hunting with slings

[forrestdweller]

i wonder me if anyone of you has experience in hunting with slings. and if yes- what is your effective range and what is the maximum size of animal you could kill? i'm not talking about legal or not, but use in a survival situation. (and before hunting comes practising ) thanks.


"disappointed by the monkeys, god created man. then he renounced from further experiments." mark twain

 

[match]

I've never hunted with a sling but I think I'd need a lot more practice if I was to hunt successfully. (As a caveat I'll say that it is extremely likely that slings are illegal as hunting tools in the UK, before anyone suggests it!).

At a range of 40-50 feet I can accurately hit an object about 5-6 feet square with a rock of a size of a duck/goose egg. This would probably not be travelling with enough force to knock out/kill an animal that has a target size of 6 feet square, such as a deer, unless I was very lucky with my aim! It would be fine for something like a rabbit, but then I'd have no chance of hitting it!

In a survival situation, If all I had was a sling, then I'd probably use an old Native American technique which was used for hunting waterfowl. They used a sling loaded with a mass of rocks, or a bundle of small darts or arrows. they would stand on the shore of a lake where a flock of birds had settled, and 'sling' upwards over the flock, dropping the load onto the birds. with luck one of them would hit their target, and they could then swim out to retrieve their kill. There are more details online but I can't remember what this type of hunting/tool was called.

However, the best bet would probably be a bow and arrow - potentially harder to make, but a much more reliable hunting tool that requires less practice to use accurately than a sling.

 

[mr dazzler]

Are U talking about the thing with 3 stone's connected by a cord that you swing round your head then let it go and it tangles the animal's legs (bolas) Or the palestinian boy's weapon? The latteer type was used by shepherds to deter wolves etc so they must be pretty acurate

 

[forrestdweller]

Are U talking about the thing with 3 stone's connected by a cord that you swing round your head then let it go and it tangles the animal's legs (bolas) Or the palestinian boy's weapon? The latteer type was used by shepherds to deter wolves etc so they must be pretty acurate

no, i'm talking about the latter one, which is called "sling"(the one used by shepherds)- not the first one which is called "BOLA"(already used by neanderthals). my idea was to have a weapon which could be easily carried in your pocket or your survivalkit(could be a bit tricky with bow and arrow!)

"disappointed by the monkeys, god created man. then he renounced from further experiments." mark twain

 

[Toddy]

I have seen incredible accuracy with one, but it was someone who could hit anything, with anything, and he practised too. He regularly took out rabbits at 50yards, the odd goose and duck too, iirc. Most folks just don't manage enough practise for reliable accuracy.

Are slings legal and catapaults illegal?

Might be a good idea to suss it out because the catapault is much easier to use though few manage any great distance (despite the screaming headline boasts on the packets )

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Pict]

Without a good deal of practice consistently hitting small animals and birds is going to be difficult. I did a good bit of slinging as a kid and it is easy to get very dangerous towards man and large animals with a sling after a few days of practice. That is the 80% accuracy that comes with the first 20% of practice. Refineing that accuracy down to hitting a rabbit at the same distance is going to require a much larger effort.

The power of a sling is truly remarkable. The biblical account of David and Golaith (I Sam 17) is very much within the potential of the weapon. Golaith was hit square in the forehead with a stone and it "sunk in". After knocking limbs off of dead trees and having the stone "sink in" to many stumps over time, I think it is entirely possible.

After David killed Goliath with the stone he drew out his sword and cut his head off. He also walked around the rest of the day with the trophy head. Somehow that gets left out of the Sunday School flannelgraphs.

Be careful if you are new to the sling as your first attempts may go far wide of their mark including a 360 degree circle around you. The last thing you want is to sink a rock into a car or house. Mac

 

[fishy1]

I'm pretty sure catapult hunting is legal in the UK, so I'd imagine slings would be too.

Catapults themselves are fairly accurate at reasonable range, hitting a rabbit at 20 yards is not difficult with practice. Slings are something I'd like to try but I don't really have a decent place to use them all the time.

 

[Matt.S]

I understand there are 2 methods to using a sling (shepherd's sling, not a slingshot/catapault): vertical/underarm and horizontal/sidearm. Apparently the former is more accurate than the latter (easier to hit one's target). Trick is to only use one rotation, so I'm told (I did some reading up on them about a year ago.) Considering their potential lethality to humans, I would expect to be able to take deer up to, say, roe size at least with them, given proper shot placement and an adequate projectile weight, shooting at a suitable range. Probably needs a good crack on the side of the nogin.The authorities might take a dim view of you doing it though.

 

[Pict]

I settled on using one rotation that would start near my right calf, cross upwards in front of the body and swing into a tight spiral over the right shoulder. This move was done while stepping forward with the left foot and cocking the body to the right at release. It is actually very natural to swing like that but the movment is hard on the shoulder and will leave you sore the next day. Due to a serious injury to my shoulder I think my slinging days are over.

