Ancient spear weapon OKd for Penn deer hunt
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0124_060124_atlatl_deer.html
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
January 24, 2006
Pennsylvania hunters hoping to stalk deer with Stone Age spear- throwers may get their chance later this year. Today the state's game commission gave preliminary approval for hunting deer hunting using the atlatl and dart.
The ancient weapon uses a throwing stick to propel spearlike projectiles farther and harder than hunters can with arm power alone.
The atlatl (pronounced AHT-lah-tuhl) predates the bow and arrow and was first used some 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, possibly earlier, by hunters around the world.
The weapon appeared in the Americas about the same time humans arrived. It was brought to its technological apex during thousands of years of Native American use.
"It's first and foremost a hunting weapon, and I think that naturally this is what it should be," said Jack Rowe, an atlatl enthusiast from Sayre, Pennsylvania, who lobbied for approval.
Lethal Force
Pennsylvania Game Commissioner Roxane Palone supported a study into the use of the ancient weapon. But game commission staff recommended last week that the board not allow atlatl hunting.
"It's not that we question whether the use of the atlatl and dart has the potential to harvest a deer," Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesperson Jerry Feaser said from his Harrisburg office.
"In experienced hands it is obviously a lethal enough device. However, the staff is not convinced that the atlatl and dart, in the hands of the average hunter, possesses enough lethality to ethically and humanely harvest a deer."
Pennsylvania atlatl enthusiast Gary Fogelman, who supports atlatl hunting in the state, says the hunt would allow him to hone the skills used by his ancient ancestors.
"It's simply trying to conquer a weapons technology that has been around for thousands of years and seeing if you can do it as well as others in the past did it," he said.
"It's the challenge. It certainly doesn't make [hunting] any easier. People ask, What's the advantage? There are no advantages. It makes it harder."
Fogelman disagrees with the game commission's initial concerns that the weapon lacks sufficient lethal force.
"The thing was used for probably 15,000 years by groups of people all over the world," he said. "It had to be effective, or they would have abandoned it pretty quickly."
Not for the Average Hunter
Fogelman notes that ancient hunters used atlatls to kill some of North America's largest animals, including extinct elephant-like mastodons.
More recently the weapons have been used to legally hunt deer and bison in Montana. Fogelman says he used an atlatl to hunt and kill a wild boar on a private reserve.
"The dart passed right through that wild boar quicker than quick," Fogelman said. "The people who are concerned about lethality have obviously never seen an atlatl operate."
To succeed, atlatl hunters must get close to their prey. Rower, the Sayre, Pennsylvania, atlatl enthusiast, says an average hunter may not have much luck with the device.
"It takes some skill," Rowe explained. "Not just with the implement itself, but the skill to understand the animal that you're hunting and its behavior."
He expects only about 30 people to participate in Pennsylvania's first atlatl deer hunt.
Prehistoric Arms Race
Bob Perkins has studied the atlatl for some 20 years and builds the weapons at his company, BPS Engineering, in Manhattan, Montana.
He says the atlatl marked a breakthrough in weapons technology.
"This is the first weapon that humans developed that took us from the role of scavengers to that of full-on hunters," Perkins said. "It's a highly effective weapon."
"It's the ultimate expression of our natural attribute to throw something, to throw and kill at a distance," he added. "That's a skill that set us apart from other predators."
Perkins has been instrumental in modernizing the ancient weapon.
The two-piece device consists of a 2-foot-long (0.6-meter-long) board with a handgrip at the front end and a point, or "spur," at the back.
The spear, called the dart, is a 4- to 6-foot-long (1.2- to 1.8-meter-long) projectile tipped with a stone point. The dart features a rear cavity that fits into the throwing board's spur, keeping the dart parallel.
With an arm motion akin to a tennis serve, hunters can hurl the dart 120 to 150 yards (110 to 140 meters). The projectile generally maintains enough lethal force and accuracy to kill prey 30 to 40 yards (27 to 37 meters) away from a hunter, enthusiasts say.
Perkins describes the dart itself as "an arrow on steroids" that's capable of traveling 80 to 90 miles an hour (129 to 145 kilometers an hour).
"It's deceptively complex, a very sophisticated spring-mass system," he explained. "The dart is basically like a kind of spring. Interestingly enough, the stone point's primary function is not to inflict wounds but to act as a mass that resists acceleration."
He explained: "A pointy stick will punch a hole in something. But the stone point causes the dart to compress like a spring and store spring energy [during the throw]. It's integral to the mechanics."
Atlatl Competitions
Perfecting that throw is an enjoyable challenge for the 400 active members of the World Atlatl Association.
Executive secretary Courtney Birkett, an archaeologist from Williamsburg, Virginia, says that most members of the association are not hunters.
