Catapult hunting

[User00053]

Did wonder about this bushcraft lark kind of sneaked up on me, then realised the huge uk market for bushcraft knives and other stuff had become.

 

[Fair Hill]

Why should I not be a member on this site, I'm sure im not alone in saying I've body shot a rabbit only to loose it in the undergrowth

Yeah chris has a load of vids on his catapult carnage youtube channel

That's exactly the kind of Youtube channel I was hoping for, nice one for sharing.

 

[billy_boyle_2010]

Did wonder about this bushcraft lark kind of sneaked up on me, then realised the huge uk market for bushcraft knives and other stuff had become.

It was covid. And all things outdoors. And anything collectable or geeky.

People bought tents, paddleboards bikes etc

 

[dawnbreaker]

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.

You get all kinds of people young and old people do it for different reasons like rekindling a childhood interest to people wanting a hobby, for me its something I've always done fieldcraft and bushcraft go together like foxyboy and yourself said its on the genes for some people hunting is in the blood its just something you have to do its not a choice whether you do it or not , I grew up in the countryside as a lot of people on have done so its the natural thing to do,I love all of it.

 

[dawnbreaker]

That's exactly the kind of Youtube channel I was hoping for, nice one for sharing.

No worries glad to help

 

[User00053]

Well if it gets more people to appreciate the great outdoors all good.

 

[dawnbreaker]

Did wonder about this bushcraft lark kind of sneaked up on me, then realised the huge uk market for bushcraft knives and other stuff had become.

Yeah a massive market has grown out of it, to the inexperienced its about the knife and gear to the experienced its about the skill the tool is just a means to an end

 

[dawnbreaker]

Coming from where you do big lad I would have thought that was in the genes!

It certainly is foxy

 

[dawnbreaker]

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.

Yeah I'm getting 320 fps with the flat stuff and 8mm steel

 

[samdk]

I have no problem referring to people who leave 50+ dead birds in a pen with heads cut off, having knocked them out of the trees with a "catty", for bets as sick scum.
Each to his own but if the remark describes you than I stand by it. It was never intended to refer to the author of thread neither did it read so.

Rather rich for someone who I assume makes a living releasing non native birds into the wild so they can be flushed out of cover and shot out the sky by paying guests.

 

[VSS]

You get all kinds of people young and old people do it for different reasons like rekindling a childhood interest to people wanting a hobby, for me its something I've always done fieldcraft and bushcraft go together like foxyboy and yourself said its on the genes for some people hunting is in the blood its just something you have to do its not a choice whether you do it or not , I grew up in the countryside as a lot of people on have done so its the natural thing to do,I love all of it.

Bushcraft seems to me to imply huts and tarps and campfires and big knives and axes and making things out of branches, and cooking stuff using improvised utensils and hearty back-slapping and crapping in a hole you've just dug precisely the right distance from the nearest watercourse.
Fieldcraft is what gets you to within 5 yards of a roe doe so you can watch her suckling her fawns without being aware of your presence.

 

[dawnbreaker]

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.

Yeah it does take a good bit of practice to get proficient enough to hunt

 

[User00053]

Yeah a massive market has grown out of it, to the inexperienced its about the knife and gear to the experienced its about the skill the tool is just a means to an end

Am a big fan of hand made knives just for pride of ownership and have been drawn to them from a early age.

 

[dawnbreaker]

Am a big fan of hand made knives just for pride of ownership and have been drawn to them from a early age.

I like a nice knife aswell as the next man and have had the custom knives sold them all as the knife wasn't that important to me, nothing wrong with owning a knife collection a few of my mate have huge collections

 

[Freeforester]

I can just imagine old Jack Hargreaves making a programme about this, having first chatted a bit about the lore of the catty, and filling his briar pipe some…

 

[dawnbreaker]

I can just imagine old Jack Hargreaves making a programme about this, having first chatted a bit about the lore of the catty, and filling his briar pipe some…

Chris's

I can just imagine old Jack Hargreaves making a programme about this, having first chatted a bit about the lore of the catty, and filling his briar pipe some…

Chris's vids on making natural fork catty are great

 

[dawnbreaker]

Bushcraft seems to me to imply huts and tarps and campfires and big knives and axes and making things out of branches, and cooking stuff using improvised utensils and hearty back-slapping and crapping in a hole you've just dug precisely the right distance from the nearest watercourse.
Fieldcraft is what gets you to within 5 yards of a roe doe so you can watch her suckling her fawns without being aware of your presence.

All of the above lol but also hunting and trapping is a massive part of bushcraft uf ye don't eat you die, id say more trapping than hunting were an intimate knowledge of your quarry is essential as for hunting yer gonna have to be able to get real close else its not gonna happen , so I'd say fieldcraft and bushcraft are closely linked, which you probably won't learn on a wknd course but you might inspire someone on a course to take things further and get into the balls of the subject in my book thats a job well done.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Bushcraft seems to me to imply huts and tarps and campfires and big knives and axes and making things out of branches, and cooking stuff using improvised utensils and hearty back-slapping and crapping in a hole you've just dug precisely the right distance from the nearest watercourse.
Fieldcraft is what gets you to within 5 yards of a roe doe so you can watch her suckling her fawns without being aware of your presence.

According to Wiki, there you go -
Bushcraft is the use and practice of skills, thereby acquiring and developing knowledge and understanding, in order to survive and thrive in a natural environment. Bushcraft skills provide for the basic physiological necessities for human life: food, water sourcing and purification, shelter-building, and firecraft.
Simples

 

[dawnbreaker]

According to Wiki, there you go -
Bushcraft is the use and practice of skills, thereby acquiring and developing knowledge and understanding, in order to survive and thrive in a natural environment. Bushcraft skills provide for the basic physiological necessities for human life: food, water sourcing and purification, shelter-building, and firecraft.
Simples

On point

 

[VSS]

According to Wiki, there you go -
Bushcraft is the use and practice of skills, thereby acquiring and developing knowledge and understanding, in order to survive and thrive in a natural environment. Bushcraft skills provide for the basic physiological necessities for human life: food, water sourcing and purification, shelter-building, and firecraft.
Simples

It amuses me that things we took for granted when we were growing up have been given a label and become a commodity. Adults are paying to be taught how to play the games that they should have played when they were kids. It's a funny old world, and a bit sad.