Rabbit stick success!...kinda

nice..:thumbup: rabbit sticks are a lot of fun..:) i have one that i have had for years..
 
It looks pretty cool. I'm surprised that you can get the stick through brush to your target. My question is why you don't keep some rubber-tipped hunting blunts in you quiver? You could use some pretty cheap arrows and paint them dayglow yellow for easy retrieval. When I was young we used some really fluffy fletching for arrows like this that we didn't want to lose in the brush.
 
Impressive!

I've built one or two but never tried them on game. Maybe after deer season closes. There's squirrels left and bunnies too.

Good work!
 
Jeff Clark said:
It looks pretty cool. I'm surprised that you can get the stick through brush to your target. My question is why you don't keep some rubber-tipped hunting blunts in you quiver? You could use some pretty cheap arrows and paint them dayglow yellow for easy retrieval. When I was young we used some really fluffy fletching for arrows like this that we didn't want to lose in the brush.
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Because I suck at small game hunting with a 60lb long bow. I use a 45lb bow for small game and I'm much more accurate with it. Since I use traditional equipment (osage selfbow) its pretty hard for me to hold full draw with the heavy 60lb bow and still be accurate enough to hit a squirrel.
 
That's awesome Md 25d !!! Very inspiring. I have a stick like that which I use to club small trapped critters and I hope that one day I might use it successfully as a rabbit stick. But as yet I have not managed to connect with anything.

It makes a lot of sense to use a stick like that instead of a stone when trying to make meat.
 
That is very interesting. Actually hitting something, that is. Very cool. :thumbup:
 
Md 25v said:
Because I suck at small game hunting with a 60lb long bow. I use a 45lb bow for small game and I'm much more accurate with it. Since I use traditional equipment (osage selfbow) its pretty hard for me to hold full draw with the heavy 60lb bow and still be accurate enough to hit a squirrel.
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Sounds like you should just be using the lighter bow for everything! Being accurate and hitting your target is more important than missing with more energy. Remember, back in the day, 45# recurves were DEER bows and 55# bows were for the BIG game! I hunt with a 56# recurve and have actually considered going DOWN in weight several times as I don't get to shoot as much as I used to.
 
Plainsman said:
Sounds like you should just be using the lighter bow for everything! Being accurate and hitting your target is more important than missing with more energy. Remember, back in the day, 45# recurves were DEER bows and 55# bows were for the BIG game! I hunt with a 56# recurve and have actually considered going DOWN in weight several times as I don't get to shoot as much as I used to.
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A properly made 45lb laminated recurve is actually faster than a 60lb single piece longbow. I'm more than accurate enough with my 60lb longbow for deer. I have no problem shooting 4-5inch five shot groups at 30 yards, which is fine for deer but not near good enough for squirrel.
 
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Tell us about the hunt, love to hear about your tactics and how you got them out in the open and still long enough to clobber them with the stick. In the park begging for handouts, or a little bird seed in the backyard, maybe, in the woods, simply amazing.

I've been squirrel hunting for over 30 years and 2 squirrels in one day with a thrown stick......:eek: WOW. Chris
 
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Md 25v said:
A properly made 45lb laminated recurve is actually faster than a 60lb single piece longbow. I'm more than accurate enough with my 60lb longbow for deer. I have no problem shooting 4-5inch five shot groups at 30 yards, which is fine for deer but not near good enough for squirrel.
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4-5" groups at 30 yds with a self bow? Pretty damn good in anybodys book!!! Plenty good for bushytails.

I have killed lots of squirrels with my 62# checkmate and I am not as good as you are, any solid body hit with a judo will put them down long enough to get to them and finish them off if needed.