"It's not legal in most places," she said. "I think most people are involved for the [accuracy] competitions and for the companionship really."
"Some people just like primitive skills in general. Even as a little kid I used to make bows and arrows out of sticks."
With a growing number of contests and an onslaught of publicity surrounding the Pennsylvania decision, the atlatl may be hotter than it's been in centuries-which means busy times at Perkins's shop.
So what's the typical atlatl shopper like?
"The demographics are hard to put your finger on," Perkins said. "It's people who have an interest in archaeology, but also people who see them in the park or saw a report on television."
"Wherever people are seeing it, it's becoming more mainstream."
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
January 24, 2006
Pennsylvania hunters hoping to stalk deer with Stone Age spear- throwers may get their chance later this year. Today the state's game commission gave preliminary approval for hunting deer hunting using the atlatl and dart.
The ancient weapon uses a throwing stick to propel spearlike projectiles farther and harder than hunters can with arm power alone.
The atlatl (pronounced AHT-lah-tuhl) predates the bow and arrow and was first used some 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, possibly earlier, by hunters around the world.
The weapon appeared in the Americas about the same time humans arrived. It was brought to its technological apex during thousands of years of Native American use.
"It's first and foremost a hunting weapon, and I think that naturally this is what it should be," said Jack Rowe, an atlatl enthusiast from Sayre, Pennsylvania, who lobbied for approval.
Lethal Force
Pennsylvania Game Commissioner Roxane Palone supported a study into the use of the ancient weapon. But game commission staff recommended last week that the board not allow atlatl hunting.
"It's not that we question whether the use of the atlatl and dart has the potential to harvest a deer," Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesperson Jerry Feaser said from his Harrisburg office.
"In experienced hands it is obviously a lethal enough device. However, the staff is not convinced that the atlatl and dart, in the hands of the average hunter, possesses enough lethality to ethically and humanely harvest a deer."
Pennsylvania atlatl enthusiast Gary Fogelman, who supports atlatl hunting in the state, says the hunt would allow him to hone the skills used by his ancient ancestors.
"It's simply trying to conquer a weapons technology that has been around for thousands of years and seeing if you can do it as well as others in the past did it," he said.
"It's the challenge. It certainly doesn't make [hunting] any easier. People ask, What's the advantage? There are no advantages. It makes it harder."
Fogelman disagrees with the game commission's initial concerns that the weapon lacks sufficient lethal force.
"The thing was used for probably 15,000 years by groups of people all over the world," he said. "It had to be effective, or they would have abandoned it pretty quickly."
Not for the Average Hunter
Fogelman notes that ancient hunters used atlatls to kill some of North America's largest animals, including extinct elephant-like mastodons.
More recently the weapons have been used to legally hunt deer and bison in Montana. Fogelman says he used an atlatl to hunt and kill a wild boar on a private reserve.
"The dart passed right through that wild boar quicker than quick," Fogelman said. "The people who are concerned about lethality have obviously never seen an atlatl operate."
To succeed, atlatl hunters must get close to their prey. Rower, the Sayre, Pennsylvania, atlatl enthusiast, says an average hunter may not have much luck with the device.
"It takes some skill," Rowe explained. "Not just with the implement itself, but the skill to understand the animal that you're hunting and its behavior."
He expects only about 30 people to participate in Pennsylvania's first atlatl deer hunt.
Prehistoric Arms Race
Bob Perkins has studied the atlatl for some 20 years and builds the weapons at his company, BPS Engineering, in Manhattan, Montana.
He says the atlatl marked a breakthrough in weapons technology.
"This is the first weapon that humans developed that took us from the role of scavengers to that of full-on hunters," Perkins said. "It's a highly effective weapon."
"It's the ultimate expression of our natural attribute to throw something, to throw and kill at a distance," he added. "That's a skill that set us apart from other predators."
Perkins has been instrumental in modernizing the ancient weapon.
The two-piece device consists of a 2-foot-long (0.6-meter-long) board with a handgrip at the front end and a point, or "spur," at the back.
The spear, called the dart, is a 4- to 6-foot-long (1.2- to 1.8-meter-long) projectile tipped with a stone point. The dart features a rear cavity that fits into the throwing board's spur, keeping the dart parallel.
With an arm motion akin to a tennis serve, hunters can hurl the dart 120 to 150 yards (110 to 140 meters). The projectile generally maintains enough lethal force and accuracy to kill prey 30 to 40 yards (27 to 37 meters) away from a hunter, enthusiasts say.
Perkins describes the dart itself as "an arrow on steroids" that's capable of traveling 80 to 90 miles an hour (129 to 145 kilometers an hour).
"It's deceptively complex, a very sophisticated spring-mass system," he explained. "The dart is basically like a kind of spring. Interestingly enough, the stone point's primary function is not to inflict wounds but to act as a mass that resists acceleration."
