....also they flock together so if you miss your initial target you stand a good chance of hitting another.  We have geese here that migrate and the pest geese that you mentioned, that stay all year in great numbers and poop all over everything.  In this state you're not allowed to harm the pest geese.  There are people here who make a living chasing geese off of commercial properties with specially trained dogs.

I think a rabbit would be a difficult target, but squirrels have a habit of hiding in their nests.  Shooting a squirrels' nest is considered unsportsmanlike and is illegal here, but in an emergency situation you could take as many shots as necessary and bomb them in their nests.  You'd have to use fairly large stones, but I think it could be done.  I would do this only if the alternative was starving in that there's really no sport to it.
   If I were shooting ducks and/or geese sitting on the water I'd use an underhand shot.  The topspin you get with such a shot causes your projectile to bounce forward in a low trajectory.  If you miss short you might still get a bird with your skipping stone.  Also underhand is my most accurate style.
   Again, both these means of hunting are illegal in New Jersey and I would only utilize them if it was absolutely necessary.

paracordslinger wrote on Mar 18^th, 2011 at 7:24pm:

Try a staff sling instead of a hand sling.  I get a pattern as if I were shooting a 410 shotgun with a staff sling.

this subject comes up every couple of months it seems with the influx of new members, so i apologize to the veterans who have heard me say this a dozen times. i hunt quite often with my slings and have for many years. rabbits, squirrels, doves, quail, ducks, and ptarmigan and chuckers when i'm in the mountains. i've even taken turkey before, but that is about the limit in size of prey i suggest for even a seasoned slinger. ammo selection is very important in sling hunting. stones about the size of large chicken eggs or bigger are all but required to make a clean kill on even very small game such as dove. gravel will just not do the trick. it doesn't have the mass required to bring down prey cleanly. for even a well practiced slinger, you can only expect about one shot in ten or twenty to actually connect and even then you have to be prepared to chase and track your quarry. animals are tough and even mortally wounded ones can run or fly quite a distance. having said that i will tell you that i've gotten as many kills from bounce shots than i have with direct hits. that's one of the benefits the sling has over, say, bows or atlatls. i look at the sling as an opportunistic hunting weapon. that is, i rarely set out to go hunting with it, but rather always have one with me when i'm hiking and use it when the moment presents itself.

Chris

I don't get that, paracordslinger.  Please explain how the meat would be ruined.  You might have a big, bloody bruise on one side but I think the squirrel would be just fine for cooking and eating.

paracordslinger wrote on Mar 19^th, 2011 at 4:03pm:

It's much cleaner than a squirrel shot with a 12 gauge shotgun.  The bruise (which isn't all that bad anyway)-- that's what I call a natural tenderizer 

paracordslinger wrote on Mar 19^th, 2011 at 5:25pm:

The point is that 12 gauge is overkill, and when compared to slinging a stone the bruise from a slingstone isn't that bad.

FWIW, Chris really has hunted a lot with slings and is our reigning authority. If he says you need an egg sized stone, then it must work.