Saw this on Facebook the other day; interesting and one heck of an accomplishment:
This is the deer my husband harvested last year with his atlatl and 7-ft darts! He threw out of that window in our 101 year-old barn… 13-yard hurl and it was a heart shot!
According to Wikipedia, the atlatl, or spear-thrower, is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart-throwing… The spear-thrower is believed to have been in use by Homo sapiens since the Upper Paleolithic (around 30,000 years ago). It was used by early Native Americans as well. It seems to have been introduced to America during the immigration across the Bering Land Bridge, and despite the later introduction of the bow and arrow, atlatl use was widespread at the time of first European contact. In early times, the atlatl was used for combat, hunting and sporting events.
Today’s state laws vary widely on the use of the spear-thrower for hunting, so be sure you check before you go out and try to kill a deer with a dart.
It would only be unethical if the hunter did not practice and was not proficient at throwing the spear to consistently hit a small target. This is no different than shooting any other weapon. An ethical hunter practices until he is proficient and confident. (And follows all applicable game laws.)
That is definately Cave-Man style. Kudos to the hunter.
So, if you gave a MLB pitcher a rock which was the same size, shape and weight as a baseball, told him to stand in a barn and throw it at a deer’s head when it walked by, that would be ethical?
If it is abiding by the game laws, then I guess it’s more of a personal decision of right and wrong. I personally am going to stick with my bow and rifle.
^ That would be awesome! Could you imagine how deadly Randy Johnson would have been..
HMMMMM… doesn’t seem ethical to me.
Heck of a “Shot/throw/”. Can’t believe he did it thru the window. Not sure if hunting from the barn would be legal here, depending on location.
Not sure how I feel about this one. It is neat for sure and I’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he can throw it with consistent accuracy, but I believe this is a prerequisite for ethical hunting. It would be a shame though to see a bunch of folks trying this without ensuring that it can be done ethically. Admittedly, I don’t know much about the method and just how accurate and consistent you can be with one; I do have my reservations though.