He explained: "A pointy stick will punch a hole in something. But the stone point causes the dart to compress like a spring and store spring energy [during the throw]. It's integral to the mechanics."
Atlatl Competitions
Perfecting that throw is an enjoyable challenge for the 400 active members of the World Atlatl Association.
Executive secretary Courtney Birkett, an archaeologist from Williamsburg, Virginia, says that most members of the association are not hunters.
"It's not legal in most places," she said. "I think most people are involved for the [accuracy] competitions and for the companionship really."
"Some people just like primitive skills in general. Even as a little kid I used to make bows and arrows out of sticks."
With a growing number of contests and an onslaught of publicity surrounding the Pennsylvania decision, the atlatl may be hotter than it's been in centuries-which means busy times at Perkins's shop.
So what's the typical atlatl shopper like?
"The demographics are hard to put your finger on," Perkins said. "It's people who have an interest in archaeology, but also people who see them in the park or saw a report on television."
"Wherever people are seeing it, it's becoming more mainstream."
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Here is a video of a kid getting a deer with an atlatl. http://youtube.com/watch?v=uaEWhGHfCJA0 -
Wow! Talk about reinventing the wheel!
THAT predates the wheel! Very cool, indeed!
Well done, kid!
[:D]0 -
evil black assault sticks............... 0 -
it is a very effective wat to hunt once the skills are perfected.a lot of aborigines here still use them for hunting, most now use rifles and shotguns, but some prefer the old ways and the ones i have been hunting with sure knew how to use them...practice and more practice is the secret to using them, which is no different than using any other weapon. this method of hunting is no crueler than any other method. 0 -
Finally, I can put my atlatl to use, (not being sarcastic) I got it as a gift from a long time friend who makes them about 7 years ago. [:D] 0 -
Check out this wild man, Atlatl Bob.
Bob will custom build you an atlatl.
http://www.atlatl.com/0 -
Stick assisted spear, I'm sure the ATS alchol tabbaco and spear will consider this an evil assault weapon and require registration and tax stamp. 0 -
... almost can't wait for the first Atlatl Forum - it'll be interesting to see some of the arguments they have on the various diameters and 'muscle disagreements!'
I don't believe the first darts were fletched, were they? Then I suppose, there will be two schools - the Purists and the Reformed.
Should be great fun!
[:D]0 -
..damn hippie...
...why buy that when you can just use a rock...[^]0 -
I have a friend that has one of those ancient spears with the throwing device, Trust me the Deer are safe..[:D] 0 -
I would opt for a catapult. 0 -
I think that's cool.
I also think the hunter should have to dress like the guy in the "demonstration of use" drawings.[:D]
In blaze orange....[:D][:D]0 -
About ten years ago I saw an atlatl hunt on a tv show.
They were over in Africa. There were three of these little African guys, I don't know if they were official pygmies but they were short.
These guys were walking about 15 feet apart. Each guy had a spear thrower. The spears were about 5 feet long. They were walking through grass that was 3 feet high.
The hunters had their spears loaded in the atlatls, and were holding them up by their heads, like a catcher about to throw a guy out at second base.
Suddenly, an animal jumped from the grass and ran in front of the men. This animal was the size of a whitetail, I don't know what it was, maybe an impala.
This animal was going top speed, as fast as a deer, and running from right to left, so it was broadside to the hunters. The range was 30 yards.
The little guy in the middle took a long quick step and threw his spear. Unerringly the spear made a perfect lung shot on the animal.
The other two men did not throw their spears.
That animal went 20 yards and folded up, dead.
I was highly impressed, I doubt I could make that shot with a rifle.
In the hands of an experienced hunter this is a fierce weapon.
I have collected a lot of "arrowheads" in central Georgia. The fact is that most of these are atlatl spear points. Only the smallest points would have been used for arrows. The bow and arrow was a newcomer to Georgia and the Indians used the atlatl for many more millennia than they used the bow.0 -
If it lengthens your Pency hunting season, i say WHY NOT... U lucky fuggerz need to get to brushin-up on u'r ATLATIL skillz!!! 0 -
quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
Stick assisted spear, I'm sure the ATS alchol tabbaco and spear will consider this an evil assault weapon and require registration and tax stamp.
U mean "ATA" i'm sure ."Alcohol Tobacco and ATLATIL"[V]
Prob. soon to come, definitely SAD!!0 -
I don't know if they were official pygmies but they were short.
This made me laugh.[:)]0 -
That's one cleverly designed weapon: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ej3it7Ct76w0 -
I await the introduction of the in-line atlatl, designed to bypass the primitive drawbacks of the original while still technically conforming to the legal definition [:D]. 0
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