Part 1: Blowguns
By Benjamin Pressley
COPYRIGHT Benjamin Pressley 1997
Animal life is an important
resource for one cast into a survival situation for food, clothing and
tools. Hunting animals requires prowess, patience and the proper weapons.
Being thrust into a situation where no modern gear is available is basically
being thrust into a stone age level of existence. To learn which weapons are
available and most effective in this situation we must look to a time when
stone age subsistence was a way of life. We must look to the primitive
weapons of our aborigine ancestors.
Not only does one need the proper weapons to
be a good hunter, but training and familiarity with those weapons, in
advance, is essential. Hunting large game cannot be the main emphasis to one
who will survive either. In the true survival situation all resources for
gathering meat must be considered and put to use. Trapping small game and
harvesting insects are a must in most areas.
The primitive weapons discussed in this
series by no means encompass all the possibilities of weaponry available to
the survivalist, but were chosen because of their practicality, relative
simplicity to construct and effectiveness for hunting small and large game.
Weapons that will be discussed in future installments will be the atlatl,
throwing stick, quickie bow and arrow, bola and sling. So, check the
WINDSONG PRIMITIVES' website frequently for future installments and feel
free to e-mail, or write with your questions.
Blowguns
The blowgun is a weapon that can be produced
in the survival situation and is used for hunting small game, such as
squirrels. It can be made from a pithy centered branch that is split and
hollowed out, such as Sumac, like the Houma did, or it is most easily made
from a length of River Cane, like the Cherokee. You can also use Bamboo. A
good length is 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter and 4 to 8 feet long.
The blank should first be heat straightened.
This is accomplished as follows: Look down the length of the piece you wish
to straighten. Observe the crooked places. Hold the crooked area over a bed
of coals, turning it and heating it evenly. Bend it as straight as possible
and hold it till it cools and it should remain straight. Do two or three
joints at a time, let cool, then come back and do two or three of the
sections in between the joints and let them cool, or, do all the joints then
all the sections. If you don't do it this way, a little at a time, you will
find that you are working against yourself and having to restraighten the
same areas over and over again.
Next, the interior wall joints must be
removed. In the survival situation this is best accomplished by splitting
the blank into two equal halves down the length of it and using stone flakes
or grinding stones to grind them away smoothly. The two halves should then
be glued back together with hide glue or pitch glue and bound with buckskin,
rawhide or cordage. If you make one at home, you may wish to use a heated
steel rod to burn out the sections, instead of splitting the cane and
sanding the interior smoothly. Check the straightness once you have all the
sections knocked out by looking down the bore. You should be able to see a
circle when looking into the light. It is more important to be straight down
the bore, even if the outside appears to be crooked. You may also find that
looking through it as you turn it that the circle looks round at one point
and not as you look through it as it turned more. This is due to the weight
of the length of the blowgun. If this is the case, mark a place on top of
the blowgun blank so you will know what point to have up when using the
blowgun. I usually carve a small mark and then when I have the blowgun
decorated like I want, hang a feather fluff on a light weight string
straight down on the distal end of the blowgun as a wind direction
indicator. That way when the string is hanging down, I know my point is up
and am always assured of a straight bore. It is still a good idea to check
for straightness, every now and then, and re-heat straighten, if necessary.
River Cane (Gigantis arundaris) is native to
North America, Bamboo is its Asian cousin. River Cane is much easier to work
with than Bamboo. The joints in Bamboo are thicker and can never seemingly
be sanded smooth enough. A smooth bore is essential to a blowgun. There
should be no left over material inside or anything to slow the exiting dart
down. Because of the way the plants above grow, one end will be a slightly
larger diameter than the other. The dart is placed in the larger end and
exits the smaller end. This has a ‘choke’ effect on the dart causing its
fletchings to really lay down and a lot of force is built up for the fastest
exit possible.
[Picture Missing]
The darts are made by using any lightweight,
small diameter wood. Splits of River Cane or Bamboo work well. At home,
using Bamboo skewers that you can purchase at your grocer works very well. I
use thick walled Cane or Bamboo when I make darts from this material, so it
can be rounded. Flat pieces of cane have a tendency to ‘plane’. The Cherokee
used to overcome this problem by heating the shaft material and twisting it
into a corkscrew. For most hunting, though, you will need a heavier shaft
material. I prefer split, round diameter, straight grained hardwood. I like
Locust best. Darts should be sharpened on one end and about 10 inches in
length. Grind the point, rather than whittling it. It makes for a stronger,
longer lasting tip. You also want to really taper the point back, if you
don’t it acts like a blunt tip and doesn’t get the penetration you need. I
have seen darts bounce off of squirrel hides before for this very reason.
