Catapult hunting
- Thread starter dawnbreaker
- Start date
flatliner
Well-Known Member
To be honest, I'd have been disappointed in you if you didn'tErr I use lead
landkeeper
Well-Known Member
1/2"" steel nuts were our ammo of choice pinch them in the hole between finger and thumb in the pouch they are deadly far more accurate than stones or ball bearings
Nimrod1960
Well-Known Member
And they made a great noise with great knock down power loved them, but were in short supply ammo of choice for plump young mallard and close herring gull tempted by a snack. Best not continue for fear of incriminating self
deerstalker.308
Well-Known Member
To be fair you did question what the OP was doing on this forum, somewhat harsh given the thread and it’s contents!
As an aside, if you read the life stories of any of the great game shots or naturalists of the era that we all mourn you'll find that, almost without exception, their early introduction to country sports and wildlife conservation came about through poaching of one sort or another. Even some of the most privileged enjoyed that thrill in childhood.
It's only the modern sportsman, often from a non-rural background, who is too virtuous to have succumbed to the primeval instinct in his early years.
It's only the modern sportsman, often from a non-rural background, who is too virtuous to have succumbed to the primeval instinct in his early years.
Was there not an officer at Arnhem that had a longbow and arrows with him. I think there was another that had an umbrella ( he reckoned he wouldn't get shot, at least by his own side).
Killed a Kingfisher with a catapult aged 9, and a mynah bird with a blowpipe aged 13, beat that! (Blowpipe illegal under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act)
The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988
Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that any person who manufactures, sells or hires or offers for sale or hire, exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lends or gives to any other person, a weapon to which that section applies shall be guilty of an...
I'll add that this was in a former colony which had no such laws to the contrary...
It also explains why genuine fieldcraft is a dying art, and why we now have a new "thing" called bushcraft, which always seems to take place within spitting distance of a large 4x4, and only at weekends.
dawnbreaker
Well-Known Member
Lol those bushcrafters you speak off are really just campers redefined to sound cool, I've been practicing bushcraft for a decade i now teach , its an everyday learning curve, no 4x4 in sight for me, im an off the beaten track kinda guy on 2 feet those are the best places usually undisturbed
landkeeper
Well-Known Member
I think a lot of us of a certain age were a lot more fortunate than a lot of others. certainly 'fieldsports' be it catapaults bird nesting ferreting air rifles and pistols were things of my late childhood and early adolescence ! Followed by terriers lurcher and shotguns
What was tolerated back in the 70s is most certainly frowned upon and likely to find you on the wrong side of the law
I chuckle when I see a certain type of fieldsportsman now decked out head to toe in barbour or harkila or such with a 5k firearm and all the bells and whistles call it inverted snobbery or such
Ee when I was a lad
lol
Bushcraft lol you mean all the stuff we did as kids and teenagers as perfectly normal activities
What was tolerated back in the 70s is most certainly frowned upon and likely to find you on the wrong side of the law
I chuckle when I see a certain type of fieldsportsman now decked out head to toe in barbour or harkila or such with a 5k firearm and all the bells and whistles call it inverted snobbery or such
Ee when I was a lad
lolBushcraft lol you mean all the stuff we did as kids and teenagers as perfectly normal activities
dawnbreaker
Well-Known Member
All the gear and no idea, hunting with a catty or air rifle will definitely teach you fieldcraft through much tril and error , for me that is the best way to learnI think a lot of us of a certain age were a lot more fortunate than a lot of others. certainly 'fieldsports' be it catapaults bird nesting ferreting air rifles and pistols were things of my late childhood and early adolescence ! Followed by terriers lurcher and shotguns
What was tolerated back in the 70s is most certainly frowned upon and likely to find you on the wrong side of the law
I chuckle when I see a certain type of fieldsportsman now decked out head to toe in barbour or harkila or such with a 5k firearm and all the bells and whistles call it inverted snobbery or such
Ee when I was a lad
Ah, but what sort of people are you teaching? What's their background and why do they want to do it? And, more to the point, why didn't they do it when they were kids? Is it really something you can learn as an adult? I guess that's the difference between fieldcraft and what's commonly referred to as "bushcraft". Fieldcraft is something that's in you from a young age, almost an instinct, whereas bushcraft has become a weekend hobby that people go on courses to experience.
dawnbreaker
Well-Known Member
Hahahaha yeah I'm still building huts and lighting fires albeit a bit more polishedI think a lot of us of a certain age were a lot more fortunate than a lot of others. certainly 'fieldsports' be it catapaults bird nesting ferreting air rifles and pistols were things of my late childhood and early adolescence ! Followed by terriers lurcher and shotguns
What was tolerated back in the 70s is most certainly frowned upon and likely to find you on the wrong side of the law
I chuckle when I see a certain type of fieldsportsman now decked out head to toe in barbour or harkila or such with a 5k firearm and all the bells and whistles call it inverted snobbery or such
Ee when I was a lad
Bushcraft lol you mean all the stuff we did as kids and teenagers as perfectly normal activities
spannulman
Well-Known Member
Killed a Kingfisher with a catapult aged 9, and a mynah bird with a blowpipe aged 13, beat that! (Blowpipe illegal under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act)
The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988
Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that any person who manufactures, sells or hires or offers for sale or hire, exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lends or gives to any other person, a weapon to which that section applies shall be guilty of an...www.legislation.gov.uk
I'll add that this was in a former colony which had no such laws to the contrary...
I’ve posted this ‘mea culpa’ on here before but my cheeks still burn hot with shame when I recall the things I shot with a catapult as a boy in the 80s. But it was that instinct that led to where I am now , and I quickly became focussed under the guidance of a friend’s father and others into a more ethical young hunter.
I passed a shop in a back street in Carlisle last summer which had an array of Cattys in the window and came out with a classic metal milbro and bags of ball bearings. I think using a shotgun helps you use a catapult and I’ve been pleased to be able to hit targets with it. Not hunted anything yet but I carry it walking the dog and just practice at knot holes in trees and the like.
I did change the black square section elastic for tube which was the best thing as a kid, but I hear the flat stuff is the thing these days…
And as for humane hunting- this thing will punch a ball bearing through an empty coke can at 15yds. That’ll do for a bunny or pigeon.
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Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
Coming from where you do big lad I would have thought that was in the genes!Hahahaha yeah I'm still building huts and lighting fires albeit a bit more polished
billy_boyle_2010
Well-Known Member
Well he was hardly a model of the perfect gentleman in his youth was he ? He has to be more careful now he's famous of course.
Funny i have seen the same fieldsports episodes and thought how incredibly inaccurate they were compared to even the most basic air rifle.
When it comes to body shots they appear to kill from blunt force trauma not penetration.
I have seen a fair few videos on YT of v experienced catty shots shooting rabbits for the poor devil's to crawl down a hole and die.
The issue for me is they take an awful lot longer to get competent at. 2 hours training and a PCP air rifle can perform humane kills in the hands of a novice. It must be 100s or 1000s of hours for a catty to be as humane.
And second people carry them around poaching or killing wildlife for the sake of it on public walks etc.
Having said all that- it does bring back fond memories of my childhood.
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