tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60564033643763914482023-09-22T03:58:30.139-07:00Nico's Resortera BlogResortera is the name we use in Mexican culture for a Slingshot, so this is my blog about Resorteras as my style and traditions in slingshots are from Mexico.
Many aspects of the Resortera will be covered as time allows, keep in mind I am a hunter so a lot of what I teach is based on using the slingshot for hunting. Even still if you shoot targets you could learn something from my blogs.Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-44522982855322324332016-08-22T03:13:00.002-07:002016-08-22T03:13:59.507-07:00Urban Small Game hunting Pack (slingshot hunting bag/pack) <div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Urban small game load out: A slingshot hunter's small game hunting pack. </span></u><br />
<u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>One of my older hunting packs.</i></span></u></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhc9hqHxLlyeq5gmSL2qi6f77CYwS18TeilXu9ESw4ySXYtbuLAG0kqNzA9zvpD2IkZU6nfsySHNqnNMMW94hyfI56sUHaXNitKmYtib8IyXwlRz8Vv8R-AC8MuapdQi7vuBAKeP9YWpEI/s1600/huck+finn+rabbit+hunter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhc9hqHxLlyeq5gmSL2qi6f77CYwS18TeilXu9ESw4ySXYtbuLAG0kqNzA9zvpD2IkZU6nfsySHNqnNMMW94hyfI56sUHaXNitKmYtib8IyXwlRz8Vv8R-AC8MuapdQi7vuBAKeP9YWpEI/s400/huck+finn+rabbit+hunter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the last few years I had noticed that my usual hunting essentials had started to overcrowed my cargo pant pockets or my jackets during the winter. In essence it had started to become impractical on many levels. Some time last winter in 2015 I started to put together a winter rabbit hunting bag but that bag evolved into a complete outdoor system unto itself. Was this my first slingshot hunting pack? No not at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A few months back while doing some summer remodeling I came across a black leather fanny pack at the bottom of a box I had filled with odds and ends that needed organizing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I looked over the bag and decided to look into its contents, lo and behold this was a fanny pack that I had used for my slingshot hunts some seven years ago circa 2009. Inside the pack were over a dozen 1/2 inch steel ball bearings and in one of the larger compartments was full of plastic bags (game storage bags).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So many crucial events had occurred in my life in the last 7 years that I had completely forgot about this hunting fanny pack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I showed it to my wife and she jogged my memory about it, she had purchased the fanny pack for me to have for my hunts. In her own words it was perfect for wearing in town and for my urban hunts that might lead me to the railroads or other good hunting places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have since reinstated the use of this very practical hunting pack that travels light and holds my essential gear for my hunts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The fanny pack is not huge but it is medium to large in size yet for its size I have been able to carry most the things that I will need in a day hunt. Everything minus a cook kit but a cook kit is used in longer hunts. Even still I am able to pack a light snack to keep energy levels up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here I share several pictures of my small game slingshot hunting pack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a front view of the pack the front right pocket with a zipper I use to fill with my ammo currently it has 5/8 cat eye marbles that are my standard hunting ammo for the barn pigeons at my work place that I am permitted to control so they wont contaminate the fresh crop. The smaller pocket where my thumb is fits my qwerty phone or a can of pepper spray useful for deterring bipedal as well as quadrupedal predators. The zipper immediately above these smaller pockets fits my main slingshot and a back up slingshot.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDCbtv_OY9OID2BLl-MmOTWupFfxwwXQpht7t-OXy8XCAYS8zFCcWcIIApkwe2bWDfaZvFZ-T5JRpvMBMp5Efw84QPR5K-mRQQTN8Uf6wtl0dxxEobxH4Qj2RXN6_PtRoXKVIAUyNAitr/s1600/fanny+pack+front.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDCbtv_OY9OID2BLl-MmOTWupFfxwwXQpht7t-OXy8XCAYS8zFCcWcIIApkwe2bWDfaZvFZ-T5JRpvMBMp5Efw84QPR5K-mRQQTN8Uf6wtl0dxxEobxH4Qj2RXN6_PtRoXKVIAUyNAitr/s320/fanny+pack+front.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the back side of the pack and the other large zipper compartment. In here I fit an assortment of items from additional ammo to game bags as I will show in the following pictures.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibi6JoKuL2ufuefab0JFixet0vuj5YbQTDD_6q3WCH1cMjbaWAoHQ7wyNeaIyRJhLHwB8IKighQHXG4z1lSEy1rwb47gGq6Q0Rk5ZeDp4gvNrGVjJq7WM-DF9DN3E9DKY_Lq7quh2XE2cx/s1600/fanny+pack+back.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibi6JoKuL2ufuefab0JFixet0vuj5YbQTDD_6q3WCH1cMjbaWAoHQ7wyNeaIyRJhLHwB8IKighQHXG4z1lSEy1rwb47gGq6Q0Rk5ZeDp4gvNrGVjJq7WM-DF9DN3E9DKY_Lq7quh2XE2cx/s320/fanny+pack+back.png" width="320" /></a> </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a picture of the hunting pack after a successful hunt at work in which I harvested a barn pigeon. It is less organized in its presentation but you can see some of the contents including the 5/8 cat eye marbles and some clear marbles. The main hunting slingshot of the season, I will go more into detail in the following picture. A lighter (fire making) always have this.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NI4O1udYbrdynb9oE9bNiSIKID1HuPeS7GNrl1GWMLs6C15O4VF900B9aQdic2ZdmgrVcphv9QkqyWw57whDPo716bdygsOybf5zn6qbYgcG7xgschykF4GwcDd7oK4W7gB1gK6EaFje/s1600/fanny+pack+contents.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NI4O1udYbrdynb9oE9bNiSIKID1HuPeS7GNrl1GWMLs6C15O4VF900B9aQdic2ZdmgrVcphv9QkqyWw57whDPo716bdygsOybf5zn6qbYgcG7xgschykF4GwcDd7oK4W7gB1gK6EaFje/s640/fanny+pack+contents.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a more organized picture with better explanation:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Back zipper pocket contents: Game bags, plastic gloves for dressing game, a pocket knife for the dressing. A small flash light as I work nights at my agricultural job, the lighter does not show but is under the gloves. A <i>Hunter's brand Sausage by Tillamook </i>just a snack to keep your energy levels up when you're on the trail.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">To the right is a plastic bag with spare chained rubber band sets ready for a quick replacement if the bands on my shooter break. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDhk1DRdcZfGBG6bPYDPwQf8WyZhTIEjANNESATQHcT76-1ULb8dzdUPUX5iUGXaZ8yW7qdH15oJDZSd7CJ63Nv90vdZ5EErf7bl3NuKRSgoV3wg_e9uXQxNE5BlaZ3ZvEnlMtauDyfmNL/s1600/hunting+pack.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDhk1DRdcZfGBG6bPYDPwQf8WyZhTIEjANNESATQHcT76-1ULb8dzdUPUX5iUGXaZ8yW7qdH15oJDZSd7CJ63Nv90vdZ5EErf7bl3NuKRSgoV3wg_e9uXQxNE5BlaZ3ZvEnlMtauDyfmNL/s640/hunting+pack.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My main hunting slingshot of the season a magnolia fork with chained red clay pc(platinum crepe quality) #32 rubber bands chained 3x3x3, also a back cup shaped alambre resortera with the same chained rubber band set up. </span><br />
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This is my basic small game slingshot hunting pack, simple and easy to work with. When in use I will usually take out the main hunting slingshot and carry on my person and to reach for ammo I just open the front zipper pocket and take a few marbles and take my shot when I see my quarry. If I make a kill I will reach in the back pocket for a plastic bag to store my harvest until it can be dressed. I have since added to small travel size pill bottles/cylinders with .38 lead balls and one with .44 lead balls.<br />
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If this inspires you to make a similar small game hunting pack?<br />
I have also started making a back up system with a very inexpensive "waist pack" that is sold in Walmart <br />
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<i>by Outdoor Products</i> it is called the Essential Waist Pack.<br />
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Note: It is slightly smaller than my leather fanny pack so more creativity and space management must be put into consideration with this pack.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxw1cRwXH8movc9nkebCw1p7qjKdCN2v21hkbz75j_60U0Jn8rIIrtX4OiuR0wtx73y2kUqesQ_3tbZBnyYGjMUjLnFfqSRwfwVHJ7PbcgzY-aupwFQZ0Cjlq9Dw4jZwlrXcEEl7vElp-/s1600/essential+waist+pack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxw1cRwXH8movc9nkebCw1p7qjKdCN2v21hkbz75j_60U0Jn8rIIrtX4OiuR0wtx73y2kUqesQ_3tbZBnyYGjMUjLnFfqSRwfwVHJ7PbcgzY-aupwFQZ0Cjlq9Dw4jZwlrXcEEl7vElp-/s320/essential+waist+pack.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The pockets are different but a similar set up can be created with this inexpensive fanny pack. I put the slingshot in its main compartment and here I plan on adding spare slingshot bands and maybe a small back up shooter and this one has an inside pocket to the main compartment which fit my lighter and pocket knife, and a energy bar or jerky will also fit in the main large compartment shown in the middle. The front small pocket will carry my marbles and maybe a pill bottle with .44 lead balls<br />
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The picture does not show it but this waist pack also has a back pocket and in it I will place my gloves for dressing game and the plastic small game storage bags. It only cost me just under $6.00 a worth while small game pack light and easy to hike with.<br />
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Water bottles I keep separate but I also saw that they sell a "Hydration Waist pack" that if you wanted to have the water with you included in the pack can have for just under $16.00 <br />
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The choice is always up to the imagination of each hunter.<br />
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Just my own ideas and how I pack my hunting gear.<br />
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Good Luck on your Hunts..<br />
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-28048106024782798472016-07-03T09:52:00.000-07:002016-07-06T02:35:03.772-07:00Rabbit Hunting with a Resortera (Slingshot): Hunting Rabbits with a Slingshot <div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: large;"><i>Hunting rabbits with a slingshot</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: large;">an Urban Hunters perspective</span></i></div>
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Disclaimer: The information on this blog post is intended for information purposes. As with all matters related to hunting check with your local hunting regulations before engaging in a hunt for any of natures wild critters. What you do is solely your responsibility and it is unwise to expect others to be held accountable for your own actions. </h4>
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<span style="color: red;">Hunting images are displayed in this blog post, if you do not agree with hunting please move on to another blog that is suited to your interests.</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwqc2W1aVua00GS0m-K8rWAcSo_bhr8xYVEWIr10Qlk8Lu_Btt4OS2_C3-qnnSvzMePEUB4_9Gup3lkFe4XI5h-RM3yAQHWgeWiuG0uEpl0sYC3ztgZG8Zr3yfhSt6SkJsmsjUs_rgJ6h/s1600/dead_rabbit_with_hunters_bag-400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjwqc2W1aVua00GS0m-K8rWAcSo_bhr8xYVEWIr10Qlk8Lu_Btt4OS2_C3-qnnSvzMePEUB4_9Gup3lkFe4XI5h-RM3yAQHWgeWiuG0uEpl0sYC3ztgZG8Zr3yfhSt6SkJsmsjUs_rgJ6h/s400/dead_rabbit_with_hunters_bag-400.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>My own personal disclaimer:</b> <i>I don't claim to be an expert at anything I do, as I feel there is always room for learning and growth. Despite having decades of experience in hunting small game. As a slingshot hunter I feel I never stop learning. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>To that end unlike some of the plagiarists out there (you know who you are). </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>I will always give credit to my information source this is the right thing to do as pretending you are some expert based on Sponging information from various authors does not make you any kind of expert. Except being an expert copycat.</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>About myself as a hunter:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">A lot of folks out there have formed this opinion that I am this pure Urban Hunter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Yes I am an urban hunter but I was not always an urban hunter, I developed my slingshot hunting skills in the farm landscape of rural Mexico where I often visited my grandparents every summer in Central Mexico. My grandfather had cattle and maize and sugarcane fields and he also had sheep which we often helped him with all his daily activities which went from dawn till dusk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">In this rural farmland we me and my brother were not the only slingshot hunters in the region. Which meant that all the creatures we hunted were always wary of young boys stalking them with their rubber powered stone shooters. Because we also traveled through the various states in Mexico in route to Central Mexico we also visited our family Chihuahua Mexico so we had a chance to learn to hunt small game in the Chihuahuan Desert landscape. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">These skills honed me for later hunts as a kid in So Cal back in the 1980s my father had friends who owned land in the So Cal Deserts so these skills developed in the Rural Farmland of Mexico helped us all around and continued when we had the chance to hunt in these Desert properties.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Indeed my first rabbit was taken in Rural Mexico with the help of my grandfather's dog who chased it into a rock fence at which I dispatched it with my homemade resortera at the age of 9 years old.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">You never forget your first rabbit as a slingshot hunter. I took these skills to the concrete jungle as well and learned that you can find the same game in the Concrete Jungle (Big City). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">It has been a great road to this point and I'd like to share some of my insights into my personal experiences in hunting what I consider the greatest prey of the slingshot hunter. It is not the biggest or toughest (but they are tough), rabbits are both challenging, elusive and absolutely exciting to pursue. They raise your awareness as a hunter and teach you the art of stalking and tracking to a fine point. Not to mention a high quality protein source. So read on and I hope to not bore you with my tales of old hunts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><i><u>Some notes worthy of mention:</u></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">A lot of the information is both a combination of my in the field experience hunting rabbits in various habitats and it is mixed with research notes compiled from various resources some <i>online</i>. Where I can I will have a bibliography list at the end of this blog accrediting the various information resources that helped me in my search for rabbits in the various terrains both in the Concrete Jungle and at the door of the wilderness just outside of the City where things become wild again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><i><u>Preliminary preparations </u></i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivioAfv8TAgW-hz07sgSl44po6umUtdw9FN71GN9VLnP9D9g5Xq-z2ovM4xEk3NiqFt_K3pV1t1KNIrl9c7NGIs0NpLevsfVCUA9p3PeZL7DZc_PC8WWGwBz_LeJQUYnDAp7bGz2Errxhr/s1600/rabbit+hunting+set+up.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivioAfv8TAgW-hz07sgSl44po6umUtdw9FN71GN9VLnP9D9g5Xq-z2ovM4xEk3NiqFt_K3pV1t1KNIrl9c7NGIs0NpLevsfVCUA9p3PeZL7DZc_PC8WWGwBz_LeJQUYnDAp7bGz2Errxhr/s400/rabbit+hunting+set+up.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Your rabbit hunting set up: </b>O<i>bviously before you can start the hunt for rabbits you need to have the proper hunting tools for the job at hand.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I was raised in a tradition of making my own resortera/slingshot as such I will share some of the set-ups I personally use and I will give some of my two cents worth of advice for the aspiring rabbit hunter who is just starting to hunt with a slingshot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>My elastic of choice for my homemade slingshot/s: </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I like to use chained rubber band bands for my slingshots for all hunting but they are very effective for hunting rabbits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I use the chained office #64 rubber bands in a 3x3x3 chain on my Alambre Resortera (wire coat hanger slingshot) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Also I use the red clay #32 platinum crepe quality rubber bands currently in a 3x3x3 chain on a natural tree fork slingshot. For more information on these red rubber band chains and the chained 64s see my Original Chained band tutorial here <a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/original-chained-band-tutorial.html">http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/original-chained-band-tutorial.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Projectile selection:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The ammunition will vary, personally I have always liked using rounded pebbles but I have always believed that you should be prepared for varying circumstances as such I will carry different types of ammo to suit the challenges of the hunt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeu2o0JtHlt9GH8z9JE18QpVeJyVkoy4c2nijdQ0ws_YDXrE6qnoPhzOzoG2tIRhShcEzBQIhGbuy1i5R_D4nk0esJoYmoFPfzW6vlSYFd3mQrNd1omSjEMofi7iCxPQiMgQ_LC6wjyoM/s1600/cat+eye+marbles.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeu2o0JtHlt9GH8z9JE18QpVeJyVkoy4c2nijdQ0ws_YDXrE6qnoPhzOzoG2tIRhShcEzBQIhGbuy1i5R_D4nk0esJoYmoFPfzW6vlSYFd3mQrNd1omSjEMofi7iCxPQiMgQ_LC6wjyoM/s200/cat+eye+marbles.png" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"> <b>Canicas aka Marbles</b> I have been pretty successful in the use of the 5/8 cat eye marbles for rabbit hunting as long as you target the head you will do very well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"> Also the clear marbles sold for decorative use are slightly larger than 5/8 these are better in that their slight larger size gives the marble a little more weight so better impact. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">More info and examples on the reason for having varying projectiles for a hunt is found here on my old blog post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/being-prepared-hunting-ammo.html" target="_blank">http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/being-prepared-hunting-ammo.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Personal Disclaimer: Not all slingshot shooters are able to use varying projectiles with the same accuracy. I'm able to do this because I have been shooting pebbles/stones for decades and no two pebbles weigh the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">This means after years of practice my subconscious mind/nervous system is able to automatically adjust for the varying projectile weights when shooting with the slingshot. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana";">Another Disclaimer: </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana";"><i>If you are just starting with the art of the slingshot and more importantly have gotten to the point where you can now consistently shoot with accuracy? Now you decided you want to fill the pot, I would stick with using one sized projectile for hunting. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Rather than turn this into a list of projectiles with pros and cons I will just say what I have used successfully and if any of the information in my blog post is of useful to you then give it a try. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">As above regarding the use of marbles, I have also used 1/2 inch steel balls to take bunnies and I have used .44 caliber lead balls to take a cottontail in addition to using the larger 50 caliber lead ball. Not forgetting that I have also taken my share of rabbits with hand rolled and sun baked clay balls and with the humble pebble. Again I discuss this variety at length on the links to my old blog posts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Whatever projectile you decide to use for hunting rabbits, make sure you use the same projectile in practice that you intend to use in your hunt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>If you do not favor making your own slingshot and are like me a hunter on a budget? Then you can always buy a sporting goods slingshot like this Daisy Power line B52 wrist braced slingshot.</b> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_5wcGksCInjSCa9JQlQBzYDQamb4Ix2h4in0jb40I6iNTvJoek9I8vgutPby5QZKCM3il-Kz5Bb_XoQ4IyjV__-ZIpH7vGm8mIpBMNlCwBWobQm7m2Yi2ElaPvUP2w6FZ4GI_78hW92c/s1600/daisy+powerline.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_5wcGksCInjSCa9JQlQBzYDQamb4Ix2h4in0jb40I6iNTvJoek9I8vgutPby5QZKCM3il-Kz5Bb_XoQ4IyjV__-ZIpH7vGm8mIpBMNlCwBWobQm7m2Yi2ElaPvUP2w6FZ4GI_78hW92c/s400/daisy+powerline.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">It is a foldable slingshot so it will fit in the back pack. It packs enough punch with its factory tubes to take rabbits and other small game. The projectile pouch is not large but will work fine with 5/8 marbles and rounded stones of similar size. You can use it with cat eye marbles for rabbit hunting to 1/2 steel balls. The choice is really at your discretion. But for under $10.00 you can have a good slingshot that will do the job. This is just an example and believe me I know a few slingshot hunters who use only the wrist braced slingshots and are absolutely deadly with these factory made slingshots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The choice to use a homemade slingshot or one of these well made and highly functional sporting goods store slingshots is always at your discretion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">My view is that the slingshot is the poor man's hunting tool and it should remain affordable to the poor man. I know there are now cottage vendors of custom slingshots but some of these guys are asking $35 to $300 At these (higher prices in the 100s) we start to lose our heritage the simplicity of the poor man's hunting tool is lost. My grandfather would turn over in his grave at the thought of a resortera being so expensive!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><u>Where to hit a rabbit: Targeting vitals </u></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg5uHKZVxsCM2vj07ANbGqUSf1ICC9e3PiY52fM_w38SGbdnzag0LROxuaOCP8s_WAR32QTT4nX53XPqgcWinM-ORf4JP1wdDVN-jStDrM4YylFMrb6c9YkpuMZhklpXzqRM2eIDk_vWS/s1600/rabbit_skeleton_labeled1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg5uHKZVxsCM2vj07ANbGqUSf1ICC9e3PiY52fM_w38SGbdnzag0LROxuaOCP8s_WAR32QTT4nX53XPqgcWinM-ORf4JP1wdDVN-jStDrM4YylFMrb6c9YkpuMZhklpXzqRM2eIDk_vWS/s640/rabbit_skeleton_labeled1.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I know this would seem pretty redundant to an experienced slingshot hunter and if you are an experienced slingshot hunter then you could skip this part of my blog post or please read on as there is a very important point to this section.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">It should come as no surprise that targeting the rabbit's head is the best way to secure a clean kill and ensure no prolonged suffering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I include the diagram of the rabbits skeletal structure in relationship to the rest of its body. Now I will review a few places on the rabbit which will also kill a rabbit quickly, one place is not immediately fatal but will prevent the rabbit from running off into the bush and die later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Note:</b> the numbers are listed from the diagram in order of the most ideal vital target to the least.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>1. on the diagram is the cranium (skull)</b> the prime target on a rabbit this is an instant shut down for your quarry. As you can see this is a really small target for this very reason I make it a point to practice shooting at small targets but more on that later. This is the brain and if you use a projectile with a larger striking surface like a marble or similar you can be off by a fraction and the projectile will still shock the brain and deliver a clean kill. Personally I just try for their big dark eye when see the rabbit in a side stand (the ideal shooting position). Usually with my slingshot set up this results in an instant kill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>21. Is the atlas</b> this connects the skull and the cervical vertebrae impact here results in a total disconnection of the nervous system from the brain. I have only hit rabbits here by accident but I assure you it is also a clean kill. Usually those kills were with a heavy projectile.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>20. The cervical vertebrae</b> in layman's terms the proverbial <i>neck bone </i>impact here will either result in paralysis or total shut down. This largely depends on weight, speed surface size of projectile etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>3. Spine</b> or the spinal cord impact here will usually paralyze a rabbit, I really don't advocate shooting a rabbit here but sometimes rabbits will hide in form in cover where you cant clearly see their head when you take your shot this is a possible impact spot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">What I personally try not to do is shoot deliberately at the body of the rabbit, as in the diagram we see a skeletal structure and that outline is to remind us that the rest of the rabbit is wrapped in muscle and sinew and has internal organs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I have seen some people give bad advice regarding shooting rabbits in the body, with the excuse that if you have enough FPE (foot pounds energy) it will work out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">This is not sound advice and I realize that sometimes body shots with a slingshot to a rabbit do result in a kill/harvest. But there are always factors to consider before thinking this is sound advice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">There's a vast difference in scenarios from body shooting a rabbit in the garden where you have the creature out in the open to shooting a wild rabbit near its natural protective surroundings. </span></div>
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I have accidentally body shot rabbits with stones for ammo, also with lead balls, and with 3/4 marbles that were sitting near a blackberry bramble and the rabbit's adrenaline kicked in and the rabbit ran deep into the blackberry bramble to be lost and die a slow painful death (very sad moments in hunting). This happens even to other hunters who use a rifle, its a reality of hunting.<br />
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I'd rather miss a rabbit all together by trying for its head and have it live another day for the chase than cause it unnecessary suffering (my personal rant). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">These are just some points to keep in mind and later on I will share anecdotes of rabbits I was lucky enough to harvest and some I accidentally body hit that I was fortunate enough to recover.<b></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b>Last word:</b> To be effective at hitting the vital target areas on a rabbit you should take some time to practice on a small target such as shooting at either a target the size of a bottle cap to a target the size of a walnut. I personally shoot a stick target about 2 inches long by 3/4 inches thick. Though why I use the stick target will become more relevant in a future blog post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><u>Where to find Rabbits</u></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR2GeaiZFar-50QglOOLeKIDyakaimwoKgzec4izJTIz-WqJhBmeKVxuA3pkPJCOa6fLRsZu4tr0PPS4Wz7OHBnp4CPXzaaV6R2NuDTf3qcbcq0uDvYMSRbVbp9a9h0dXe-STgtQvhAeN/s1600/desert_cottontail394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR2GeaiZFar-50QglOOLeKIDyakaimwoKgzec4izJTIz-WqJhBmeKVxuA3pkPJCOa6fLRsZu4tr0PPS4Wz7OHBnp4CPXzaaV6R2NuDTf3qcbcq0uDvYMSRbVbp9a9h0dXe-STgtQvhAeN/s400/desert_cottontail394.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
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This is a desert cottontail my favorite species of cottontail</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">So where do you look for the elusive cottontail rabbit? Our wild quarry has learned to live in many diverse habitats due to man's ever growing expansion from living outside the realm of civilization to living within the confines of human habitation these fascinating creatures have adapted to life on this planet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana";">First of all we must consider the basic needs of the cottontail rabbit and this is true of other wild creatures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The cottontail rabbit requires cover/shelter, a constant food source and safety by this is meant places where the rabbit can escape to safety from predators. When a suitable habit becomes unsafe for rabbits they will usually abandon such a place towards a safer habitat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Without a special order I will list some of the places I have found cottontail rabbits. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjRQ-TT8NLaUsH1eAFp6u10gLx2AEZYaXPA3rXYn4xP3qSArzLAAHzY5Pshxu0M2EjhAqGzVZmmwY1pJ6upjEup2Fz2vm3WmZC0-nf-mZ3cQnLJHkUiWMV2DZq2Cn5otuRBYbksWFPe_Y/s1600/ferrocarril+.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjRQ-TT8NLaUsH1eAFp6u10gLx2AEZYaXPA3rXYn4xP3qSArzLAAHzY5Pshxu0M2EjhAqGzVZmmwY1pJ6upjEup2Fz2vm3WmZC0-nf-mZ3cQnLJHkUiWMV2DZq2Cn5otuRBYbksWFPe_Y/s400/ferrocarril+.png" width="400" /></a></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The picture is from a defunct railroad that leads down for half a mile to a place that has blackberry brambles beside the trail that was the old railroad in this place I have found a small population of cottontail rabbits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Live railroads that house brambles will also have a population of cottontail rabbits. Please be careful of live railroads as you never know when the train is coming. I remember as a child my father once took me on a ride to some railroads he knew and I didn't know he was hunting rabbits but that's what it was that he did. It was my first introduction to hunting small game on the railroads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">What I like about rabbit hunting on the railroads is that its usually a straight forward line so it makes it easier to trail the rabbits, but not easy to stalk as most railroads have some kind of gravel which announces your presence to all wildlife. Never the less the railroad is still one of my favorite old rabbit haunts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Industrial sites like the one in the picture (never been to it) but it is a good example of the types of places you can scout for rabbits. Especially if they have a field and piles of old lumber or old pallets are all hiding places for rabbits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The outskirts of Power plants are also great places where there is uncultivated land and there are either wild growing brambles or old piles of branches, low cover brush or rocks piled are all suitable habitat for cottontail rabbits. I once saw a building that stored masonry supplies and was situated near some uncultivated rows of low sprawling brush and the building had piles of Pallets. This created a small habitat and it house a small amount of cottontails that hid in the Pallets and grazed at the edge of the brush. They were true <i>City cottontail rabbits.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Old style buildings that are raised will house cottontails year round, whether abandoned buildings or school buildings. I have seen rabbits in such places that had a track for running and had the raised buildings and steel storage bins. The rabbits used the storage bins as cover and would live underneath the buildings in the winter.</span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Wild habitats</span></u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-IjaSFTgFaJHqU-GlRYjYMEK-xV8jqiG8_LbGAH2JN5b2IK-qY8XPQIp1opa1DtSUqpnfKI2V3okYRdjxKaF2lqyXSuBZljrhLcdHLIVAYCZPSM6jWIsBNt40BB9Hn4k2LQwPfC5UIsJ/s1600/cottontail+habitat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-IjaSFTgFaJHqU-GlRYjYMEK-xV8jqiG8_LbGAH2JN5b2IK-qY8XPQIp1opa1DtSUqpnfKI2V3okYRdjxKaF2lqyXSuBZljrhLcdHLIVAYCZPSM6jWIsBNt40BB9Hn4k2LQwPfC5UIsJ/s400/cottontail+habitat.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Cottontails can be found of course in Desert habitats as I usually hunt for Desert cottontails. In addition they also like Woodland habitats, I have seen these rabbits in a mix of woodland riparian habitats.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Places that have brambles and a lot of brush and tall grass for the rabbits to hide in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Here's a typical trail that can house rabbits, plenty of cover and edges for the rabbits to graze and feel safe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">How do you know there are rabbits? Look at the trail inspect it and you will find rabbit tracks? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Like these tracks here, plenty of rabbit activity.</span></div>
