Throwing Objects

and let me tell you.......the grass didn't stand a chance.

There was a road just beyond the grass and we had the good sense to stop throwing when a vehicle drove by.

Handle match---Playing card target, 1 point stick, 2 points nick card, 3 points cut card.
Last throw that was closest throw first.
Better if you have at least 3-4 throwers.
If your handle gets broken, gotta keep throwing with whats left of it or forfeit.

Always had bad luck throwing stuff "at hand" at stuff.

Had a ground hog living under my shed at "The Place", was digging up every thing.
Was working on some thing, using a claw hammer, he popped out, so I let loose at him.
Bounced up off the ground, went through the back window of the old camper parked there.
Didn't get the ground, hog, cost me a trip to town, $30 bucks, and a couple of hours time.
So don't do it any more.
Ground hog met his demise with a well placed shot from the Porch gun, H&R .223 SS, @ about 80 yds, or so.

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Originally Posted by Sourdough

I take a fair amount of Grouse with a thrown stone.

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Originally Posted by pocomoonskyeyes

I guess I can see where you are going with this,but I think that depending on what you were doing, would you be experienced enough to throw that variety of objects. I mean if you were hammering something and a Coon came up would you be able to hit it? If you were trimming some limbs with a 'Hawk in camp, and an animal showed itself would you be able to hit that? Unless you're hammer,'Hawk, and stick were very similar in length,weight,and balance , I think you would have a hard time using what was "at hand"
I think what is more important if this is what you intend, is to practice with a variety of things of different sizes, weight, and balance, to improve on hand-eye coordination and accuracy. Kinda' like Sourdough picking up a stone and throwing and HITTING a Grouse. It isn't so much a thing about getting used to the same-same all the time,as much as hitting what you are aiming at. Sorta' like instinctive shooting with a Bow or Rifle. You "know" what will happen whatever it is.
The brain is an amazing thing, No computer can match it when you think about ALL the information it processes AT THE SAME TIME. But really this Skill is no different than all the others we talk about here all the time. They all have one thing in common..... PRACTICE. As Cliche as it is, Practice does make perfect. Just pick up something,anything... pick a target of unknown distance... and throw. Then repeat the whole process on another target.Then repeat.......... and so on. I still think it is a matter of hand-eye coordination,and as much as that phrase is batted around, everyone seems to forget that it is the brain that does most of the work. I think if you do this enough, that ...eventually... it won't matter what you throw,you will be hitting the target more often than not. Even if you just stun an animal it will give you enough time to give the coup de grace.

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This is exactly what I'm getting at. thank you Poco.
One good example is one time this summer we were out camping and I was gathering some wood for the fire. It was a good quiet walk through the woods and I had my axe when a covey of quail ran out ahead of me across the sort of "trail" it was a fairly wide spot, but I missed like a mile when I chucked my axe over that way.
you just never know what you might have in your hand to go do something when food presents itself.

I just thought pro knifers and hawkers could give some good instructions and keep it all in one neat place :D If you get the general method for said item and practice a little, if you can get decent with the item through practice, it becomes "muscle memory" and brain has all the functions wired. We just need a good starting point :)

I've learned a lot in my time here from you guys.
Thank you all for that!

I spent fifty percent of my childhood on the island of Newfoundland. The locals say that on the seventh day God just sat around and threw rocks at Newfoundland because there's about twice as much rock as there is dirt.

When ever a group of young hoodlums spotted another group from a different area during the six or seven months that you could see the ground , both groups automatically started throwing rocks at each other. Since the sky was overcast about half the time we'd try to grab light grey rocks.

I got to where I could hit a beer can with just about any rock under 12 ounces at any distance up to about fifty feet. But at that age I spent several hours a day just throwing rocks. Around the time I turned twelve, my dad retired and brought me to Oklahoma. Dirt clods just don't compare! :(

I am now perfecting my atlatl skills and can already hit the narrow side of the barn (as long as I am in the barnyard!)

My brother worked hard coating architectural building accents. He had a set of kitchen knives in a block. Chefs knifs, paring, steak, and what not. I would go by for a beer or to shoot our bows in the side yard. If it was raining or too dark to shoot our bows he would set up a cardboard target and we would throw those knives at it. You learned the knives pretty quickly.