Another alternative that you probably will really find not necessary is to
make a tiny point of stone or bone and hafting it in the point end of the
dart.
Fletchings should cover about 4 inches of the
butt end and can be made from rabbit fur, cotton, thistle down, small bird
feathers and some other plant downs. When choosing fletching
material, keep in mind: a) The material must be just light enough to give
drag to the dart to stabilize it but not outweigh the rest of the dart; and,
b) It must also be light and fluffy enough to fill the chamber of your
blowgun as air is pushed through from your breath, causing it to be
propelled out and yet be able to lay down aerodynamically when exiting the
blowgun. Small bird feathers work well, you must use ‘fluffs’, though, or
very tiny feathers, not stiff spined feathers. I really like small turkey
leg feathers. Tiny feathers must be tied in, layering one row on another as
described with thistle down below. Fluffs may sometimes just be tied at the
top at a point a few inches from the butt end. If you use rabbit fur cut a
thin strip and spiral wrap it, securing both ends. Rabbit fur is very heavy
for a dart, so you will have to experiment with the weight ratio. Cotton can
be secured well enough for a one shot dart by just licking the shaft of the
dart and rolling it on without string, kind of like the South American
aborigine does with the plant down they use. You can experiment with other
downs used in this manner. Cotton works this way because of its long
fibers that can be spiral wrapped around the dart, unlike Cattail down that
does not work. As far as plant downs go, you will have to be
very selective. Remember the purpose of the down is to carry the seed of the
plant, so you will have to remove the heavy seeds and they will have to be
secured in the same manner as described next with the thistle down. It
cannot be just rolled in glue! Which brings us to Thistle down. Thistle
down is the material of choice. Get a bulb that is dried but not opened or
catch them before they open and tie them shut and allow them to dry till
you’re ready to use them. Native Americans would split a piece of cane and
clamp bulbs between the two halves tied together until they were ready to
use it. Remove the down carefully, keeping it flat and in one line.
Carefully remove the seeds, brown chaff and rough up and soften the hard
areas that held the seed, while keeping tightly clamped between your thumb
and forefinger. Holding a length of cordage in your mouth, with the other
end secured in a notch in the butt end of the shaft of the dart you are
rolling, so one hand holds the dart shaft, while the other holds the thistle
down. Secure the fletching material by wrapping it with the cordage catching
just enough of an edge to hold it and allow it to fluff out as you move down
the entire fletching area, feeding the down into the string as you go and
tie off at the end.
The dart should slide in the blowgun easily
but snug. It is placed in the end you will blow, flush, point first. The
blowgun is held with both hands with the elbows resting on the chest and
together. The dart is then blown with a sudden burst of air after aiming at
the target.
The blowgun is used in many cultures
throughout the world. You will be impressed with the accuracy and distance
you can achieve with it with very little practice. Everyone has seen the
National Geographic specials with the South American aborigine bringing
down monkeys with a poisoned dart with a blowgun ten feet long or more.
Poison is not necessary, however, for most small game and as far as we know
was not used in North America. Monkeys have a more complex nervous system
and the additional reassurance of the poison is necessary for hunting them.
Most darts are constructed heavy and long enough to bring down most small
game. There are accounts of Cherokee who hunted deer with the blowgun by
shooting a dart with such deadly accuracy as to pierce the eyes of the deer!
PART 2: The Throwing Stick or Rabbit Stick
By Benjamin Pressley
COPYRIGHT BENJAMIN PRESSLEY 1997
Welcome to part two in our series on primitive and survival hunting
weaponry. If you haven't read the introduction in Part One of this series
you're missing out on some great information on making and using a Blowgun
made from natural materials. If you want to read Part One now just click
here. The primitive weapons discussed in this series by no means encompass
all the possibilities of weaponry available to the survivalist, but were
chosen because of their practicality, relative simplicity to construct and
effectiveness for hunting small and large game. Weapons that will be
discussed in future installments will be the atlatl, throwing stick, quickie
bow and arrow, bola and sling. So, check the WINDSONG PRIMITIVES' website
frequently for future installments and feel free to e-mail, or write with
your questions.