Although it seems to work for you, putting down a good bow and throwing a stick seems to me to be going backwards. :confused: Chris
 
August West said:
Tell us about the hunt, love to hear about your tactics and how you got them out in the open and still long enough to clobber them with the stick.
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August West said:
4-5" groups at 30 yds with a self bow? Plenty good for bushytails. Although it seems to work for you, putting down a good bow and throwing a stick seems to me to be going backwards. :confused: Chris
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They aren't really in the open for long, that's why I have trouble with that particular bow for squirrels. I can throw this stick at them while they are running across flat ground and the wide swath that it cuts as well as flying very flat and straight makes it easier to hit a moving target. I don't shoot at moving deer and that makes my grouping more than adequate but reduce the target to squirrel size and add that they usually don't hold still for very long and my accuracy just doesn't cut it.

Second response- just to clarify... I won't use modern judo points. I make my own arrows from cedar shafts, goose fletch, and real sinew and pitch hafted trade points(knapped points not legal here). I have come up with a primitive "judo" point that's basically a 1 inch long by 3/4in wide wooden plug that's liberally coated in pine pitch to make it "rubbery". I make everything that I use for archery, including my braided bowstring made from elk loin sinew. Because of that, I'm a bit limited in my small game hunting. My "primitive" judos work great for rabbits because they are bigger than squirrels and tend to hold still till your very close, but they are not nearly as well balanced or aerodynamic as modern arrows so that limits my range for squirrels severely. I also suck at snap shooting.
 
Md 25v said:
They aren't really in the open for long, that's why I have trouble with that particular bow for squirrels. I can throw this stick at them while they are running across flat ground and the wide swath that it cuts as well as flying very flat and straight makes it easier to hit a moving target. I don't shoot at moving deer and that makes my grouping more than adequate but reduce the target to squirrel size and add that they usually don't hold still for very long and my accuracy just doesn't cut it.

Second response- just to clarify... I won't use modern judo points. I make my own arrows from cedar shafts, goose fletch, and real sinew and pitch hafted trade points(knapped points not legal here). I have come up with a primitive "judo" point that's basically a 1 inch long by 3/4in wide wooden plug that's liberally coated in pine pitch to make it "rubbery". I make everything that I use for archery, including my braided bowstring made from elk loin sinew. Because of that, I'm a bit limited in my small game hunting. My "primitive" judos work great for rabbits because they are bigger than squirrels and tend to hold still till your very close, but they are not nearly as well balanced or aerodynamic as modern arrows so that limits my range for squirrels severely. I also suck at snap shooting.
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MAN you gotta post some pics, I would love to see your gear. Also where do you buy your shafts from? Chris
 
Md 25v said:
I did have some extra motivation, I was still pretty mad about getting my stalk busted yesterday. I think that may have improved my aim.
Seriously though, anyone wanting to make a throwing stick for small game, try the wing profile. It self-stabilizes, and tracks in a strait line beautifully.
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i am not hot on the "wing" profile, brother - if you mean flat on the bottom and arced on the top, like a returning boomerang.

i like the tear drop profiles though, because they tend to stay on the same plain more easily, where a wing style generates lift and does that rising curve that returning boomerangs make use of.

.....

i don't like to name drop or plug books, but this book is exceptional on this subject and others that are related (and loads of fun, most importaatnly);

my friend, the jovial Paul Campbell, wrote a book called:

Survival Skills of Native California
ISBN 0-87905-921-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-87905-921-7

i can't praise the book enough. it is encyclopedic, engaging, fun to read, and thick. just what i need.

it puts a lot of these great tools into context with pictures an interviews too. i encourage folks to at least check it out at the library. it's pretty new.

at any rate,

the book shows all sorts of different rabbit sticks that were used, and what influenced their designs. as i read it i was amazed that i had a different preference than a good firend, for example, in stick design.

good hit on those squirrels, brother...!

i've noticed that if you stay quiet (it's hard for me not to peel with laughter when i get one) then you can harvest quite a few critters before they realize what hit them - no pun intended. :D:thumbup:


a lot of the Old Ones carried two sticks for this purpose; to be able to make two shots without moiving positions, a rabbit stick looped through the back of your belt is pretty marvelous to go through the woods with.

HTH.

vec
 
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