Could you survive in the wilderness with only a sling shot as your weapon?
A DIY Survival Sling Shot with Big Game Capabilities
Lots would depend on your survivability. Having a means to harvest protein and animal fat would surely increase your chances.
In a perfect world, the sling shot would not be my first choice. But having options makes one more robust.
When Dave Canterbury first talked about hunting big game with a sling shot, I thought he’d lost his mind. But then again, I’ve seen him do amazing things with common, everyday items. [Note: Check your local hunting regulations before hunting with a sling shot.]
I first saw his video on his pocket hunter over three years ago before he was co-starring on Dual Survival. I was impressed. So much so that I turned my wrist rocket into a DIY version of his now patented Deluxe Pathfinder Pocket Hunter Kit.
My version is rough, but functional. I have three points on arrows for my sling shot: fishing tip, broadhead, and judo points. Here’s a look at a judo point on a wooden arrow.
Judo point ready to slay a spud.
The purpose of the judo point is to snag on brush, grass, or the ground and flip the arrow up to make finding a missed shot easier. It’s used for hunting small game animals.
The smallest game I could legally hunt today was Mr. Potato Head. Dirt Road Girl offered up a sacrificial spud. The hunt was on!
Use the same draw technique as you would with a traditional bow.
Dead spud at ten yards!
Both field points and broadheads penetrated this target about 5 inches at ten and 15 yards. Just like finding your anchor point in archery, shooting sling shots are no different. I anchor at the right corner of my mouth and aim instinctively.
Back when I built my pocket hunter, I secured a Whisper Biscuit between the arms of my sling shot with wire ties. I can fold the arrow rest down to shoot ball bearings or pebbles.
My arrow with the fishing tip is carbon. I secured a piece of nylon bank line to the arrow. This line is attached to the line spool on the PVC pipe on the wrist rocket. I mounted the pipe on a piece of aluminum plate screwed into the base of the wrist rocket. When shot, the line peels off the spool perfectly.
Bow fishing set up.
The main drawback of my pocket hunter is carrying full length arrows. Dave fixes that issue with take down arrows.
You can check out his kit at his Pathfinder Store. The Three-Piece Take Down Arrows are sold separately. I’ve added them to my wish list. This allows you to carry a silent, but deadly, weapon in your survival kit – all in one self-contained bag. Brilliant!
I use an old military surplus medic IV bag to store and carry my pocket hunter. Just need those break down arrows to complete the kit.
As I said in the beginning of this article, I would prefer to have a long gun for wilderness survival. But the pocket hunter is another option for redundancy in harvesting game quietly in a survival scenario. Options are good!
What do you think? Should this be a consideration for your kit? Let me know in the comments.
Keep doing the stuff for robust preparedness and self-reliance!
Todd
Nice article. If you’ve watched a few YouTube videos you are probably already aware that here are lots of ways to create arrow shooting slingshots. None are expensive really. It’s more about putting in a little time and ingenuity.
I’ve seen people use key rings, a toilet brush, short lengths of pvc pipe or they paid a few dollars for an actual whisker biscuit. Rubber bands, paracord or zipties can be used to put it all together. I’d tell anyone to check out YouTube and you’ll find at least 10 good videos on the subject. You can even learn to make those take-down arrows.