The Throwing Stick or Rabbit Stick
Rabbit Sticks as defined by Dave Wescott are "...a simple tool used
extensively by western natives and, in a modified version, all over the
world. The stick was a tool designed, shaped and used for a specific purpose
and lead the world as one of man's earliest and longest lasting tools. The
rabbit stick was used by the ancient hunter and was passed to the next
generation along with skill, knowledge and insights needed to make it work."
(Rabbit Stick Rendezvous flyer, Dave Wescott, 1990)The rabbit stick is
basically a throwing stick used for the taking of small game. It also has
been known to go by other names such as throwing club, killer stick, baton
and as I shall discuss later, the well known boomerang of the Australian
aborigine and other cultures. Another common name for this type of weapon is
the "kylie". This word originally meant a returning type of boomerang and
its meaning was changed by modern European man.
Its design basically consists of a stick of a medium to hardwood with either
one end weighted by a thicker heavier end or a curve. The reason for the
weighted end or curve was to impart momentum to the stick when thrown. The
curved design as seen among the Hopi, Navajo, Luiseno and many Southwestern
tribes as well as in Australian and Egyptian cultures, seems to have the
same effect as the weighted end without adding the additional weight and
seems to actually be more effective in imparting momentum to the thrown
stick. Straight sticks are very rare and are generally not used for long
distance throwing. There almost has to be a bend in one end with a
thickening of the section to add weight. If this is not done, then the
inertia about the long axis is too low relative to an axis at right angles
and the stick will flutter in flight. You need to increase the inertia along
a second axis in order to have a stable flight.
The Southeastern Indian Rabbit Stick as noted by Frank G. Speck (Catawba
Hunting, Trapping and Fishing, 1946) by information obtained from Chief Sam
Blue of the Catawba Indian Nation is made from green saplings of hickory and
was between 12 to 18 inches in length. The round-sectioned rabbit stick used
by the Catawba was also used by the Choctaw, Chickahominy, the Nanticoke
descendants of the Indian River and the Delaware, but it is not noted among
the Eastern Cherokee of N. Carolina (John G. Witthoft, 1945). Chief Sam Blue
described its use for hunting rabbits in the "fire patch", as an area of
burnt over brush was called: "Four or five hunters generally went together,
each armed with three clubs to throw, and accompanied by dogs. When a rabbit
tried to make its escape from the fire-patch they would throw clubs at it."
The club was also used to club animals when cornered in dens or brought to
bay by dogs.
The Rappahannock throwing club, used during the autumn rabbit drive, was
fashioned from the base and trunk of a dogwood sapling and was about two
feet in length. "The club end is the thickened base of the trunk near the
ground. The bark is not scraped off. In experienced hands, the club becomes
an effective weapon, being thrown in an overhand-sideways manner which sends
it spinning at the victim. The dogwood club is heavy as a whole, the striking
end outweighing the grip end. It was never hurled at a rabbit until the
animal had started to run. A call or shout was given to start a rabbit when
one was spotted in the grass. As the rabbit bounded forward the club was
thrown to intercept it, which it invariably did when launched from an
experienced club slinger. Two or three clubs thrown at a victim left little
chance of escape. No throwing at a stationary target was observed."
(Rappahannock Taking Devices: Traps, Hunting and Fishing by Frank G.
Speck,Royal B. Hassrick, Edmund S. Carpenter). The manner described by Speck
of a side-wise arm motion to hit the ground ahead of the running rabbit,
flushed by men or dogs, is the most effective way of throwing the rabbit
stick. The side-wise flight of the thrown stick allows for a much better
chance of intercepting the target as opposed to simply throwing it overhand,
for their is more surface area to make contact with the target. Try it and
you will soon find out.
The Hopi Throwing Stick illustrated is an example of the type used by many
Southwest Indians as exhibited among a collection of 15 to 20 in the
Milwaukee Museum. It is easily constructed from a small crooked branch with
nothing more than a small hand ax to do the whittling with. Note the shape
of the cross-section. Dimensions are not critical and no two are alike but
all seem to have the characteristic curve, though some are thinner and
lighter than others. The curved type resemble the boomerang, but are
non-returning.