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Look for adjacent cover </div>
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All are possible places to find cottontail rabbits, its up to you as a hunter to find the creature. </div>
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<b><u> Before The Hunt: Preliminary preparations </u></b></div>
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The night before my rabbit hunt I like to make sure I have all my gear ready,<br />
I make sure I have my slingshot ready I inspect the bands make sure they are good and I go over what ammo I will be using and make sure I have enough once I'm out there on the trail.<br />
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<b>My basic small game hunting pack,</b> will include my slingshot, I will also pack a back up slingshot (in case of emergency need) and spare bands for in the field repairs: my ammo with plenty of back up ammo (in my case varying ammo to suit the scenario), a pocket knife for dressing game, some plastic disposable gloves for dressing game, also plastic bags to carry game in. <br />
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A fire source as you never know when you will need to make a fire. Some drinking water, I also carry an aluminum cup (sometimes) in case I need to boil some water (not likely but you never know). Aside from this the morning of the hunt before I take to the field I will either have a small thermos with my coffee or cold coffee for the hot summer days and pack a small snack some jerky or a granola bar just enough to keep the energy levels up while hiking the trails. <br />
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<i>My rabbit hunts are usually early morning and last about 1 hour on the trail unless I'm lucky then they last 30 minutes on the trail. Suffice to say the above supplies are suitable for such hunts.</i><br />
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Early morning I will shower with water no heavy perfumed soaps or shampoos avoid that stuff before the hunt, and no aftershaves, colognes or deodorant. You can use that stuff when you are back home from your hunt because a shower and change of clothes are important to avoid bringing indoors, ticks, fleas or other biting creatures. <br />
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To that end once I'm dressed up for the hunt I usually Spray OFF! Deep Woods on my pant legs and the rest of my body the exposed parts I spray with a solution of Alcohol blended with Cedar wood oil as this is a natural insecticide that is as lethal to ticks and fleas as Deet is to the blood suckers. I usually have a pair of clothes outside in my garage and a bag to throw the hunting clothes in to put in for later washing. Just to prevent any potential passengers from invading your home. Ticks are serious customers and can cause fatal illness so its best to play it safe.<br />
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<b><u>The Hunt</u></b></div>
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When I arrive at my hunting grounds I make a prayer to the woods or the spirit of the wilderness asking permission and blessing to hunt on its grounds for a rabbit or two that I may have to feed myself and my family. I'll have a cup of coffee and contemplate which trails to explore then I proceed on my hunt.</div>
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<b>My preferred hunting method</b> is known by firearm using hunters as <i>walking up rabbits. </i>However it is slightly modified and this I admit this because after years of many rabbit hunts that came up empty handed, I have learned to tailor my walk up tactics. </div>
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Generally there's no secret formula other than to remember that when you are walking up rabbits with a slingshot you aren't trying to make the rabbits bolt from their hiding places because its less difficult to target the vitals a rabbit sitting still than it is to target their vitals with your slingshot while they're on the run. Patient and silent slow walks through a trail have often caused the rabbits to reveal themselves to me.<i> </i></div>
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<i>In contrast the shotgun users don't mind if the rabbit bolts as the scatter shot will still get their bunny. Not the case with a slingshot.</i></div>
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Sometimes they'll flush out onto the main game trail and stop long enough for a shot with my slingshot or they will go for the nearest cover and if I don't behave as if I noticed the rabbit and just calmly and slowly proceed to where the rabbit went into hiding? Sometimes I'm rewarded with a possible shot at the rabbit while its in cover and at a closer range.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Personally I try to not do any talking or make any of the usual human sounds, I have heard stories from other hunters who swear that whistling will stop a rabbit that has bolted. I have also seen hunting videos from a traditional bow hunter who used this whistling tactic without success and then saw where he chose to not talk during his hunt and avoid the whistling and just take his shot when he saw a cottontail in cover finally succeeded in making a harvest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I personally do not use this whistling nor will I talk if I can help it, silence is my best weapon on the hunt for cottontails. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Very often as I walk a trail and a rabbit bolts whether I had a chance to take a shot at it and missed? I will move on the trail investigating other spots and I often Double back on my trail as rabbits have a habit of returning to the spot you may have spooked the cottontail from initially. This has at times proven to be very successful for me. </span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Some other things that I have learned is that it helps me to listen to the animals within the surroundings. If birds are singing normally then all is calm and this means that either no predators have recently been through the game trails or other humans. Sometimes the raptors will show you where there can be some hidden rabbits I have had this kind of animal to human hunter communication happen as I will share in the hunting anecdotes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><u>Hunting Anecdotes </u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">What follows are past rabbit hunts: One time a couple years ago I was on a hunt using my old wire hanger slingshot with chained 64s and I had been walking a trail looking for rabbits and I came across a young rabbit on the trail ahead of me and the rabbit hid in some blackberry brambles. I felt it was a loss but determined I'd double back to this spot later when I was almost done with my hunting for the morning. As I doubled back I found this same rabbit grazing in tall dry grass which is the only reason I saw the rabbit as the grass was so dry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I tried initially to take the rabbit with a pebble but the grass deflected the stone so I stopped and the rabbit bolted across the trail in front of me and hid inside some tall Epazote shoots. The rabbit did not notice I saw its hiding spot, I was able to move in closer to about 15 feet and I had some 5/8 cat eye marbles in my pocket and I decided to give them a go. With the rabbit's back to me my first marble was deflected by the epazote shoots but it moved to a clearer spot and my second marble found its mark a perfect head shot. It made for a great Rabbit pot pie very delicious meal. The marbles worked just fine in this case. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Here's another time I was successful with marbles. This time I was guided by of all things a raptor. I was walking a trail that had tall grass on one side and brambles on the other side, when all of the sudden a Cooper's Hawk swooped down to the left of me and just for a brief moment the hawk hovered over a patch of tall grass. Then the Hawk flew up to a tree sitting staring at me and I said "is this where the rabbit is?" I promised the raptor I would investigate it later. I explored another trail and decided to explore the trail marked by the Hawk on my way out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><i>This time I had the some clear marbles that I bought from the Deco section of a large Department store. They are slightly larger than the standard 5/8 cat eye so carry more weight on impact. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">On my way out of the trail to end my hunt I walked through the trail where the Cooper's Hawk had marked the rabbit in the tall grass. To my amazement the Hawk was 100% correct! There stood 20 yards ahead of me a young cottontail and it was still eating size so I decided to end my hunt with a 20 yard try on this rabbit that sat ahead of me on the trail. I was trying for a head shot but was still getting used to varying distances with this particular slingshot. My first shot went over the rabbit's head and then my second shot impact solidly with the rabbit's ribs. It sat there hurt but I had a fear it would run off hurt into the brambles and be lost. I tried a second shot at 20 yards on the already stunned/hurt rabbit. But the second marble impacted the same place, how the rabbit was able to run into the tall grass with this kind of impact was unreal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">As I said before when an animal's adrenaline kicks in they can run off mortally wounded and hide. I took a chance at being bitten by a rattler and looked through the tall grass for the rabbit. It slowly went across the trail to the brambles. It was so hurt that it could not go on more so I took my nicks and cuts through the blackberry bramble and pulled the rabbit out and gave it a quick rabbit punch to end its suffering. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">When I dressed the rabbit I saw massive internal trauma from the marble impact. How it ran I will never know but its the reason I try avoid body shots all together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I was able to recover the rabbit thankfully and it made a good conejito in tomatillo salsa. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGu48ThmLzZ9StJWKUwLVyx3wgC4E4XauXdOim7IIZu8hXHpN9NlWEGvM9cr2CfFVFgBjK9tO9mwadkkKe5ar1Nmzirtz38JFFOaA6lyQvFTbT5RQvI236WzFyreYSJJBplpvta2BwQWGL/s1600/conejito+con+copita+y+canicas.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGu48ThmLzZ9StJWKUwLVyx3wgC4E4XauXdOim7IIZu8hXHpN9NlWEGvM9cr2CfFVFgBjK9tO9mwadkkKe5ar1Nmzirtz38JFFOaA6lyQvFTbT5RQvI236WzFyreYSJJBplpvta2BwQWGL/s400/conejito+con+copita+y+canicas.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Here's a rabbit harvest contribution from my old hunting friend Jmplsnt you can see the species difference this is an Eastern Cottontail it has shorter ears than the Desert Cottontails I hunt; and he went the route of heavy blunt trauma as his slingshot has a heavy rubber band chain at 4x4x4 and he used .55 caliber lead balls for this hunt. The rabbit he reports was harvested in a Woodland setting at 16 yards a clean head shot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">There are many more rabbit harvests with larger rabbits I could share with you my readers suffice to say these are here as a graphic illustration of the possibility of success with dedication and respect for nature and its creations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Lastly I wanted to say again that I advocate the use of gloves when dressing your rabbit harvests whether plastic or rubber both will protect you in case the rabbit is infected with tularemia. I have been lucky to not encounter this problem but its best to play it safe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I always tell the rabbit I am sorry for its death and tell it that its sacrifice will feed me and my family. I ask it to return in the web of life again to renew life in the web of all living things. This is the way many Native American tribes treat the game they harvest for their meals. My Grandmother (God rest her soul) when we were kids always told us to thank God for any rabbit or other game we could bring home with our resorteras because all life is precious and its because of their life sacrifice that we continue to live.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Good luck in all your hunts and always be safe and try to show some respect to your quarry and give a quick ending if possible. Its sacrifice should not be in vain as it is giving you a quality meat devoid of todays steroid, and antibiotic filled meats on the market sold as "meat". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><u>Bibliography list:</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Desert Cottontail Rabbit Hunting Tips<br /> Hunting Cottontails Using a High Powered Pellet Rifle and Without Dogs: A good read with talk of Moon Phases and their effects on rabbits</span></div>
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Website link <a href="http://ghostnation.org/rabbits/" target="_blank">http://ghostnation.org/rabbits/</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Rabbits management Guidelines UC IPM (note) this guide speaks of rabbit management as pests in urban settings a good read. <a href="http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7447.html" target="_blank">http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7447.html</a></span></div>
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<!-- Item Author --><span style="font-family: "verdana";"> <span class="itemAuthor"> Rabbit Hunting 101 Posted by <a href="http://1source.basspro.com/index.php/member-area/182-keith-sutton/profile" rel="author"><span style="color: #b84520;">Keith Sutton</span></a> <!-- Date Published --> </span></span><br />
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<span class="itemDateCreated"> February 27, 2013 </span> </span></span><div class="clr">
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Published in <a href="http://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/category/60-news-tips"><span style="color: #b84520;">News & Tips</span></a> > <a href="http://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/category/83-hunting-tips"><span style="color: #b84520;">Hunting</span></a> > <a href="http://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/category/92-small-game-hunting"><span style="color: #b84520;">Small Game</span></a> </div>
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An article hosted by Bass Pro Shops website link <a href="http://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/92-small-game-hunting/496-rabbit-hunting-101" target="_blank">http://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/92-small-game-hunting/496-rabbit-hunting-101</a></div>
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Fun and Game: Had Enough of Your Treestand? Get out and Bounce some Bunnies. Article by Will Brantley. Field and Stream magazine article website link <a href="http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2015/12/fun-and-game-had-enough-of-your-treestand-get-out-and-bounce-some-bunnies" target="_blank">http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2015/12/fun-and-game-had-enough-of-your-treestand-get-out-and-bounce-some-bunnies</a></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-40149294201289652282016-05-29T08:50:00.000-07:002016-05-29T08:53:59.682-07:00Slingshot Hunting Power! <h2 style="text-align: center;">
Slingshot hunting Power! </h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKUNGuUaeJqIze67LHPMo6LUOas4oUky50A0iGsO9avHQbWxv_V-TIBpnvXujwZkqykd-WzFaLNjXUu-jZHu0FTxSI7nF1mQCsXyVWC2IPO8gcBCLckXfBSn49X9YhAKu3VwfjOQdbCDC/s1600/small%2520resortera%2520thai%2520solids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKUNGuUaeJqIze67LHPMo6LUOas4oUky50A0iGsO9avHQbWxv_V-TIBpnvXujwZkqykd-WzFaLNjXUu-jZHu0FTxSI7nF1mQCsXyVWC2IPO8gcBCLckXfBSn49X9YhAKu3VwfjOQdbCDC/s400/small%2520resortera%2520thai%2520solids.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A slingshot's power to harvest small game.. What does it really take?</h2>
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<i>An exploration of traditional slingshot elastics and classical yet underestimated slingshot projectiles for hunting small game, the truth will set you free.</i></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In a few of my blog posts I have written on the mechanism by which a slingshot kills and its "killing potential being measured by the "poor man's chronograph the venerable soup or veggie tin can..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">This veggie soup can test is on an old blog post I wrote four years ago, the link is here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html">http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">But I digress as this will more relevant later on in this post as it will better define the finer points of this blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><u>The Elastic in Question:</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">This blog post is about a traditional slingshot elastic that has been in use for generations and I feel is a close relative of the old time round solids I used in Mexico as a child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Many know of the Famous Slingshot Master from Thailand as his videos have been on You Tube for a number of years now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The elastic this man uses is native made in his country and it has been looked down upon by the target shooting guru types who draw the slingshot rubber to their cheek and "aim". Shooting in this way some of these "experts" have stated that the Thai Native slingshot rubber is just too slow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Or is it slow???</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">What I find ludicrous about such people and their one sided chronograph tests is that they only judge all slingshot rubber by using the same dead method of drawing slingshots when they shoot. A review of the above video show's the Thai Slingshot Master and others in his native country using a different method of shooting than our Tournament flat latex and theraband preaching target shooter gurus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">In the videos you can see the Thai slingshot master and other natives shoot these simple solid elastic with power and deadly accuracy with simple stone projectiles. Certainly not the slow weak report of the tournament flat latex gurus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><i>I always wondered if I would ever get my hands on some of this Thai Elastic..</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><i><u>Enter Jmplsnt</u></i></b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"> Some time ago my good friend Jmplsnt Administrator of the Rebel Slingshot Forum and a very good slingshot hunter in his own right, gave me some samples of Thai Native Slingshot Elastic to experiment with. He found a good source over seas to order the elastic from. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The slingshot in the beginning of this blog post is a resortera I made with the Thai solid elastic and ran some Chronograph tests with. What I discovered in my Chrony tests is that the Thai solid elastic can develop and did shoot 5/8 cat eye marbles at speeds of 170 to 175 feet per second at the high side but an average 170 feet per second was the norm with the Thai elastic and 5/8 marbles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">However I did minor hunting with the slingshot and the Thai elastic which mean that the full <i>in the field testing of the Thai solid elastic would remain in the hands of my good friend Jmplsnt.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><i><u>Canicas aka marbles the most underestimated slingshot hunting projectile.</u></i></b></span><br />
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Around four years ago I wrote a blog post regarding different types of slingshot hunting ammo. That old blog post can be found here <a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/being-prepared-hunting-ammo.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/being-prepared-hunting-ammo.html </a>
On it I mention Canicas "marbles" as a great ammo for bird hunting and I still stand by this and I also mention that marbles are very capable of killing other game like rabbits if you are confident in your accuracy. Since then I have killed my share of rabbits with marbles so I know if you are careful and good with your shot placement that 5/8 cat eyes or clear marbles and also better 3/4 marbles will all kill rabbits. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Some notes: 5/8 glass marbles weigh approximately 1 or two grains difference from a 0000 buck shot otherwise known as the .380 lead round ball.</span><br />
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How do marbles kill small game? Simple answer blunt impact trauma.<br />
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This is something I mention in my blog post<br /><br /><a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html" target="_blank">http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html</a><br />
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They work along the lines of what I coined the Blunt Trauma Formula this is a section from my old blog post.<br />
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<i></i><i></i><i></i>"<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><strong>The blunt trauma formula is as follows:</strong> surface hardness + mass + momentum = blunt trauma of some kind. The blunt trauma formula applied to a slingshot and projectiles of some kind translates to the following, the weight/mass/size and hardness of the projectile, projected by velocity/speed of projectile to create the momentum required, produces the blunt force/trauma required for killing small game. "</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">In the case of the 5/8 marbles they have a large striking surface and being glass are very hard they may only weigh 77 grains which is slightly less than the .380 lead ball. But due to their larger surface are suited to blunt impact. The next requirement is suitable speed to create the blunt impact trauma we need to harvest small game. Anything from 170 feet per second up to 190 is lethal with these marbles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Note: I have killed large pigeons with elastics that only travel 170 and a 5/8 cat eye marble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">What does any of this have to do the Thai solid elastic? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Read on..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><b><i>Thai Solid Elastic and Canicas go on the Hunt</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Some time back my friend Jmplsnt had told me he was going to try and use the 5/8 cat eye marbles to take some Squirrels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">That's right Squirrels.. Not with therabands not with tubes nope.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The man stayed true to his self challenge and decided to use some cat eye marbles he picked up at the dollar store and his deer antler slingshot "Herne the hunter" armed with Thai Solid Elastic to see for himself if he could bag some squirrels with this dynamic duo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I encouraged my friend to go for it as I felt it would be promising and this is what my friend had discovered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">That a canica propelled by the Thai Solid rubber traveling at approx. 170 feet per second is absolutely lethal to a fox squirrel from 12 to 16 yards and the man was generous enough to provide with some old pictures of his body of work in this field. He reports that on both occasions they were perfect head shots and each took only one shot with a very clean kill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">See here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Yes these squirrels were harvested with a simple solid elastic used by the natives of Thailand in daily slingshot use. </span><br />
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Used by my slingshot hunting brother in arms Jmplsnt..<br />
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What have we learned from all of this???<br />
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That it takes a 5/8 glass marble to travel 115 miles per hour (170 fps) the momentum it requires to make the blunt impact trauma to take a critter as tough as a Fox Squirrel. <br />
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We have also learned that the Thai Solid Rubber is more than adequate for hunting small game with a slingshot just as long as you (and I'm borrowing a term from our good friend Frogman) tax the rubber that is draw it enough to generate speed then it will do the work required of it.<br />
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And that there are other ways of shooting a slingshot than the draw to the cheek business used by some of the folks out there (nothing against it) but it does not work some types of elastic.<br />
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I want to take this time to thank Jmplsnt for his contribution to this blog post because of him this Collaborative Blog Post was made possible.<br />
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Good will to all Slingshot Hunters and as always good luck on your hunts.<br />
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-47034631375937979892016-02-28T03:50:00.002-08:002016-02-28T09:54:59.975-08:00DIY Night Hunting Gear: Low Cost Head Lamp Rig<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><em></em></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMY8TjE7a7ACmbAi1VxcAcnP4Ni81yK245qV1aOKTKaNy-RSGRfUKPke3IBF4-DOirGj9isPxhYIxELQWZvR4zu15tQcPsdAX2eWY4qMJ6tbf_SHpBnWVXNdNMPaDLWu1e3-yuF79lKI6E/s1600/red+lense+installed+over+led+lense.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeLrdhtmuXvyz9TMNWPZNshoAacznpKmpLbEppUpAcGOY48n4HsLDBrXGtVdv1nemoGVVw4JNl-7RFns7tAUrjnrwgXGnZnR-7Ay_MbSEF5m8l0I_sThcxS92mIE95a8_K06Jn55FiehZ/s1600/Headlamp+rig+front+view.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
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English rook hunters using a lantern to illuminate Rooks roosting in the trees that they are shooting with a stone crossbow.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><em>Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for information purposes only and in no way do I encourage you to use the techniques discussed in the blog post. </em></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><em>In most states night hunting is frowned upon so please make sure to check your local laws regarding hunting at night. There are special circumstances in which night hunting is still possible and I will cover these instances in this post.</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><em> Remember you alone are responsible for your actions and I'm no legal advisor so I cant possibly know what rules apply to your special corner of the world, as with all things use your own discretion.</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: large;">Making a low cost head lamp rig for night hunting with a slingshot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This project was inspired by the creativity of an Electrician that works in the same place as I do. Naturally I immediately saw the potential in the idea for its use in night hunting gear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why did I make this night hunting rig when you can just buy a head lamp from any store and it has a red beam if you need right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes you can buy a head lamp but that's not the reason to ignore this project. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The caveat with head lamps and their use for slingshot hunting at night. From my personal experiences using head lamps and the experiences of others, the problem is shooting accurately?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why does this happen? Simple answer is that the way a head lamp is made, the elastic strap goes over your head and the light beam is fixed in the middle of your forehead just above the in-between of your eyes. What this does is force your head to move in an unnatural fashion in order to have the light in line with your target i.e. the rabbit or roosting pigeon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many shooters myself included align our heads with the slingshot fork orientation as it is held in our hands. When you are wearing the standard head lamp, the light's position causes you to turn your head in an awkward position and this affects your accuracy when shooting the slingshot at a specific target after dark.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Head Lamp line of vision is center line and your head and eyes naturally want to follow this light and this is the problem when shooting with the Slingshot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Whether you shoot with the fork upright or canted you are using either your right or left hand to hold the fork and this will align your feet and head with the orientation of your slingshot fork.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The head lamp forces you to instead align with the light and its illumination of your target. This is when inaccuracies occur. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><strong>The solution to our problem</strong></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If we look at the old wood cut picture at the beginning of this blog post we see a gentleman holding a lantern illuminating the rooks in the tree whilst the other gent prepares to fire at the rooks with his stone crossbow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Aha! Then the light must be coming from behind the shooter thus illuminating the target and not forcing the shooter's eyes to follow the light. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I once had the experience with my resortera of having another illuminate a roosting pigeon which I was able to accurately shoot with ease. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I know this seems redundant but it is not: Enter the electrician at work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Where I work I saw a man an electrician rig up his hard hat with a flash light on the side of his head to help him see the electrical components he regularly fixes at work on the various machines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I tried this and this is what I came up with and here is the project. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Inexpensive when compared to the inaccurate head lamp and its varying costs from $20 to $50 USD</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><strong>DIY head lamp project:</strong></u></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em>Materials: </em></span></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">1. A hard hat (I got mine for free at work) but they can be purchased inexpensively from prices of $5 to $10 USD. Note you can use a baseball cap instead but it will take some stitch work. For now we stick with the hardhat.</span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">1. 9 led small flash light I purchased mine from the 99 cents only store and it worked perfectly for this project. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Some strips of inner tube rubber</span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">1. red sharpie marker</span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">1. Used 20 ounce coca cola bottle ( it should be this kind because the plastic is very clear transparent)</span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Tools: Scissors and a pocket knife</span></em></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now to making the hard hat ready.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Take the knife and you want to slowly make two holes vertically on the side of hat that is the same side as the hand you hold your fork with. (I hold fork in right hand) carefully drill two deliberate holes just above on the hard hat side close to but before your ear area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The holes should be like this <strong>: </strong>just two vertical holes</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pull the inner tube rubber strip through these holes and tie this on the inside of the hard hat you want to leave just enough space to be able to stretch the band over your flash light. It should look something like this (my hat) </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfzfexUAuklMIqWgT9PbyGHnUXr6OXVvgVU_2LIzU6Kumg9Gdwpp6K29zoZm9_EZqMHoMhR5SnT-kMC1m8ykusBIsfgyt8wWS64ptl3rr9Jm9VsmCTYG7iZx8Sf73Vc28sd2aCa6zk6Y9/s1600/head+lamp+rig+side+view.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfzfexUAuklMIqWgT9PbyGHnUXr6OXVvgVU_2LIzU6Kumg9Gdwpp6K29zoZm9_EZqMHoMhR5SnT-kMC1m8ykusBIsfgyt8wWS64ptl3rr9Jm9VsmCTYG7iZx8Sf73Vc28sd2aCa6zk6Y9/s400/head+lamp+rig+side+view.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> And here's a frontal view</span></div>
