Slingshots – How Far Have They Come

A couple of months ago I stumbled upon some guys talking about slingshots on a Facebook hunting page and had to investigate this further. Wow, what a rabbit hole I went down.

Part of that rabbit hole was finding Zachery Fowler’s YouTube channel where he was a winner on History Channel “Alone” where he survived for 87 days in Patagonia. He has some awesome videos on Slingshots which he took with him to Patagonia.

After seeing these and loads of other videos I had to get in on the action. I found a Facebook group Slingshot Enthusiasts which had some very good information.

My Slingshot

I found a couple of overseas suppliers SimpleShot and Snipersling. I contacted Snipersling based out of China (I believe) and they were very helpful and suggested the S-Bat and 0.5 mm bands to use with 8mm steel to start out with. But when I was looking their shipping company had stopped shipping to New Zealand. So I went looking at SimpleShot more and using their slingshot finder I settled on the Scout LT.

Here is my Scout LT and it feels awesome, after some more searching I found that there is a good community in New Zealand of slingshot users here, especially in this Facebook group Everything Slingshot Aotearoa New Zealand.

The bands that come from SimpleShot are a bit heavy for 8 mm steel ammo but I found some lighter ones through the group for lighter bands and some 8 mm ammo as well.

I wish I had found was this setup with everything a beginner will need to get started on TradeMe. For someone looking to get started and to see if they enjoy it, I would highly recommend something like this.

Catchbox For Slingshots

To be able to shoot the slingshot safely I needed to make a catch box. Using this YouTube video I made my own simple catch box from a cardboard box and it works really well. I have just used some old tee shirts, paracord that I had lying around. I am going to “upgrade” from a cardboard box to a 20l plastic container that I found.

I am really enjoying my slingshot and highly recommend getting one. At some lunchtimes in our garage/storage space at work, I am able to fling a few balls down at a can with a bit of stress release as well.

Hunting with Slingshots

It is even possible to take game with appropriate-sized bands and ammo, everything from feral pigeons to rabbits. There is even some footage of a Canada Goose being taken with a headshot. This is something that I can definitely get behind.

This is where I would love to be able to get to with a slingshot. When taking Ace out for a walk along the river beds who knows what you might see, even if it is just a can to shoot. A slingshot will become part of my EDC.

I would love to know your thoughts on slingshots, leave me a comment below.

Parriehunter