The Nipawin bow maker’s art

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Dell Johnson came by his life as an outdoorsman and award-winning traditional bowhunter honestly.

A leading maker of wooden hunting bows in Saskatchewan, he is a lifelong resident of Nipawin. He became a hunter at a young age, taking part in an activity that’s integral to the history, culture and livelihood of the area.

For millennia, the bow and arrow were fundamental to the life of the region; they were part of Johnson’s upbringing.

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Northwood Bowhunters is a longstanding archery club in Nipawin, and Johnson is a longtime member. Compound bows are favoured among its members and most bowhunters in Saskatchewan.

One longbow shooter, a traditionalist who frequented the club back in the 1980s, changed Johnson’s life.

“The simplicity of this man’s traditional bow intrigued me,” Johnson said. “It was just a stick and a string. There was nothing more to it. That stirred my interest in trying a longbow.”

Instead of buying one, he felt it would be more meaningful to build his own.

His first bow was acceptable, but far from perfect. Most importantly, it got him his start as a bowyer, giving him an appreciation for the precision craftsmanship and finesse that go into bow-making.

Some of his early works were too heavy, others too light. Some were clunky and bulky, he said.

He fine-tuned his process, gaining elite skills in the materials, balance, weight, composition and beauty that make for an excellent bow. Building is precise work, especially the intricate process of grinding laminations, where the slightest mistake over or under a specific measurement can significantly affect the draw weight of the bow.

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Situated on the ecological line between farmland and forest — an ecozone known as the Boreal Transition — the country surrounding Nipawin has long been a richly endowed hunting, fishing and trapping area.

The black and dark grey soils of the narrow zone that stretches from Manitoba to Alberta are among the most fertile and productive in Saskatchewan. A diverse wildlife population includes moose, elk, whitetail deer and black bear.

Europeans in search of fur arrived in the area in the 18th century. Centuries before that, Indigenous peoples established self-sustaining societies that included intricate trading routes linked to “Kisiskatchewanisipi,” (the “swift-flowing river”) and its tributaries. In more recent times, the river came to be known as the Saskatchewan River.

Stone arrowheads and other stone projectile points unearthed in Saskatchewan date back over 10,000 years. The land is steeped in bowhunting.

“Hunting and fishing were the big thing in my childhood and youth,” said Johnson, whose father was a pilot and flight instructor; his mother was an oilseed processing plant worker.

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“My dad wasn’t a big hunter, but my grandfather and uncles were, so they mentored me,” he recalled.

Johnson’s first archery experience was shooting a common fibreglass bow as a boy. These mass-produced and inexpensive bows stood in a corner or rested in the gun rack of many northeastern Saskatchewan homes, and were part of the recreational life of summer camps. Johnson has memories of going into the bush and hunting squirrels and chickens.

He hunted with a rifle for years, but it was never “quite challenging enough,” he said. A rifle can take down a moose or deer from hundreds of metres. With a bow, the hunter has to be close, usually no more than 50 metres away.

About 35 years ago, he transitioned solely to bowhunting.

“Once you start taking game with a bow, there is no enjoyment in hunting with a gun,” he said. “There is this feeling, when you’re up in a tree stand, of being close to the animal. You can hear it breathing, even smell it. You see its many mannerisms.”

First Nations communities encourage young people to take up archery, and gatherings often include archery demonstrations and lessons. Highly competitive young archers are coming out of these communities.

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In 2022, teenager Kaydynce Taypotat, a member of All Nations Archery based in Peepeekesis Cree Nation, broke a provincial record in traditional archery at a tournament in North Battleford. She was 16 at the time.

Last year, Sweetgrass First Nation’s Lyrik Albert won archery gold at the North American Indigenous Games. It was her first time representing Saskatchewan at the Games.

Ed Bergen, a member of the Saskatchewan Bowhunters Association board of directors and a bowhunter since 1976, noted the sport requires patience and study.

Bergen said the only way to accurately estimate how many bowhunters there are in any given season is by the number of licences sold for mule deer. In Saskatchewan, hunting mule deer with a bow has a specific archery licence. In recent years, the number peaked at about 3,500; it was 3,000 last season, likely because the mule deer population was down.

Bergen estimated there are around 5,000 active bowhunters in the province. Only a small number are traditional bowhunters, but the traditional way is growing.

Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert all have a so-called “primitive weapons” areas nearby where muzzle loaders, shotguns or bows can be used, he said. There are many bowhunters in the cities, but smaller communities tend to have more per capita.

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Bowhunting requires ongoing practice and diligence in order to maintain form and technique, Johnson said.

“Traditional bowhunting takes archery to another level.”

While Johnson is dedicated to longbow hunting, as a bowyer he has not restricted his builds to longbows. He has crafted all of the various kinds of wooden bows, including one- and three-piece recurves, three-piece longbows, and two-piece takedown bows.

“I love the simplicity of a longbow and how it looks. It has that nice ‘D’ shape when you pull it back. It’s a graceful looking piece of equipment. The beauty of traditional archery is that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve done it, you’re always improving, always working at being 100 per cent.”

Johnson gets requests to build bows for others, but he also builds individual bows to hone his building craft and his archery skills, often using a new bow to hunt with or in target practice before selling it and building another.

Custom bowyers are a rarity in Canada, but there are many in the United States, where traditional bowhunting is much more popular.

“A lot of people don’t see the value of a crafted bow,” Johnson added. “It’s a niche market here. Not everyone can look at a handcrafted wood bow and think of it as a piece of art. They just look at it and think, is it functional?”

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Love of the craft inspires and drives his bow making. Many of his bows have ended up in the hands of members of the local Northwood Bowhunters. The club’s bow rack is filled with bows built by Johnson. Younger hunters especially enjoy shooting with that traditional equipment, because of the challenge, he said.

“Shooting traditionally definitely brings the fun back into archery.”

Being a bowyer is a lot like being an artist, he added.

“You have to have an eye for symmetry, and understand how a bow looks, the finesse of it,” Johnson said.

“I’ve been particular about the things I make and built, fussy about it. If I’m going to be selling it, I want it to be as good as it can be.”

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