how to throw a bola?

[forrestdweller]

as already mentioned: i'm travelling since ca. 5years now. during this time i came across quite a few opportunities to get an animal for the pot(! only where it would be allowed(feral animals) or absolutely neccessary for suvival!! i'm NOT talking about poaching!!!) when i was bushwalking, but sadly lacked the weapons for hunting. which made me looking for something small enough to be carried around at all times without getting suspicious looks at airports or from other walkers.one of the options i'm considering is a bola; to be exactly the three-weighted version still in use in patagonia. making one is easy: take 3big nuts(ca. 60gram apiece) and tie them together with cord. my casting technic- after a picture in a book i got in my long-ago youth, showing some patagonians on horseback. the same method is used in some movies as well: "a man called 'horse' "pt2/ "police academy" pt6) is to swing it (counterclockwise) around my head before releasing it. problem: it takes a few second to get enough speed. means your prey might get alerted and be away before you release...
has anyone hunted with bolas and can enlighten me- my search through the net+books was rather fruitless...

thanks!!!

 

[Graham_S]

*Mod hat on*
Strictly speaking, in the UK Bolas are illegal, as the come under a list of banned weapons.

 

[TeeDee]

From this thread ;- http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45644&highlight=hunter+gatherer

You'll see we mucked around a little with a variety of impro hunting weapons , one being the bola.
From my experience , if your aiming for a straight ahead 12 0'clock target you want to be releasing the bola at around the 10 0'clock position ( or 2 0'clock depending on your 'handy-ness !!) for it to have a hope in hell of hitting the right target.

In terms of swinging it and alerting the Prey , I 'think' you want to be approaching the target with the bola hanging down by your side and then when ready the snap of bring the bola up and acclerating it through a single orbit and then releasing , I don't think you will have time to swing it round and round your head generating lots of power , if you do although you will release a hunting tool with lots of power and even if you release it along the right line to hit where the target was , I think in that second the target would have moved off.
Better to go ( i think , having never caught anything with a bola ) your better going for quicker snap throws and using and relying on it as a weapon of entanglement on larger game ( so not much power required for entanglement ) , for smaller game the weight should be adequate to at least stun the creature.

I think the Bolas main use could be in for hunting flocks of waterfowl or sim . Once thrown it has a wide target area of contact and would be better suited to scenarios where the prey are smaller and bunched up , so I'm thinking ducks etc.

HTH.


PS When i'm refering to 'having a hope in hell' I'm referring to you or I using it , without years of practice , any weapon can be made accurate after years of practice.

 

[forrestdweller]

*Mod hat on*
Strictly speaking, in the UK Bolas are illegal, as the come under a list of banned weapons.

i was aware of that fact! however i said "where allowed" + i've never been to the u.k.

 

[Jaco79]

Recently I made a small tutorial about throwing technique. Hope it will help. It is based on my experiences and experiments with bolas. Topic is realy old, but maybe someone will find it useful.

[video]http://youtu.be/JSPft-I1lIM[/video]