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.
Slingshots – How Far Have They Come
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.
I found my old Blackwidow a couple of months back and decided to give it a go after 40+ years and enjoyed it again.
So bought a few flat band catapults and they are far better than the old tube bands.
I am now fairly accurate with a catapult if I do say so myself and loving the hobby at 62 years old
Hey, that is great. I am shocked at how much better they are and smash some cans.