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<img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjSJBCsYGCFSbawJOs5YhgYrjxTSHpiL7Tx9akQhhBLjiFVb0Sax2tHPI4-nbYE23nYimXXOPsBOT8GX2ckVeEkrFh1wWhoQDW9bTstuExQ47Qi0aisJzcwX0gR2R_Eh4egOK_OvBCv9G/s400/Headlamp+rig+front+view.png" width="400" /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In theory we are done and this is enough for night hunting rabbits that may be plaguing your garden at night. However with some critters you are hunting at night, the normal led light will spook the critter. This happens a lot with Pigeons roosting in barns or in the underpass of a bridge they know the led light means trouble.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How do we get past this? With a red light that's how we do it, for some reason creatures like Pigeons aren't spooked by the soft light of a red lamp setting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We are now going to make a red lens for our led lamp set up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Take your empty 20 ounce coke bottle </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijO94rJ3q_6fSxoFQvZqjI_dEjqemWnGkdeEQNqK943ujhM9fZCz5h_QtLqwin3bYGm9z2wk-DVcXIeIdVPB0Y5XyPvNwA3b6zeJjm0OpawysmQPV5tCZbfC1HfXIHLPPF2rKICp_UfPYG/s1600/coke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijO94rJ3q_6fSxoFQvZqjI_dEjqemWnGkdeEQNqK943ujhM9fZCz5h_QtLqwin3bYGm9z2wk-DVcXIeIdVPB0Y5XyPvNwA3b6zeJjm0OpawysmQPV5tCZbfC1HfXIHLPPF2rKICp_UfPYG/s1600/coke.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Make a cut in the middle coke bottle as you can see this is a flat part of the bottle. Do your best to cut this center ribbon out and when it comes out it will naturally roll on you. Next take your sharpie marker and the led lamp and flatten the plastic strip and gently outline the mouth of the led lamp and cut out a circle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next slowly and carefully cut just enough so that this clear circle will fit snugly inside over the lens of the led lamp it should naturally stay inside as there is a lip inside this part of the lamp.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you were careful with the cutting you will be able to gently pop out this new lens and put it back as needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next take the red sharpie marker and color your plastic make shift lens with the red marker and let it dry and do both sides of this lens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It should look like this </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSFxImYoi-8lQPHUgTVWMVwmT_niT3eKWZUtLYheH4Ll9yBCSkO6xejN6xw7MYdD-mpoHBz28ulVAwdajHpFKm_U5rjbIjWg81auQV_V2BSJov012KAIsN0gKMRSYEocTWUXz2a6kV6f2/s1600/red+lense+made+from+coke+bottle+plastic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLSFxImYoi-8lQPHUgTVWMVwmT_niT3eKWZUtLYheH4Ll9yBCSkO6xejN6xw7MYdD-mpoHBz28ulVAwdajHpFKm_U5rjbIjWg81auQV_V2BSJov012KAIsN0gKMRSYEocTWUXz2a6kV6f2/s320/red+lense+made+from+coke+bottle+plastic.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Like this you simply have to carefully place it inside the head of the led lamp over its first lens. Then this is your red beam lamp ready to go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0oQp2GK9NTPpr6TiRkvLyEc8FM2Cb7PmehOtYLaw7nHwJTS8ZiiR-ALV1lRie7RsDwkhoZsq1KqueFzH91R6eR4lhjscbxtIJfwtgjSzHmxAXdaidflTCsKlHMtLbn-eKiG2JkPU7f2J/s1600/red+lense+installed+over+led+lense.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0oQp2GK9NTPpr6TiRkvLyEc8FM2Cb7PmehOtYLaw7nHwJTS8ZiiR-ALV1lRie7RsDwkhoZsq1KqueFzH91R6eR4lhjscbxtIJfwtgjSzHmxAXdaidflTCsKlHMtLbn-eKiG2JkPU7f2J/s400/red+lense+installed+over+led+lense.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There you have a complete red light lamp that will help you in shooting roosting pigeons at night to shooting nervous rats as they also are confused by the red light. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Noted it is not as professional as a high end and high cost red light setting on a head lamp but it will work perfectly for our night hunting uses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Also the light created from this rig will give your eyes the illusion that someone else is holding the lamp on the target for you and this will allow you to shoot in your natural slingshot position thus improving your accuracy by a great margin. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It cost me at the most $5.00 to create this head lamp rig and it has a red lens that can be removed for the normal setting when going after rabbits. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Give it a try if you have an invasion of pigeons in your barn or if the rabbits are raiding your garden now you have a means to shoot with greater accuracy at night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To quote a fellow hunter : <em>We operate a low cost operation here. </em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Good luck hunting</span></div>
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</span><br />Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-65794688377201414862015-11-15T07:47:00.000-08:002015-11-15T08:04:39.617-08:00Autumn Hunting Traditions: A more traditional approach to pot filling with the humble slingshot.<em><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong></strong></span></span></em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NOpWQTdKWBxeh6SEs4Jt83vxCBBgm3hlmJC7udtHjF_owfji24Dq6f26XqJjng0LuAzahX74P8tkH3EXrZRYK6fPSRSRQw9S1Lcvg7H0LnuNb0PZe-ZRLkeAyZAogBkZUZIG9TesT8K6/s1600/258+vintage+harvest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NOpWQTdKWBxeh6SEs4Jt83vxCBBgm3hlmJC7udtHjF_owfji24Dq6f26XqJjng0LuAzahX74P8tkH3EXrZRYK6fPSRSRQw9S1Lcvg7H0LnuNb0PZe-ZRLkeAyZAogBkZUZIG9TesT8K6/s320/258+vintage+harvest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<em><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Warning and legal disclaimer</strong>: This blog post is about sharing hunting traditions from the various parts of our Great USA. It is exploring past traditions, sharing their practices for this Autumn season and showing the younger generation that hunting to fill the pot (to eat) is not about the killing an animal for bragging rights or to pretend you're the great white hunter. </span></span></em><br />
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<em><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: xx-small;">This blog post does not encourage the reader to pursue potentially protected bird species in your respective state. As always check your state laws before pursuing any small game species and for God's sake please make sure it really is a pest causing depredation to your property. Don't just shoot the poor critter because you think its an invasive and you encountered it in the wild and think you are doing your part rid the habitat of these invasive species.</span></em><br />
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<em><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: xx-small;">Remember some of these animals have thrived despite mass eradication campaigns by our great government and its doubtful you will save the eco system with a handful of marbles and your slingshot. </span></em><br />
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<em><span style="color: red; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: xx-small;">On the other hand you can always become a part of the food chain and encourage others towards a healthy approach to hunting.</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Bird Hunting Traditions of Autumn Harvest time</u></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKW3o6s0IulyShIiIdzR1yBo7aML933d-61rqoOn6Jf1PvBiPX4TbuBCWSghQEzJl9LpwgzNU-VWMvGQeKNvSl2siTcMT0Zb66rh7XjFGGW1AKl7Uh6XrmIPSQjZMELpxrHXX8_8IX7t_Z/s1600/harvest+pumpkin+blackbird.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKW3o6s0IulyShIiIdzR1yBo7aML933d-61rqoOn6Jf1PvBiPX4TbuBCWSghQEzJl9LpwgzNU-VWMvGQeKNvSl2siTcMT0Zb66rh7XjFGGW1AKl7Uh6XrmIPSQjZMELpxrHXX8_8IX7t_Z/s200/harvest+pumpkin+blackbird.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This blog post was inspired when I was helping my wife to put together Halloween and Autumn Harvest greeting cards, my dear wife had various decorative stickers that she likes to put on the outside of the envelopes. In these various stickers I found two images that inspired me to do some of my own research. I have always said that Art is very often an expression of life i.e. "art imitates life" etc. I found a harvest pumpkin that had a curious looking blackbird and it had some red lines in its wings, another sticker had a solid blackbird next to a harvest basket of apples.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This made me wonder? Was the artist in their clever way sharing with us something that is not so accepted in our modern day? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We live in a time of drive thru fast food and the internet and many modern conveniences that the younger generations have taken their own history for granted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yet here in art work there is a possibility of a tradition from the past! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I did some research and my diligence paid off as I found several references alluding to a tradition of hunting Blackbirds during the harvest season to be eaten as food. Yes you heard it right hunted as a food source. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Traditions born of necessity</u></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhTOFu91EpdMzyY9UGr4_SR6Df8gN8-7A1JZu8-g9_c9bRMsuaOJ2vmGs5JpCC_xX4SKtbe-dfLBuEM_XGscr9Yp-KjsSzEDpq3UsMyf2Q8RRCJULOIlLUHljoHhWRfUBO-LRhIYy0ZqN/s1600/some-very-humble-pie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhTOFu91EpdMzyY9UGr4_SR6Df8gN8-7A1JZu8-g9_c9bRMsuaOJ2vmGs5JpCC_xX4SKtbe-dfLBuEM_XGscr9Yp-KjsSzEDpq3UsMyf2Q8RRCJULOIlLUHljoHhWRfUBO-LRhIYy0ZqN/s320/some-very-humble-pie.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first thing I did was look into black birds with red wings obviously the red wing blackbird was the first to come forward and in my search I read that these birds are often an agricultural pest due to their fondness of grain and that during the Harvest season these blackbirds and other blackbird species were/are known to raid the grain where rice fields are, or the corn fields in the Midwest and this is where there is a strong tradition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is not uncommon from times past for farmers in the states where the most grain is farmed to have controlled these raiding blackbirds during the harvest season and use these very birds as a food source. In essence this was double harvest for a poor farmer in times past when food was more scarce. Noted is the fact that many farmers probably used a scatter gun to mass control/harvest these blackbirds. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But let us not forget that kids growing up on a farm in a poorer era would have been using a slingshot to help their parents control some of these blackbirds and these too were contributed to the pot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Further evidence to a tradition of slingshot hunting blackbirds for food is found in an old Backwoodsman Magazine article in which a contributor by the name of Jackie Clay wrote that she'd hunted blackbirds with a slingshot to fill the pot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Notably in my youth in rural Mexico there were times when I was walking with my grandfather and we came across a "chanate" a species of blackbird in Mexico that was sitting on the edges of Grandfather's Maize field which he told us to shoot the birds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember him telling us to save them for food as they were good and we ate these in a game medley of birds mixed in a Salsa made from tomatillos and hot peppers and fresh corn tortillas made in Native style on a metate. Was a tasty stew from what I remember.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I found a recipe for cooking Blackbirds written by a man in his 70s I believe and he said he ate these blackbirds quite often as they killed many in the harvest season and that they were just as good as any other bird. Here's a link to the recipe <a href="http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/soup/other-soup/black-bird-and-dumplings.html">http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/soup/other-soup/black-bird-and-dumplings.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I also found an old recording from an interviewee in his 90s which was recorded in the 1970s an old railroad man and farmer recalling his early childhood in the late 1800s. The link to the recording is found here <a href="http://avbarn.museum.state.il.us/viewclip/1778">http://avbarn.museum.state.il.us/viewclip/1778</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even on the other side of the Pond in the 1600s we have accounts of poor country folk in rural England that would "poach" Rooks roosting in trees with the ancestor of our slingshot the stone shooting crossbow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNiWg5mnZvcURA8UffBEFcDrTtGK415P_HItv4xnQOcqH7_xOsXYgQMQ2Ps6fKNf4WQ4MnMWNCg4te_8z5gYhfXy4xCKN_t9fhM6EzvwD-oOxgD1pIUrIQGOOg3RojyxX5TMOO7KyIpdY/s1600/bow_woodcut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNiWg5mnZvcURA8UffBEFcDrTtGK415P_HItv4xnQOcqH7_xOsXYgQMQ2Ps6fKNf4WQ4MnMWNCg4te_8z5gYhfXy4xCKN_t9fhM6EzvwD-oOxgD1pIUrIQGOOg3RojyxX5TMOO7KyIpdY/s320/bow_woodcut.jpg" width="263" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Although not a true blackbird the grackle is in some states allowed to be hunted year round and would be among those grain raiders in the harvest season. If you live in a place where these interesting birds are legal to hunt/control then I consider this as a possible quarry to harvest with your slingshot this autumn season. A side of blackbird n dumplings to go with some pumpkin pie is as good as having chicken n dumplings and you have harvested something from the wild as opposed to buying a chicken that was slaughtered after living its life in a box to became a package of meat for the uninformed consumer who has no connection to his or her natural world. If you need recipes for these un touched birds there are many ways to make these.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a kid we ate birds that were even smaller than these blackbirds, in Rural Mexico we often harvested a lot of ground doves aka inca doves and with a half dozen to a dozen of these taken in a team effort our aunt of grandmother would make use a tasty meal for the family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> My point is clear we as hunters owe the earth some gratitude for its many gifts and with this Autumn season and Harvest Thanks approaching we should embrace these traditions and not over kill the rest of our natural resources and accept graciously what nature offers and allow the rest of her resources to replenish for us to enjoy in another season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On behalf of myself and my family I would like to wish my readers a happy Autumn and always a Happy Harvest season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span>Credits:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks to my wife who inspired this Autumn blog post. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">Special thanks to Jamie Pleasant for the tabbed natural slingshot pictured with .44 caliber lead balls he cast himself.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">A thank you to the Audio-Video Barn of the Illinois State Museum for their audio interview of the 1970s man in his 90s account of eating blackbirds in the late 1800s </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"> A warm thank you to the man who shared his family recipe for Blackbird n Dumplings.</span></span></span></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-69713891880668051312015-09-14T16:50:00.000-07:002015-09-15T12:37:50.025-07:00Less is more (working with less rubber bands and still filling the pot?) Warning hunting images are displayed on this blog post: Animals taken with slingshot were hunted on private property or otherwise where said animal was a nuisance.<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Experimenting with a lighter set of</h2>
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chained #64 rubber bands.</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiytDS9apI-1k0Hsdz9eT03ExLHVSI5rueHkKeReRVt9WnwVaP0jvUUZKKNOK2F1mhpU3rTFHfsMo8LL-y5RKc-DiMZJ6D6G1AyQZUtAXiADavutM4pSOf7p7l75orJ4BCJ-wRljeRL_aYT/s1600/old+school.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiytDS9apI-1k0Hsdz9eT03ExLHVSI5rueHkKeReRVt9WnwVaP0jvUUZKKNOK2F1mhpU3rTFHfsMo8LL-y5RKc-DiMZJ6D6G1AyQZUtAXiADavutM4pSOf7p7l75orJ4BCJ-wRljeRL_aYT/s1600/old+school.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">As anyone who knows me and my love for hunting with the venerable resortera (slingshot) knows that my favorite elastic to use for my hunting slingshots are the chained ubiquitous office rubber bands. This post is about working with the chained 64s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>A bit of a personal History:</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>In times past in the 1980s I largely used the red rubber bands that I acquired from the paper boy and the mail man. I call them chained as the English translation of what my uncle used to call these types of slingshot bands when he taught me their construction, in Spanish he called them cadena de ligas translation is chained rubber bands. A term I made popular for this type of slingshot band when I introduced the term in 2009 on Jacksshed UK forum, it was in 2010 that I wrote the original in print Chained band tutorial with pictures and explanations of the use of he red #32 rubber bands. However I had also learned from another older kid to use the #64 rubber bands for chains. After this I had a great back up resource for rubber bands as when the red rubber bands became more rare I would often use the #64 office rubber bands. </em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>Because the red clay #32 rubber bands were once ubiquitous and now only sold through specialty stores that cater to rubber band guns and their ammo (rubber bands) I still use the red #32s but I just order a 1lb bag and use sparingly.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em> I've decided to not become dependent on the internet for my slingshot elastic resources and went with locally available #64 rubber bands.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Add Note:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>Because here in the USA you can find #64 rubber bands virtually in most places that have office supplies that makes these rubber bands a local renewable resource. If you work in a place that has office supplies you can even get these for free, the local post office now uses #64s as they took the place of the old red rubber bands of the past.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The intention behind this project:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">1. To get more use of a single 1/4 lb. bag of #64 rubber bands by using less rubber bands and ensuring an affordable resource of ammunition. While ensuring that the band set is viable for the harvest of small game. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">2. Using projectiles that are easily acquired, renewable and effective for the harvest of small game with a slingshot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">3. Field proof of the small game harvests and understanding the limitations of this particular slingshot set up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"> 4. The construction of the bands tips on how I did it and what you should look for when trying this chain set up.</span><br />
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<u><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large;">The project itself</span></em></strong></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My usual chained rubber band set up uses 18 #64 rubber bands to make a complete slingshot set (#64s 3x3x3), that's 3 rubber bands per link and its 3 links for one slingshot band a total of 9 rubber bands for one power band make this a pair and that's 18 rubber bands you have used from one 1/4 bag of #64 rubber bands. These chained 64s have been proven effective to game the size of a large jackrabbit and fowl the size of a pheasant or a grouse with proper shot placement. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><em><u><strong>The rubber band set up for this project</strong></u></em> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">This experimental set up I have actually been casually experimenting with over the last two years is #64 2x2x2 that is 2 #64s per link in a three link chain and this is a total of 12 #64 rubber bands to make a slingshot band set. The secret is using the stiffest stretching rubber bands as these create more tension for the lighter set up and can develop more speed if shot properly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Chaining these rubber bands is the same as in this old Video where I demonstrate using the 3x3x3 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The only difference is that you are using 2 #64s per chain link that's 12 rubber bands for a complete slingshot band set. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The attachments I used for this work were the traditional resortera tied/lashed down with either rubber bands or strips of bicycle inner tubes and covered with an insulator. See the resortera picture in the beginning of this blog post for a great example of the style. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Largely due to location and availability I have used two brands of #64 rubber bands (you can use any brand, as they all work) I have employed the Alliance advantage #64s that sell for $1.28 a 1/4 bag at Walmart also closer within walking distance from my home is a Staples office supply store and I have used their Staples brand #64 rubber bands they do cost a little more at $3.25 but for the amount of bands you will make it's still economical and affordable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Collecting plastic bottles to sell at the recycler 4 pounds worth would easily cover your costs and you recycled (eco friendly).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Initially I used the Alliance brand 64s 2x2x2 on a natural fork and then on a nice cut out a got from a friend on the forums.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><u><em><strong>The projectiles for this project</strong></em></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">For this project I selected three projectiles which I felt would be both affordable, accessible and effective with this lighter set of chained 64s 2x2x2.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><em><strong>1. Cat eye marbles:</strong></em> These are the 5/8 cat eye marbles these are economical spherical and you can get good deals on these at a dollar store for $1.00 USD you can have 50 marbles the highest I have paid is $1.49 at a grocery store for 50 of these marbles still economical.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><strong>2. Clay balls:</strong> Whether you buy natural clay in an arts and crafts supply store for $10.00 (10 lbs yields 300 plus clay balls) or you harvest natural clay this is both an eco friendly and economically effective projectile for small game which you will see in a few moments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><em><strong>3. 0000 Buck shot aka .380 (38 caliber) lead balls:</strong></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">If you cast lead this would save you a lot of lead and if not you can buy these in bulk from buck shot supply gun shops. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>Note: Stones are always an alternative but I did not include these for this official project due to complaints from those inexperienced in using pebbles* as a hunting projectile.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I will refrain from talking about foot pounds or how many feet per second this set up is shooting as I feel this is really unnecessary at the end of the day. Suffice to say it is demonstrating some serious power for so little rubber bands. Also noted the Staples brand #64s are a little heavier in pull than the Alliance advantage #64s, the Staples brand are shooting a little faster but both have the muscle to get the job done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The field results and the brand of #64s by projectile and species of game is noted in each account. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><em><u><strong>Hunting with 0000 buck shot aka .38 caliber lead balls.</strong></u></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">My first try was at a large pigeon at my work place (an agricultural area) using the Alliance 64s on this cut out a friend (Joey) on the forums gave me that is cut out from a skateboard. I had strapped this with the aforementioned Alliance 64s 2x2x2.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Here pictured with clay balls is the slingshot</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQs5o5kQ_zeJMHFXvhGs8qDGX1wE6H2gX-j-imZ7-sAN9ARmTdH5QpnXyePbystYnvkrB7rAVCHKnRGBOmSAWOpB1VDQaPhHNsDl2h_0z9YnpHUfr_PiMvRQ31PoQ1JV6_VKaTp1VqHB3/s1600/skatboard+shooter+and+clay+balls.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQs5o5kQ_zeJMHFXvhGs8qDGX1wE6H2gX-j-imZ7-sAN9ARmTdH5QpnXyePbystYnvkrB7rAVCHKnRGBOmSAWOpB1VDQaPhHNsDl2h_0z9YnpHUfr_PiMvRQ31PoQ1JV6_VKaTp1VqHB3/s320/skatboard+shooter+and+clay+balls.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"> The pigeon was 25 feet up on a bin and it took me several shots to get dialed in but in the end I connected the .38 lead ball grazed the top of this male pigeon's head so I had to finish it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The entire details of the hunt and picture of the pigeon can be found on the Rebel Slingshot forum on this link <a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/pigeon-with-a-smaller-round-t3089.html">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/pigeon-with-a-smaller-round-t3089.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">I found that this .38 lead ball can also penetrate on rodents such as Rats. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Using the staples 64s with the .38 lead rounds </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMbIfFWg4T0JrHLrUYQQldiWIx0niguzV_G6KUunZeAX4k1WyPDRXNP2dY0xqQ2BEigrvhHchcSxw3J-gZ7TZFownBEqA9j_B8PL05KlpNQ02G1qmAYQjjuCBxC1nolcI1m4AdCJQND0U5/s1600/chained+natural+64+222+.38+lead+balls.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMbIfFWg4T0JrHLrUYQQldiWIx0niguzV_G6KUunZeAX4k1WyPDRXNP2dY0xqQ2BEigrvhHchcSxw3J-gZ7TZFownBEqA9j_B8PL05KlpNQ02G1qmAYQjjuCBxC1nolcI1m4AdCJQND0U5/s320/chained+natural+64+222+.38+lead+balls.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">As it did with this young rat that was raiding one of our fruit trees and did not realize it was being watched. You can see the entry wound on its side.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7FQON_jhHSEb_bLAXf04bfP-rb80-B62PXx8guqFgdF3fuQcP8A2quPTJ-0vCXNKRg4m40Vgt93Xm52jiMXIfi8f2WrvC3lUSiiF5GNF4woE6ZirCfIGRA-lfyqymqaZlfrCDo2nv1Ht/s1600/young+rat+chained+64s+two+per+link+.38+lead.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7FQON_jhHSEb_bLAXf04bfP-rb80-B62PXx8guqFgdF3fuQcP8A2quPTJ-0vCXNKRg4m40Vgt93Xm52jiMXIfi8f2WrvC3lUSiiF5GNF4woE6ZirCfIGRA-lfyqymqaZlfrCDo2nv1Ht/s320/young+rat+chained+64s+two+per+link+.38+lead.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I did kill two more pigeons with these .38 lead balls one was a clean kill the other had the lead ball lodged inside and needed to be finished the details of this hunt and pictures are here on this link. See pigeons here <a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/field-results-of-experimental-set-up-warning-graphic-t3106.html">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/field-results-of-experimental-set-up-warning-graphic-t3106.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a personal note I do believe that since these 0000 buck shot can penetrate a pigeon that if you don't care to harm the breast meat of other edible parts of your pigeons then you can try breast shots and side body shots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Myself personally I do not like to harm the breast meat on my pigeons because I do eat them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">For me I have very specific vital areas I target on a pigeon to ensure no damage to the breast meat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">I try for crop, neck and head this, with other projectiles hitting the crop has immediate stopping power. But with these smaller 0000 buck shot you must be more precise in your shooting or target other areas that I think are inhumane personally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">I did have a few barn pigeons fly off from the smaller lead ball missing the vitals while completely passing through one pigeon and a bad hit on another big pigeon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Rabbits? I can give no report as my shots missed, maybe an update later as I am able to hunt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Squirrels? I missed my shots with this lighter set up and the .38 lead rounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">So far what I have posted are the species I have taken with the 0000 buck shot but I do believe that the round is capable of the take of either rabbits or squirrels with this chained 64 lighter 2x2x2 chain. <em></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><em>Note: The .38 lead rounds weigh 83 grains this is 6 grains more than the next projectile not much in weight difference. Keep this in mind.</em></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><em><strong>Hunting with 5/8 cat eye marbles</strong></em></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Back in 2014 during Autumn season in the predawn hours I shot this large male pigeon with this small resortera I made from an orange tree fork and it was powered with the Alliance advantage #64s 2x2x2 and a 5/8 cat eye marble it was roosting on the eves of a building where the owners had been having trouble with pigeons. I hit the crop on this pigeon and it came down immediately. It was twitching so I followed it up with a head shot to end any potential suffering.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrOnz_2wsogL6gVg9WwGsWBkbceUOmIydW4576NsATyrbOrSTU58BeIrU_8T-1M0GN8EHMKpJ3xDzGKcRDPb4iI39FAvDcfPjoyJ-VBT9Cqp88yaa8nY2VgmKIgSHAHngKhHTFGu2tcix/s1600/head+torch+pigeon+kill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrOnz_2wsogL6gVg9WwGsWBkbceUOmIydW4576NsATyrbOrSTU58BeIrU_8T-1M0GN8EHMKpJ3xDzGKcRDPb4iI39FAvDcfPjoyJ-VBT9Cqp88yaa8nY2VgmKIgSHAHngKhHTFGu2tcix/s400/head+torch+pigeon+kill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I did also take a pigeon</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">with the resortera using the staples #64s 2x2x2 the same used in the experiments mentioned earlier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">This shot was taken on a silhouette and I connected a solid head shot with the cat eye marble. