catapult hunting

[david]

Is it legal to hunt with a catapult in the UK, and if so what can be hunted. Obviously given landowners permission and open season for none vermin species. Has anyone any tips advice or suggestions.

[statikpunk]

I don't know any of the specifics but if you actually manage to kill something with a catapult I WANT VIDEOES!!!

[Aidan P]

I managed to catch a cold with a catapult... although back in Ireland we called them Gatts when I was a young 'un

[zorro]

i've hunted some birds and rats with a catapult or slingshot , but it's difficult cause you have to approach very close to hit the target.
catapults can reach 100 yards or more , but it's difficult to hit a target the size of a robin far from 20 or 30 yards, specially if you're using pebbles as ammo, wich are not perfect round and tend to fly not too straight most of the times.
Steel bearing balls and lead shot fly straight and are more accurate, but you have to carry them with you, while pebbles can be found almost everywhere.

[John Fenna]

I have heard of folk using hard, round sweets as ammo.
If you miss something will eat the evidence, or it will disolve in time.
And you always have something to eat when you give up trying!

[statikpunk]

Oh man!! do i feel silly. It seems I have fallen into one of those British, U.S. language barriers. when David said catapult I actually thought he was thinking of using a CATAPULT: (like a siege weapon)
I thought we was just being silly, until i read Zorro's reply, I have never in the U.S. heard of a slingshot being referred to as a catapult! (talk about elevating the status of a weapon whooo!)


Anyway yah you can totally hunt with a slingshot, I don't know about British law on the subject, but here in the states it was my hunting partner of choice from the time i could walk until i was old enough to go out with a rifle on my own. I got my first rifle at 6 but was, of course not allowed to even touch it without my father's supervision. so needless to say my constant companion during those years was my slingshot. I even took my slingshot to grade school. I made a deal with the principal and the grounds keeper (because weapons were not allowed at school) to allow me to bring it and shoot the ground squirrels that liked to dig holes in our football field. (I got the job after the grounds keeper caught me doing it on the weekends)
and to this day i have a slingshot stashed in all my vehicles and in my backpack, and in my camper and I will often get one out while backpacking, or hiking just to shoot rocks at twigs, leaves, or the ocasional ground squirrel. I even keep one on me while I'm hunting, I use it to spook deer out of the trees, without sending them into the next county like if I went clomping through the trees.
back when i was a kid my ammo of choice was marbles (the little glass ones) they were perfectly round, flew good, "CHEAP", heavy enough to pack a punch, "CHEAP" and they kind of had a cutting affect on small critters because they would shatter when you hit something with them.
although I also used #0 buckshot, small steel ball bearings, and of course good old fashioned rocks.
a fun game to play is to get a couple buddies and have a bit of a competition, one guy "calls it" then shoots at something, then the others try and replicate the shot, and anyone who cant replicate the shot loses one of whatever ammo they where using. when the first shooter misses his "called" shot then the honor of being the first shooter passes to the person who has the least amount of ammo left, (but never the same person twice in a row) and so on. Your out when you run out of ammo, but you could always pick up rocks one at a time to stay in the competition. (of course shooting rocks was a crippling handicap, because of their poor flight characteristics, although I have seen someone come back to win after being knocked down to rocks.) It's fun because the winner would always have pockets stuffed with a ramshackle array of marbles and buckshot and anything else that was round. My mother would dump my pockets out into a bucket before she did the wash, so at the beginning of every weekend i would run to the laundry room and grab a handful ammo and my pocket knife and anything else useful that ended up in the bucket!
another fun variation on that game is to use a soda can and each person is required to shoot the soda can wherever it comes to rest (like golf "play it where it lies!") We would spend hours bouncing a soda can around the yard, and each shooter would always try to bounce the can into the hardest position to shoot for the next person, or better yet next to something valuable and delicate, (like Mom's ceramic garden ornaments) then the REAL skill would show through you had to be precision, otherwise you would lose your marble and get whooped by mom!
yessir the old slingshot is the most fun you can have with your pants on. I never leave home without it.
wow I start reminiscing and I just go on and on. well if you think I'm getting long winded, you can "CRAM IT" cuz I'm having fun.

slingshots are the best thing to happen to 10 year olds since the invention of candy. I highly recommend that everyone add a slingshot to their Bushcrafting kit, they are hours of fun, and are an excellent survival tool as well.
*if you would like to learn more about slingshots, please visit you local 10 year old boy
I got loads more slingshot tips and tricks if anyones interested but, i felt I was going a bit long.

[david]

Thanks for all the comments, Statikpunk please feel free to give more advice. What sort of soda can do you recomend washing soda? (only kidding I know you mean coke ect) Really starting to get excited by this idea only need to find out about the legal side, have always thought of it as a poachers weapon. Still no law about hunting cans in the garden. Look forward to hearing more thanks again to all

[riley]

I love shooting slingshots...but it illegal to owna wrist braced slingshot and to hunt with any kind of sling in my state

[zorro]

Originally Posted by riley

I love shooting slingshots...but it illegal to owna wrist braced slingshot and to hunt with any kind of sling in my state

Same here in Spain

[statikpunk]

it's too bad so few can use a slingshot (catapult) in their area. it is a really fun tool
Riley as for a wrist braced slingshot, don't worry about it. I used to have a wrist rocket when i was kid, but it is just a gimmick, you can achieve the same straight wrist affect by putting your thumb and index finger on each post of the slingshot, having your finger and thumb extended makes it harder for your wrist to break over
Oh and Riley Im not 100% sure but it should be legal to hunt animals classified as "Varmints" in any state in the U.S. with a slingshot, many varmints are not animals you would want to eat, like rats, but some are quite tasty like woodchucks which you should have plenty of in NY (on second thought slingshots are probably outlawed within city limits in big cities, not my town, but probably many. but who wants to hang out in the city anyway!)

and Casey a slingshot is not nearly as fast as a 22. lr a 22 shoots at about 1200 fps (not sure what that is in UK standards) I chronographed my slingshot at about 200 feet per second, BUT! slingshots shoot considerably larger bullets than a 22. a 22 shoots a 40 grain bullet, and a lead #0 buckshot probably weighs in at around a 100 grains easily. which of course makes it pack more a punch, some pistol rounds actually shoot as low as 500, to 800 feet fps, and my longbow shoots at a paltry 180 fps (and it has the power to kill anything on my continent) of course the lethality of any weapon is a combination of speed and mass of bullet,(E=mc2) so while I wouldnt rank it with a 22. which is accurately lethal to small game at distances of 100 yards or more. I would certainly agree with you that it is a very viable short range hunting weapon,(Im only accurate with mine to about 25 yards) that can pack a lot of punch.
(my father is a gunsmith so I have access to all this stuff, so if anyone has any gun questions, if i don't know it, he will )
i also wanted to ask , whats a bollie??!! cuz it seems to be the British catapult ammo of choice.