# Modern Atlatl hunting bison!



## northgeorgiasportsman (Jul 12, 2019)

This is pretty dang cool.  Thought you guys would appreciate it.  It's 47 minutes long, but if you're impatient, the bison kill begins around the 21:00 mark.  Whole video is worth a watch.  Some good info in there.

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## Fork Horn (Jul 12, 2019)

I didn't watch it all, but did see the kill.  I did notice that they called it a hunt numerous times but I'm not sure it'd really qualify as a hunt.  Seems more like the killing of a fairly domesticated animal.  Very similar to walking up on a herd of cattle and killing one with a primitive, inefficient weapon.  Not much different than killing and butchering a hog or chicken.

Regardless, seems to be a lot of interesting information which I'd like to see when time permits.


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## Donal (Jul 13, 2019)

Thank the Lord for the mute button.


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## Hillbilly stalker (Jul 13, 2019)

Interesting. I don't know that I would call it an inefficient weapon tho. Wooly mammoths were killed in very similar pack hunts. That's a lot of animal there and a mammoth was probably what 8-10 times that size ? You should see my.buddy throw his atlatl. He can hit a pie plate at 40 yards probably 7 out of 10 times. At thirty he can hit plastic cups like that. As far as qualifying as a hunt, that's a lot more primal than a permanent stand with a solid rest, high powered rifle , telescopic scope and a food plot at 100-300 yards. I belive they tracked before the shot also. I enjoyed the video and info. Thanks.


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## Fork Horn (Jul 13, 2019)

I’m sure with enough practice, a user can become very proficient with throwing an atlatl.  However when two stone tipped spears are thrown into an animal with about a foot of penetration each, according to the video, then we watch the animal stand there waiting to die, that seems inefficient to me and not an image to share with so many folks already claiming animal cruelty in hunting. 

I’ll agree that the atlatl was a huge advance from regular thrown spears and was the most efficient method of taking game in its day, however many thousands of years ago that was. I couldn’t imagine shooting something the size of a mammoth with my rifle so I sure could not imagine using an atlatl. For me personally, I just don’t like to see an animal with two spears thrown into it standing there waiting to die.  I’m more of a keep shooting (or throwing in this circumstance) until the animal is down.  That’s all I meant by inefficient.


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## northgeorgiasportsman (Jul 13, 2019)

I think you need to view the kill through the eyes of primitive man.  Primitive man wasn't concerned with how long it took or how the anti-crowd would view it.  He wanted meat.  And with his stone-tipped spears, he got it.  If you're a bow hunter, you already know that kills aren't instantaneous, especially with an animal that weighs upwards of half a ton and has a heart the size of a football.  Whether the arrowhead is stone or steel, it works through laceration of the vitals.  Either the animal will bleed out from a heart shot, or the lungs will deflate, both of which take a little time.

I think this whole video was more an exercise in anthropology than hunting.


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## Fork Horn (Jul 13, 2019)

northgeorgiasportsman said:


> I think you need to view the kill through the eyes of primitive man.  Primitive man wasn't concerned with how long it took or how the anti-crowd would view it.  He wanted meat.


I don't think there was an anti crowd at the time of primitive man.  Any of them were lucky just to survive.



northgeorgiasportsman said:


> I think this whole video was more an exercise in anthropology than hunting.


I will agree with this and think this is what makes the video interesting.  My point was to not kill a domesticated animal and call it hunting, like they did on the video.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 13, 2019)

I can tell you for a fact that an atlatl dart tipped with a quartzite Savannah River point will go all the way through an aluminum storage building, and still punch a hole in a Ford tractor hood. Don't ask.


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## Pig Predator (Jul 13, 2019)

NCHillbilly said:


> I can tell you for a fact that an atlatl dart tipped with a quartzite Savannah River point will go all the way through an aluminum storage building, and still punch a hole in a Ford tractor hood. Don't ask.


Your own point, I assume?


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 13, 2019)

Pig Predator said:


> Your own point, I assume?


Yep.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 13, 2019)

In the right hands an atlatl with properly made spears is deadly.

And you can throw one a looooong ways.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 13, 2019)

Nicodemus said:


> In the right hands an atlatl with properly made spears is deadly.
> 
> And you can throw one a looooong ways.
> 
> ...


Yep.


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## Para Bellum (Jul 16, 2019)

NCHillbilly said:


> I can tell you for a fact that an atlatl dart tipped with a quartzite Savannah River point will go all the way through an aluminum storage building, and still punch a hole in a Ford tractor hood. Don't ask.


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## Russdaddy (Jul 17, 2019)

I love to hunt, I love history & archaeology, I love watching hunts.
Even still somehow that was a lil'  tough to watch. I totally understand the historical perspective and speed of kill was not the main concern, but for me it was hard to watch the Bison just stand there waiting to die. If it was hard for me I imagine a non hunter animal rights nut would probably stroke out!


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 17, 2019)

Russdaddy said:


> I love to hunt, I love history & archaeology, I love watching hunts.
> Even still somehow that was a lil'  tough to watch. I totally understand the historical perspective and speed of kill was not the main concern, but for me it was hard to watch the Bison just stand there waiting to die. If it was hard for me I imagine a non hunter animal rights nut would probably stroke out!


Think there's any difference shooting one with an arrow? Or a pack of wolves starting to eat it while it's still alive after they hamstrung it? Nature isn't pretty sometimes.


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## Nicodemus (Jul 17, 2019)

Russdaddy said:


> I love to hunt, I love history & archaeology, I love watching hunts.
> Even still somehow that was a lil'  tough to watch. I totally understand the historical perspective and speed of kill was not the main concern, but for me it was hard to watch the Bison just stand there waiting to die. If it was hard for me I imagine a non hunter animal rights nut would probably stroke out!




The points made from high quality flint and chert are just as sharp if not sharper than any modern broadhead on the market today. The points properly made from obsidian are about 600 to 1,000 times sharper than the very best broadheads on the market today. 

Never underestimate the killing power of stone.


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## Russdaddy (Jul 18, 2019)

NCHillbilly said:


> Think there's any difference shooting one with an arrow? Or a pack of wolves starting to eat it while it's still alive after they hamstrung it? Nature isn't pretty sometimes.



I've never shot a buffalo so I don't have a first hand comparison for an arrow, but I do know with modern equipment and a well placed shot death is typically a pretty quick result in most animals. It may have just been the buffalo's reaction to being hit, just standing there compared to the quick bolting off and piling up of a white tail that I just wasn't expecting. Again, I have no problem with it and am well aware of the ferocity of nature just sharing my initial reaction to watching it! Kill on, and bonus points to those doing it with primitive self made weaponry!


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## ancienttrails (Aug 1, 2019)

Seen it with a modern compound, and firearm it's not much different in the end ,I have killed game with everything from a stick to a highpower rifle in 65 years just lately I get misty eyes when I bam a doe. Keep knocking them down wished I hadn't let so many walk they eat so good.


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