First off, Atlatlers?  I don't think thats right, but whatever.  Anyway, I stumbled across this awesome video of Aboriginees  hunting with the atlatl.  Such skill! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwNbwPVFkSc

DISCLAIMER:  This video does show Real Kangaroos being hunted and impaled

Another thing, notice how his dart is only sharpened wood, but it still goes clean through the Kangaroo!  It's a real testament to the atlatl's power in skilled hands.
 

It's really not that hard to learn to use an atlatl and dart.  Then, just like a sling, you have to practice a lot to get good enough to hunt with it. 

The skill in that video is getting close enough to the animals to be able to throw at them.  Notice that one guy was only about 4 or 5 steps from the one they show getting killed.  The one running was a "Hail Mary" shot that connected because he had been using the woomera since he was a small child.

They don't show the part where the hunters run up and bash their heads in with a kylie.  It is pretty brutal but very quick.

This is how it was done for thousands of years. Yes, it's brutal, same thing when an antelope gets torn a part by a group of lions. I think it's pretty horrible it has to be this way, but nature isn't a fairytale I guess.  

This video sparked my interest in atlatl's again, though. I think I need to make some darts...