Him and hi co-worker always had some past time going while waiting for rush hour traffic to be over.

He'd take an arrow that had been damaged and take the tip off. Then he would balance it on the tip of his finger and flip it end over end and catch it on the tip of his finger again. He could flip that arrow at the wall and have it hit "tip end" on the wall and bounce back at him and he'd catch it and then flip it over to his co-worker who would catch it and flip it for awhile and then flip it back to him. They would also kick the arrow back up in the air.

To him it was no different than juggling a soccer ball...

I have seen them do that for over an hour with very few times them dropping the arrow.

Oh. I had meant to say that if I were throwing an axe or bat or stick, I would throw it side arm with lots of spin and aim low. So the stick would travel horizontal and if you aim low can still bounce and hit your target.

When I was back in my 20's I got into throwing knives, but not anymore. What if the animal you hit doesn't die and runs off with your bladed implement still inside? A sling shot might be better; or snares, but I can't see throwing something. What if I miss and it keeps on going into a fast moving river, over a cliff, or into a really nasty briar patch! :cool2:

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Originally Posted by Sarge47

When I was back in my 20's I got into throwing knives, but not anymore. What if the animal you hit doesn't die and runs off with your bladed implement still inside? A sling shot might be better; or snares, but I can't see throwing something. What if I miss and it keeps on going into a fast moving river, over a cliff, or into a really nasty briar patch! :cool2:

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I agree.
It seems that some of y'all are just wanting to throw what ever you have at what ever you see.
Guys go for it.
Man has been throwing rocks and sticks since the beginning of mankind, so it's not your fault, in just some thing we all want to do.
When they invented better inplements, they threw them also, and so one.

I will stick to rocks and sticks, as tools, axes and knives are expensive, and really don't give you any advantage.

I can remember, when I was very young, I wasn't allowed to cross the street.
There was a girl that lived on the other side, so we used to stand there and throw rocks at each other.
Street was wide enough that we couldn't get a rock that far anyway, but seemed like that natural thing to do.

the advantage would be that it's already in your hand. Ever tried finding a suitable throwing rock on a deciduous forest floor in the span of the few seconds an animal shows itself?

Sorry, but I'm chucking whatever I have in hand at the critter cuz I want to eat. And if my fancy expensive machete or axe is damaged by such a simple "throw" then it probably wasn't worth what I paid for it.. just sayin...
Briars and brambles are the least of my worries when I'm starving. And with my superhuman powers of observation, I think I could avoid any fast flowing rivers or catastrophic cliffs.

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Originally Posted by YCC

I think I could avoid...catastrophic cliffs.

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It's a little known fact that smartest animal is a pig. Scientists say if pigs had thumbs and a language, they could be trained to do simple manual labor. They give you 20-30 years of loyal service and then at their retirement dinner you can eat them.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2NEuKgGJyM...eers_cliff.jpg

Been bow hunting since I was 8 years old. Learned to hunt instinctive, no sights, no match stick, just a simple stick & string.

Instinctive shooting teaches you, quickly, how to judge distance (yardage). Doing so, allows you to become proficient with stone, sticks, bone, antler, and spears as weapons.

To be proficient as an adult starting out: PRACTICE! PRACTICE!! PRACTICE!!! :ohmy:

What is the general size and shape of your spear. I could probably fashion a pointy walking stick that would double as a spear. Fire harden the tip and you got yourself a regular possum spit.
What are the general guidelines for chucking a spear?

I think I agree with Sarge about the throwing knife. An animal might just run off and you'd be knifeless, animalless, or both. Maybe not though. I'm not sure my throwing knife would penetrate far enough into a deer to kill it quick enough.

Anyway, in a survival situation a cattail can be used as a spear for frogs, small fish like bluegills, smaller bass and such. We used to spear em alot as kids. We'd just keep walking around the pond and chuck the cattails at em. The cattail floats and you can retrieve it and the fish with a fishing line or rope, long stick, etc. Or just let it float to shore. The fish stick on pretty good and I don't remeber any getting off. If there's no fish on it, just leave it and grab another cattail.

