Catapults

[stringer9 0]

Alright lads i bought a black widow there on saturday. Are they any good, what can they kill, what distance are they good at. thanks a mill

[SharpShooter14 0]

DONT USE SLINGSHOTS FOR HUNTING!!!

 

ITS INHUMANE AND YOU HARDLY EVER GET A KILL!!!

[Tyla 3,179]

Alright lads i bought a black widow there on saturday. Are they any good, what can they kill, what distance are they good at. thanks a mill

 

They are as good as you are, if you are accurate enough to hit a rabbit, squirrel or pigeon etc in the head at 10 yards the catapult will kill it. if you cant shoot as well as that do NOT hunt with it. You will also need to use either lead or steel ball bearings and NOT stones. You can use the steel 9mm BBs but they are really too light for hunting, lead is better but you have to make your own which is a pain.

 

For practice, until you are good enough to hunt, hang a sheet up as a back stop. Make sure there are a few folds on the groung to catch the ammo ang put a target up in front. Once you can hit a matchbox size object from 10 yards repeatedly then have a go at hunting.

 

To be honest unless you are very dedicated your better off with an air rifle

 

There is a good thread on catapults in the Gamekeeping sectiontoo.

 

Good luck

[jmilam08 193]

alrite mate the steel ammo aint realypowefull enough to kill ive found.i hang a tin can from a bit of string with a sheet behind and just keep shooting at it evry time iv got a few hours spare to work on my shot do this for a few weeks aand get some lead balls and you will be dropping things soon enough.

[Ratman2 2]

Alright lads i bought a black widow there on saturday. Are they any good, what can they kill, what distance are they good at. thanks a mill

 

They are as good as you are, if you are accurate enough to hit a rabbit, squirrel or pigeon etc in the head at 10 yards the catapult will kill it. if you cant shoot as well as that do NOT hunt with it. You will also need to use either lead or steel ball bearings and NOT stones. You can use the steel 9mm BBs but they are really too light for hunting, lead is better but you have to make your own which is a pain.

 

For practice, until you are good enough to hunt, hang a sheet up as a back stop. Make sure there are a few folds on the groung to catch the ammo ang put a target up in front. Once you can hit a matchbox size object from 10 yards repeatedly then have a go at hunting.

 

To be honest unless you are very dedicated your better off with an air rifle

 

There is a good thread on catapults in the Gamekeeping sectiontoo.

 

Good luck

 

Very good advice there mate Catapults in the right hands are a very effective hunting tool and I’ve had hundreds of rats over the years, pigeons and a few rabbits too.

[stringer9 0]

Thanks for the advice lads, will try the sheet\matchbox thing. what distance should it be effective at????

[Tyla 3,179]

Alright lads i bought a black widow there on saturday. Are they any good, what can they kill, what distance are they good at. thanks a mill

 

They are as good as you are, if you are accurate enough to hit a rabbit, squirrel or pigeon etc in the head at 10 yards the catapult will kill it. if you cant shoot as well as that do NOT hunt with it. You will also need to use either lead or steel ball bearings and NOT stones. You can use the steel 9mm BBs but they are really too light for hunting, lead is better but you have to make your own which is a pain.

 

For practice, until you are good enough to hunt, hang a sheet up as a back stop. Make sure there are a few folds on the groung to catch the ammo ang put a target up in front. Once you can hit a matchbox size object from 10 yards repeatedly then have a go at hunting.

 

To be honest unless you are very dedicated your better off with an air rifle

 

There is a good thread on catapults in the Gamekeeping sectiontoo.

 

Good luck

 

Very good advice there mate Catapults in the right hands are a very effective hunting tool and I’ve had hundreds of rats over the years, pigeons and a few rabbits too.

 

Thanks Ratman, i try to be of help. They are a handy tool arent they, i try never to be without mine when im out. Whenever you havent got the catty you see all sorts!

 

Stringer9, your effective range is whatever you can hit the bo at. 10 yards is about right so your fieldcraft has to be pretty good too.

 

Here is one i prepared earlier

Edited March 7, 2008 by ChrisJones

[ChrisJones 7,975]

Removed the picture from that. Catapults are certainly not recommended for that kind of use.

[jmilam08 193]

heres what i shoot.ill only use if i can stalk within 10 to 15 yards.makes it more of a challenge that way plus youve got more chance of a definate kill.

