Looks difficult........
Posted on 11/18/2005 9:56:40 AM PST by Red Badger
An ancient weapon that was apparently used as early as prehistoric times to slay woolly mammoths may soon be added to the arsenals of Pennsylvania hunters. The state Game Commission is drafting proposed regulations to allow hunters to use the atlatl, a small wooden device that propels a 6-foot (nearly 2-meter) dart as fast as 80 mph (130 kph). The commission could vote in January and make a final decision in April, officials said.
It was not yet clear which animals would be hunted, but the proposal has the support of people who want to kill deer with the handmade weapon of Stone Age design.
"For me, it would be a thrill to have a deer get up close enough and to throw my dart and hit the deer, bag it like my ancestors did," said Jack Rowe, 45, a veteran hunter and atlatl enthusiast from Sayre.
In Alabama, one of a handful of states that allows atlatls for hunting or fishing, few hunters use them during deer season, said Allan Andress, chief fish and game enforcement officer for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "As you might imagine, it's not something that most people have the skill or the patience for," Andress said.
Pennsylvania Atlatl Association president Gary L. Fogelman, who got the atlatl bug about 20 years ago, said he doubts large numbers of deer will ever be killed with the weapon.
"You've got to know what you're doing, you've got to be good with all the outdoor skills in order to be able to score with this thing," said Fogelman, who publishes Indian Artifact Magazine.
To use an atlatl, the name is derived from an Aztec word for "throwing board", hunters hook arrowlike hunting darts into the end of the weapon, which is generally a wooden piece about 2 feet (less than a meter) long. The leverage of the atlatl allows them to throw the darts much farther than they could throw a spear.
At BPS Engineering in Manhattan, Montana, a leading manufacturer of atlatls, owner Bob Perkins said customers pay US$140 (Ђ115) for a 2-foot (less-than-a-meter) maple production-line model, the Warrior, and a set of five aluminum darts.
Perkins has killed two deer with atlatls and recently killed his first buffalo.
"Atlatls were the first true weapon system developed by the human race," he said. "Comparatively speaking, the bow and arrow was a recent development in projectile technology."
There is evidence the weapons were used more than 8,000 years ago in Pennsylvania, said Kurt Carr, an archaeologist with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Prehistoric atlatls have a distinctive counterweight feature called a winged banner stone that has helped confirm their existence. Atlatl use goes back far as 12,000 years elsewhere in North America and far longer in Europe.
"It takes some practice, but it's like the bow and arrow. I can't shoot a bow and arrow for beans, but I can use an atlatl more effectively," he said.
The World Atlatl Association, which has 380 members, has held an annual accuracy contest since the mid-1990s, and this year more than 2,000 people participated.
"People that are interested in archaeology and ancient history are the ones that seem to be drawn to it," said association president Richard B. Lyons, a retired firefighter from Jeffersonville, Indiana. I.L.
Looks difficult........
Ah, ancient, ancient weaponry indeed.
Very advanced metallurgy in those days. With BCN tips.
Is this PETA approved?
Not without a government license......
I can't wait to plop down 'atlatl' on a Scrabble board...
I think the deer herd is not in a great deal of danger...
Sorta like my rabbit hunting, which I do with a Buckmark .22:
I can make one rabbit last all afternoon.
Triple word score!!!!
He must look like Swiss Cheese when your finished..........
Can't wait for the Carbon Fiber / Titanium model.........
"There is evidence the weapons were used more than 8,000 years ago in Pennsylvania, said Kurt Carr, an archaeologist with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission."
By someone named Casey.
It isn't really any more difficult than learning to use a sling and stone. ( david and goliath, not a sling-shot )
I read about the atlatl about ( carry the 1, minus the 3 ) 48 years ago...
With a little help from my father, I made one, and some short spears...
After some clumsy first shots, I was able to attain a fairly good accuracy and range...
Unlike the sling, which I developed my own technique for..
I never did get the hang of spinning it around my head and releasing properly, so developed a single back swing with a sharp forward release..
Both are fun to "play" with, but be careful, watch out for windows, people and pets..
Practice in a clear area with a target because you will initially get some shots that appear to be physically impossible, and may endanger anything around you..
Range? Deadly? Inquiring minds want to know..........
Actually, these guys allow you to get up close and personal. Hunt Wild Hogs with Knife or hatchet
I don't know about this weapon! There is an old prehistoric saying that states, "When Atlatls are outlawed...." I forget how it finishes after all it is an old saying.
SE Texas was lousy with deer. Up until the day before hunting season they’d stand there in your front yard staring at you as they ate your flowers.
The day hunting season starts they disappear. You *might* catch a little flash of white out of the corner of your eye about 250 yards away as he melts into the woods but that’s about it.
Won’t see another until spring. They know what's going on. You’ll spend hunting season flinging your dart at a hay bale or something.
Anyway, “hunting” isn’t about killing a deer anyway. It’s about getting out of the house and shooting the breeze and smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.
Nobody really wants to fart around and shoot a deer because it’s just a big PITA.
Well, dopey 15/16 year old kids want to shoot them but once you’ve dressed out a few you start looking at it as more work than fun, IMO.
Efficient, silent and lethal but I didn't know there was a wooly mammoth season in Pa. Gotta be a real booger to field dress one.
Along with "...From my cold dead hands....."........
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