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Was a tasty meal!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Noteworthy is the fact that I had weighed these 5/8 cat eye marbles on an old scale I have and they were weighing in the 5 gram range which is 77 grains occasionally they would be slightly over but were usually 77 to 80 grains. That puts these marbles within the weight of the previously mentioned 0000 buckshot or .38 lead round balls that are 83 grains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Yet the impact to the pigeon's crop from the 5/8 cat eye marble had immediate stoppage where I shot completely through a large pigeon's crop with the .38 lead ball and the bird flew away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">How is it possible you ask that the marble had more stopping power vs the small, slightly heavier and faster .38 lead round ball??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Blunt impact trauma! You see the 5/8 cat eye marble has a much larger surface than the tiny 3/8 lead ball and although both are virtually the same weight. For more in the blunt trauma formula see my blog post on this.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html"><span style="font-size: small;">http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Allow me to explain:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The energy of the projectile is being distributed differently. The density of the smaller lead ball is delivering a more concentrated blow and in doing so has penetrated flesh and the shock wave is diffused and the smaller lead ball is now only effective if it impacts something vital on the way through the Pigeon's crop. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The marble with the larger striking surface delivers it's entire energy on impact. If you look at a pigeon anatomy chart you will see that the heart is below the crop and behind this is its vertebrate. The impact of the marble is delivering a shockwave to these vital organs. Its a shockwave of energy to the right place and it causes a shut down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">This phenomenon is not limited to this experimental set up. As I have had this experience with even larger lead balls and my standard 64 3x3x3 chains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Here's a pigeon I had a pass through with a .44 lead ball on a crop shot and the account regarding its harvest. Again this pigeon did not die from the pass through of the larger lead ball. Note a .44 lead ball is 128 grains give or take.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The full story is here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/pigeon-with-lead-balls-t3083.html" target="_blank">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/pigeon-with-lead-balls-t3083.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Here's a kill with a 5/8 cat eye and a crop shot with the same set up and slingshot. This pigeon died almost instantly from the impact of the 5/8 cat eye marble at only 77 grains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Again these other examples are only added to illustrate the difference in how the energy of a larger sized (but not always heavier) projectile is distributed vs the smaller lead ball. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">But I digress and bring us back to the project with the chained 64 2x2x2 and what I have taken with marbles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now onto other species: Rabbits? I haven't tried for rabbits with marbles and the 64 2x2x2 but I do believe it is possible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Squirrels? Maybe but I haven't done this to confirm. I have killed rats with the 5/8 cat eye marbles and the chained 64s 2x2x2. In the future as I am able to hunt with my busy life style I will update on these matters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Now we must go the last projectile being used in the Less is more project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"><u><em><strong>Hunting with clay balls and 64 2x2x2 chain</strong></em></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have had the pleasure of hunting successfully using baked clay balls and the chained 64s 2x2x2 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Here is a pigeon I shot in an underpass of a live railroad the shot was a good connection at over 30 feet above the pigeon was hiding in the steel girders hit the crop. A nice male pigeon this was with the Alliance Advantage #64s 2x2x2 chain and a clay ball. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwsEYed7BP7zQnaPUXHfIygxz9lwWgP-n7YlCV86hwtanMvEuWkBI33ThEWDlqayfBMS_M-KH1Gwg6jDq9aiDYPcSyx3Oex_du1auwi3lTbYCr09IBAuO9ff3kEz3uKvQMJVgELj95eY1O/s1600/skateboard+pigeon+kill+with+clay+ball+take+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwsEYed7BP7zQnaPUXHfIygxz9lwWgP-n7YlCV86hwtanMvEuWkBI33ThEWDlqayfBMS_M-KH1Gwg6jDq9aiDYPcSyx3Oex_du1auwi3lTbYCr09IBAuO9ff3kEz3uKvQMJVgELj95eY1O/s400/skateboard+pigeon+kill+with+clay+ball+take+1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Another recent was a rat that I shot with this same slingshot and a clay ball some 20 feet in one of our fruit trees. The rat tried to avoid me in the heavy cover but I waited with the head lamp beam on the other side of the tree and sure as darkness it came out to where I had a clear shot. I connected on the first shot with it's ribs and it fell dead and my tabby ate the rat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Could the chained 64s 2x2x2 take something larger than a rat? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">How about a squirrel? The answer is Yes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Here is a recent squirrel taken under pest control situation on our property where they have caused damage to our property. This also is an update which I will link back to this blog post. Here is proof and you can see for yourself that it was perfectly placed shot. This was a clean kill. This is with the staples brand #64s 2x2x2 chain</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggyA2aTXnOUnmZsLe1TageKShh9SQ1spiBQOAUkbaBwbL7Dxr5EdbG3-sduE2dz2nnabUbKkogxaIs6Lq2v785CPSmi2AUQKC3WjMXZhdaiuhxrcbAha8hvUx6QiRGuGZXOB1pw9SAXjXe/s1600/ardilla+con+mosaico+de+barro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggyA2aTXnOUnmZsLe1TageKShh9SQ1spiBQOAUkbaBwbL7Dxr5EdbG3-sduE2dz2nnabUbKkogxaIs6Lq2v785CPSmi2AUQKC3WjMXZhdaiuhxrcbAha8hvUx6QiRGuGZXOB1pw9SAXjXe/s640/ardilla+con+mosaico+de+barro.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">The details of this hunt are on this link</span></div>
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<a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/squirrel-with-chained-natural-t3115.html">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/squirrel-with-chained-natural-t3115.html</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Do I feel that the clay balls propelled by the chained 64s 2x2x2 could take a rabbit?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course as I do not believe something can be done without having first performed said action successfully I will simply state that I believe the set-up is potentially capable of harvesting a cottontail with a clay ball. I know right now that there are some readers saying (squirrels are tougher than rabbits) so yeah this can take a rabbit. Maybe so? But not all situations are identical in the field. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For now this in the field treatise is what I have learned in working with a lighter set of chained #64 rubber bands. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So far as I can tell from a personal note, that if it were for bird hunting pigeons I would stick with the 5/8 marbles but would still do well with the .38 lead balls for pigeons and also dove sized birds as these are not as tough as barn pigeons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The .38 lead balls would be excellent for dove sized birds in conjunction with these lighter #64 2x2x2 chain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">I think that the clay balls would be the best all around with this 2x2x2 chain for all of the mentioned game in this blog post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Either way I have created a system with less rubber bands and three very viable and accessible projectile options for the interested user of chained office # 64 rubber bands. In a light 2x2x2 chain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em><span style="color: red;">Again for the reader not reading the entire post and just skimming? This blog post has been about the limitations and potential of the chained 64s in a 2x2x2 chain with the previously mentioned three differing projectiles. It is not about the projectile itself but the combination of this particular elastic chain and the projectiles that is the point of this experiment.</span> </em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here you have a basic system with less rubber bands and they are ubiquitous rubber bands you can get almost in any office supply store near home and with three different projectiles you can use from 5/8 marbles that are economical to using 0000 buck shot to making clay ball ammo in the privacy of your home. You now have a hunting set up that is lethal in 5 to 15 yards with proper shot placement and a possible effectiveness at 20 yards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Side notes: and alternatives to the less is more project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you prefer trenza style as my uncle called the loosely braided chain you can use the same amount of rubber bands or if you are a little guy with shorter arms you can use less. The difference is that you are folding over (plaiting) the rubber bands and when you fold one over they count as two strength wise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the trenza equivalent of the knotted 64 2x2x2 chain, but as a trenza is 1x1x1x1x1x1 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIItogS6n_Dn82dKlRamxlmZ8rVHaaOGSVJz4TJGkuoZfKcS7i34iasUT-aFkFwyxwJ80h0kwXPdAGh9zEUwSu_U2gmaCNTfmEVXdJfvY3Nl5_LBwhx25_DgbKwR1W7NVo4KSUrKVd35E/s1600/trenza.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIItogS6n_Dn82dKlRamxlmZ8rVHaaOGSVJz4TJGkuoZfKcS7i34iasUT-aFkFwyxwJ80h0kwXPdAGh9zEUwSu_U2gmaCNTfmEVXdJfvY3Nl5_LBwhx25_DgbKwR1W7NVo4KSUrKVd35E/s320/trenza.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For proper trenza technique I refer you to Geko's video Mr. Geko is a noted German shooter who deserves 100% credit for reviving interest in the use of the trenza (braided chain) among western shooters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's his old video from 2009 which he Posted in Melchior's forum on Slingshots the first and original forum of slingshots. Which was the first forum I visited on slingshots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Whether you use the knotted chains as I use or you prefer the loosely braided chains you are still using chained office rubber bands and part of an old tradition of slingshot use. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Good luck hunting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Acknowledgements:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Special thanks to Kevin on the forums who donated the large bag of .38 lead balls I used in this project which he cast himself, thanks Kevin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Special thanks to Joey Lujan for the cool Skateboard cut out slingshot frame it has been used well, and will be used again. Thanks</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">A big thank you to all my readers for your support.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Foot note: *pebbles as ammo with the chained 64s 2x2x2: There is a very young hunter on the Rebel slingshot forum who used the chained 64s 2x2x2 for hunting because the usual 3x3x3 chain was too heavy pull for him and he was successful with the 2x2x2 chain and pebbles at harvesting a pigeon and he did this with not so rounded rocks/pebbles the young hunter's name is David. Here is the story <a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/i-didn-t-give-chains-the-respect-they-deserve-t2993.html">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/i-didn-t-give-chains-the-respect-they-deserve-t2993.html</a></span></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-84076535953435003152015-09-03T01:13:00.000-07:002016-05-02T11:20:58.377-07:00Honoring Past Contributors to the Sport of Slingshot Hunting<h2 style="text-align: center;">
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<u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Honoring past Contributors to the Sport of Slingshot hunting</span></u></h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I want to give some acknowledgement to those individuals who have helped enrich the "sport side" of Slingshot Hunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Now before I continue with this blog post I want to say two things here</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";">:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">1. I realize I called slingshot style hunting a "sport" now for me growing up as a child and the annual 3 months I lived with my grandparents in rural Mexico I learned that hunting with a slingshot or any other hunting tool was more a matter of necessity than a game or sport. In those times the game we took with the slingshot was a supplemental meat source to our family's diet of mainly maize, beans, and squash. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">However, hunting with a slingshot is still carried out by people to add some meat to the table and because of the challenge of using such a simple projectile weapon. In this way Slingshot hunting is as much a sport of Hunting as is hunting with a bow with blunt tips for small game. Because we still hunt for the love of the challenge and the added benefit of a fine meal of natural un caged wild game meats. As an example my father who is an avid deer hunter and also was my original slingshot mentor still carries with him his homemade resortera when he is out deer hunting, and the man has many times harvested rabbits and grouse as his meal for the evening. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The wild creatures hunted with a slingshot have a higher advantage of escape vs the difference if hunted with a shotgun or a precise firearm or the modern high powered air guns. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">2. By past contributors I'm referring to pre Slingshot enthusiast forum contributors and there are many out there. The reason for this blog post, then is to acknowledge these guys; simply because all those who are newly interested with slingshot hunting should know that these guys trail blazed the interest towards slingshot hunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Additionally I will make reference to those who have made either past articles in the pre forum era and may not be publically active yet are part of what sparked the interest in the growing slingshot enthusiast community and I will share some of our old time hunters still active to this day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Before I continue I must personally take this time to tip my hat to those who influenced and mentored me in the practice and skill of slingshot hunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">1. My father as he is the first person to have handed me the tradition of hunting with a resortera. He taught me how to tie the bands, how to cut pouches and how to attach bands to the mighty resortera/slingshot. He also taught me how to determine by simply stretching an elastic to know if it would have the required snap to make a good slingshot. He also taught me how to select stones and taught me the value of improvised projectiles for the slingshot such as hex nuts, ball bearings and marbles to name a few. He also gave a quick walk through on tanteo shooting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">2. My uncle my father's brother who helped round out my knowledge of making resorteras and shooting them for hunting. He also is the reason I learned to make chained office rubber band slingshot bands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Also my maternal grandfather and grand uncle who shared with me their tradition of resorteras from their part of Mexico.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">I also thank the guys I met as a kid in the Barrio using slingshots namely the older kid who introduced me to using the #64 rubber bands. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><em>Gracias siempre por la lectura y los consejos que me dierron cuando yo era un morro.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">For that matter we should take the time and in fact will take the time to say</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";">:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Special thanks, to all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles and big brothers and others who helped every kid out there to learn the simple art of <em>the slingshot, the poor mans hunting tool</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Were it not for these people the rest of us would not have our unique individual slingshot hunting traditions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">There are many men over the years who have helped spark the interest in hunting with Slingshots years before the existence of Internet forums.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Some have been immortalized in old videos like Old Rufus Hussey, then there are others like Mr. Sartain who was amazing with his red inner tube band slingshot and simple rocks and was known to hustle people with his slingshot (making bets with his shooting) and would get his fill of small game at the beginning of a hunting season with his old time slingshot and simple stones for ammo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Amazing guys like these are what more accurately brought into the public eye the love of the slingshot which has always been a personal tradition varied within families from one land to another. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">To say that it is because of the internet and forums that people are so interested in slingshots is not accurate a statement. I think that the more accurate statement would be to say that the slingshot has always been enjoyed by the poor all over the world and really just ignored by the more well to do people in the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Truly the homemade rubber powered slingshot is the poor man's hunting tool or the gun of the poor man who could not afford a gun for the sake of putting some food on the table for the family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">All the internet did was expose the use of the this humble tool to the masses of internet viewers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">However: There are still with us today some old time slingshot users that have been using slingshots since before the internet was ever active!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"><strong>Madison Parker/Frogman </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"> A friend of mine and long time member of the Rebel Slingshotforum <a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Mr.. Parker has been involved with slingshots from his childhood to his time in Vietnam serving our Country. A retired Navy Seal also still a survival instructor for our current Navy Seals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">He has is own unique style of slingshots based on truly Old fashioned slingshot styles that use heavy surgical tubing and heavy projectiles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Of course his slingshots can never be simplified with a basic description for the man has evolved his old fashioned slingshot into a truly powerful weapon which stands in a class all its own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Mr.. Parker has been a long time contributor to Backwoodsman Magazine from its early days and had many times presented articles regarding slingshot hunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">It's contributions like his that helped fire the interest in slingshot hunting long before the era of forums and its current trend. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">He has even contributed in the last few years to Field and Stream Magazine and has a few more recent articles on Backwoodsman.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Here's a link to an Field and Stream article with Madison Parker on slingshots </span><br />
<a href="http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2010/10/how-make-handmade-slingshot">http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2010/10/how-make-handmade-slingshot</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"> Mr. Parker has the true spirit of challenge this is the essence of his group squirrel hunts,<strong> <em>which the man does hunt by himself many times</em></strong> are hunts conducted in very, very challenging situations. At ranges that are tough in terrain that is tough. Few are successful at his style of hunt which gives the squirrels an enormous advantage. It is amazing to see the man shoot such incredibly heavy tubes with such grace and deadly accuracy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">The man can bring down squirrels that are in thick cover well over 100 feet above in the trees. Here's a video of the man in action. This video was not taken by me and full credit goes to the maker of this video (magnoliaweb) It is some great footage of his skill and shooting his slingshot with heavy projectiles. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">Like myself and those who taught me the art of the slingshot Madison does not view the slingshot as a bow or treat it as a bow like so many of the modern slingshot enthusiasts do. What I mean is he does not shoot his slingshots like a bow hunter would by drawing to the cheek, instead he draws deep and shoots by instinctive aiming. I don't know where his Bullet Proof site is but he is also found on the E2E on You tube and they have their own website.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">If you wish to look him up this would be a good resource to find the man. This is his current update website http://primitivesupplyco.com/</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">This blog post goes out to you and those sincere slingshot Hunters who love the pursuit and live for the hunt. There are so many other modern authors who predate the forum era that I can add here who have enriched the interest in hunting with a slingshot but I would run out of words to list them here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";">As always good luck on your hunts </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana";"></span><br />Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-5353818992338157152013-09-28T04:38:00.000-07:002013-09-28T07:11:32.824-07:00The Clay Projectile for hunting (Clay ammo)<h2 align="center">
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<u>Clay bullets or hardened clay balls as a small game hunting projectile for slingshots</u></h2>
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<span style="color: red;">Warning: Some hunting images will be displayed in the context of this post as they are essential to the point of this subject matter. Game was taken on private land where said game is considered a nuisance and permission was granted to harvest said game. If you do not like hunting images please move on or enjoy the blog post :) </span></div>
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<strong> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Introduction</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hardened clay balls as hunting projectiles have been mostly overlooked in today's modern world of iPods' tablets, of course computers and internet forums where it has become convenient to just type in the rhetorical question "what ammo should I use for hunting with a slingshot"" to which the legion of internet parrots will advise "use lead" use steel balls", yes these all do the job as does my favorite natural ammo <em>stones.</em> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But have people always overlooked clay as a source for making projectiles??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Let's go back in time to a place where people did not have the conveniences of this so called advanced world of ours..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>History and background</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Archaeological accounts show that, in ancient Europe and the Middle East and also in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica ancient people made large clay bullets that they baked in an oven for their use with the ancient sling weapon. We know the sling differs from our rubber powered slingshot yes. They made large bullets of natural clay which were then baked in an earthen oven and this ammo was used in combat,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">yes combat against other human beings. Clay sling bullets have been found in Hamoukar Syria as early as 35,000 B.C. that were used in warfare.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But I digress as we move along to the hunting oriented uses of the hardened clay projectile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In Hunter and Gatherer societies there are known accounts of blowgun users that shot clay balls at birds to harvest as a food source, the Maya were notorious for their use of blowguns projecting clay balls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The Eastern Pomo tribe of California hunted waterfowl with slings and clay balls that had straw within to help density and were baked in the sun. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Here is an authentic hunting set made by Pomo hunters. From the Phoebe A. Hurst Museum of Anthropology. Ducks and mud hens were taken in the Clear Lake Area with this hunting set.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Around the 16th Century we have accounts of a projectile weapon more related to and possibly the ancestor of our rubber powered slingshot. The stone bow or stone crossbow, of this stone shooting crossbow we have records of it's use for small game. The original projectile was a rounded baked clay ball. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This 16th Century wood cut depicts English Hunters shooting rooks in a tree at night with a pellet crossbow which used baked clay balls as ammo. This picture is from an article "Ballistics of the Bullet shooting crossbow"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether or not the various naysayers believe that something as simple as hardened mud can be an effective projectile for small game, history has argued in it's favor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> <strong>Present<em> </em>time:</strong> My interest in using clay balls as a slingshot hunting projectile was first sparked by some experiments using clay balls as a projectile with blowguns in mid 1990s as those experiments bared some favorable results.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I decided that a larger hardened clay ball suited to the similar sizes as the pebbles I use for hunting with my slingshots would bare fruit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><u><strong>How I made the clay balls</strong></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Last year 2012. I decided to follow with history and stick with natural clay, but because I live in an area where digging in the places where natural clay occurs would just get me into trouble? I decided to go with the arts and crafts store, there I found a natural clay under the brand AMACO and having taken various ceramic courses in college? I knew this to be natural simple air dry clay the same stuff like you find in nature (well almost the same, as this stuff is treated to ensure freshness), very dense clay. It comes in a 10 pound block and costs about $8.00 with taxes. A very economic source for ammo I'd say considering I am just now needing a new block of clay and have so far had 300 rounds from this block of clay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I used a 7/8 inch marble (22.225 millimeters) as my size template, simply for a visual template not an actual mold of any sort. With this visual template I started to roll my clay balls to a visually similar size to the 7/8 marble.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I let these clay balls air dry then baked these in the home oven at a basic 350 degrees for about 2.5 to 3 hours. This does not change their composition, for this to happen you would have to bake the clay in a kiln at high temperatures. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The home oven baking does help harden the clay as if heated in a smoldering fire and that was enough for my uses. The resulting clay balls were weighing between 9 to 9.5 grams after being baked, this for the record is heavier than a 1/2 inch steel ball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">With the clay balls ready to use it's time to take to the field.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><u>Hunting with hardened clay balls</u></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Having slingshot hunted with these fire hardened clay balls off and on during the last two years has proven that these clay projectiles can be absolutely effective with wild fowl within the pigeon sized range.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Many agriculturally fattened pigeons have fallen to these clay balls, of course anyone who has hunted these large feral barn pigeons in the States will tell you that such birds are very tough. This is due to their plumage and over all strength from being the master flyers that they are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">An example of these large pigeons is posted on my blog post regarding the old round solid elastic which was also killed with a clay ball. Like in all small game hunting it's accuracy with shot placement to vitals that has made these hunts so successful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2013/08/old-time-slingshot-elastic-of-mexican.html" target="_blank">See pigeon here</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As successful as I had been employing these hardened clay balls for hunting pigeons, I had remembered something I read regarding the bullet shooting crossbow. It said that small game such as fowl and other animals were taken with the bullet crossbow and baked clay ammo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The idea started to form in my mind "what other small game"? could these be the furs? This triggered a memory of my first rabbit I killed with a slingshot in my childhood I had shot it with what I thought was a rock and on impact with it's head discovered it was a natural clay rock. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I wondered can I kill a rabbit with these fire hardened clay balls? Logically if others have killed rabbits with smaller marbles then why could I not kill a rabbit using these hardened clay balls? They after all hit harder than marbles and have proven lethal with neck and crop shots to pigeons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Preparing clay ammo for a rabbit hunt:</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">By far my most used projectile for hunting rabbits remains simple natural river stones aka smooth oval pebbles which have different dimensions due to shape and are considerably heavier denser than clay. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What I decided to simply make a clay ball slightly larger, I rolled out a clay ball that was an estimated 22.9 to 23 millimeters, the resulting clay balls after being baked weighed a between 11.6 to 12 grams. This then made a better clay bullet that showed more promise if I were to attempt a rabbit harvest with said clay projectile. My first harvest with these larger clay balls is the large pigeon displayed in the link provided earlier in this post. The damage the larger clay did to that large pigeon's neck was more extensive than made with standard 7/8 clay ammo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><u>A display of blunt force </u></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Before I share with you my hunter's tale I want to share with you some post hunt pictures I took for my own reference as to type of blunt force being displayed by these 23mm baked clay balls. For this we once again return to our <em>poor man's blunt trauma measurer </em>the steel veggie can in this case an empty can of stewed tomatoes. As this is a <em><strong>post hunt</strong></em> blunt trauma measurement, this means I used the same elastic same bands and ammo used in the hunt I will tell you of shortly. I took my Alambre Resortera <em>wire coat hanger slingshot </em>powered by chained office #64 rubber bands in a 3x3x3 chain and these 23mm baked clay balls and set up my simple blunt trauma test.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I set up the can in a safe place and from about 25 feet took one shot using the same chained rubber bands used in the soon to be described hunt. I took one shot and the clay ball impacted with the upper part of the steel can near the unopened side. These pictures will show the pebble like impact of the 23 mm clay ball to the steel can. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebBv4RZu06Nt7olxSDJrWwnfjvcajsIM8WdklqAJ9VCEcTIa2DlgGI9h6eChItacV0k0XHoyNgc68_3gY6NnwGo4dQw_6koJkhv79A9lEAy3CZQV8XbxVEXUdIgt036N-u3fNalw079U5/s1600/BT2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebBv4RZu06Nt7olxSDJrWwnfjvcajsIM8WdklqAJ9VCEcTIa2DlgGI9h6eChItacV0k0XHoyNgc68_3gY6NnwGo4dQw_6koJkhv79A9lEAy3CZQV8XbxVEXUdIgt036N-u3fNalw079U5/s400/BT2.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QHbUZqPmwwpfHRV5G2X4q0bs1x-InpsdTYI_42Uf7PzuQVTmY08U478KLa1PLZTtcK7iykhyGmY2ZdNwc4gGHTLB8mSvHym1KjW6r8OIhfouE4MzbyNuwOPaQFnF8X5CmzPX7EW-BEIS/s1600/BT+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QHbUZqPmwwpfHRV5G2X4q0bs1x-InpsdTYI_42Uf7PzuQVTmY08U478KLa1PLZTtcK7iykhyGmY2ZdNwc4gGHTLB8mSvHym1KjW6r8OIhfouE4MzbyNuwOPaQFnF8X5CmzPX7EW-BEIS/s400/BT+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pictured is the same clay ball shot into the can as you can see the clay ball had no damage and the impact to the can was pebble like some serious blunt force. Consider that the clay ball impacted with the supported sealed side of the can and you have an idea of the impact it exerted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><u>A rabbit hunters tale and experience</u></strong></span></div>
