had suddenly become effective again.
Difference here is that the mongols had a lot more advancements over everyone in warfare compared to the Comanche whom was after, but their skills rivaled their equipment.
Doesn't change that the Mongols was the biggest force to be reckon with and lowered the population than any other war we know.
I remember people picking Lars apart online. They thought he was a joke. To see him now getting his just do is amazing. He is an incredible talent and his skill is unmatched. The technique they laughed at is now ancient, and proven.
Wow, this was amazing! Years ago I learned archery, but nothing like this! I happened across this video as part of my search of Balearic slingers, which I am also fascinated by! Thank you, I am very keen to learn more!
I don't get involved too much in what now is "modern archery culture." I have followed Lars for a few years and admire his skill and dedication...
I am a mixed-race Kiowa/Commanche, and our family traditions of shooting a bow are exactly as Lars has outlined them in this video. I think it's odd that so many believe these skills needed to be "rediscovered" or learned when there are plenty of traditional archers (I thought?) out here shooting this way...It is the way I shoot and was taught to shoot, among others...
Thanks, Lars for making this more understood for those out of context with traditional shooting...
Very cool info. I was imagining that there must be some native practitioners left. If only the European settlers etc and the Natives could have coexisted much more than they did. There is probably enough land to share still. If not for the greedy oligarchs...
🤭 Cool
Crazy to think how quickly they mastered horse riding to the point that it was central to their whole culture. Super cool to see all this in practice.
Spanish Conquistadors: "Ah, let them keep the horses; they won't know what to do with them."
Makes you think about how history would've unfolded if the Vinlanders re- introduced horses to north america circa 500 years before the spanish came? The natives would've had centuries to reinforce and diversify horsemanship. Alas, the settlers of L'Anse aux Meadows never brought a breeding stock of their famous islandic horses for the short time they tried to get a foothold in the new world.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 To say nothing of how that would have boosted the development of their culture, society, and even technology. Horses would have been a major driver for more trade, larger empires, and possibly agriculture.
@@4Leka Some had agriculture, not only in south and middle america, but also north america. The Mississippian/Cahokia Culture had corn and beans. But yea, the exchange of ideas and tech would've been much greater. There were north american tribes who worked native copper and the Tlingit even forged iron (which they foraged from asian shipwrecks on the west coast). Those techs might have spread over the continent. Also the major military advantage of the Conquistadores wasn't necessarily firearms (although it did help), but cavalry, especially since the natives had no experience in fighting against mounted enemies. All this things would've changed with horses introduced in 1000AD. I estimate the colonisers wouldn't have been able to conquer the north american hinterland, just the soon to be uninhabited coast (because of the diseases they brought).
As a descendant of Quanah parker i 💖love this. this is so awesome thank you for continuing and passing this knowledge on (shoot fast shoot strong 🏹💘✌️
Never cease to amaze! Thank you Lars..
Lars is not only an extraordinary Archer, but the acting!!!!
I admire Lars enormously.
Honestly, I understand how he's doing almost all of this... except the aiming part. I shoot arrows myself & I always have to pull them up to my face so I can look down the arrow to see where I'm aiming. They don't even pull the arrows close to their heads & they're crazy accurate.
This system seems reminiscent of JoergSprave’s “Instant Legolas” with preloaded arrows and requiring only one movement to draw and fire.
These two need to really team up for a couple of episodes. Lars' experience with all of the different methods of archery and Joerg's experience with making bows could be one of the deadliest combinations of humans across human history.
Brilliant to watch lot of this gets lost in time good to see Lars recreate this
As a comanche descendant, this makes me extremely happy, im so glad they were able to find a way to recreate how they shot. Short osage would bows, flint and later iron tipped arrows, and the ability to shoot in almost any direction from horseback, even under the neck of a horse, made them the most feared riders throughout the plains, and are one the major reasons the Spanish stopped advancing north, and the Americans stopped advancing west. Truly The Horselords of The Plains.
I love watching this man.. I don't care how the archery community feels about him. This man is awesome. Curving arrows.. c'mon maaan!!!!
If the archery community has issues with him it must be borne out of jealousy.
We of the archery community absolutely adore this man for being creative.
The only people who hate him are the armchair archers who adhere to strict MODERN archery and can't see past their blinders.
This is what archers should aspire for, not modern practices that don't require the amount of skill Lars has.
I don’t know a single archer who doesn’t appreciate this.
@@SS-hc6sp I Will look up the vids and link them for you
Curving arrow and a poison tip is enough
Hi again!!
I am impressed! Love this channel!
Can you fire an arrow through 12 axes like the Ulysses’s trial of the axes? Thats a good challenge.
I suspect that would be easy for him, haha. Would still be cool to see. I think the hardest part of Ulysses' trial was the stringing of the bow, which took great strength.
@@TheRogueJedii How about hanging upside down??
You never disappoint, Lars 😁
But didn't they also use nockless arrows? That makes it even faster.
Not always and it depended on the individual, nockless arrows was more of an Apache way to shoot and many used nocks and yes I'm Mescalaro Apache
Most used a flared knock on the string to help the pinch grip
What’s a nockless arrow?
@@eyeofsauron2812 An arrow without that v shape at the end that clips onto the string.
@@gizmonomono So just a blunt end?
Fascinating Comanche history and Lars testing
Love this video!!! I wish I had a good teacher in my town like this
When I was a kid I used to run around with my bow and the arrows in the bowhand so I could shoot them faster, noone ever thaught me anything I just had to figure out how to shoot a bow myself. I was never that fast but it came as a natural way of using the bow. In many cases the best way to learn something is to learn by yourself experementing, then you don't get trapped in a one frame of mind of how something should be done.
I also tried to hold the arrows, three at a time between my drawhand fingers, but I was not strong enough to grip the long wodden arrows like that.
"Comanche archers were the only archers in history who could easily defeat firearms, but how did they do archery?"
a bit too bold of a statement
What about the Manchus who conquered China, when the latter was using lots of gunpowder weaponry?
What about Crimean Tatar light cavalry (including archers) who had their fair share of victories over gunpowder countries such as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia?
Great video nonetheless, didn't know about Comanches being able to hold against gunpowder weapons for so long. Will definitely look into it more.
It’s another Lars claim that makes no sense. He’s a great trick shot, but he’s not a great historian. And similarly his claim that he reinvented archery with holding arrows in right hand shooting off the right side of the bow is also all nonsense. Many people have been doing that.
@@AmateurCaptain He did reinvent it though. I do not think he claimed he was the first one to reinvent it. If no one showed you how then you have to come up with something on your own. I am not going to call him a liar based on nothing. Also, the man barely speaks english. There are bound to be things that are not properly conveyed.
Lars has not won many friends in the Traditional Archery community, by the bragging about so called rediscovering skills, which many people practice every day, he has skills, but this has tarnished them badly. Its like learning some tricks with a ball, then saying you have rediscovered football.
@@Frendh no he didn't, common practice across many Archery traditions in Eastern European and Turkish Archery, these claims are why he is a joke to those who practice in these Countries.
@@LOFIGSD I am not going to stop you from calling him a joke and generally looking down on him. I look up to Lars and Armin. I do not see any others around who are worth my time.
I'm half Shoshone & the archery style I was taught by my uncle is similar. It's also similar to some Cossack archery forms. Interesting.
It makes sense. The Comanche seem to be offshoots of Shoshone bands migrating into the Southern plains during the late 1600s
This is truly awsome thx Lars for sharing and testing results so precise
Love this channel. Please upload more.