Nets, spears, traps, fishing tackle are all too often overlooked.
Posted on 11/17/2012 4:01:21 PM PST by Chuckster
I am considering picking up a slingshot, or wrist rocket for plinking and possibly hunting small game. I thought I would solicit the advice and commentary of my esteemed fellow FReepers on the subject. I am especially interested in your thoughts on the type of device to purchase and on ammo. I am thinking of something a bit more sophisticated than a forked stick, old bike inner tube and rocks.
Learn to use a bow or use traps...cant think of anything small enough to be killed by a sling shot I’d want to eat
Wrist rockets are great.
squirrels be afraid.... be very afraid
Practice. Then, practice a lot more.
http://www.youtube.com/user/joergsprave?feature=results_main
This guy makes every sort of slingshot you can imagine and puts them through their paces. If you want to know what is possible in the area of rubber powered projectile weapons, his videos can show you a lot. Be sure to go back to his earliest videos, he describes the different types of rubbers you can use and their pros and cons.
He also has his own website and forum, any serious questions, ask there. http://theslingshotforum.forumotion.com/
When I was a kid I used a surgical-tubing sling shot to hunt rabbits. Lug nuts were the best ammo.
When I was a kid I knew a guy who was a marvel with a slingshot. I think it takes a long time to get that good tho.
I have one which has the wrist support and it is powerful enough to do some damage. I never did get to where I was real accurate with it.
Get a small crossbow. Seriously. They are silent and can be very accurate. My son takes a lot of deer with his, and it’s light enough for even me to use.
Friend of mine used to use some kind of blunt tip arrow for small game. Worked very well and was short range and painted day-glo orange to make recovery easy. Maybe an archer here can add info.
Possible prepper interest?
I’ve stuck many a flounder with one of those on a rake handle.
And giggin’ frogs! Delicious!
I recommend that you do some research into the Blowgun also. I have used them in the past very effectively. Most people think the darts have to be poisoned. That’s not always true. If you learn on a lightweight blowgun you can ramp up a larger size like half inch or even three/quarter inch. Learn to make your own darts and you will be very surprised and pleased at the results.
As far as slingshots go? I like the wrist rocket and I’ve also made an old fashioned sling, aka King Davids sling. They are a bit difficult to get used to so it’s practice, practice, practice.
I pulled my tip ups out of the garage today. They’re good for pike and bass through the ice during the winter.
Just search thru and watch this guys videos.Yep he is the same guy as on Dual Survivor, but in real life he gives survival classes.
A couple of his videos shows how to mod a slingshot to bow hunt with hits pretty hard with regular arrows!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpiyq02ccQ&feature=related
This is the video of the sling modification.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIcCRJGYug&feature=relmfu
This is something I've been thinking about seriously and for a while. Any recommendations (regarding brand, model, etc.)? I know nothing of the pros/cons of different crossbows. Thanks.
Get a good air rifle. A gas piston rifle in .22 will take small game. A .25 or larger pneumatic rifle will get bigger stuff. Most of the pneumatics (except the large calibers) have barrel shrouds that make them pretty quiet.Chapman’s guide to airgun hunting is on the web as a pair of PDFs. Do a search, lots of info.
Get a pellet rifle. Cheap ammo. More accurate than a slingshot.
Pellet gun.
.177 cal, break barrels are better than pump.
Sling shots are not very accuarte, require a lot of practice, and in so doing your surgical tubing will tear, it does that fairly quickly too.
For last ditch ranged skill, I recommend learning knife throwing, no spin method is best, but it takes a lot of practice. This would not be good for hunting except perhaps rabbits but even then, but it is fun, could be used for self defense, and is good exercise.
A “Hawaiian Sling” is pretty good too. Basically three steel spikes on a four to six foot fiberglass or bamboo pole with a rubber tubing sling.
Ever the Tom Boy.....BTTT. :)
An air gun like a Gammo is quiet, cheap to shoot and powerful. Also fishing tackle, crawfish traps, fish nets, etc.
Most places sell the same slingshot...has wrist support and the elastic part looks like surgical tubing. They work well. We’ve never ‘shot to kill’ with it; but, we have found large automobile wheel bearings make great ammo.
Problem is, hitting the damn things, especially if moving. I spent many hours with one as a kid, and best I could do was maybe within 6". Would not want to count on one to stay fed.