Some have handles and some have even been found in the Southwest with a
propeller twist to them. They were apparently used for long periods of time,
for prehistoric finds have even noted repair reinforcements of sinew.
The rabbit stick is even found in Egyptian culture. An Egyptian wall
painting displayed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, approximately 1425
B.C., shows a duck hunter armed with a throwing stick. Also found in the
Tutankhamon tomb were found what was deemed as boomerangs. Replicating these
throwing sticks and test throwing them reveals that indeed they are
returning boomerangs. Most of us are familiar with the boomerang, usually a
crescent-shaped stick which whirls through the air in a spiraling arc and
returns to the thrower, if thrown properly. Returning boomerangs are found
in many cultures. Some are too light to be effective for actually taking
game. Even among the Australian aborigines', the everyday weapon of choice,
was the heavy, non-returning boomerang which could be either thrown or
wielded as a sword or club. Its sharp edge also made an efficient knife for
butchering kangaroos, wallaby and emus by plunging it into the soft skin of
the underbelly and pulling back sharply making a long, clean cut. Sometimes
two were clapped together as percussion instruments for making music for
many dances. One Central Australian boomerang found has sharp, fluted ridges
so that when it is drawn across the other, like a bow, a musical tone is
produced. It was also used as a digging stick to dig a cooking pit, open up
a well or ferret out a burrowing animal. Boomerangs were also used to
retouch stone blades and to start fires. The returning type was used for
games and tournaments or for amusing children, but it played part in at
least one serious activity: the duck hunt. "Crouching beside an oxbow lake
in one of the half-dry river courses, a duck hunter would hurl his boomerang
above a flight of on-coming birds. At the same time he would screech like a
duck hawk. Tricked by his calls and by the shadow of the boomerang overhead,
the ducks would dive low into nets staked out or held up by collaborating
hunters farther down the billabong. Instead of falling into the water, the
boomerang, meanwhile, would land at the feet of the thrower and be ready at
hand for the next flight of ducks and the next cast."(op. cit.). The
returning boomerang is thrown differently than the non-returning throwing
stick. The boomerang has a curved, convex surface and a flat surface. The
boomerang is held with the curved surface facing toward the body. It is then
thrown overhand, adding a sharp flick of the wrist as it is let go. It must
be aimed at approximately a 45 degree angle to the wind to have it return
properly, if there is any wind. The Australian Aboriginal legend of the
origin of the boomerang is interesting and amusing: "In the early days of
Dreamtime, people had to crawl on their hands and knees because the sky was
nearly touching the ground. An old chief came to a magic pool and he stooped
down to drink. As he did so, he saw a beautiful straight stick in the water
and he reached in and picked it up. Then he suddenly thought, 'I can push up
the sky with this stick and we'll be able to stand up.' So he pushed and
pushed until he pushed the sky to where it is today and the trees began to
grow and the possums ran about in the branches and the kangaroos started
hopping for joy. Then he looked at his stick and saw it was terribly bent.
Thinking it was no longer good, he threw it away but it came back to him. He
tried again and it came back again. So he kept the stick and called it the
boomerang." (As told by Les and Arthur Janetski).
[Picture Missing] L to R: Southwestern U.S., Egyptian, Cherokee/Choctaw,
Cherokee/Choctaw, Luiseno, Southwestern U.S.
As you can see from the examples cited above, the rabbit stick is found in
many cultures all over the world. Though there is not archaeological
evidence that it occurs in some cultures does not dismiss the fact that it
may have been used in these cultures. For it is logical to assume that the
first weapon our stone age ancestors wielded was probably to pick up a stone
or a stick and throw it. Boomerangs and throwsticks were very common in
Europe, even at late as the birth of Christ. They seem to have disappeared
with the appearance of the Romans.
In a survival situation the rabbit stick is still a very useful hunting
weapon, and probably the simplest to construct, most effective weapon you
can have. Of course, it need not be fancily carved, a curved limb will
suffice. So, try your hand at several different designs as described in this
article and see which you like best. Practice hitting moving targets, such
as a rolled tin can as well as stationary targets. I think you will find it
to be a fun and effective weapon from our aborigine ancestors.
This article on blowguns is
from Benjamin Pressley's book Primitive Hunting Weaponry: Survival
Weapons of Today. His book also contains information on many other
primitive/survival weapons like the atlatl, bola, sling, throwing stick and
more.
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