Hunting with a Tomahawk

[omarick1948]

Heck!..I like Cats!...Especially with a little salt and pepper!
Just kidding!.....I don't like much salt!... :rotf:

 

[brubincam]

-----my grandfather used to tell me about hunting rabbits with a switch---I used to sneak up behind them and catch in my hands and bring them home, my dad always made me let them go-----

 

[SgtSchutzen]

Pasquenel

I have nothing against cats if they are a pet and kept under control. Problem with cat lovers is most of them allow their pets to roam at will. there are leash laws for dogs.
A free roaming cat is no different than a skunk, opossum, or any other wild animal. If caught being a nuisance, or destructive to my property, they are dealt with accordingly. (Digging in my garden and flowerbeds, and pissing on my house, buildings, and vechicles is an anoyance)
If this bothers you maybe you should join PETA.

 

[fort fireman]

Not to mention they kill all the rabbits. Then what are you gonna practice on with you hawk or throwing stick?? :grin: :rotf:

 

[BillinOregon]

Pasquenel: I don't call it aggression if you catch someone else's cat in your shop, or your vegetable garden for the umpteenth time. I call it natural selection.

 

[Bob Gular]

Exactly, Bill. As the great long-forgotten poet said,"If you have a kitty and you let it roam, don't be surprised when it doesn't come home". Or maybe it was an old Burma Shave commercial. Everything seems to run together these days.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I once literally threw a man out of my house who had the audacity to kick at my cat, who was simply trying to sniff his shoes to find out where he had been. I asked him what he thought he was doing, and he answered, " I don't like cats!" That was about 2 nano-seconds before I was throwing him out my front door and escorting him to his car. Pooh-bah was the nicest, gentlest male cat I have ever had, and all anyone had to do was to talk to him, or shoo him away. And he was In HIS HOUSE!

With most pets, all you have to do is TALK TO THEM. If they are getting into something that they shouldn't, shoo them away. Cats have a God Complex- they believe they own everything they can see, or walk to. Cats have servants, while Dogs have Masters.

If you have trouble with a neighbor's cat, talk to the neighbor. But don't go abusing the pet. It is only acting normally. It doesn't know better.

Frankly, If you ever abused a cat of mine- they are housecats- but all cats Think they have to go outside, and will run out when they have a chance-- you will be a dead man walking. And not for very long. I lost a 12 and a 15 year old cats to strokes last year, and a 17 year old cat to cancer also. I still have an 18 year old female. They were all family to me- and I would no more see harm come to them by some idiot than I would to any child.

There are accepted differences between pets, and strays and wild cats. I have no problem with people getting rid of wild cats, or strays, that have been dumped, and are starving and stealing food from pets. There is just too much of a chance that these animals can transmit diseases to pets through such contact. I have taken in strays all my life- to a point-- and I think people who do likewise have a special place in heaven waiting for them. Some of the animals people dump in rural areas are so sick, its very expensive to get them the medical care needed to save their lives. The three cats I lost were all strays- I picked up my big guy, and my ex-wife picked up the other two. My surviving cat came from a farm that had way too many cats, and she was the runt because she could not compete with all the bigger cats for the common plate of food put out. The past 17 plus years she has lived with me have been very good years for her. She is absolutely wonderful around "guests" at our home. She understands English very well( when she wants to), and responds to calls and commands, as long as you have her attention. She is losing her hearing in her old age, so we are making certain adjustments with her.

 

[Bob Gular]

OMG!!!

 

[Captain outwater]

When I was a just a wee lad, I read that due to ammunition costs and shortages, Davy Crockett grew up throwing a stick at small game. Reportedly he used a sapling with the ends of the roots still attached. Sort of a war mace!
That would seem to be more cost effective than throwing your 'hawk, and perhaps hitting a rock, or having it disappear altogether.

 

[FSCGunslinger]

Thanks for all the replies, fellas... even if it did get a bit off-topic. I personally haven't tried taking any game with my hawk, but seeing that another forum member had made me curious who all had done it successfully. This has been very interesting to me! :thumbsup:

 

[dsuursoo]

see, in response to the off-target(pun intended) part of the discussion... that's why i keep a small, low-velocity airgun handy, and load it with a wad of play-doh. it's non-toxic, non-lethal(at the distances i use it at), and since i use hunter-safety orange, i know whose pets have been getting into my yard/garden within a day or two.

the 'THWAP-yipe!' is reassuring. i use a wad about the size of a grape, at about 40 PSI. it won't even break the skin at point blank range, but boy does it sting.

great on rabbits too.

now, on topic with the spirit of the post:

i haven't done much hawk throwing, but i don't think i'd want to risk breaking the blade or losing it. yeah, sure, i know how to make one out of a railroad spike(found it on a blacksmithing forum), but it's work, dangnabbit.

not to mention illegal here in washington, i think.

but i do have a trapping license... and wire snares are much faster to make.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I can't imagine any real Mountain man risking the possibility of breaking the handle on his 'hawk" by throwing it at a rabbit, when sticks are around that can be used for that purpose.

 

[dsuursoo]

ooo, well put. of course, it's easy to whittle up a new handle. the worry would be the blade. for an old-tyme moutain man, he'd have had one, maybe two heads, but a plethora of handles around, they'd just take a little work. let's not forget that with exceptions, handles were pretty spartan and easy to replace. they were expected to break on a working 'hawk.

but yeah, all the mountain man would have to do is knock down a ash or hickory sapling of the right size, and he'd have wood for five or six handles. work it while it's green and it's a joy to carve. it's the seasoned lumber that's hard.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Trappers were pretty much working in Enemy Territory. The last thing they wanted to be doing was using an axe to cut down a tree! Talk about making sounds that can be heard a long way! And talk about leaving signs that scream out, WHITE MAN!

Sorry, but on this bit of history, I totally disagree that trappers would be out whittling new axe handles, rather than simply use a " throwing stick"-- something all rural farm kids learned to use before they were old enough to use a knife, axe, or gun. Sure, they had time around their campfires to whittle a new handle, or stock. But, why would you risk breaking the handle on a weapon that was carried as a fighting tool, and not just a camp axe? A 16-22" long handle on a hawk made a great extension to the hand and arm for hand to hand combat, where battles had to be won in a stroke or too to preserve energy and to be able to turn to other Indians who would be swarming the trapper, too.

Do take a look at "Jeremiah Johnson', and the fight scenes in that movie. Those tend to match the descriptions of such fights that you read in the journals, and biographies of the trappers who survived such encounters. Hollywood, of course, does its best to screw it up, but the writing for those scenes, and the staging of the attacks were true to history. That comes from both the Trappers, and from Indians interviews on how they fought other Indians, and white men.