Rabbit Sticks, Boomerangs, etc

Regenerative Subsistence Fauna Food
#1

Does anyone have any experiences with boomerangs, thrown clubs, rabbit sticks, etc. that they’d like to share? I’m interested in starting, but I’m really hesitant due to my fear of simply maiming an animal and having it escape. I’ve read articles from more experienced people, but have yet to hear about success rates and the learning curve involved. Basically I’d like to know what I’m getting into before I start in earnest. It’s one thing if I mess up on a bow drill and bust up my hand, but it’s entirely another if I mess up and some rabbit dies of internal injuries days later. Call me a wuss, but I don’t like it when others suffer my mistakes.

~ SW

#2

I like to pick up random sticks at the park and pick a tree or some target to throw it at.My dog loves to fetch sticks.also you can get a stuffed animal around the size of what you will hunt and set it up and start throwing sticks at it.It does not take long to get good at throwing sticks ,almost like it is an instinctual thing.I think with the right size and weight a stick thrown will at least stun the animal so you can run up and give it a final blow.

#3

One addition to Green’s last sentence: Californian hunters made sure to carry an extra rabbit stick on every hunt, just for this purpose and so that they wouldnt have to give up the hunt if they lost the primary one.

#4

One thing I’ve been wondering: what distinguishes a rabbit stick from an ordinary stick (aside from the fact that a rabbit stick is thrown at small animals)? Is there anything special I would need to do to an ordinary stick to turn it into a rabbit stick (or any way I could improve an ordinary stick to make it a more effective hunting weapon)?

Thanks,
-Ghostie

#5

Should have some weight to it. A hardwood, maybe green.

A really dry willow or cedar stick wouldn’t work as well.

#6

I like to cut down the end I hold when I throw so my hands don’t get scraped up.

#7

I’ve seen many different stapes/cuts for rabbitsticks. I think it depends on what you’re hunting. Like there was this cool one that had been planed down so it was like a propeller, and on either end it had not been cut but rounded so the ends were basically counter weights. When thrown sideways the stick would actually rise up. The point of that was to get water fowl, who will fly up. The stick would follow.

#8

Ai actually find it disterbing when people lable any old stick that they happen to pick up as a “hunting stick” or “rabbit stick”. You could just as easily, and just as erroneously, call the stick a “prayer stick” or a “majick wand” or a “fire drill”. A stick picked up from the ground is just a stick, no matter what you want to call it, unless it is properly prepared for a specific perpose.
Hunting sticks are ALLWAYS flattened in some way, usually by carving. To what degree and specific shape differs from place to place. Australians produce many kinds, some like a propeller blade, in order to change course in flight (for various reasons, among them was to return if it didnt hit the target). In the southwest region of North america, most were flattened and given a crescent or overly wide “V” shape, while some in Baja California were made into a wide hook (1 1/4 feet diameter) and others, into a “?” shape (handled and thrown with the inside of the curve facing forwards, for the reason that this gave more power in the spin). For exact proportions and step by step construction of California rabbit sticks, see my alltime favorite book “Survival Skills of Native California” by Paul D. Campbell.
Also, such implements have been used (atleast in California) to hunt deer (thrown at legs or, if in a good posision, vertically thrown at neck) and some limited capacity in war (usually thrown just before close range weapons were imployed).