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A few weeks back I went on a hunt in the twilight hours. My chosen hunting tools for this day is my trusty Alambre Resortera powered chained #64 office rubber bands in a 3x3x3 chain per band. My projectiles were varied, I took some larger 3/4 inch cat eye marbles, also these special 23 mm clay balls and some 1/2 inch hex nuts, I was prepared for varying circumstances. </div>
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First I decided to try for pigeons and when I saw no pigeons in the palm trees they usually roost, I moved on to a special place I know that has a population of Desert Cottontail Rabbits. I had a bad foot injury so I could not walk to these places normally I will walk a couple of miles on a hunt but when you're injured things are different.</div>
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I arrived at this special location and I immediately saw several desert cottontail rabbits. They were a bit jumpy due to the local feral cat population, I saw one cottontail near a fence area in which these rabbits normally retreat to when pursued; I drove past this rabbit. </div>
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I slowly came out of my car and slowly stalked to a range of 20 yards where the cottontail was excellently camouflaged with the dry grass, as it was twilight this made it hard to see the rabbit.</div>
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I used an old trick that helps you see a hidden image better I squinted (lowered my vision) then I saw the complete out line of the cottontail and when I fully opened my eyes I could then see the rabbit's full outline in the dry grass.</div>
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I decided that this was my ultimate chance to try my 23mm hardened clay balls on this rabbit as this was as close as I could get. </div>
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I loaded the clay ball in my slingshot shot pouch and without thinking and in one continuous motion drew back and released my shot. The attempt was for the rabbit's head but the way the rabbit was sitting up watching me the shot dropped a fraction and gave a solid impact with the rabbit's neck.</div>
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The impact completely stopped the rabbit which fell twitching and doing what some rabbit hunters call the death dance. To ensure there would be no further suffering I moved in immediately and gave it a quick chop with the hand behind head and neck.</div>
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Needless to say the clay ball immediately stopped this cottontail rabbit upon impact. I have seen rabbits run with a 22 LR also when shot with pellet guns, yet this humble fire hardened 23mm clay ball immediately stopped this rabbit.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd68eVD0-5vG9oIaTF-AsOrzIMTQlT5O5cP-CNfibJPFYdYHWqaUfy8gCmfL4k96uQ8T6L_r8VtQQI7qcMHH3IWTnKXW4F-aABQjDQnXu3XAO1RmVybwKFIn4c4ZRo21h8SbZiwX2JRp2R/s1600/cottontail+alambre+clayball+kill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd68eVD0-5vG9oIaTF-AsOrzIMTQlT5O5cP-CNfibJPFYdYHWqaUfy8gCmfL4k96uQ8T6L_r8VtQQI7qcMHH3IWTnKXW4F-aABQjDQnXu3XAO1RmVybwKFIn4c4ZRo21h8SbZiwX2JRp2R/s640/cottontail+alambre+clayball+kill.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope to make some good conejo en salsa as my tia and abuelita used to make for me when I hunted rabbits in Mexico as a kid.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Well there you are, clay balls can take even rabbits. If you practice and hone your accuracy you can with a simple home made slingshot powered by office rubber bands and simple hardened mud feed yourself and your family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There is no need to look for fancy made slingshots or buy lead balls from some fancy vendor. As long as you have stones and or clay mud you will never be with out suitable hunting projectiles for your slingshot.</span><br />
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-81670412694131539322013-08-24T19:19:00.002-07:002013-09-02T09:29:44.216-07:00Old Time Slingshot Elastic of Mexican tradition: a tribute to the round solid elastic<h2 style="text-align: center;">
A tribute to a Classic Mexican Slingshot elastic: <em>The round solids of Resortera fame.</em></h2>
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<em><span style="color: red;"><strong>Warning Some hunting images are depicted of small game harvested with a slingshot, if you do not agree with hunting then stop reading. This is a hunting oriented blog, you have been warned.</strong></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most American slingshot enthusiasts are all by now well familiar with the old time slingshot elastics; such as the old red inner tube rubber strips, the old time chained rubber band bands and the use of large rubber bands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That there are other old time and underestimated or even overlooked slingshot elastics is an undeniable fact. However it may be that these elastics are overlooked by younger generations of slingshot enthusiasts who seem to believe that if their elastic does not come from exercise bands cut with a pizza cutter or purchased from an internet slingshot vendor that they do not have credibility as such? By all means read on as this blog is for those who love all the old time slingshot traditions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The round solid elastic for lack of better term is just that a solid round as in round like surgical tubing but without a cavity they are a solid piece of rubber. They have been in use for a long time in Mexico possibly existed in the 1960s or earlier which I learned after some conversations with some men in their mid 60s who used this elastic in their childhood. and at one time I believed that this round solid elastic had come into use at the beginning of the 1970s in Mexico but I was wrong they are much older in their use and distribution throughout Mexico. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Take a look at these images you can see they are simply a solid rubber cord. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxLwJ4fVepkQOHKp42egjsXRllQQBcDffGNxyVjz2ArUMjgF7nVTWNCb7RaLgJ1D75kSORnIzElZV2hkgi2JGbdleaqUsV8XxNzx5kj6WRa3z9XhK2fGEniQoot2TLpD96gFPTPDDsgo2/s1600/resortes1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxLwJ4fVepkQOHKp42egjsXRllQQBcDffGNxyVjz2ArUMjgF7nVTWNCb7RaLgJ1D75kSORnIzElZV2hkgi2JGbdleaqUsV8XxNzx5kj6WRa3z9XhK2fGEniQoot2TLpD96gFPTPDDsgo2/s320/resortes1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These solids were sent to me via trade with a friend in Mexico and they are what the current solid rubber is like, yet they are not by any means all the types of solid elastic available as there is a beige elastic I could not get that was the first slingshot elastic I ever used as a kid to hunt with. I have not tested the blue solid elastic yet, but I have chronograph tested both the red solids and the cream colored solids. The red elastic in the picture I am familiar with and was a favorite when I was in my pre teens in the 1980s. The red solid elastic gave me a reading of 150 feet per second with a 16 mm lead ball! Yes you read it right a heavy 16 mm lead ball traveling 150 feet per second. These round solid elastic bands in the picture are approximately 7mm in diameter slightly thicker than 1/4 inch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The cream colored resortes (elastic) in the picture have about the most common power expected of the round solids, they can fire an 18 to 20 gram river stone aka pebble at 148 to 150 feet per second plenty of stopping power for hunting small game. It also fires 12 gram 23 mm clay balls at 168 fps, the cream colored solids have the same strength of the old beige round solids I used as a kid. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In my childhood I killed my fair share of small game with the round solid elastic powered slingshots my uncle mentored me to use while we stayed summers in rural Mexico. I also saw some very skilled slingshot hunters in action with these old elastics, my uncle the same man who taught me to build chained rubber band bands was himself an adept user of the round solid elastics he always came home with a rabbit or a few quails and doves that he took with his round solids resortera and stones for ammo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When I was cut off from Mexico and back in my native concrete jungle of Los Angeles county when summer was over and school began I would use whatever I had left of my round solid elastic supply which when exhausted I'd return to my use of the chained bands like usual.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My last time enjoying the round solid rubber for slingshots was at the age of 19 years old. That was 19 years in the past and now through some help from a friend in Mexico I have been able to relive some of my past adventures with these old time elastics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Present time: <em>The self challenge</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This past July of this year I made myself a traditional resortera of a seasoned magnolia fork. I gave it some classic spirals as are seen in both wood and plastic classic Mexican resorteras and I tied it lashed down with an insulator and rubber bands in this way you draw the bands pulling against the ties. I used the cream colored round solids in the previous pictures. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I decided to hunt with this slingshot to remember the challenges I faced in the years gone bye and to remember how challenging it is to hunt with these old time slingshot elastics. In July I struggled with my accuracy which after I examined the slingshot I realized that there was a noticeable difference in the pull force between the two slingshot bands. These irregularities are not uncommon in all types of rubber. Well I re-banded the resortera with a fresh set of round solids who's pull force was evenly matched. Still my busy work schedule eluded me from being able to hunt regularly and give the old time resortera elastic a fair chance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This all would change in early August: </span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana;">A slingshot hunter's tale</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I had equipped this slingshot with various projectiles, namely pebbles for rabbits and I made some slightly heavier clay balls for pigeon hunting. These were 23 mm clay balls that weighed about 12 grams so had more weight to them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I had been far too busy with work to have a proper go at hunting. Well my work place has game too, so I took my resortera to work one weekend and some of the larger clay balls for pigeons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saturday around 1 pm I went on the forklift scouting for pigeons or a jackrabbit laying in the shade.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Towards the harvest bin area I saw one pigeon sitting across from the harvest bins. I tried to walk towards it to take a shot at it. It flew right to the harvest bins, well I drove there with the forklift and realized the pigeons were not flying when I was on the fork lift. So I decided to try and shoot while on the forklift, 10 yards away and 10 yards above stood this large male pigeon strutting or showing is superior pose and it lifted it's head high so I got a good sight of it's neck. I calmly drew back and focused on the neck of this large pigeon and let my projectile fly, the clay ball impacted directly on it's neck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The pigeon fell stone dead without a twitch, I had to use the forklift to get to this pigeon as it fell inside the wooden harvest bin and after a while I retrieved my trophy and man what an impressive bird and the shot was as perfect as I have ever made.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The clay ball snapped it's neck causing massive trauma and a very clean kill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do these old time slingshot elastics have the power to fill the pot? See for yourself! <br />
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For the record this large agriculturally fed male pigeon after being DE feathered and gutted and cleaned for the freezer weighed 8.5 ounces of meat that's breast, wings and legs! Now that will make a fine stew! That's more 1/2 of a pound of meat harvested with a primitive old time slingshot rubber and one well placed 23 mm baked clay ball. <br />
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I'm certain that sometime down the road there will be more small game harvests at the end of this old time slingshot elastic. In the meantime I will revisit my hunts with my favorite chained elastics and carry this round solids resortera as it's back up and maybe sometimes use it as a primary hunting slingshot. <br />
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It's been great reliving the past hunting adventures with this old time slingshot elastic. Special thanks go out to my resortera brother Xidoo for helping make this resortera adventure possible.<br />
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Happy hunting and remember not all slingshots are powered by the exercise bands of modern day.</span></span><br />
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-22708960735810170022013-04-27T09:14:00.000-07:002013-04-27T14:39:27.945-07:00ALAMBRE RESORTERA Q & A Fun Facts<h2 align="center">
The Alambre Resortera Fun Facts Q & A</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hello again fellow blog reader, since the humble wire coathanger slingshot's rise to popularity, there have been many ideas thrown around and also misconceptions with regard to my own use of this style of slingshot and what is and isn't what I have said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I hope those of you who have enjoyed making this alternative weapon will bare with me this simple Q & A as I feel it is necesarry to keep the facts straight about this humble poor man's weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So without further red tape let's get on to the meat of this quick post that will clarify some facts about this style of slingshot and my use of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Q:</strong> Is the Alambre Resortera the only slingshot you have ever made and used?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>A:</strong> No, for the last three decades I mainly used slingshots made from natural tree forks as that is the base of my slingshot traditions. Because I worked in the family Tree service business in Southern California I had the opportunity to try all types of trees for slingshot use. <strong> </strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>However,</strong> the <em>Alambre slingshot</em> is also part of those traditions and was introduced to me when I was in my pre teens, circa 11 or 12 years of age. During this time having been the naughty boy that I was my parents tried to curb my making slingshots by preventing me from harvesting forks from trees while working with father. During this time I knew some kids from Baja Mexico and when I told the kid about my dilema he told me the story of the slingshot forks made from braided wires. Added to this my grandfather told me his version and from there my personal exposure to such a slingshot in a slingshot stand in Yahualica Jalisco planted the seed of creativity. I am 38 years old right now and I started to explore the wire coathanger slingshots within 11 or 12 years of age but this style is not the only one I use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> <strong>Q:</strong> Is the Alambre Resortera the only slingshot you use to hunt smallgame?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>A: </strong>No, like in the first question and answer for the majority I used natural tree forks and one board cut that my great uncle a guitar maker helped me make in Juarez Mexico. As a pree teen and a teenager when I did use the alambre resortera I killed the odd pigeon with marbles and took plenty of invasive sparrows and starlings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It was in the last two years that I decided as a personal challenge to myself to test the limits and full potential that is possible with a properly made wirecoathanger slingshot. When I accepted the personal challenge my first major accomplishment was the harvesting of a cottontail rabbit. From here the use of the simplistic wire coathanger slingshot as a hunting tool became a growing fascination, since this time other rabbits and jackrabbits and wild fowl have been harvested with the use of the alambre resortera. In between I have still hunted with natural forked slingshots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As a side note; the first slingshot I ever used to hunt was a classic plastic fork resortera from the Mexican mercado armed with round solid elastic I was 6 and a half to seven years old at that time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Q:</strong> Do you claim that the wire clothes hangers were the only alternative, that kids have in the poorest barrios of Mexico?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>A:</strong> No, I was told by a kid from Baja that this style was one used as an alternative never have I claimed that this was the only material available to poor slingshot makers. I believe this story was taken out of context when I gave one of my alambre resorteras to my amigo Gary Flatband Miller, he had said that where he grew up in the Metro area you could get in trouble for cutting trees and was why they also made wire wire hanger slingshots and he felt this was also the case with Mexican Alambre Slingshots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I told Flatband on a note with my gift that is style was one used in the poorest barrios of Mexico and I hold true to this story, if you're that poor where will you get cutting tools or a hand saw to cut boards with? So yes the Alambre resortera is one of the many alternatives that existed and exists for any poor slingshot maker. I know many men decades older than me who made these slingshots as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The tradition is not limited to only using wire hangers there are wires all around you and I have used similar scrap wire to the wire hangers to make resorteras as well. I even have a friend who made an alambre style slingshot from scrap barbed wire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Q: In recent times there has been some bad mouthing of this style of slingshot from people who imagine themselves to be "slingshot designers". What is your take on these negative commentaries? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A: Different strokes for different folks, no one says you have do what I do or even try to imitate the style/tradition. There are as many positive endoresments of one's way as there are the opposite. Then again some of these people do this not out of hatred for the style but as a personal stab at the one who popularizes such a thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here's a link to some positive commentaries on the Alambre Resortera back in 2011 when I presented one of my creations at the Rebel Slingshot Forum; note nothing bad was ever said during this period. </span></div>
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<a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/another-alambre-resortera-t200.html">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/another-alambre-resortera-t200.html</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's all I can think of for now and if you have any questions feel free to email me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Happy Hunting</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nico</span></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-54037062854862799142013-02-23T12:30:00.001-08:002013-02-23T19:52:10.001-08:00Slingshot Projectile Velocity Demystified..<strong><span style="font-size: large;"></span></strong><br />
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Slingshot Projectile speed for hunting? Misconceptions and facts from work in the field.</span></h2>
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In many places on the internet forums for slingshots hosted by slingshot enthusiasts and also in various searches one finds this common question asked by aspiring slingshot style hunters. How fast does my slingshot projectile have to travel for hunting smallgame? Although it is a very good question it is also a very misleading question, simply because it is a vague question one that all too often generates many answers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Sadly this question generates the opinions and advice of <strong><em>armchair hunters and theorists </em></strong>or the hobbyist non hunting slingshot enthusiasts who have seen one too many videos of a fellow shooting his slingshot projectiles through a chronograph and then calculating "foot pounds or joules" which is a system used in fire arm ballistics and unrealated to the use slingshot projectiles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Nothing wrong with a hobby right?</strong> Of course not, but hobbies and real world field results on the same subject are always different. Studying the potential kinetic force made possible by a rubber powered projectile is great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Knowing the projectile speeds a rubber powered slingshot is generating for the harvesting of smallgame is even better than theory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Before I go on to debunk some of the claims of slingshot projectile speeds advised by some of the armchair hunters and related people, I want you to ask yourself something.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Do you really need to know how fast your slingshot projectile travels? Does owning a chronograph guarantee that you will harvest smallgame by knowing how fast your projectile travels? After all when great grandfather and grandfather or father made their slingshots in the days of the red innertubes and chained rubberband bands and big rubberband days they did not own a digital chronograph. Yet they did take their share of smallgame with a slingshot, in reality the true question then is how and why does a slingshot kill? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I suggest a review of my blog post <a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html">The Slingshot as a Projectile Weapon</a> to help you understand the killing mechanism by which the slingshot functions, by knowing this you will understand that knowing projectile speed is more of an idle curiosity than a medium of information to guarantee a slingshot's capability of harvesting smallgame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have always known over the years even from times when I did not know what a "digital chronograph" was that I did not need to know how fast a slingshot had to be for the sake of hunting. Some of the means by which we tested our slingshots the soup can test are outlined in the link to my other post in this blog post here <a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html">The Slingshot as a Projectile Weapon</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The old timers who used the old style slingshot elastics did not have these problems, this I think is the problem we face in our modern age with the <em>information super highway the internet, </em>too many ideas to stay focused on what one truly needs to know about any given subject. Life has become too lazy and non dependant on personal experience, nor is it common for people to visit the local library and do their own research a sad affair. Most of my early education was gained in the Los Angeles County Library system, we should all support our local libraries they are a fading treasure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><u>Exaggerated Projectile Velocity claims</u></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Often when an aspiring slingshot style hunter visits one of the big forums about Slingshots they will visit their "hunting section" and ask the question what kind of elastic and what kind of weight/grains steel or lead ball projectile is effective for hunting. The answers fall along these similar lines and believe me these are no exaggerations as I have seen these over estimated recommendations parroted many times. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">(FPS = feet per second)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">44 cal lead ball at 250 minimum</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">36 cal lead ball at 300 fps </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> 7/16 steel ball bearing at 300 fps</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">1/2 inch steel at over 200 fps </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">.50 cal lead ball at 200 fps minimum</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Aside from this these would be hunters or <em>arm chair hunters </em>as I like to call these people will also lecture you on things they know little about such as elastic pull weight. By the end of the arm chair hunter's lecture the poor aspiring slingshot style hunter leaves the session scratching his head and regretting even asking the advice of these moderators in these big forums.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Am I attacking these pseudo experts? Of course not, this blog is intended to share the truth and nothing more. Now let's see the mythbusting facts vs the above exaggerated claims.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><u><strong>Real world field proven slingshot projectile velocities with projectile weight, speed and game harvested.</strong></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Most of what follows are experiences my own and one is quoted from a friend of mine who is an avid grey squirrel hunter who uses flatbands with a short draw.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>What is the <em>basic </em>lethal projectile speed required for hunting smallgame with a slingshot?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>Note: When I say basic projectile speed this is not meant as an absolute requirement but a real world observation of what projectile speeds have been field proven to take smallgame.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>100 MPH</strong> One hundred miles per hour in feet per second translates to 146.6 feet per second. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A .457 lead ball at 140 grains traveling 146 fps will kill a grey squirrel if it is struck in the vital area. I have a friend who hunts with flat bands and his style is different in that he has a very short draw and release and with this velocity he has been able to harvest a grey squirrel one of the toughest of smallgame to harvest with a slingshot. Ironically a 300 grain projectile traveling at 130 fps will do more damage than this smaller projectile. Heavier projectiles can deliver greater impact at a slower speed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A 300 grain or 20 gram pebble/river stone or rock for that matter traveling at this same 100 MPH is lethal to game larger than even a grey squirrel as it's weight is greater we can expect a greater blunt force on impact. Most of my chronograph field documented results have been using the chained office rubberband elastics and to this I will share what I know to be fact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Ok then let's break this down into a simple real world chart with some short examples. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The following is broken down into categories based on types of projectiles I have personally used in the field to bring home some smallgame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><u>River rocks aka pebbles:</u> </strong>A pebble weighing 18 to 22 grams traveling from 146 to 150 fps has been proven effective at taking rabbits and jackrabbits out to 20 + yards. In some instances with the either the errant shot or the animal's natural evasive movement where my shot hit the body either ribs or spine this speed and weight of projectile had enough blunt force to stop the creature and obvious a needed quick finish. In other instances the solid impact produced an instant kill. Even a pebble of this weight will still effectively kill smallgame with a mere speed of 138 fps. As noted a pebble of this weight traveling 100 MPH has a crippling impact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><u>Lead Balls .50 caliber or (.500):</u> </strong>A .50 cal lead ball when cast from scrounged wheel weights weighs approximately 180 grains and when cast from pure lead weighs 188 grains. A .50 cal lead ball of either alloy traveling from 150 to 170 fps will kill smallgame up to large jackrabbits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em> <strong>Here's my explanation:</strong></em> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Although I have limited experience in hunting with lead balls I will share some of my experiences in the field. At one time a personal friend donated for me a mixed bag of hand cast lead balls, among these were various .50 cal lead balls he cast from wheel weights. Having gave these the soup can test I felt they were adequate. At one time I decided to take these .50 cal lead balls on my hunts and designated these for shots past 25 yards since pebbles at that range have more drop and so if you miss the first shot will spook game. I had my opportunity in early 2012 when hunting an abandoned defunct railroad with my dog, I came accross a jackrabbit which from 50 yards away looked smaller than it really was. Having hunted all week with smaller targets in mind I was intending for a head shot and I moved off the gravel railroad and unto the grass and stalked to within 33 to 35 yards. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The Desert Hare was catching the last rays of the afternoon sun at 40 degrees F so I took my first shot with my alambre resortera armed with chained #64 office rubberbands. The first lead ball sailed over it's head and I took a deep breath drew back as far as I could and let fly the second .50 cal lead ball. A half second later I could hear the impact of the .50 cal projectile as it hit the top of the jackrabbit's head with a loud "pop" similar to a baseball hit by a bat. That was the end the jackrabbit fell to never get up with just it's nerves twitching. The creature was massive and weighed within 8 to 10 lbs and far to big to fit in my usual game bags. The image of this large jackrabbit can be seen at my post </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://nicos-resorterablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-slingshot-as-projectile-weapon.html">The Slingshot as a Projectile Weapon</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">How fast was the .50 cal lead ball traveling that took this large jackrabbit? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I later tested the exact same #64 chained bands that I used on this hunt with my F-1 chronograph and the same batch of .50 cal lead balls. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The lethal speed of this projectile was a mere 163 fps and no where near the speeds preached by the arm chair hunters out there. This is all fact and not theory this is the point of this blog post. So you see a mere 160 fps can carry enough energy past 100 feet to make such a significant smallgame kill. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have also taken large pigeon with these .50 cal lead balls and same elastic and speeds with a crop shot which stopped the large pigeon in it's tracks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>But does using a faster slingshot projecting a .50 cal lead ball at 190 to 200 fps give you an advantage you ask?</strong> Simple answer.. No: My use of the red chained bands the High Quality #32 rubberbands in a 4x4x4 chain taught me this fact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The High quality Red #32 rubberband chains in a 4x4x4 chain project the .50 cal lead ball from 193 to 200 fps and I have tried to use these faster rubberbands in similar field situations and found that the shots drop sooner or even curve in flight. Yes a perfect sphere can curve in flight and there is a YT vid of a prominent German shooter showing a "steel ball" curve in flight. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Although another topic all together, I will only say that the faster elastic with same projectile will work better or more accurate within the 20 yard max range but better in 10 to 15 yards. This has been my personal experience and to make these faster elastics perform better you would have to shoot a heavier projectile. This of course is another topic all together and I digress. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Let's move to the next most popularly advised slingshot projectile for smallgame hunting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Half inch steel ballbearings: </strong>To my metric inclined friends across the pond these are 12.7 mm steel balls or .50 cal steel these 1/2 inch steel balls weigh 129.63 grains around the weight of a .44 cal lead ball cast in wheel weight alloy or slightly more. I believe the .445 lead ball cast in wheel weight alloy is 128 grains. A half inch steel ball bearing traveling from 167 to 172 fps has enough force to take pigeons and their cousins in the squab family out to 30 yards on several occasions I have taken pigeons with head and neck shots out past 20 yards and the 12.7 mm steelie had enough force to take down the pigeons with a clean kill and crippling if not a perfect shot. One smaller member of the squab family I stopped at 30 yards with one of these half inch steel balls. Yes you can also kill rabbits with these steel balls, please only shoot for the head on rabbits and with pigeons the same head, neck shots for best results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As you can see these projectile speeds are no where near the exaggerated velocities suggested by the arm chair hunters and their cousins the card & milk jug shooters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">These are just of the in the field results and the resulting chronograph tests I have taken after these smallgame kills. Why did I chronograph after the kills?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Simple I suspected that the projectile velocity was no where near as fast as some of the exaggerated claims seen on the forums out there and I was correct.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I hope this helps the new comer to hunting with a slingshot, to avoid further confusion and no you dont need to chrony your shots beforehand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Just some food for thought and if you have an questions please feel free to ask.</span><br />