I have tried the swing around and around the head method many times but found it very hard to get any accuracy. Mac

ETA - I would love to see a staff sling demonstrated as I think it would be a good weapon to make in the bush and might prevent further injury to my shoulder. It seems like a good tool for anyone who ever played Lacross.

 

[xavierdoc]

It's an interesting thread and I now have a hankering to go and make a sling

However, unless you want a "weapon" for deterring potentially dangerous animals, you could put the limited space in a survival kit to much better use with snares. This is a much more energy efficient way of obtaining protein/fat/fur/bone/sinew in a survival situation. I don't particularly like the idea of snaring, but in a survival situation I could see myself doing it and they are very compact.

 

[Pict]

Xav,

I have made slings entirely out of bark before when I was a kid, it isn't a hard thing to improvise. If you can make or have strong cordage you can make a sling. Any patch of leather or strong cloth will work for the pouch. I would just make a wide braid of bark and finish it with two lengths of bark cordage. They would work well.

I wouldn't hesistate to make one if I was in open country with lots of rabbits. Using a sling in forest would be fairly futile. Mac

 

[gaspode]

further reading ...http://www.slinging.org/

 

[fishy1]

It's an interesting thread and I now have a hankering to go and make a sling

However, unless you want a "weapon" for deterring potentially dangerous animals, you could put the limited space in a survival kit to much better use with snares. This is a much more energy efficient way of obtaining protein/fat/fur/bone/sinew in a survival situation. I don't particularly like the idea of snaring, but in a survival situation I could see myself doing it and they are very compact.

And even when dealing with dangerous animals, you have only one shot and then you need to reload. A pointed stick would be as good for self defence.

Of course, snares are more effective for less effort, however if I was good enough to hit a deer at 20 yards, I'm sure in a day around here I could get 2 or three deer.

 

[Pict]

Snares and traps enable you to multi-task in the bush as they are hunting for you while you are working on you shelter or getting some sleep. Active hunting like with a bow or sling requires you to be there. The two work well together so it isn't an either or situation. You hunt to check your traps and on the way back from them. Set traps and snares, but a skilled trapper will only have a 10 - 20 percent return on his traps. In the bush you have to employ both active and passive hunting. A weapon like a sling could enable you to hunt as well. Mac

 

[fishfish]

"I've never hunted with a sling but I think I'd need a lot more practice if I was to hunt successfully. (As a caveat I'll say that it is extremely likely that slings are illegal as hunting tools in the UK, before anyone suggests it!)."

hunting with catapults isnt illegal so i see no reason why slings should be.

 

[BOD]

I would love to see a staff sling demonstrated as I think it would be a good weapon to make in the bush and might prevent further injury to my shoulder. It seems like a good tool for anyone who ever played Lacross.

I've made them and I also make trebuchets, which are a static form of staff sling, that I sometimes use in my work.

Unlike a hand sling, they are much easier to use but lack the accuracy of a hand sling as the release is determined by the angle of the staff and the release notch.

While you could compensate by changing the arc of your swing of the staff this is counterproductive. As any golfer will tell you as you need to have a reliable swing for accuracy.

You could have 3 or more notches in the staff for various distances and trajectories and this would enable you to use the same swing each time but it would never be as good as your own fingers in getting the right moment for release.

As I recall, in warfare, the staff sling was used as an area weapon rather than a precision weapon and was popular as untrained troops could use it against a massed target.

So forget about rabbits unless you have reliable line to the Almighty and go for herd animals instead.

On the other hand if you were good at lacrosse maybe a hand held variant of the onager (Roman catapult) would work for you but you would not have the range or power of the staff sling.

 

[Pict]

Bod,

Thanks that makes sense. I'd llve to see a video of a staff sling in use. Slings themselves were an area weaon against massed troops. I can't imagine a the hail of rocks from a hundred or so slingers concentrating on closed ranks.

Here in central Brazil we have lots of high places and the ground is littered with round white quartz rocks. I think my shoulder would hold up to filming a video but I doubt I could get really good with one again without doing damage. I vividly remember the sore shoulder I had when I was learning. The injury I sustained much later when a section of tree fell on me. Last year I slipped and fell down a waterfall and now I'm doing PT to correct it. A while back I threw a spear and nearly cried. Mac

 

[xavierdoc]

And even when dealing with dangerous animals, you have only one shot and then you need to reload. A pointed stick would be as good for self defence.

Of course, snares are more effective for less effort, however if I was good enough to hit a deer at 20 yards, I'm sure in a day around here I could get 2 or three deer.

Getting good enough to hit the kill zone of a deer with a sling from 20yards is one thing. Expecting a prey species to keep still while you swing, 20 yards away, is another. I've often been 20 yds downwind of deer, but any sudden movement and they startle. I suspect this would make them somewhat tricky to hit Combine this with the amount of clearance from cover you need around you and it all looks a bit runny. A catapult is childsplay (in comparison!)

I still love the idea of it, though.