[Tyla 3,179]

Removed the picture from that. Catapults are certainly not recommended for that kind of use.

 

Why? its not illegal, it was in season and i had permission. i dont really care if you "recommend" it or not. if its not against the law and was killed humanely why remove it? Theres plenty worse throughout the rest of the forum, have you deleted the entire catapults thread in the gamekeeping section or the canada goose shot with an air gun thats been on here lots of times?

[Ratman2 2]

Removed the picture from that. Catapults are certainly not recommended for that kind of use.

 

Why? its not illegal, it was in season and i had permission. i dont really care if you "recommend" it or not. if its not against the law and was killed humanely why remove it? Theres plenty worse throughout the rest of the forum, have you deleted the entire catapults thread in the gamekeeping section or the canada goose shot with an air gun thats been on here lots of times?

 

Its funny how attitudes change over the years, my Dad used to tell me of his working days during The Second World War as a plough man, and how he used to shoot Plovers and Gull’s from his tractor with a catapult, the birds were sold to a game dealer, meat was a luxury then. He also used to take rabbits and hares with the catapult too, these were shared with the family and any spare was again sold to the game dealer in Louth, I seem to remember the game dealers name was Chas Wilkinson, but I may be wrong.

My Dad taught me how to hunt with a catapult, and as I said before, a catapult in the right hands is a very good hunting tool, silent and deadly.

[Tyla 3,179]

i am still waiting to hear from someone the legal position on catapult hunting. i have another thread going in general talk about it too. it seems very strange that this pic has been removed yet other quarry killed with a catty is still on here as are numerous "retrieved" hares, foxes etc. if rules applied to everyone rather than just those that upset a particular mods sensibilities it would make more sense.

[ChrisJones 7,975]

Apologies for not giving this your immediate attention. Like most volunteers I can't afford to sit here all day, everyday, just a few hours at a time.

 

Shooting game birds with catapults isn't illegal, like using a bow or explosives.

 

But it isn't humane either. They're very low powered and like crossbows, compound bows, drop power extremely quickly.

 

After taking advice from BASC we decided that such pictures shouldn't be shown on the forum as catapults aren't a recommended tool for taking game birds.

 

If you want to take the picture and show it on the game keeping forum, or if such pictures exist then it's an issue for them.

 

As it stands this is an airgun forum and catapults aren't airguns. Therefore I'll remove these pictures.

 

Any complaints take them higher.

 

As you've started a public thread, in the General Talk area, I assume you want to make a big deal about it so any further response will be there.

[Adam-RunningDog 1]

oooh the joy of hunting with one of them

i love it, such a challenge me and a friend of mine used to go down the local abbey and run down buildings it was full of ferals the odd woody too a good few ball bearings and your sorted for a good day just you have to be really quite you can take a few at a time if your hiden and the others cant see you with the sling if they are next to each other they dont have a clue what going on

ive shot lots of thing squirells, ferals and wood pigeos was amazing fun once i at a pigeon because it was a head shot most are wing shots see cant aint percificaly but if a big ass ballbearing hits you it is going to hurt it would kill something thier size

I use a black widow with 5mm ball bearing but my grandfather has some old fishing shot it was like the size of SSG and that sorts a pigeon out no problem:P

well hope more of you give it a try and let me know how you get off

[trappsy 0]

Removed the picture from that. Catapults are certainly not recommended for that kind of use.

 

Why? its not illegal, it was in season and i had permission. i dont really care if you "recommend" it or not. if its not against the law and was killed humanely why remove it? Theres plenty worse throughout the rest of the forum, have you deleted the entire catapults thread in the gamekeeping section or the canada goose shot with an air gun thats been on here lots of times?

 

Its funny how attitudes change over the years, my Dad used to tell me of his working days during The Second World War as a plough man, and how he used to shoot Plovers and Gull’s from his tractor with a catapult, the birds were sold to a game dealer, meat was a luxury then. He also used to take rabbits and hares with the catapult too, these were shared with the family and any spare was again sold to the game dealer in Louth, I seem to remember the game dealers name was Chas Wilkinson, but I may be wrong.

My Dad taught me how to hunt with a catapult, and as I said before, a catapult in the right hands is a very good hunting tool, silent and deadly.

aye in then 50s and early 60s arse pockets where made for catty's, never went anywhee without mine.