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-86126745181321180072012-11-01T22:18:00.002-07:002012-11-03T19:43:42.387-07:00On The Antiquity and use of Chained Rubberband bands for slingshot use<h2 align="center">
How old is the use of chain linked rubberband bands for slingshot use?</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is said historically that the first patented rubberbands were credited to an Englishman by the name of Thomas Perry in 1845, from here begins the trail of our humble rubberband. However, as much as we must understand the history of rubber itself which goes further back to Mesoamerica whence Colombus first encountered it's use by the ancestors. We must now return to their history within the use of slingshots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Some say that art imitates life and because of this so much of what we know about history has been traced through an artistic hand. I learned of this from my years as a student of Anthropology and the branch of Archaeology so too can time lines be traced within the paintings left behind by an artist's paint brush, <em>an expression of time. </em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Enter Karl Witkowski, An American artist: this artist gentleman existed between 1860 to 1910 and was influenced by an older artist of the time J.G. Brown (1831 - 1913) like his mentor Karl's art focused on life at that time he made many paintings of the shoe shine boys and <em>paper boys. </em>As many should know it's the paper boys who had the most access to our humble rubberband ( I will elaborate on this aspect soon enough).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Karl Witkowski made a painting titled <em> The little hunter (circa 1860-1910) </em>which depicts a boy crouched on the side of the tree with a slingshot in hand shooting upwards no doubt the boy is hunting birds. If you pay close attention to the detail of the boy's slingshot you will see he is using chained rubberband bands on the slingshot in the painting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvOCgKVATZz75IcElUrCo-nGKnCUTzkR3ceYz_4DYNCc7PiN18s2GYujkkiYVM44yqbmcrEyxnLiJ_NXcdkVP2oMu7XNw9P1GIP7OkGgLjEsb26DOhwVDMlpWHHFAeHAVhvgtifDqXFA4S/s1600/The+little+hunter+Karl_Witkowski+1860_____1910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvOCgKVATZz75IcElUrCo-nGKnCUTzkR3ceYz_4DYNCc7PiN18s2GYujkkiYVM44yqbmcrEyxnLiJ_NXcdkVP2oMu7XNw9P1GIP7OkGgLjEsb26DOhwVDMlpWHHFAeHAVhvgtifDqXFA4S/s640/The+little+hunter+Karl_Witkowski+1860_____1910.jpg" width="520" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A close inspection of the bands on this boy's slingshot reveals the indicative knots of a chain linked rubberband slingshot band. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBiUDpjlcoQpUCWjjoY4oQePIET2oBBBK6vK54Su_-IYXppHzJ3T4Ie_mAVwf_v2aXl05h9NIWlboD7dU0O320cWweYelMPhDkRh9ac6iNZrUHTN9y8hUTl8lmo4eXHdtZyV7Tj_PYs0D/s1600/completed_chain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwBiUDpjlcoQpUCWjjoY4oQePIET2oBBBK6vK54Su_-IYXppHzJ3T4Ie_mAVwf_v2aXl05h9NIWlboD7dU0O320cWweYelMPhDkRh9ac6iNZrUHTN9y8hUTl8lmo4eXHdtZyV7Tj_PYs0D/s320/completed_chain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">s can be seen here in this single chained rubberband band. A careful examination reveals the same knots in the boy's slingshot bands that can be seen in this complete chain for slingshot use. When I was a kid in the 1980s my main source for these rubberbands for chaining in slingshot use came from the asforementioned <em>paperboy.</em> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> It appears that history does repeat itself, as the boys in the artist Karl Witkowski's timeline were paper boys then they too used these rubberbands to make their chain linked rubberband banded slingshots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The next time someone asks you how <em>old fashioned </em>the use of chained bands are in the use of slingshots, you can deffinately tell them that the chains have been in use for more than 150 years. Of which the chained rubberbands are still used to this day in many a successful hunt with a slingshot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I dedicate this post to the artist Karl Witkowski who made it possible for us to have an idea as to the antiquity of chained rubberbands in slingshot use and history. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Happy hunting </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Nico</span></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-91496871187212252232012-10-23T19:20:00.000-07:002014-11-14T15:24:38.638-08:00Being prepared: Hunting ammo<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Being prepared with hunting ammo for your slingshot</h2>
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Types of ammo for the hunt; a means to an end.</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As most hunters have a prefered ammo, which sometimes is largely based on their equipment i.e. the chosen elastic for their slingshot. Sometimes a type of elastic will only work with heavy ammo, others only light ammo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> For example, when I was about 18 years old we once found a black rubber tie down which was more elastic than the usual rubber tie downs maybe that batch of rubber was more stretchy, who knows? Haven't seen another like it but haven't searched too much either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I asked my father if that rubber strip could make a good resorte (elastic band) he gave it a good stretch and suggested that if it were cut down the middle it might work? With that I helped him cut this rubber tie down, first we cut off the thicker molded ends. Then he started a cut on one end with his sharp buck knife, then I held these two pieces as he carefully cut the entire length till we ended up with two black square like bands. I took a strong fork and a thick leather pouch and built myself a resortera with these black cube like resortes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>On to the point of the example</strong> It was not as stretchy as either tubes or chains but the slingshot did work. If you shot these heavy bands with a marble you saw no power and it was terribly slow, these heavy bands did however have a lot of muscle to shoot 1 once lead fishing weights with ease and heavy impact out to 50 yards no problem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This elastic was only effective with heavy ammo, some elastics can not handle heavy ammo and only do well with light ammo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Other elastics like my favorite chained office rubberbands are more balanced in their tollerance of light and heavy ammo. Because of this it has given me options which through experience has shown to be the difference between coming home with a meal or coming home empty handed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My two favorite hunting elasics are the high quality chained red #32 rubberbands in a 4x4x4 configuration per individual band, and my other are the economical ubiquitous chained #64 office rubberbands in a 3x3x3 chain per band. Both kinds of chained elastic bands have proven efffective with ammo from baked clay balls to 1/2 inch steel balls up onto heavier steel balls and lead balls to 308 grain(20 gram) oval pebbles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Hunting terrain/area: Where you hunt has an effect on the kind of ammo you will use. I personally hunt within abandoned railroads, industrial areas with wild areas so this gives me a varying degree of terrain. I am primarily a pebble user that is I personally prefer to use heavy pebbles for my slingshot hunting ammo but I have encountered terrain situations where the size of the pebbles were rendered ineffective for the situation at hand. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><em>Hunting ammo for slingshots can be utilitary based on the situations a hunter will encounter.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What follows are a list of the kinds of hunting ammo I will carry within the possibility of what I might encounter in a given hunting situation. I will list their strengths and weaknesses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Pebbles: </strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2C4lXHt1Un2EyqJ0xzI3lz0eJHpDv-zlVRPj2UMfz1J063IU9kZavV_bhVm4eh6sX6qMOKZHti9iPFuN49BVmtqQPCm6AFsOYTyEQQbT8PeOhBUyzFlRIROI-l6L4IEtm8SR5P1A7WbV/s1600/ammo_stone.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2C4lXHt1Un2EyqJ0xzI3lz0eJHpDv-zlVRPj2UMfz1J063IU9kZavV_bhVm4eh6sX6qMOKZHti9iPFuN49BVmtqQPCm6AFsOYTyEQQbT8PeOhBUyzFlRIROI-l6L4IEtm8SR5P1A7WbV/s320/ammo_stone.bmp" height="246" width="320" /></a> I normally carry oval or similar smooth pebbles (stones) that are within the 20 to 21 gram weight area. They have the most stopping power of my general ammo and are what I use for hunting rabbits, jackrabbits or squirrels and larger fowl and even pigeons and doves given the situations I encounter. <strong>Strengths</strong>, out in the open on the ground these pebbles are next to unstoppable the only thing that saves game is if the pebble misses it's mark these heavy pebbles can be used within light cover like small leaves on a small plant. Weakness these heavy pebbles can and do get deflected due to their larger size through heavy branch cover such as a branch pile, or heavy cover like blackberry vines or in trees with thick cover; these heavy pebbles can have a pin pall machine like effect in such instances. Despite their draw back in heavy cover, I can have taken all variety of smallgame with strictly using these pebbles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Hexnuts:</strong> Are also a great general ammo that I will use when I am low on my supply of good hunting quality pebbles. They have similar impact but have their weaknesses in that because of their flat shape and the fact that they do occasionally spin they sometimes have a less solid impact. This is ok if you hit the main vitals solidly or have a <em>solid hit.</em> Another quirk is that because of this irregular shape they can deflect depending on your angle of impact. In this way pebbles are superior as you encounter less deflection with a heavy pebble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><em>If you're a target shooter reading this you might say "how can your shot not hit solid?". Simple answer wild animals for one are hardly static targets nothing like the shape of a paper target or a soda pop can. Animals are living breathing targets that move a bit when you are stalking them and inviting them to be your honored guest at the dinner table; the angles you encounter in the field are hardly those you face while you're at the target shooting session making a video to show off your marksmanship. I will elaborate more on this topic in another post.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Ball bearings aka Steel balls:</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I like to use steel balls in sizes from 1/2 inch to 13 mm to 14mm on to 16 mm, they are a good choice as a general hunting ammo. The half inch steel ball weighs approximately 129.6 grains just a fraction more than a .44 cal lead ball cast with "wheel weight alloy" which is lighter than pure lead. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">With half inch steel balls and proper shot placement to vitals you can take game up to cottontail rabbit size. The half inch steel ball retains enough energy out to 20 yards to effectively dispacth a pigeon with a proper neck shot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For longer shots with more knock down, I prefer 14 mm which is 11.25 grams or 173.6 grains this is about the weight of a .490 lead ball cast from a wheel weight alloy. The 14 mm steel is what I prefer for longer shots as it has more knock down power, my in between size is 13 mm which is 139 grains more like the weight of a .457 lead ball cast again from a wheel weight alloy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I like the 1/2 inch steel for long shots on birds like pigeons in high places, this is good because, larger ammo if it passes over the bird will spook it. But a 1/2 inch steel ballbearing is not as alarming at least in my experience I have missed two shots and had a third try which resulted in bringing home some meat. In contrast I have taken these high shots with a pebble and when the much larger pebble passed over the bird's head it immediately flew away to safety. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">These steel balls are also good for situations with heavy branches or heavily wooded zones. Such as shooting at a rabbit hidden in a black berry bramble or through fenced like material, or a dove in a conifer tree etc. It's smaller size will fit in such areas and deliver enough force to bring home your meal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The caveat is the <em>ricochete </em>steel balls will bounce back with great force when they impact with large rocks or concrete and steel structures such as old over passes where pigeons may be hiding etc. In open ground and with non ricochete zones steel balls are perfect. Just make sure to adjust size for the situation/terrain you will hunt. In sum total the steel ball is a great slingshot ammo especially if you dont want to cast lead balls. Steel balls and pebbles are my first choice for game around water as lead we all know is toxic and we have all contributed to the lead pollution in water from years of fishing at least I know I did. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Lead balls: </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I am new to the use of lead balls but in my short experience I have found lead balls to be as effective for smallgame hunting with a slingshot as some of my other favorite ammunition for slingshot use. I realize my statement will seem redundant to those who primarily use lead balls as slingshot ammo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> But I am a hunter who has used stones/pebbles as my main hunting ammunition with a slingshot for the better part of 30 years. For me then I must compare the effectiveness of lead balls to the knock down power I have known in the use of pebbles. Lead balls deffinately get the job done but for my style of hunting I still find the heavier pebbles to be superior when it comes to knock down power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">However of all the things mentioned regarding steel ballbearings, you can have the same size lead balls with a lot more weight therefore more impact. Lead balls can deliver more punch than a steel ball of the same diameter. Consider that a 1/2 inch steel ball weighs only 8.4 grams or 129 grains a 1/2 inch lead ball due to lead's higher density weighs roughly 181 to 188 grains so you have a lot more punch. In my limited lead ball use as my first lead balls were purchased later a friend (jmp) donated some lead balls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> I find the .500 or 50 caliber lead ball to be an all around good round for hunting with my personal slingshots and my BT(blunt trauma) slingshot set-ups. It has the ability to carry it's weight out to past 30 yards and still deliver lethal impact and it's size will lend itself to tight spaces. If you're not adverse to casting lead balls this can be a nice weekend project for you. Again you dont need lead balls to fill the pot with a slingshot this is well known but as my father once said to me "just because you don't have any good rocks available does'nt mean you are without ammo, look around you will find something" that's coming from a man who has at times used and reused a 7/16 socket as a slingshot projectile to take various feral jungle fowl and various cottontail rabbits!I say it is a good idea to have a lead ball mould as a backup. I will give further review to lead balls and different calibers on another post. I have yet to further explore this area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Moving along </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Clay balls:</strong> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As in this picture a batch of clay balls I made and two completed in the center from a previous batch and fresh clay as you can see some of the moisture on the cardboard from the fresher clay balls I have air drying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What I find most comical is that there are various "hunting experts" on the use of slingshots who say clay balls are not effective for smallgame hunting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A word to the hunters out there who have made statements like "clay balls won't kill anything, you need big lead or steel etc": </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For the better part of many centuries baked clay balls have taken wild fowl and small mammals from prehistoric Mesoamerica to Medieval Europe, in ancient Mexico there are artifacts from Cholula which show fire hardend clay balls that were used in Blowguns to hunt birds for the purpose of eating. In fact in medieval Europe there are wood cuts and paintings that depict bow hunters on boats with a stone bow shooting water fowl with fire hardend clay balls to kill waterfowl such as ducks and other such waterfowl. The medieval bullet crossbow was used at first with oven hardend clay balls to shoot rooks out of the tree with a lamp. All proven history the fire hardend clay ball is effective on smallgame largely birds but some mammals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Back to their use as a slingshot ammo for hunting: In my own history my very first rabbit came from the use of a large sunbaked clay rock in rural Mexico it was a close range shot but an instant kill. I have used oven baked clay balls to take various pigeons if you know anything about hunting pigeons you will know what tough birds they are. Some of my hunting colleagues have failed to take pigeons with heavy lead balls, so listen up hunters I have something to share here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At ranges from 15 to 45 feet a well placed shot from a clay ball will bring down a full grown pigeon. I have a friend from Coastal Mexico who informed me of his past resortera hunts who after hearing of my clay ball harvested pigeons shared with me how he used to make clay balls from the natural clay which he would add "rabbit pellets" to help make a denser ball something similar to making an adobe brick. The man said he took his share of doves and quail with these "bolas de barro" earthen clay balls. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I always take these clay balls with me in areas where I fear damage to surrounding property or where I have danger to myself from ricochete or too much sound which can draw unwanted attention. They are eco friendly if you hunt waterfowl or frogs with clay balls. The standard 7/8 clay ball dry weighs 9 grams, that's more than a half inch steel ball! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The beauty is that they will shatter on impact to a very hard surface to a steel girder or concrete wall. Therefore safe for you with no ricochete and if they impact a pigeon's crop, neck or head you have a meal to take home. The only requirement is that you are keeping up with your accuracy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Marbles "Canicas": </strong>We used to call marbles canicas as kids which is Mexican slang for glass toy marbles. Marbles have a similar history and use to clay balls, the average marble is pretty light about the weight of a 3/8 steel ball.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Can marbles kill? Yes of course they can, I have killed countless pigeons and invasive birds like Starlings with simple marbles in my childhood. What I will say is that I learned in my childhood resortera days that with canicas if you hit a pigeon or dove in the body most times they flew away unharmed unless it was a very close shot and your canica "marble" happend to impact flush with the heart zone of a pigeon or dove then it would outright kill the bird.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But for me as a kid my shots I say were either lucky or an unconscious instinct directed my shots to the neck/head area because I did fell my share of squab with the underestimated marble. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> But can marbles kill larger animals like "rabbits"? Yes they can and there are too many unique situations from both lucky individuals and some extraordinary slingshot marksmen who have killed more than a few rabbits with canicas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My father killed some cottontails with marbles and so did my maternal Grandfather in the red innertube resortera period. I recently spoke to my father about hunting with "canicas" marbles. He said he had killed many rabbits with marbles but he also cautioned that you had to have a perfect head shot to kill a rabbit with a marble as anything less was a loss. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My recommendation as a responsible hunter is to use something more impactful like a 1/2 inch steel ball or preferably larger like 13 mm or 14mm. Or heavy oval pebbles or even hexnuts or lead. The majority of rabbits I have taken over the years have been with pebbles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My personal responsible opinion is that marbles are good for bird hunting and I would not use a marble unless it was all I had left to shoot and it was my only chance to take a rabbit with a clean head shot. The same applies to my use of oven hardened clay balls. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But I digress and return to the canica, the marble has all the same uses for bird hunting that the clay ball does but it does have it's dangers as well, if a marble impacts concrete it may shatter and the glass shards can go in your eyes or it may not shatter and ricochete you just never know with a marble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Putting it all together</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Please note these are just my musings as this blog is almost like a living journal of the resortera style hunter they are the benefit of my experience only. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I always ask myself, what game am I looking for? Will there be shots of opportunity? Do I want to take the shots of opportunity? In such cases where there is more a need to bring meat, I am always keen to the shots of opportunity than the mere sporting aspect of simply persuing one quary in particular. I consider the terrain first then I will consider my slingshot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In general with my alambre resortera powered by chained #64s I know what projectiles I am able to use. If it's a general hunting trip and I know where I am hunting I will arm myself accordingly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If squab in concreted areas, I will use fire hardened clay balls but I will also carry my pebbles always as a standard ammo for sometimes squab can be found grazing in the field on seeds and or picking at gravel here the open range is perfect for either pebbles, ballbearings, or even hexnuts as an example. Always reserve the fire hardened clay balls for work in cave cliff terrean whether man made or natural where there is danger of ricochete. Again by having the clay balls and some pebbles I am already able to take most species.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What if you are hunting rabbits? Or jackrabbits during spring where the grass is tall. Here it's a good idea to have some options, steel balls or lead that can get in such places. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As an all around kit I will generally take 6 to 9 pebbles or hexnuts and 6 to 9 steel balls and 6 clay balls for my excursions. If I am out longer with more anticipated opportunity I will carry 10 to a dozen 1/2 inch steel ballbearings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hopefully some of this can be of some use to someone reading this and needs a loosely made blueprint of how to prepare for their hunt with a slingshot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Good luck on your hunt</span><br />
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-85923211242866391532012-09-07T18:27:00.000-07:002012-09-07T18:29:20.937-07:00Why do I hunt with a Resortera/Slingshot? <h2 align="center">
