One gram of aconitine i.m. will stop a grizzly bear before he can run 100 yards. Just imagine, the Aleuts killed 40 ton whales with less than that; it just took a few hours.
I read that aconitine is so powerful, handling the roots of monkshood flowers will make your hands go numb as a tiny amount of the poison is absorbed through the skin. BTW, monkshood is common throughout the entire Northern Hemisphere in arctic and alpine regions. So it would have been available in Asia and Europe as well.
As the Aleuts found, the problem with using these poisons is that entire villages sometimes got sick from eating the whale meat. That’s why most Indians did not use poison arrows to kill deer, elk, etc. In South America the Indians had curare which is destroyed by cooking making the meat safe to eat. Same with poison arrow frogs for Central Americans.
How did our ancestors discover edible plants from among the millions of species? Imagine the shaman, high on mushrooms, telling Oog, his least favorite relative, “Oog, I had a dream. You must dig up that plant, cook it, and eat the roots.” After Oog’s unfortunate demise, the shaman tells the people, “Oog angered the gods”.
I would want something much faster acting than aconitine if I was going to put a spear into a giant cave bear even if it meant the meat would be poison. I want his cave and I don’t want him chasing me around after the spear incident.
Is there a fast poison incident to the midwest US? I don’t remember the native north americans using poisonous arrows like the central and south americans did.
One simply needs to insure being 101 yards away at the time.