Pheasants are easy to hunt with sticks or rocks, but there ain't any left around here. They usually flush close. You rarely kill em, but they are winged easy. Then you just run up and ring their neck, stomp em, etc. You pretty much gotta be running right after you chuck though, cuz pheasants run fast.

I think a spear outta wood would be good for deer, but you'd probably want a bloodgroove or blade so you get a good bloodtrail. I've always wanted to try that, but laws don't allow it. When I was 15 or so, my cousin and I stalked up on some deer with pointed stick spears and were so tempted to stick em, but we didn't. We'da had em for sure, but by the time we got to em someone else woulda probably showed up and freaked out on us. I've thought a weighted spear would work hunting deer from a tree too.

I don't think a rabbit stick would work too well around here. the cottontails run fast and I usually jump em pretty far away. Unless you caught one sitting and then it'd probably take off as soon as you chucked the stick. It's hard enough blasting em with a shotgun. We chucked a lot of rocks and stuff at rabbits and squirrels as kids and never had any luck. Maybe if they were in an open field, but rabbits and squirrels don't run around in open fields here. If they did they'd all be dead.

While I disagree with the suggestion to throw an axe side-armed (the weighted properties of one end would not lend itself to efficient aiming and flight), I do agree with throwing a rabbit stick in that fasion. The striking surface area is greatly increased, and with practice you should be able to become very efficient with it.

YCC, your stick sounds great! IMO the only practical thing to throw at a animal is a stick. Throwing knives and hawks at anything is nothing more than a entertaining past time, if you do get something your one lucky s.o.b.
The only practical thing to hunt with a stick is birds (throw side arm). Maybe a rabbit if the undergrowth is less than 6 inches, anything taller would stop the momentum of the stick.

That's the problem here w' sticks. Too much underbrush. It'd be nice to hear how people avoid that. Are they hunting in the desert?

ive thrown a hatchet twice in my life and statistically i can hit my target half the time. knives i suck at. i think i was good with throwing stars but i dont remember for sure. dose anyone throw atlatls? i sucked at that too when i tried it but i never had any practice before that so i wouldnt expect to be that good yet. i really want to get good at it though. i learned that the longer the arrow the better. the material its made of makes a dff also.

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Originally Posted by owl_girl

dose anyone throw atlatls? i sucked at that too when i tried it but i never had any practice before that so i wouldnt expect to be that good yet. i really want to get good at it though. i learned that the longer the arrow the better. the material its made of makes a dff also.

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this is the true nature of this thread. this is the kind of information I'm wanting to collect into one place. How about dealing with the underbrush? how does it react to atmosphere? What's the right posture?

that's some good info there sjj. throwing "objects" albeit random was one of the most anciently conceived ideas. they just didn't have the advantage of the internet and mostly had to learn in smaller groups through trial and error. we have the luxury of being able to share :D
Even the catapult and modern firearms are based on the idea that we need to get some machination of death in motion from point A to point B so we can fill our bellies, on the pre-concieved notion that at the time , we are not dedicating that time to hunting. Do you deer hunt and gather firewood at the same time? I don't. I usually do one or the other. It seems instinctive to throw a limb if a squirrel runs out, no?
I have no fantasies of becoming an expert marksman with a pocketknife or 5lb axe, but if I could take a better "pop shot" at the food.. I might eat tonight.
anyone see any semblance to throwing a boomerang and throwing a rabbit stick?
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neither one comes back!

A good atlatl is flexible and the darts should also flex. The atlatl website will tell you that the atlatl acts like a diving board and the dart acts like the divers legs. Put the two together and you gain almost as much from the springing action as you do from the extended throwing arc that most people attribute the gain in distance to.

I'm just beginning with the atlatl so any questions about material and such would be best sent to the old timers, but I have played with mine enough to know that with practice, they could put a lot of meat on the table.

I was lucky enough to get a hit inside the kill zone on a 3D elk this summer from about 25 yards. I don't think I had quite enough umphh on it to bring down an actual elk but it still felt pretty sweet!

Six feet is a good length for the darts.