Why do I hunt with a slingshot?</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Personally I hunt with a slingshot simply because I was raised hunting with a slingshot. It is the first projectile weapon that was placed in my hands when I was only six and a half years old.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I come from a family of slingshot hunters, my father and uncles hunted with a resortera as kids and so did their uncles and there the line continues. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When I was six years old my maternal grandfather took us fishing in Seal Beach under a bridge, I saw my father take a walk off to some grassy area with his homemade resortera powered by surgical tubing and some pebbles/rocks and come back 30 minutes later with a nice sized cottontail rabbit he hit in the eye. I was forever moved by this event and saw the slingshot as an awesome weapon( we ate good that evening). </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Later I learned he had acquired the surgical tubing from our Family Dr. that donated to him from the stethoscope for always mowing the lawn at the DR's office. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a kid at six and a half my father took us to rural Mexico to visit my grandparents and while in the pueblo "small village" while gathering provisions to go to the ranch we encountered a "resortera puesto" simply put a slingshot stand. Well I looked with curiosity and saw a curious looking plastic framed slingshot with round solid rubber tied down on the forks and tied to the leather pouch. Well my father bought this "first resortera" for me and he retied it so it would work well for me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">All father showed me was a quick demo of how to shoot it and after that I went on to explore with my first hunting weapon in the 3 month visit in rural Mexico.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At first I did not shoot well but as I kept at it I soon killed my first few birds and small frogs and lizards. Soon I was scolded by grandmother to never kill unless I intended to eat something so they cooked the small birds for me to eat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But they did not want to cook the lizard (they said that kind was poisonus to eat) yet I was wiling to eat it as I had learned a new rule. <strong>You killed it, you eat it.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It was for me a very exciting experience but then you learn that this comes with responsobility.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">By eight years old I started to build my own slingshots from forks collected from the various trees my father cut in his tree service. The journey has never stopped and will continue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I am not trying to delve into history too much I just wanted to give a bit of a background to my reason for why I hunt with a slingshot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I am 37 at this writting and I have had 30 years experience with a slingshot and 28 years making my own for hunting purposes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana;">Slingshot style hunting is not for everyone and it demands discipline, patience, practice and responsobility.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hunting with a slingshot: Can be very exciting especially for those who are new to it, however it should not viewed as a fad hunting sport.</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hunting with a slingshot will bring your awareness of your natural surroundings to a higher level and will hone your tracking, stalking, sensing abilities to an almost psychic level. </span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Ultimately you must ask yourself why you would want to hunt with a slingshot?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When I was a kid the main reason taught to me by my grandparents is this simple statement; <em>to bring home some meat</em> so we can have with our maize, beans and squash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>The slingshot is simply a low powered projectile weapon for filling the pot nothing more, nothing less.</strong> To make a slingshot out to be a canon or a gun is quite silly, but there's nothing wrong with exploring the full potential that can be harnessed from a rubber powered projectile. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> It's even more silly to use this humble weapon to boost your ego by creating a silly ranking system of how much game you kill with it or what kind of animal you kill with it. I would say this is down right childish and irresponsible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong><em>This then is the main reason I hunt with a slingshot right here:</em></strong> A fine meal of a young desert hare "jackrabbit & dumplings" enough for four to six people to eat more than they need, or one man to have various meals for a few days. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One young jackrabbit some, veggies and some bisquick and a good cook's touch. All provided by a simple slingshot braided from wire hangers and powered by chained office rubberbands and smooth oval river rocks for ammo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana;">I believe in only killing enough game to eat and not more but maybe an extra few to have in the freezer that's more than a man and his small family needs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">Nico's personal Guidelines for hunting with a Resortera</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are my own self guidelines to the way I treat hunting with a slingshot nor are they meant to be any official rules, but if you like what you read then maybe it can be of some help. Everyone is different in their views, but that's life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">1. Work on your accuracy, no matter your choice in slingshot whether it is self made or a wrist braced slingshot. Make sure you are proficiently accurate in order to hunt effectively with your slingshot. Make sure you use the same ammo for <em>hunting </em>in your practice sessions that you intend to use for your hunt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">2. Always target the vitals of your chosen game, usually with any slingshot this means whether you hunt, rabbits, or squirrel go for the head always; quail, or pigeons target the head and neck for a quick kill. In line with #1 accuracy plays a major role in this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">3. Respect your chosen prey, all creatures deserve the same respect we all do and that means you make sure you eat what you kill and not kill it just to "brag about what you killed" or show off your marksmanship. In rural Mexico and Central America this was so important that mothers would tell young boys to not kill birds to show off but only kill for food because El Duende (a nature spirit, goblin) would beat them for hurting these creatures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">4. Finish what you started, not all kills are clean this is a reality even with firearms so if this happens make sure you finish the game so it does not suffer further. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">5. Pest control: it is ok to control pests with a slingshot, just make sure they really are pests and that you are not just using the "pest excuse" to kill something to show off to your buddies on a forum. A true friend would tell you this is the wrong thing to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">6. Know your prey understand it's habits and habitat before you go out in search of this wild creature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">7. Practice your stalking skills and your tracking to ensure you can get close to the wild creature you decided to bring home for supper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In the end you need to ask yourself if hunting with a slingshot is something you should or should not do. As I have said there are many <em>reasons not to hunt with a </em>slingshot as much as exist to want to hunt with a slingshot this more of a personal choice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Finally you should know the limitations of your weapon, it is my personal view that largest animal a person should <em>realistically hunt </em>with a slingshot should be a Hare or <em>Jackrabbit </em>as they are called<em> </em>here in the states. In fact the largest animal I have ever taken with a slingshot is an 8 to 10 lb jackrabbit. There are others who have done more than this but these are rare occurences and I don't feel it's responsible to encourage budding new slingshot users to injure something larger than a rabbit before they know what they are doing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Good Luck</span></div>
Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-30693706934650886602012-08-28T19:12:00.000-07:002012-08-28T19:19:04.826-07:00Resourcing steel balls for hunting ammunition<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this short blog post I wanted to share something I had shared in the past on a gigantic forum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Resourcing free steel ballbearing ammo. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As anyone who primarily uses steel ballls for slingshot ammo will quickly tell you that ammo can be costly. As a resortera hunter I learned from father and others early on that we must always be aware of a potential ammo source.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have already shared some reliable ammo resources for hunting in a recent blog post. But for those that like perfect spheres and do not wish to cast lead balls there are free alternatives to buying steel balls which I know from experience buying steel balls can become very costly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If you work within a plant or near an industrial place that uses heavy machinery you are already close to having a free resource for steel ball ammo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Personally I work in a plant that has a lot of heavy machinery and they always have regular maintenance with sometimes whole parts being replaced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Many times the ballbearing systems in some of this machinery are replaced and present a wonderful opportunity for the slingshot/hunter/shooter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">You will find ball bearings in all sizes, try to look for something within the 1/2 to 16 mm variety for hunting steel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">As an example recently the plant I work in has been undergoing some minor construction and maintenance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I came accross an opportunity, while doing some work within the plant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I came accross these ballbearings that were part of an elevator belt system. Since they were going to be binned I helped myself to this wonderful opportunity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">They were easy to remove and in the end they are approximately 13 mm steel balls and heavier than standard as they are used in industrial machinery.</span></div>
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As you can see from the following picture of the harvested product, I put a standard half inch steel ball next to these to show they are slightly larger half inch steel are approximately 12.7 mm these are a bit larger and these industrial 13mm steel balls feel nearer the weight of a .457 lead ball and in a bean can test had very good blunt force. I make note of this only because the standard half inch steel ball has proven effective (with proper shot placement) to take small game from pigeons to a rabbit. I feel that these heavier 13 mm steel balls will make a great hunting ammunition for me and they were free! As time allows with my busy schedule I will take these salvaged industrial steel balls with me on my next hunt for rabbits or jackrabbits <em>wish me luck :)</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Lastly I will say that you don't have to work in an industrial place to scrounge some quality industrial steel ballbearings. You can make friends with a mechanic who works in such a place and if he likes slingshots make him one to help encourage his help. You can always go to junkyards and find these steel ballbearings but as it costs money to go to a junkyard this is about getting free ammo. Again you can get acquainted with such a person and source some free quality steel ball bearings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I hope this is useful in some way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-10516879720329938812012-08-06T00:45:00.000-07:002013-03-05T23:29:43.832-08:00Some of my family's Traditional ResorterasHere I am posting some pictures of some resorteras I have made over the years.<br />
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In my family from the Paternal side we use a trademark carving of the cloven hoof this is symbolic of the days when my father and uncles were out on the countryside "el campo" tending to the sheep and goats often over night or several. In these times they used the resortera as a means of self protection and for harvesting smallgame as a meal from rabbits, quail, doves to jackrabbits all were sustenance when the family was out in the field.<br />
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In honor of tradition I too continue carving the trademark family resortera symbol of the sheppard/herder.<br />
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There is a unique style of carving that my uncle taught me and the resorteras that follow, some are carved in this unique style I call the vertebrate as it resembles the spinal colum but there is more to this than simple form. To mock or emulate a person's family craft is in itself a lowly practice and something I have a low view of. Respect for one's traditions is a high mark and tribute to their craft.<br />
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This first resortera I made from Orane tree fork back in 2010 as a gift/trade to my friend Baumstamm the noted German slingshot shooter. The first image is it's face and the second is the back the bands are chained rubberbands blue #125 rubberband 2 links 4x4 they are great and the attachment is a classic Mexican style tied down with rubberbands and an insultor before tying to protect the bands. You actually draw pull against the ties and it's a secure method if done properly. With these blue 125 chains you need a longer draw to get the full power/speed from these bands. I nicknamed this resortera "El tiburon" <em>the shark</em> because the vertebrate reminded me of a shark's gills and I was cut a lot when carving this fork. I rarely get cut when carving and it was blood thirsty like a shark. I gave it a stain and polymer finish 6 coats. I made it ergonomic for a shooter who holds the fork in his left hand.<br />
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This resortera was made for my youngest brother in 2010, I am not certain about the tree but it is a native from this area. I made it nartural color with a poly finish on this fork I did the work with a rat tail file. The bands are .050 latex from a sheet I bought back then and cut myself with a rotary cutter they are 1 inch by 3/4 inch taper by 9.5 inches length. They are great bands fast and durable, they just did not become a favorite for myself due to costs and need of preparation and my brother did not like these as he seems to prefer surgical tubing. Of all the flat latex bands in my personal opinion the .050 latex is the best for hunting set-ups as it can handle the heavy ammunition. Aside from this the other flat bands that I like are linatex bands. But these are not as easily available so I prefer the chained office rubberbands as I have used these the most over 25+ years.<br />
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This resortera is carved from a cherry tree fork, I made it for my brother in law and it too is carved vertebrate. I used it's natural color and gave it a polymer coat and it's bands are the red #32 rubberbands in a 4x4x4 pattern. A nice slingshot <br />
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This next resortera is carved from a hackberry tree in 2011 from a fork given to me as a gift from Jmplsnt he acquired the natural fork from a downed hackberry tree in a special location where soldiers had died.<br />
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Because of this I made it a special vertebrate fork for Dia de los Muertos I call it La Resortera de calaveras or Resortera Tzompantli nahuatl for skull rack. It is in it's natural color and I woodburned the skull motifs from the Aztec skull temple on each disc/vertebrate. It has chained red # 32s 4x4x4 chain. I love this slingshot and some day I will take a rabbit with it if the Gods see fit. Note I also include front and back images to illustrate a carving style and at the end of this post I will elaborate on this knotching style.<br />
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Another vertebrate resortera I made is this El duende named it after the goblin of Iberian and Mexican folklore. It is a fork from the orange tree and I stained it with dark mahogany and gave it a polymer coating. It has chained red #32 rubberbands 4x4x4 chain I like this but have only had close shaves on game with it.<br />
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These are just some of the traditional vertebrate styled resorteras I hope I haven't bored you too much with this blog post. </div>
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Notes regarding the Knotching: Although the tied down style is a classic Mexican style, not all use the knotches for me the half crescent knotching is something my uncle taught me. He feels as I do that this type of knotch gives the ties a better constriction and more secure hold.</div>
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This for me then is a knotching style handed down and not so common to all resortera makers, in fact my father does not use the knotches he opts for carving his tree forks with a more square shape before tying down the bands.</div>
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Thats it for now</div>
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Nico</div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-37527537664327176992012-07-22T20:06:00.000-07:002012-07-22T20:06:43.822-07:00Hunting Ammunition for Slingshots<br />
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Types of Hunting Ammunition for slingshots</h2>
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If you ask most people about the best ammo for hunting with a slingshot the most popular answer is <em>lead balls </em>no doubt lead balls are effective projectiles for hunting with a slingshot but there are other alternatives. As a person who was raised <em>not knowing lead balls as slingshot ammo</em> I would like to share some of what I learned.<br />
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For the following you will need a proper pouch so many people now have taken to calling it a rock shooter's pouch but really this is the original styled pouch.<br />
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In this post I wanted to quickly cover some of types of ammunition that are readily available and are more old fashioned in their style and effective. All of what is shared in this small post is very easy to acquire and unless you dont apply yourself to searching or as some guys out there love to make excuses say "we dont have those here or they are hard to find" really this means you have better apply yourself to their search look past the obvious because these everyday items are always within reach.<br />
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I grew up using rocks as ammo aka stones, pebbles etc, in addition as a stone user you pick other "stone like items" to improvise as ammo when the need is great. What follows are the most common with some simple explanation to get you started.<br />
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From top row to bottom.</div>
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<strong>Row 1:</strong> These are crushed limestone gravel rocks aka gravel rocks very common and in fact I picked these from my neighbor's driveway with permission. What you want when selecting crush limestone and related gravel are the cubic/square shapes and not so long rectangular shapes. Look for density more than anything as this will stablize their flight and are good up to an easy 20 yards. You can go up to 25+ yards but they must be heavy and a controled shot. They are roughly 1x1.5 inches and weigh close to 3/4 ounce. Please look first at density and weight before going for specific size dimensions as weight equals proper impact. Remember these gravel rocks take some learning and practice but are as effective as the best hunting ammo.</div>
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<strong>Row 2: </strong>These are igneous rocks aka Pebbles aka River Stones, they are oval shaped and within similar size dimensions to the gravel rocks but their width is different as they are ovoid shapes which some look like an egg others resemble a football. These are by and far the best of the natural world's hunting ammunition and can reach accurate ranges of 30 yards. They are a lot more dense than crushed lime stone gravel. These igneous pebbles are so dense and hard that they rarely shatter when hitting hard surfaces and can ricochet. On the other hand if a gravel rock impacts with a hard surface like a tree stump it can shatter. These igneous rocks do not shatter but can break if the surface/velocity of impact is great. Look for density, as a lot of these igneous pebbles have strong veins of natural iron especially the darker stones. The ones pictured weigh from 3/4 oz to 1 oz. </div>
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<strong>Row 3: </strong>These are 1/2 inch inner diameter hexnuts, they weigh roughly 17-18 grams very effective for hunting small game and can shoot accurate to 30 yards easily. In the middle is an igneous rock with a different shape this is like a 3/4 sphere a friend calls these a lozenge shape but can also be said to be a candy shape. Also good range accuracy, you hold these and hexnuts with their flat side resting between pouch finger grip.</div>
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There are other alternative types of ammo but I listed these as the kind to go to because they do not require preparation and just some selection and you have decent hunting ammunition.</div>
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You can use other types of stones as well, sometimes you can find very decent quartz pebbles with a good weight these are ok for hunting. </div>
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Whatever you use make sure you practice with the ammunitiion you intend to use for hunting as any variations will create "unexpected situations".</div>
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Good luck shooting and hunting..</div>
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Nico</div>
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<br /></div>Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-51233162911050802032012-07-19T18:48:00.000-07:002013-01-10T21:34:10.335-08:00The Slingshot as a Projectile weapon.<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Slingshot/Resortera as a Projectile Weapon, Past and Present, how it kills and it's function as a low powered projectile weapon for hunting smallgame. <em>By, Nico "el cazador</em>"</span></h2>
<span style="color: red;">WARNING: SOME IMAGES IN THIS BLOG PORTRAY ANIMALS TAKEN WHILE SLINGSHOT HUNTING. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH HUNTING FOR THE SAKE OF EATING WILD GAME? THEN PLEASE LEAVE THIS BLOG. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE ABUSE OF ANIMALS BUT I DO BELIEVE IN HUNTING FOR FOOD.. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why was grandfather in his youth so successful at hunting with his simple resortera?</span></em><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was constructed from strips of red innertubes from the old car, fashioned on a mesquite fork and a shoe tongue for his pouch and armed only with round stones. Yet grandfather was able to<strong> daily bring home three to four rabbits</strong> for great grandfather and siblings to eat. His weapon was no where near the pseudo sophisticated slingshots of present day, so what was his secret?</span></em><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Please read on as this blog is intended to teach you something about the true nature of the slingshot as a projectile weapon. This will dispell some of the current nonsense being peddled by the johnny come lately experts and show offs about the subject of slingshots and slingshot hunting.</span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>The modern interpretations of a slingshot's killing potential as preached by the new found self proclaimed experts.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In many places where the (intellectual) people gather to discuss the function of the slingshot as a weapon. Very often there exists the large debate as to what it takes for a slingshot to be effective for smallgame hunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Unfortunately the first avenue taken by the <strong>(would be experts)</strong> is the route of "power", usually the belief in power being how fast the slingshot can propel the projectiles, this is followed by taking velocity measurements also accounting for the weight of the projectile thereby measuring foot pounds etc. etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In some cases some people will perform "penetration tests" either shooting blocks of ballistic gelatine, some shoot at phone directory books to see how deep the steel or lead ball penetrates, others still will shoot at plastic jugs full of water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A lot of these observations are based on the more modern uses of elastics like the exercise bands, medical grade latex bands and the thin latex tubes used in Chinese Slingshots all of these elastics have been proven to propel projectiles and some seriously rapid velocities which can make such modern versions of the original slingshot seem to function with similar results to an airgun meaning that they kill by penetration. So this is the modern interpretation..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Is this mechanism of killing, true of all Slingshots past and present?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>The simple answer is no. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In fact this is something of a modern creation nor has this made the basic design of the humble slingshot any more effective than it was in the past. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Fortunately for you dear reader you will get to see that this is not the case and if you allow yourself the opportunity to learn from the examples presented here then you will see the true mechanisms of the slingshot in it's originally intended design.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Slingshot History, it's earliest ancestors:</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Prior to the first made rubberbands in the 1840s there existed an ancient weapon from which the rubber powered slingshot was inspired.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This is the <em>stone bow</em> and later the stone/pellet shooting crossbow, which were used with stones, and baked clay balls (later lead balls for the pellet crossbow) to hunt smallgame. They were used to hunt fowl, even water fowl i.e. ducks, etc and to this day there exists a tribe in Srilanka that still makes stone bows for the purpose of hunting smallgame to put food on the table. These people need this food to live so they are dependant on these tools for survival.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The Srilankan stonebow is the living ancestor of the rubberpowered slingshot, how does the stone bow kill? Very simple the weapon kills smallgame by the mere blunt force/trauma created from the impact of the round stone in the case of the Srilankan tribe they still use smooth pebbles. In other places baked clay balls are used in this manner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When rubberbands came into use in the 1840s some time after the idea was spawned that the elastic nature or rubberbands could be harnessed as an energy source similar to the energy used in the limbs of a bow to propel a projectile. Hence the birth of the rubber powered slingshot was born.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Invariably as with the stone bow, the new born rubberpowered slingshot/catapult at first glanced used stones, like it's ancestor also later like it's other ancestor it has used lead balls as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> <strong>Setting aside history for a moment:</strong> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>What is Blunt trauma?</strong> Simple answer, in medical terminology it is a physical injury of a non penetrating nature caused by blunt impact of some form. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Blunt trauma is also capable of breaking bones, and causing internal shock/trauma to the internal organs which could be within the vicinity of the blunt force injury.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Let's look at blunt force as a killer: Blunt force has long been utilized in the ancient world long before the creation of firearms and existed along side the primitive bow and arrow. Some of the most primitive being simply hurling stones at a chosen prey, to the slinged stone and the "rabbit stick" of Native America are all time honored methods of killing smallgame. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">All powered by blunt force/trauma; even primitive tribes in New Guinea use arrows with large blunt tips with their bows to bring down large lizards to feed their family again powered by blunt force/trauma. The blunt trauma formula is the age old strategy of the rubber powered slingshot from the days of red innertube rubber and the ubiquitous chained rubberband bands still used today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>The blunt trauma formula is as follows:</strong> surface hardness + mass + momentum = blunt trauma of some kind. The blunt trauma formula applied to a slingshot and projectiles of some kind translates to the following, the weight/mass/size and hardness of the projectile, projected by velocity/speed of projectile to create the momentum required, produces the blunt force/trauma required for killing smallgame. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Slingshot elastic bands and their role in the blunt trauma formula:</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I will say this once, it does not matter what kind of elastic becomes your choice of slingshot bands. You can use latex tubing, you can use squared solid elastic, round solid elastic, you can use chained rubberband bands or flat latex bands. Whether you use, tubes, flatbands, chains or other <em>all elastics can be used with the blunt force trauma formula of hunting.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"> What matters is that you understand the capabilities and limits of your chosen elastic as this will determine the size/weight of your projectile when you create your blunt trauma formula for hunting smallgame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Grandfather did not rely on modern gadgets for measuring velocity, it was enough for him to know that his slingshot bands which he cut from red tire innertubes from a car had enough "snap" and could send his stones with enough force to hit hard. That's all he needed to know and he regularly took 3 to 4 rabbits a day and harvested his share of jackrabbits, quail, doves to bring home and feed the family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I know a man in the UK who uses square solid elastic with 45 caliber lead balls and his formula for taking smallgame depends on blunt force trauma and he is very good at his craft. One of his countrymen also uses square elastic but with the very heavy 16 mm lead balls something like (60 caliber lead).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My uncle always uses heavy oval pebbles from the arroyos back home in rural Mexico with round solid elastic on his natural resorteras to regularly bring home smallgame from dove, quails, to rabbits and squirrels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What these examples have in common are hunters who understand the capabilities of their chosen elastics and thereby have through experience/trial and error created their blunt trauma formula for hunting with their slingshot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My personal formula is based on using stones and in current times I have experimented with lead and steel balls and also created the "blunt effect"..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Generally it can be said that the heavier your projectile is, that more knock down power it will have. Thus when I use stones for hunting I stick within the 18 to 28 gram weight range and I use these with either chained red #32 rubberbands in a 4x4x4 chain or I use these stones with chained #64 rubberbands in a 3x3x3 chain. With my own formula I have been very successful in harvesting smallgame. Just make sure your elastic can handle the weight of your projectile this is always important.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong> How does one measure potential blunt trauma in making their BT hunting formula?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong> </strong>A simple exercise that will give you a "general idea" of the <em>potential blunt force in a slingshot set-up </em>is the " bean can test" basically a used steel bean or veggie or soup can is used as a target. These cans are much harder than your standard soda pop can so are more resillient. Consider that you cant so easily crush such a can with your bare hands but would have to give it a good blow with a stick, mallet or hammer to crush it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The bean can test demonstrates on a physical level the kind of kinetic energy delivered by a given slingshot projectile and it's potential for blunt trauma.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I will show some pictures in this example to illustrate the effects of some projectiles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The first are from my Alambre resortera mentioned in another blog it is powered by chained #64 rubberbands in a 3x3x3 chain. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This slingshot</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1LbRiNR-2PrlvwLd2RlMJWngvkbc1BRw1h48hvpOR4QZQwJo4BgvKqEYYmVRnxphlBsKsX_RCmY54Vsiwj8Qw_W_ic69HxJZmEg4Cec1P9lR_2Y7iHbIfiQkT_lfkLaSf4l9-NGXDmVnv/s1600/Alambre+Resortera+the+killer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1LbRiNR-2PrlvwLd2RlMJWngvkbc1BRw1h48hvpOR4QZQwJo4BgvKqEYYmVRnxphlBsKsX_RCmY54Vsiwj8Qw_W_ic69HxJZmEg4Cec1P9lR_2Y7iHbIfiQkT_lfkLaSf4l9-NGXDmVnv/s320/Alambre+Resortera+the+killer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's impact on a diced tomato can with an 20 gram stone at 10 yards</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXDPL6S6PHwb_puf1bkrSyHaHy4Uq4cgEPkMtsmaccCJZHENWSIgKDkkZ4p9ZUOdiNfAIobxWREK3lKBwFRw9gg3gIjjDAs6jc-zXHHVtdN6hQucFgHalgPqTghtjTTCVGzfnBlaRrLMb/s1600/stone+impact+diced+tomato+can..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHXDPL6S6PHwb_puf1bkrSyHaHy4Uq4cgEPkMtsmaccCJZHENWSIgKDkkZ4p9ZUOdiNfAIobxWREK3lKBwFRw9gg3gIjjDAs6jc-zXHHVtdN6hQucFgHalgPqTghtjTTCVGzfnBlaRrLMb/s320/stone+impact+diced+tomato+can..jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As you can see one stone had a serious flattening effect on the can and you can see some of the kinetic force did not remain in it's center but created shock around the impact point. This is serious blunt trauma, later I will show examples of game taken with this "stone ammo".<br />
