I think the general conclusion is that hunting is possible, but ethical hunting is not possible for the casual slinger who is lucky to hit an animal at all.  You need a reliable shot placement that results in a fast, clean kill. That deer in the video above, for example, suffered a lot and ran a long distance before it died. That’s not acceptable when there are better options that result in less suffering.

Sarosh wrote on Jan 13^th, 2020 at 10:30am:


This is a very interesting question. I've seen some hunting videos where people set up a hide right next to a watering hole then wait for a wild pig to come up to drink and shoot it near point blank with a bow. This wasn't for food but for trophy hunting and... I don't get it. Obviously there is some skill required even in those "ideal" conditions but it's not quite the same as stalking through brush for half a day and having to take the shot whilst cramped into a clump of plants. I don't think I would feel very accomplished if I killed an animal like that especially if it was just so I could say I've done it. At least with a bow I guess there is that extra layer of skill required.

I know for myself, I do not have the skills to hunt with a sling (let alone any other weapons) and I doubt I would ever have the motivation to hunt with a sling. As has been talked about before, a sling is one of the last weapons I would think to make in a survival situation (in most conditions, plentiful water fowl is one situation that a sling could be useful in for food). It's definitely going to come up as a subject again, but for me, hunting cardboard and wooden and metal targets is more my speed.

Then I would say anything can be used . Something dead doesn't care how it died it's dead.

There are a few different things that's make the sling an effective tool and an ineffective tool.

1. The sling is a tool , the glande is the weapon, you can throw a tennis ball and you will likely never kill anything or you could throw a lead glande and potentially kill a lot of things. Just like a bow the arrow is the weapon and a sharp broadhead will always outperform a field point.

2. Accuracy , we all agree that being accurate is a long hard feat when comparing a sling to a gun but and inaccurate shooter on a gun could also make poor shots, just because it is difficult to master does not mean it's not possible, people have hunted with many things throughout history that require a level of skill to be accurate.

3. Distance, I think this part gets overlooked when comparing the sling as a hunting weapon, a sling is very captive of conserving energy over distance I would argue it's even more so than some bow/arrow combinations so the hunting part may be easier with a sling if your able to make shots at a longer distance, stalking up close to an animal is part of hunting and it's possible that you never get within an accurate range.

4. Animal hunted, now I'm not saying that the sling can't kill large game but it is defiantly more suited to smaller animals and birds. I think given the potential stopping power it could kill a large number of game on the planet however as the animals get larger the target becomes more and more focused on a brain injury.

5. Noise, now the sling can vary in sound but a smoot projectile is almost silent, at a certain distance it would be very hard for some animals to know where the danger comes from, this may allow for multiple shots.

6. Cost, now this is more based on a survival situation than sport hunting but there is a large benifit in ammo being almost free if using rocks, no need to spend time searching for lost ammo or building new stuff, it's literally just on the ground and a large variety of stones can be used.

Even if you can’t get a clean kill... as a tool for hunting, a sling can still be useful to flush out an animal and keep it moving in the direction you want it to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-YS8FEcbH4
watch frame by frame to see the rock , it's not very clear.

My friend asked me just yesterday if a sling is actually dangerous. I told him about the Roman tongs for removing glandes and showed him a picture of my busted up frying pan target. Showing him this video and saying "Imagine that rock was going at least twice as fast" would have been just as good.

Yeah pigs are underestimated!
Most people don’t even understand how abundant they are in the Australian bush.
I personally think their the scariest critter on land in Australia.