So what about bigger game than a rabbit? One should be able to kill quite a lot of different game, anything smaller than goliath I mean.

Blue whale?

One very evil recommendation...
But watching it would be funny.

I dunno. Think maybe everyone is underestimating the power of a 4 - 5 oz. stone flying 100+ miles per hour and hitting the skull of ? Will definately put a hole in it. I hear slings were even used as a weapon in war. Don't think it was just to inconvenience the enemy....

Walter

Yes, a fine weapon of war if you sling "en masse" at the enemy. There is nothing wrong with the power of a sling, it´s the accuracy that´s wanting.
Btw attempting to make a headshot is frowned upon by hunters who use very precise fire arms, for reasons obvious to people who know something about hunting (or mammal anatomy).

Did you not read the entire post? No offense, but I've harvested alot of wild game with slingshots, bows, and a myriad of firearms.


Killing small game is not like hunting deer. With deer, yes, shot placement is essential. But with little rabbits, a hit to the body with a sling stone is lethal. Because of a rabbit's anatomy and size, you are either going to hit it in the head or in the body as it tucks it's legs underneath, both lethal shots.

Essentially what I'm saying is if you are lucky enough to hit a rabbit with a sling stone the vast majority of the time it will die on the spot. So, you will either kill it or miss entirely. Not saying that the chance of just wounding it is none existent, but that it is very very slim and a risk all hunters take. Flukes happen, I've seen a rabbit survive a close range shot from a 16guage shotgun. It was mortally wounded but required a followup shot so as not to prolong its suffering.

Hence my original premise.. sling away at small game like rabbits and ground squirrels 'cause you are either going to kill it or miss entirely.

Oh, and Kuggur, the main reason why hunters generally do not attempt headshots with firearms is because they don't want to mess up the Antlers so they can be mounted later. However, head and neck shots are preferred when hunting antlerless or spikes as they drop the animal immediately (destroy the CNS). Even with a perfect heart shot an animal can run several hundred yards before expiring, sometimes causing it to be lost. Archery hunters avoid headshots because 1. they are very difficult, and 2. Arrows kill by hemorrhaging, so the best spot for a quick humane kill is the heart and lungs. Obviously, any archer that wants to be successful has to practice his blood tracking skills.

Sling stones kill by crushing. So unless the critter is small enough to kill with a body shot (rabbits, squirrels, birds) the head is the only viable target. The skull of a young deer, right behind the eye socket can be as thin as a 1/32 of an inch or about 1.5 mm. A stone to the temple will kill it dead. A relative who worked as a government culler personally dispatched thousands of deer, feral goats, and feral boar with the .22 lr. A tiny bullet considered suitable only for rodents and crows. Some of the deer were upwards of 200lbs yet they collapsed on the spot with barely a twitch from a .22 to the head. People slaughter 2000lb steers with the .22 or  a blow from a hammer to the head. A sling stone is not unlike a flying hammer.

I used to work with a guy that used slings to herd cattle in Mexico. They never threw at the cattle just in front of them to scare in the right direction. He told me that he has seen some younger cattle die from a single accidental shot to the neck. He also said that he has seen the horns shot off accidentally. This was very rare but shows the possilble power of the sling to flesh. He said his dad was the best shot in town and could take a soda can off a fence post at 50 yards.

nwmanitou wrote on Jun 19^th, 2009 at 1:57pm:


God I hope you are wrong and the average hunter has more sense than that. The reason you should avoid head shots is because the brain is small and lies in a difficult to hit spot. Chances are big you´ll hit the nasal/frontal cavaties, or even worse you blow away the lower jaw. That´s a pretty crappy way to die.

As goes for your sling hunting stories, well maybe you are a sling god, but I couldn´t make consistent shots, good enough for those kind of kills, even when I practised very day....No sling hunting for me.