Wrist-rockets will definitely kill small game. Killed a grouse with one once, had a nice meal while backpacking.
Buy more 22 ammo and if ones wants quite us CBcaps or the new CCI quite 22.
Fishing, trapping, and spearing are definitely better more reliable ways of staying fed.
Get a suppressor for the 22.
Marbles make great ammo for a Whammo or wrist rocket. Easily takes rabbits or squirrels without neighbors or home owners assoc. knowing a thing. My garden is one of the few in my area without a rabbit problem. Dogs and cats seem to stay out of my yard for some reason also.
They work fine but the rubber tubing pieces rot quickly.
I can’t make recommendations—I don’t know much about the different brands either. For me, as a lady, one important criterion is that it should be light.
The issue with a crossbow is that the bolts are expensive, unlike ammunition. You do not want to shoot and lose bolts. But they are very quiet, more so than pellet guns, and they can do some impressive work. You would not believe the size of the buck my son got the other day.
Back in the early 1960s BOW AND ARROW magazine did a test on a slingshot designed to shoot arrows. It worked OK, but was not accurate. It was advertized in the magazine for several years.
I watch “The Walking Dead” — I *know* how much damage a crossbow can do. ;-)
Blow gun.
Chronographs are pretty common nowadays, so this is a way shooters could have some cheap and silent fun, and maybe actually come up with a useful survival innovation.
This is a fun wrist rocket. Sold at Dicks or Bass Pro shop for about $8.00.
I use 1/4 inch steel shot usually sold in the same isle. $5.00 for 100.
Sounds like you are talking about Judo points.
http://www.fsdiscountarchery.com/browseproducts/Zwickey-Judo-Point.html
I second that ... with a sling shot - practice - practice - practice is required ... I use 3/8 inch steel nuts as projectiles ... when exercise walking to ward off the occasional dog. The hollow center steel nut seems to whistle at a sound beyond human hearing hearing. Even when I miss the dog is more than willing to retreat even upon my mere appearance on the road... Pavlov’s dogs...
With practice many small mammels or birds could be prey... but it takes a lot of practice ...
Instead of using a wrist rocket, snares are much better for small game. Even so, you might catch one animal or bird for every 20 snares you set up. And then, likely only in season.
This is a big motivator to raise your own domesticated food animals, and why there are chickens all over the world.
Wrist rocket shooting an arrow. It’s call a “slingshot arrow” very effective against small game if you have any stalking skills.
Flounder and crabs in Texas bays at low tide, and if not careful, a stingray.
Definitely better than a slingshot. Crosman brought its old pneumatic pump .22 pistol back with a carbine stock - as part of something called the "Doomsday Backpacker Bugout Kit" with backpack, water bottle, first aid kit, etc. All good marketing fun, but that pistol has been dispatching rats and bagging rabbits since the late '50s.
I haven't used such things since I was a kid. I don't think you can easily take small game with that. There are tons of problems with this thing, but to name just two, its energy is miniscule, and stability of the projectile is nonexistent.
As others already indicated, get an air rifle and/or an air pistol (both break barrel) and two pounds of ammo. Those little projectiles will be pointed, and they will fly the pointy end first, entering the game. Hunting pellets expand, they have some decent energy and they drop a small game (like a squirrel) within 25-30 yards well enough. The barrel has rifling, so the pellets will be spin-stabilized. Air rifles usually produce negligible noise, but some - like Gamo Whisper - come with integrated silencers. I have one, and it is pretty good. The rifle that I have is equipped with a scope (it was part of the kit) and it works pretty well. If you are hungry in the forest, with such a rifle you will have something to eat within minutes. Note also that it will shoot upward, at the bird in a tree, with the same efficiency; pellet drop is small and it's easy to compensate. Outside of cheap low-tech pellets, no ammo is required. This is a pretty useful survival tool.
Finally, here is one more reason to avoid low accuracy weapons. You always want to be reasonably sure what you are about to hit. Primitive weapons require a lot of training; archery, it is said, is an art that one has to study his whole life - and a bow is nearly a point and click weapon, compared to a slingshot. Problem #1 is that you miss your dinner. Problem #2 is that you hit what you shouldn't be hitting. Modern weapons give you far better control over the placement of the shot.
I see you’re in Hawaii? If you haven’t already, check the law—In my state slingshots and wrist rockets are illegal, along with crossbows and throwing axes.
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