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This same slingshot tested with .50 caliber lead balls about 180 grain a bit lighter than the stones but still enough weight to hunt with. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-termEKGmdO0rXGdkURzEhz8t09UPkA1zzBkRS3Lme0sHFB-c8YmcmRvXgi2jk9WC6uBM2n3haW9ZByIeUQ91X33iTrRh3dczuPcf0yCwdXYrxTPJlmnmCzRw_xb_5GtHF63zrjrZDa2O/s1600/Alambre+resortera+impact+.50+lead+soup+can.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-termEKGmdO0rXGdkURzEhz8t09UPkA1zzBkRS3Lme0sHFB-c8YmcmRvXgi2jk9WC6uBM2n3haW9ZByIeUQ91X33iTrRh3dczuPcf0yCwdXYrxTPJlmnmCzRw_xb_5GtHF63zrjrZDa2O/s320/Alambre+resortera+impact+.50+lead+soup+can.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The impact was high in a hard area of a smaller tomato soup can and the lead ball tore open a hole in the can. This is because the lead is dense and the force more concentrated in one zone still this is also BluntTrauma projectile.</div>
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Now here is a picture with a faster elastic the red #32 rubberbands in a 4x4x4 chain on this slingshot.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPx4d4_x5Tx6FqQ5pbAxWmNqKKeWJTaMDrQvKWaApbhLiYeRPOfxjenxxEhDgHSzdXkMHxaKli60JhPVx1DJ2CCfYvIUYcHOBn9hTpCxbiuYrYhdAVe9UfKb0BOwFprcAVYLYxzZnQ7v4m/s1600/la+mano+de+gloria+resortera+red+chains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPx4d4_x5Tx6FqQ5pbAxWmNqKKeWJTaMDrQvKWaApbhLiYeRPOfxjenxxEhDgHSzdXkMHxaKli60JhPVx1DJ2CCfYvIUYcHOBn9hTpCxbiuYrYhdAVe9UfKb0BOwFprcAVYLYxzZnQ7v4m/s320/la+mano+de+gloria+resortera+red+chains.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I tested some baked clay balls to see what their potential impact would be with these much faster chains. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNISySE6Q4Wl26fFGlQoK4Jm6rEQiJk29M_a1XouZJjKiPhlYCFvLyQB3krK9vVMLzg_GrYp9svcsT7pmkDIkOZB3lshifVLUYpCWbl64dOOz138EnyXynkwPqK0hfdV5E4eqI0xBJk5sA/s1600/baked+clay+ball+impact2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNISySE6Q4Wl26fFGlQoK4Jm6rEQiJk29M_a1XouZJjKiPhlYCFvLyQB3krK9vVMLzg_GrYp9svcsT7pmkDIkOZB3lshifVLUYpCWbl64dOOz138EnyXynkwPqK0hfdV5E4eqI0xBJk5sA/s320/baked+clay+ball+impact2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is the result of several blows from various baked clay balls at 25 feet, mind you the one shot on the previous steel can was with a stone and a slower slingshot yet it flattend the can.</div>
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This is gives a person an idea of the potential for blunt trauma a given slingshot can produce and it's consequential posibility for hunting small game.</div>
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How well do either of these set-ups work for hunting.</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgpvtDLPmZJA4IU2MXB9EuUXhtYb-ySTNAt02Gikas674jjdzAh8yrTZFbutmFQnrc3Ks-ktZVg65ZqwWnuvCv5FDgHgyezlWQM3yV8HjK6-sXZ4ibpum3z8S9hqJlJ0jGAZx5TAknmFk/s1600/alambre+pigeon+kill+stones2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgpvtDLPmZJA4IU2MXB9EuUXhtYb-ySTNAt02Gikas674jjdzAh8yrTZFbutmFQnrc3Ks-ktZVg65ZqwWnuvCv5FDgHgyezlWQM3yV8HjK6-sXZ4ibpum3z8S9hqJlJ0jGAZx5TAknmFk/s320/alambre+pigeon+kill+stones2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This feral King Pigeon was taken at 15 yards with a stone, stone impacted shoulder and back in one blow and a quick finish to head for no further suffering. For those who dont know it, feral king pigeons are larger than your average pigeon yet there was enough blunt force to bring down this pigeon at 45 feet (15 yards)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdolfJ52o4F2by5H_r3ENWtkfEMUBtn4uXBJD-wDxuIjR5Fed-YclNPGgAkNUx28hdTHWzVlr2drmsD5yV1dVxn0Xk4AWUpk36QU_ndcvdDUOWOvb2cJs7Fsa3s36BSP0U0UPpOEcT5xs/s1600/alambre+jackrabbit+kill+50+cal+lead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdolfJ52o4F2by5H_r3ENWtkfEMUBtn4uXBJD-wDxuIjR5Fed-YclNPGgAkNUx28hdTHWzVlr2drmsD5yV1dVxn0Xk4AWUpk36QU_ndcvdDUOWOvb2cJs7Fsa3s36BSP0U0UPpOEcT5xs/s320/alambre+jackrabbit+kill+50+cal+lead.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This jackrabbit was taken with a .50 cal lead ball at 30+ yards with a perfect head shot on it's crown no penetration just cracked the skull and was hit on the second shot, again a blunt force trauma kill. No further shots required a "clean kill"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FU7UzJZCZmI6nIc6NlTo2QbaDYDnhi_r5pm7OjNzlFX1FJPTWEzxDYaEpxK5yZq56dRIstScl9EiTP2jxAk0Qt3EsdBjtINiYb0yAG4xjhC6ldfweiEqy_IGw3BANm3F0EBoKjom7dWr/s1600/pichon+clay+ball+alambre+resortera+kill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FU7UzJZCZmI6nIc6NlTo2QbaDYDnhi_r5pm7OjNzlFX1FJPTWEzxDYaEpxK5yZq56dRIstScl9EiTP2jxAk0Qt3EsdBjtINiYb0yAG4xjhC6ldfweiEqy_IGw3BANm3F0EBoKjom7dWr/s320/pichon+clay+ball+alambre+resortera+kill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This feral pigeon was taken with a baked clay ball at 15 feet with a perfect shot to it's neck a clean kill the animal died instantly. Obviously no penetration of the projectile.</div>
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These are just some examples of what the original formula "blunt force" is capable of accomplishing with with a slingshot. There is no need for ridiculous speed nor penetration of small ammo nor do you need a slingshot that is so "high tech" to fill the pot. You can hunt with a general slingshot as long as you understand the blunt trauma formula, this is the original concept of the slingshot it is a Blunt force Projectile Weapon.</h3>
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I hope this is helpful to those of you who have been mislead by the would be experts on slingshots that crowd the internet these days. Your slingshot need not go through milk jugs, or ballistic gelatine or "cut several playing cards" this all non sense and misleading to the aspiring slingshot hunter.</h3>
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Best of luck in your hunting pursuits and yes all game shot was eaten and enjoyed by myself and my family. I do not believe in killing for the sake of killing.</h3>
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Good Luck</h3>
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Nico</h3>
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<br />Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-867369372987939032012-07-13T08:07:00.003-07:002013-11-07T09:33:58.096-08:00Original Chained band tutorial<span style="font-weight: bold;">I originally posted this how to make chain linked rubberband bands for slingshot use at the now defunct Jacksshed back in August of 2010. I had recieved several requests from some of the various members after seeing field proof of the hunting effectiveness of the chained rubberband bands. Another note, I originally did the velocity tests with a heavier chain of 5x5x5 rubberbands per side. However I have recorded some impressive speeds from the 4x4x4 chain giving 193 fps with .50 cal lead balls and a whopping 163 fps with 20 gram round/oval smooth stones. </span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><em>Note: Although the use of chained rubberband bands is a very old practice in slingshots, it can be said without a doubt that this particular configuration of using the redclay #32 rubberbands as illustrated in this old tutorial was first introduced by me in 2010 to the slingshot public. </em></span><br />
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<strong><em>I introduced the use of red chained rubberbands in 2010 as a hunting quality elastic from my days on Jacksshed. The use of heavy pebbles with these red chained bands has been my hunting trademark for many years since before my teens. Only one man at the time I "publically introduced " these red chained rubberband bands came to use these bands along side me that would be my personal friend Jmplsnt. Any upstarts after this time who claim expertise in the use of these chained bands are just new guys quoting an old source. </em></strong><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">These red chains have proven effective in hunting and can work for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">How to make the powerful chain linked rubberband bands</span><br />
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How strong are these bands? Properly constructed with the right rubberbands, I have recorded speeds with my chrony with a .50 cal lead ball 12 grams from 183+ fps to 203.3 fps with an average high 180+ fps and 174 fps with a half ounce 220grain lead bullet 14grams, consider also I used my large stone shooting pouch in these tests.<br />
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1. You will need a good bag of the red #32 rubberbands <br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqGU5rr"><img alt="Image" src="http://s3.postimage.org/GU5rr.jpg" /></a><br />
These can be found from people in produce business and at one time postal and paper companies. Also rubberband gun stores sold as medium ammo, I now order mine from a rubberband gun store.<br />
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2. The secret to making these powerful bands: Experience has shown me that although all of the rubberbands look alike in the bag some have a softer stretch, others have a very firm stretch with good recoil why are some soft stretch and others firm? I dont know maybe its a factory bagging error?. You want to test each rubberband you pull from the bag. <br />
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<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDvG_r"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DvG_r.jpg" /></a> A good firm stretch is what want to use. Firm stretch equals strong chain. If you are making a 5 rubberband per chain you must do this with each rubberband. Assuming your bands will 3 links long 3 links = 9" band. You will have 30 rubberbands to test and use the firmest stretch you can find.<br />
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Starting the chain assembly:<br />
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In this illustration I used a 4 per link as an example: <br />
Assuming you have selected your firm stretch rubberbands we must now start the assembly. <br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDBqG9"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DBqG9.jpg" /></a> Here you have stacked your soon to be links in this case four in each stack ( Use 5 per for heavy hitting power)<br />
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You want to organized your stacks so they dont twist so much as they are linked: Like so <a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVsNeUS"><img alt="Image" src="http://s4.postimage.org/sNeUS.jpg" /></a><br />
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Now do the same with your other hand and we can start to link these into a chain. <br />
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Take one stack and loop into the loop of the other stack like this<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqH2eDr"><img alt="Image" src="http://s3.postimage.org/H2eDr.jpg" /></a>A few more angles to explain<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVsPq5J"><img alt="Image" src="http://s4.postimage.org/sPq5J.jpg" /></a><br />
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Now you knot these loops by folding over the loop and pulling through the smaller loop created like this: <br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDDOkJ"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DDOkJ.jpg" /></a><br />
Pull through this smaller loop within the loop.<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDD_Or"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DD_Or.jpg" /></a><br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDE9N0"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DE9N0.jpg" /></a>Here you straighten the knot gently so that all bands are equal.<br />
Now add your final link looping the same as you did the first two links and knotting in exactly the same way<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqH40SS"><img alt="Image" src="http://s3.postimage.org/H40SS.jpg" /></a><br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDFbDJ"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DFbDJ.jpg" /></a><a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxDE9N0"><img alt="Image" src="http://s1.postimage.org/DE9N0.jpg" /></a><br />
Your completed chain <br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVsUVOA"><img alt="Image" src="http://s4.postimage.org/sUVOA.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Now there is one completed band do the same for the next band and do not worry as the bands will look short because they slip when new rubber. As you strecth these chains the knots will set in place giving a 9" band. <br />
<br />
Attachments? I attach the bands to pouch tied with rubberbands, others will loop and pull into the pouch holes. Attachments to fork two best methods for maximum velocity are the Mexican tie down attachment I favor and the gypsy and Spain variant attachment.<br />
<br />
Keep your chains away from sunlight, cold temps, dampness, extreme heat AC all of these items dry or rot the rubber. They do not perform as well when cold. I normally keep my chained catapult in my back pocket covered by shirt to protect it when on a mooch. I only take out when ready to shoot. Ammo in one pocket and slingshot in the other.<br />
<br />
<br />
Last Notes:<br />
<br />
During this time on the shed I had also introduced the chained #64 rubberbands as a viable hunting elastic. Here's a portion of that old post.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4952">Resortera with # 64 bands</a></h2>
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<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4952#p34776">Resortera with # 64 bands</a></h3>
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<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34776#p34776"><img alt="Post" height="9" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/styles/hardwood/imageset/icon_post_target.gif" title="Post" width="11" /></a>by <strong>Nick</strong> » Fri Mar 12, 2010 5:12 am </div>
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Hi JD and everyone,<br />
<br />
In the spirit of this thread I am posting a quick picture of a slingshot I made with a Mexican fork my uncle made for me years ago. <br />
<br />
I installed chained rubberband bands these are #64 3 per link three chain.<br />
<br />
I test fired it at about 15 meters ( I need to go down to basement to get the distance so I am in essence shooting uphill) <br />
<br />
I shot at my hanging target can with 10.5 gram lead ( egg sinkers) <br />
<br />
It hit precise at that range, I remember this band rig was common with a friend of mine in the old neighborhood. I did well with it, powerful enough to get the job done. <br />
<br />
Here's the pic. btw there are various ways to attach these kinds of bands maybe I will show some other ways.<br />
You'll have to click on the image for a larger view..<br />
<br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pqv23cr"><img alt="Image" src="http://s3.postimage.org/v23cr.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34777#p34777"><img alt="Post" height="9" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/styles/hardwood/imageset/icon_post_target.gif" title="Post" width="11" /></a>by <strong><a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=400">jmplsnt</a></strong> » Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:02 am </div>
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I like the looks of those bands. When I get off the boat I'll take some of my double linked setup and post the results as well. Thanks for sharing and inspiring me to try this kind of bands as well.</div>
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Unlike money, slingshots DO grow on trees.</div>
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<dd>Elite hunter<br />
<img alt="Elite hunter" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/images/ranks/hunters-license-level-3.gif" title="Elite hunter" /></dd><dd></dd><dd><strong>Status:</strong><span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"> Offline</span></dd><dd><strong>Posts:</strong> 1276</dd><dd><strong>Joined:</strong> Sat Apr 11, 2009 8:59 am</dd><dd><strong>Location:</strong> Ozark Mountains, CSA</dd></dl>
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<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34781#p34781"><img alt="Post" height="9" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/styles/hardwood/imageset/icon_post_target.gif" title="Post" width="11" /></a>by <strong>tyke</strong> » Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:40 am </div>
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I might have a go with these bands on the Milbro? if i can find some suitable ones that is,should be easy to connect and ive got a spare frame that needs rigging up.<br />
<br />
Sounds like you come from a family of catty users/makers Nick,most people here just think theyre a kids toy,lol little do they know.</div>
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<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34782#p34782"><img alt="Post" height="9" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/styles/hardwood/imageset/icon_post_target.gif" title="Post" width="11" /></a>by <strong>baumstamm</strong> » Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:50 am </div>
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i like your resortas! do threy shoot over the top style?</div>
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Great slingshot mate <img alt="!" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif" title="" />!! <img alt=":smt117" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/thumbup.gif" title="" /></div>
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<cite>baumstamm wrote:</cite>i like your resortas! do threy shoot over the top style?</div>
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<br />
<br />
Hi Baumstamm,<br />
<br />
Yes they shoot over the top, the difference with these resorteras is that you pull against the tie as opposed to pulling the bands over the top of the horns like the catties you or fish make. The shot always travels over the top with this style. You still shoot it at an angle like the shoot overs, and I have never hit a fork this way that I can recall.<br />
<br />
I will post a pic of yours as well in a while.</div>
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<a href="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34799#p34799"><img alt="Post" height="9" src="http://www.jacksshed.co.uk/forum/styles/hardwood/imageset/icon_post_target.gif" title="Post" width="11" /></a>by <strong>Nick</strong> » Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:34 pm </div>
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<cite>tyke wrote:</cite>I might have a go with these bands on the Milbro? if i can find some suitable ones that is,should be easy to connect and ive got a spare frame that needs rigging up.<br />
<br />
Sounds like you come from a family of catty users/makers Nick,most people here just think theyre a kids toy,lol little do they know.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Hi Tyke,<br />
<br />
I can think of a few ways to install these bands on a milbro.<br />
<br />
Yeah I do come from a family catty users and makers, my uncle was at the top in the family craft of catty making. My father had the basic knowledge and made very workable ones, but when my uncle saw me making them with such enthusiasm. He took me under his wing and gave me tips on carving and making pouches, attachment styles etc.<br />
<br />
But of course I grew up in a big city Los Angeles so I took what my uncle from rural Mexico taught me and applied it to the city life. <br />
<br />
What I picked up in the city really rounded off my catty making ideas.<br />
<br />
I will post some of other types I make. Gary talks about one similar in his video (a wire frame made with coat hanger) that I was taught as well its just made differnt but the concept is identical. <br />
<br />
Thanks everyone else for looking and commenting.<br />
Nick</div>
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Oh yeah sorry guys the fork is from a common small acacia that grows in Mexico they call the bush <br />
<br />
( Huizache) it is a very strong workable hard wood very durable..</div>
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<cite>jmplsnt wrote:</cite>I like the looks of those bands. When I get off the boat I'll take some of my double linked setup and post the results as well. Thanks for sharing and inspiring me to try this kind of bands as well.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Hi jmp <br />
<br />
Yeah they are pretty strong bands, I have seen them flatten a pigeon with a marble. When I couldnt get my favorite red #32s I would use these #64 bands in this set up. <br />
<br />
My old friend in the Barrio attached these differently and with a very wide fork. Of course the way he attached them the shot would go through the crotch which is why he used such wide forks.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
UPDATE: 11/7/2013<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have noticed that there are some people who need help in keeping their chain linked rubber band bands from snapping too soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I made this video on You tube well over a year ago and it shows me making the chained bands from the #64 office rubber bands and it shows how I treat the chains with talcum and which prevents early breakage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4HWMip4mN78?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good luck in your chained rubber band projects and happy hunting.</span></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-27117727542719479852012-04-27T19:12:00.000-07:002013-03-09T17:00:02.651-08:00The Alambre resortera Wirecoathanger Slingshot<div class="first" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Alambre resortera aka Wire Coathanger Slingshot An urban street weapon for urban warfare and hunting smallgame, the ultimate improvised survival weapon.</span></div>
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<em><strong>What could you make if all you had were two coathangers and some black electrical or duct tape, some scrounged leather from either an old belt or old leather boots and a bag of office rubberbands? Read on and discover a nice DIY slingshot.</strong></em></span></div>
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The Alambre (wire) slingshot is synonymous with the street kids or Barrio Kids in my case as I was raised in a Barrio in the Greater Los Angeles area. It is also the favored slingshot of rioters who need to make a quick and effective slingshot. </span></div>
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<br />The wire frame slingshot in this case wire coat hanger slingshot: is not uncommon to many parts of the world, it is not a unique phenomenon to any Country as it has been seen on both hemispheres yet as styles vary this essay is dedicated to the Mexican Resortera de alambre or Mexican style wire frame slingshots. The wire slingshot is pretty old and was already quite common in the 1930s. For the sake of illustrational reference I will refer to the wire coat hanger slingshot simply as the alambre slingshot or alambre resortera. </span></div>
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The alambre slingshot is a commonly known slingshot in various parts of Mexico and I first heard of its use by my maternal grandfather, as there are two variations: There is a smaller version of the alambre slingshot which simply uses one hanger to make a small fork which uses nothing more than a few rubber bands and the rest of the wire from the hanger is the ammo for this simplistic design. My grandfather said that he used this simplistic alambre slingshot to control mice in the home when he was a kid.</span></div>
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<br />The other alambre slingshot is more sturdy and capable of holding more powerful slingshot bands to shoot stones, marbles and of course lead and steel shot. This kind of alambre slingshot was first mentioned to me in conversation by a kid from Baja Mexico over 25 years ago and his story was all I knew about its construction. Later I saw one of these Alambre Resorteras professionally made and being sold in a Resortera Puesto slingshot stand in a small pueblo Yahualica on the outskirts of Jalisco Mexico. </span></div>
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<br />I carefully examined its construction, because I was still a kid when I saw it my father wouldn’t buy it for me because he was die hard natural forks and thought it a waste of his money although it was inexpensive. But the image of that alambre slingshot was burned into my mind and with what I was told of their construction and what I saw gave me enough info to make my own. As I started to experiment with these alambre slingshots, later I would run into other people from different parts of Mexico who also made these alambre slingshots from these conversations I would gain more feedback on their construction. </span></div>
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Some important notes about the alambre slingshot, some people like to place a piece of wood in between the handle part of the frame, which is good because it lends support to the fork. Another style the one presented here relies on carefully bending and twisting the wire into a handle and fork, which is later wrapped in either electrical black tape or another wrapping of your preference. I normally use black electrical tape. The strength of these forks largely depends on the gage of the wire coat hanger, as is noted wire coat hangers exist in different thickness or gages. In times past thicker hangers were not so uncommon, now you must order these or if you know someone that hangs drapes or other heavy material. </span></div>
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However this is about imrpovised slingshots with what is available and the pictured examples are alambre resorteras made from scrounged wire hangers. Slingshot bands for the wire coathanger slingshot? It is traditional and also most effective for attachment and fork frame tollerances that the wire coathanger slingshot uses chained office rubberbands. In the 1980s the most common rubberbands I used were the red #32 rubberbands as I could even get these for free from the mailman and or the news paper courier. </span></div>
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They looked something like this and this is one I made two years ago. A portrait of the classic rubberband set-up </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In current times these red #32 rubberbands are not common and are of all places only available through rubberband gun supply stores.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOP90WbFTMlJFh3WHQKgeQdtPqE_bOuXASA8iLGJC-MrxC2R7irP9BTMw_SKFVlyaQCdFZUwYqPtaCrEjM68EOH-L_qm0aPLgsYkS8jfX-7o7RFojkvjCbdodO4vlIIYUNDTPmj2A1xy9X/s1600/resortera_alambre+red+rubberbands+classic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOP90WbFTMlJFh3WHQKgeQdtPqE_bOuXASA8iLGJC-MrxC2R7irP9BTMw_SKFVlyaQCdFZUwYqPtaCrEjM68EOH-L_qm0aPLgsYkS8jfX-7o7RFojkvjCbdodO4vlIIYUNDTPmj2A1xy9X/s320/resortera_alambre+red+rubberbands+classic.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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</span><span style="font-size: small;">Shooting method: These forks are always held with index finger and thumb support, flip style is the most effective with the alambre slingshots.</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">With time I have come to by need and practicality optimize the basic design and have made the fork frame shorter and more compact and I have eliminated or greatly diminshed the abraision problem by using black duct tape in the fork holes as the tape is softer and add a dash of talcum to keep the abraision to a minimum. As in the photo of my profile that is a shorter form of this alambre resortera. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">As I wanted to keep this simple street weapon practical I opted for another classic chained band. I started using the ever present #64 office rubberbands available in virtually all office supply stores. What I did was make a chain of the #64 rubberbands in a 3x3x3 chain and this is the end result, mind you a picture of a well used alambre resortera.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVU8zB4W8y3l6Pb-dSxt9b0lbcdaoKm7JgftHJwSq5ELC8xDJJDKtG6UuI3UdWQS2CLbzE866OU4fYNxPjYtnpS93qQ-P9NNI52FBLSBpMlnAfh-l31gakxImVN9fnj_SDAzkiz_Jn8P16/s1600/killer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVU8zB4W8y3l6Pb-dSxt9b0lbcdaoKm7JgftHJwSq5ELC8xDJJDKtG6UuI3UdWQS2CLbzE866OU4fYNxPjYtnpS93qQ-P9NNI52FBLSBpMlnAfh-l31gakxImVN9fnj_SDAzkiz_Jn8P16/s320/killer.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this configuration the notorious Alambre Resortera aka Wire coathanger slingshot is a perfect pocket sized hunting tool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This type of slingshot is always shot with the finger support.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How effective for hunting is this simple device? It has been field proven to be highly effective on small game ranging up the size of a large Desert Hare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I have effectively harvested cottontail rabbits with nothing more than stones with this kind of slingshot at 15 yards and I have taken large pigeons with stones at this distance and I did take a large Jackrabbit at 30+ yards with a hand cast .50 cal lead ball a friend donated to me and I took the hare on the second shot and at that I was using the highly inexpensive #64 rubberbands I purchased from Walmart. </span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keep in touch as I am working on a tutorial for the creation of this the ultimate DIY slingshot hack created with wire hangers and office rubberbands.</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Best of luck in your slingshot pursuits and remember you dont have to spend insane amounts of money on a pretty slingshot and still be able to harvest small game <em>if that is your inclination.</em></span></strong></div>
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Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6056403364376391448.post-65074411406269310712012-04-23T20:31:00.000-07:002013-10-26T08:05:17.977-07:00Forums and websites to visit for slingshots and honest reviewGreetings,<br />
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This is my first blog entry and I feel it needs to be said as the interest of Slingshots becomes more popular with the information super highway (internet) being the main source new comers and old enthusiasts alike often search for websites and forums to visit to share their passion for slingshots.<br />
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Websites:<br />
First of all one of greatest if not only (active) websites to exist online about slingshots with an unbiased attitude is Melchior's website a great website and the man is very honest and enthusiastic about the entire subject of Slingshots. <a href="http://slingshot-shooting.de/index.html">http://slingshot-shooting.de/index.html</a><br />
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Updated address for Mel's website: Again thank you Melchior for adding my blog to your links list<br />
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Mel,<br />
I really enjoy your essay Power, a very honest view of the whole "powerful slingshot fad" I agree with you power is relative in a slingshot.<br />
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I know no other fully active websites of slingshots and if I missed something please let me know.<br />
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<strong>Forums</strong>: While I'm not active in very many forums I think it goes without saying that eventually you will want to interact with others in your slingshot pursuits.<br />
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Some GOOD FORUMS<br />
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I belong to only two forums at the moment.<br />
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Hunters and target shooters are welcome in this place as we all have the same thing in common The love of slingshots. <a href="http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/index.php">http://rebelslingshotforum.freeforums.org/index.php</a><br />
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The Poacher's Pocket: A UK based forum dedicated to country living and has it's fair share of Catapult/Slingshot enthusiasts. Both hunting and target shooters and talented slingshot makers as well. Good place, peaceful atmosphere.<br />
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<a href="http://thepoacherspocket.forumotion.co.uk/forum">http://thepoacherspocket.forumotion.co.uk/forum</a><br />
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That's all for now <br />
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Nico<br />
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<br />Nicohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15686194472536649066noreply@blogger.com1