peacefuljeffrey wrote on Oct 17
th, 2008 at 7:58pm:
I guess you can't use it on any ground into which the butt end of the spear can't be stuck?
That's a pretty severe limitation, yes?
You might as well try to use a sling in deep woods!
Just going on sheer intuition, it seems to me that the purpose of planting the butt end in the ground is to make it easier to use quickly.
I've seen English Long-Bow demos where the archers stuck their arrows in the dirt prior to shooting. It wasn't required as part of the shooting process, it was just a developed habbit of ease.
In the case of the two handed stick slingythingy, a bunch of planted spears could be launched very quickly.
Not as quickly thrown on hard ground but still throwable, simply trailed behind the thrower.
Hmmm, I would bet that a spear chucker could chuck as many spears or more than an archer in the same amount of time.