Catapult for Hunting

[Onelifeoverland]

Anyone use one?

If so, what for, what's the make and what type of shot do you use.

And crucially if used for hunting how much success have you had?

Particularly interested in hearing from anyone that has used one for fishing too.

OLO
www.onelifeoverland.com

 

[Sundowner]

I'm going to get one anyway, lovely wood pigeons in the field across from my house

 

[Turnip]

use one more than my air rifle these days! mainly rabbits pigeons and squirrels. although not had much need recently with the dog currently off raw food.
they are fantastic tools but as with any hunting, you owe it to your pray to be good enough to dispatch them cleanly.
Never used one for fish, not sure on the legal side of hunting fish with a catapult?

 

[Onelifeoverland]

Never used one for fish, not sure on the legal side of hunting fish with a catapult?

That's a good point and one I'll check on before I give it a try. It had never occurred to me until I just read about it elsewhere.

Anyone have recommendations on model type or what I should be looking for?



OLO
www.onelifeoverland.com

 

[Turnip]

That's a good point and one I'll check on before I give it a try. It had never occurred to me until I just read about it elsewhere.

Anyone have recommendations on model type or what I should be looking for?



OLO
www.onelifeoverland.com

hmm the choice is yours really, I shoot OTT, tried TTF but wasn't for me really, flat bands are great, but tubes last sooo long!
The main thing is to buy 1 decent catty and stick to it until you're good enough. it'll take a bit to figure out what works for you and then you just need to improve your aim, consistency is key!

Wasp slingshots are great for the money.
Proshot have ally cattys or the simple shot slingshots, also great!

 

[Broch]

I have a couple of home made ones (as well as an old black widow) but I only use them for 'plinking' as I've never considered myself accurate enough to use them for hunting.

It continues to amaze me that we can't use bows and crossbows for hunting but can use catapults (as long as we don't use stones of course).

 

[Code 4]

I got the Barnett Black Widow, takes a bit of practice to get half decent with it. I use the steel shot that comes with it. Pros are its quiet if you do not want any attention. They got them on sale over at BBguns4Less. £12.99 and some free amo. Check out the U Tube to learn more.

 

[pieinthesky]

I have a black widow type catapult that I have had and used occasionally for 40 years. I recently bought and then made my own catapult for flat bands.

The flat bands are way way better than the tubes on my black widow, so much so that I now consider the black widow a waste of time.

There are loads of really good (and cheap) catapults available and I would suggest browsing the slingshot forum to figure out what you might like, buy a couple of different models and see how you get on. Also read up on technique - it is a bit like archery in some ways.

 

[TLM]

Why are flat bands better? In theory I see no reason for that.

 

[Onelifeoverland]

I cannot answer that question 'flat vs tube' but what I can say is that i have been reading through some slingshot forums and the majority do seem to favour flat bands over tubes.

That said I have ordered a Barnett Strike 9 which has single tubes I think it's highly likely that I'll also try a banded model if I'm struggling with accuracy or just not getting on with it.

I'm a half decent archer so hoping the technique I've learned there will help me perfect the slingshot.

OLO
www.onelifeoverland.com

 

[pieinthesky]

I haven't a clue why. All I can say is from my reading around the internet, that is the impression I got and this was then confirmed, convincingly, by my own experience.

Having said that, nothing is straight forward and maybe I had poor quality tubes or some other unknown factor was in play. Others may have the opposite experience.

 

[grumit]

I have several catapults from the pro Diablo black widow to a couple of gzk titanium’s Aswell as a couple of other flat band catapults with quick clip bands both in ott (over the top) and TTf (through the folks) had a couple of wasp uniphox which can be banded either way they are cheap worth buying to start with Simon is really good to deal with and balls of steel Sussex are good for steel ammo check out Chris gaffin Catapult carnage zackery Fowler makers of mischief and gamekeeper John. And bill Hayes on u tube for info on how to do everything from tying bands to measuring active band lengths

 

[Suffolkrafter]

I recently bought a TriStar mark 2 from Suffolkslingshots. I've not much basis for comparison but I really like it. I've put some work into 'calibrating' myself with it, and practicing, and I'm starting to groupshots with increasing precision and accuracy. There's a lot to think about with it, and a lot of practice needed.
Service from suffolkslongshots was really good too. I've not hunted but given what it does to my shed door I've no doubt it would take a rabbit down. It is ott.

 

[Robbi]

I have a couple of home made ones (as well as an old black widow) but I only use them for 'plinking' as I've never considered myself accurate enough to use them for hunting.

It continues to amaze me that we can't use bows and crossbows for hunting but can use catapults (as long as we don't use stones of course).

Why not stones ? Never heard that before.

 

[Broch]

Why not stones ? Never heard that before.

Because the law says we cannot stone an animal to death and using a stone in a catapult is classified as stoning

I don't know if it has ever been tested in court but I have no intention of finding out!

 

[Robbi]

Oh ok, interesting point, i'll have to look into that one.

 

[Bazzworx]

I thought stones didn't make good ammo because the odd shape meant they didn't always shoot straight. I think the size I use is 44 cal lead shot which I cast myself.

 

[Onelifeoverland]

What if the stones are weathered like pebbles off a beach and happen to be a very similar size to steel or plastic shot?

OLO
www.onelifeoverland.com

 

[Bazzworx]

I guess they would probably be fine, never used stones myself. Using the same shot every time takes a variable out of the equation and the less variables when hunting game the better

 

[moocher]

Lot people use hex nuts you can buy them cheap in wilkos etc