Blowguns

G

Gautier

Joined
Aug 31, 2006
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As the rather mundane title would imply, I'd like to hear some thoughts and opinions on blowguns and their use as a tool for procuring small game. :D

I got to thinking yesterday(for what particular reason I can't recall) about blowguns, and how they might prove useful to a survivor, or at the very least be worth considering as a fun and interesting method of small game hunting.
Blowguns are something I seldom see mentioned, if at all, or maybe I'm just not paying attention again. :o

To my mind, at least in theory, they would seem like a viable tool with a lot of positive attributes. Such as...

1) Simple construction and operation
2) Quiet in use
3) Readily available source of ammunition and power
4) Acceptably accurate to moderate distances with little practice
5) If sturdy enough can perform the role of a walking stick or should the need arise, a club, etc...Just to name a few.

Ofcourse there are more pros as well as cons, like being affected by the wind. Through what little reading I've done since last night, it would seem like they've been used to effect by various peoples all over the world.
Apparently the Cherokee of the Carolinas used river cane as blow guns, certain tribes of the Philippines have and still use them(funnily enough, I thought, by repurposing things like old TV antennas and other objects in recent times), and who hasn't heard the infamous tales of curare tipped darts used be South American tribesmen.

Primitive, home made, improvised, or store bought... I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts or better yet experiences with them, particularly those who might have used them for small game hunting.


Gautier
 
As they have been effective in the past they would be effective now and in the future. I have heard of some outragious range distances and the key is practice . I would put them in the same catogory as bolos, slings and wrist rockets , I have collected many rabbits with a wrist rocket and marble ammo.
 
Rivercane Blowgun and bamboo skewer darts I made at Falling Leaves. The container for the darts below the blowgun was purchased from the man who was teaching us.

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This video is the exact same way I made my darts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lPx9B_gR50


The type of thistle is Scottish Thistle. You pick out the dark bits, then pull the bottom off & knock off the seeds. After the seeds are off, you can see where there is a hollow tube on the end of the white part of the fluff. Place it between your hand and thumb with the tube pointed toward you. In both cases take a bamboo skewer with the string in your teeth, over the tubes, and then pull the skewer under the tubes toward you, and begin rolling away from you binding the fluff with the string.

The blowgun is only about 2 feet or so long. He didn't have anything longer as he ran out of the longer material.
 
I worked at a factory with a mouse problem for 10 years. I took hundreds, could even be in the 1000s, of mice and rats with homemade blowguns and darts made from the shafts of wood handled Q-tips.

Ten or more a day wasn't all that unusual.

The best darts I made used a cone of duct tape at the back and small peices of broken razor blade epoxied to the tip as a make shift broadhead.
 
Pretty neat how he attached the thistle to the dart. I have to wonder though about the tips of primitive darts, before metal was available or if it isn't readily available. I can't imagine that a bamboo or other wood skewer alone would disable a rabbit or even a squirrel. Broadheads I could see being feasible, but made of what, if not metal? Flint, chert, obsidian, etc. would all be too heavy I would think, but then again I'm just speculating.


Gautier
 
I both use and deal in a popular company's blowguns. Among other darts they furnish is a bamboo 'skewer' dart about 10 inches long. In fact it looks like they may have actually used supermarket cooking skewers and just adding a plastic cone on the rear end. Anyway, I've driven these completely through jack rabbits and prairie dogs. I was shocked the first time I saw the penetration of the bamboo darts, they are wicked. Pigeons/doves are also a nuisance and sanitary hazard in my area at various times of the year and the blowgun is 'big medicine' for them since it is so quiet, also shortrange so no overshoots and endangering others. One of the types of darts I have has a solid plastic ball around 1/2 inch diameter on the impact end instead of a point. These are fantastic for 'training' the neighbors dogs and cats plus the wild pigeons to go elsewhere and stay away without harming them.

I started shooting blowguns almost 40 years ago while in Vietnam. We made them there from six or so foot lengths of steel electrical conduit about one-half inch ID. We made the darts from six and eight penny nails. The cone was formed from the thin plastic sheets used in notebook dividers and scotch tape.

As for accuracy and range, blowguns are an instinctively accurate weapon. I don't really know why but having the blowgun at your lips and more or less centered between your eyes lets you become quite accurate. These days when I shoot at a target of somekind, I have to intentionally space my shots or I'll ruin dart cones by hitting one already in the target. I have a large cottonwood tree trunk in my front yard and have to sometimes use a pair of pliers to remove the pointed steel darts which will penetrate 3/4 inch or more. Inside my house, I have a foam target mounted in a bookcase at one end of my living room and I shoot from my kitchen entryway, a distance of about 35 feet. Outside with the log, I shoot up to 30 yards. I can hit the log consistently from that distance but there is a lot of drop. My usual outdoor target range is 10 to 15 yards.

BTW, in Nam we sometimes put the 'blow' end of the pipe into the cone of a cO2 fire extinguisher and fired by suddenly pressing down on the lever. Wow! The darts would bury an inch or more in a piece of wood and go through a filled soda can. It was fun to watch the volcano when we shot an unopend can of soft drink.
 
They're illegal here in the PRK but I used to have a friend in Wickenburg, AZ with one. Aluminum tube with teflon lining, 60 inches. As I recall it was 40 cal. It was very accurate and hit pretty hard with the heavier darts. One of my friends took a lot of mice with it.

DancesWithKnives
 
my brothers used to have blowguns and they always seemed pretty powerful but i have wondered lately how practical they would be for small game while backpacking cause i would gladly buy one if i knew they would be good
 
I have one of the coldsteel blowguns, at five feet long its pretty darn accurate, With the bamboo darts they will penetrate two peices of drywall, the steel broadheads will bury in wood, and I shot my brother with the round plastic ball dart and it left a welt on his leg, then he shot me.
 
Guess that answers the question of a blowgun's limits when it comes to taking small game; Little brothers are just outside their realm...
Seriously though, it's something I'm going to ponder a bit more, and I might just pick one up and do a little experimenting. If it seems promising, I might just have to build one out of natural materials for some comparison...It's a thought


Gautier
 
like pretty much everything else potentially weapon like, they are banned over here.
which is a shame, even though I suspect their use for UK based survival is more limited, due to the limited availability of matireials (no bamboo ect) they look like fun.

edit:
thinking about it, you can (or at least could) get paintball blowpipes in the UK. might have to look at picking one of them up.
 
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