Flu-flu arrow

Lore & Background

Flu-flu arrows were and still are used to hunt birds. When aiming at a bird, the archer must lead the bird and release the arrow in anticipation of its travel path. Because flu-flu arrows fly short distances, the archer can easily recover the arrow if the target is missed. Special bird points are used that entangle the bird as it flies into a wire harness attached to the end of the arrow. These arrows often have a blunt point. If shooting at squirrels or other tree dwellers, the blunt point prevents the arrow from sticking in the branch or trunk, making retrieval easier. The blunt points were also used historically: although the first game preserves in England were established by William the Conqueror, the Saxon was permitted to shoot birds and small beasts in his fields and therefore was allowed to use a blunt arrow, headed with a lead tip or pilum, hence the term pile, or target point. If found with a sharp arrowhead, the so-called broad-head used for killing the king's deer, he was promptly hanged. Another author noted that after shooting with bows and arrows for a short time, the archer will marvel at how an arrow can lose itself in even the shortest grass and how a pointed arrow can bury itself about 2.5 cm into a tree trunk or branch, taking a half-hour or more to dig out. For this kind of shooting, blunt arrows cannot be beat; they have tremendous hitting power, do not sneak under the grass as easily, and stand a lot of hard knocks.

Reader's Guide

Flu-flu arrows hold a distinct place in archery for their specialized short-range design. Their primary significance lies in preventing arrow loss: the heavy fletching ensures the arrow stops within about 30 m, making retrieval easy even after a miss. This practicality extends to bird hunting, where the arrow's limited flight allows the archer to recover it quickly, and to small-game hunting with blunt points that avoid sticking in trees. The historical context of blunt points—permitted for Saxons hunting small beasts while sharp broad-heads were reserved for the king's deer—underscores the arrow's role in class-based game laws. In recreational archery, flu-flu arrows are used for children's archery and for a game called flu-flu golf, similar to disc golf, where the player shoots, walks to the arrow, picks it up, and shoots again until reaching a specified place. The legacy of the flu-flu arrow is its enduring utility for both hunting and leisure, valued for its safety, ease of recovery, and distinctive flight characteristics.

Did You Know?

• Flu-flu arrows typically use six or more sections of feathers for fletching, rather than the traditional three.
• Recreational flu-flu arrows often have rubber points to add weight and keep the flight slower.
• Special bird points for flu-flu arrows entangle the bird in a wire harness attached to the arrow's end.
• A blunt arrow was historically permitted for Saxons hunting small beasts, while a sharp broad-head for deer could lead to hanging.

Anatomy & Craftsmanship

The arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile engineered to be launched from a bow. Its architecture revolves around a long, stiff, straight shaft that acts as the primary structural backbone. A weighty, typically sharp and pointed arrowhead is fixed to the front end, while the rear carries several fin-like stabilizers called fletchings. A small slot at the very back, known as a nock, grips the bowstring. Spare arrows are kept in a container or bag called a quiver so the archer can reload quickly. The artisan who shapes the shaft and attaches the fletchings is called a fletcher, whereas a distinct specialist known as an arrowsmith fabricates the heads. Traditional shafts are carved from strong, lightweight woods, bamboo, or reeds, with Port Orford Cedar long regarded as a premium material. Contemporary shafts shift toward aluminium cores wrapped in carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic, or hybrid combinations of both.

Ancient Origins & Global Spread

The arrow's lineage reaches far deeper than any written record, making it one of humanity's oldest engineered weapons. The earliest probable arrowheads, fashioned from animal bone, were excavated in Sibudu Cave in present-day South Africa and are dated to roughly 64,000 years ago. The oldest evidence of arrow use outside Africa comes from the Fa Hien Cave in Sri Lanka, where bone points from around 48,000 years ago were recovered. The oldest confirmed pinewood arrows, bearing shallow grooves at their base that indicate they were shot from a bow, were found in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg and date to approximately 10,000 years ago. The oldest surviving bow, pulled from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark, is about 8,000 years old. In the Americas, archery is believed to have arrived with the Arctic small tool tradition roughly 4,500 years ago. The practice is common to most cultures and predates recorded history entirely.

Engineering Metrics & Shaft Design

Arrow dimensions vary enormously across cultures, spanning from eighteen inches up to five feet, though most modern examples fall between 75 and 96 centimetres. Arrows salvaged from the Mary Rose, an English warship that sank in 1545 and was raised in 1982, measured mostly 76 cm. The shaft's stiffness, termed its spine, describes how little it bends under compression; a stiffer shaft is said to possess more spine. Consistent grouping demands a matched set of spines, and non-center-shot bows require a narrower spine range so the arrow can deflect correctly around the handle during the archer's paradox. Heavier draw weights call for stiffer arrows. Shaft weight is quantified in GPI (grains per inch): a 30-inch shaft rated at 9.5 GPI weighs 285 grains. Footed arrows join a short hardwood section near the head to a longer softwood body, reinforcing the most vulnerable zone while preserving flexibility. Barreled shafts taper in both directions and represent the peak of pre-industrial arrow design, particularly among the Ottomans.

Arrowhead Variants & Tactical Roles

The arrowhead, or projectile point, is the component that most directly dictates an arrow's purpose. Separate heads are typically fashioned from metal, horn, or other hard materials. Bodkin points are short, rigid, small-cross-section tips historically made of unhardened iron; while once thought to be armour-piercing, research has found no hardened examples, suggesting they were designed for extended range or cheaper production. A modern test did show a hard steel bodkin penetrating Damascus chain armour, though archery proved ineffective against the plate armour that became accessible to modestly wealthy knights by the late 14th century. Blunts are unsharpened heads of metal or hard rubber used for target shooting or concussing small game without penetration. Judo points feature spring wires extending sideways from the tip, catching on grass and debris to prevent loss in vegetation during practice or small-game hunts. Broadheads, sometimes with hardened steel edges and two to four blades, served in medieval warfare and remain the standard for hunting.