Tribal Hunting with Slingshots By: John Condon I recently had the privilege to be part of a tribal slingshot hunt and Wilderness skills class organized by Madison Parker (owner and operator of Primitive Supply Slingshots) and Bobby Plude, assisted by Jarett Evans and Ryan Eaves. This event was the most educational and fun experience I have had in a long time. The event started on a Thursday, with plant fiber technology. We harvested Yucca and learned how to make cordage. It is a very cool process and a great skill to have. If you are ever in a true survival situation a task like this can keep you from dwelling on your situation and will help as much as your fire to keep the “boogie man” away. Madison also teaches advanced plant fiber technology where he will show you how to make pouches, baskets and even a back pack all from natural cordage. From there we went into friction fire with bow and drill using natural cordage for the bow string, not only did it work well it really demonstrated the strength of the cordage. We then went on to slingshot care and maintenance to make sure our slingshots were in good working order. Now keep in mind these are no Wal-Mart specials or the wrist rockets you played with as kids, these are true hunting slingshots designed and built by Madison Parker. Madison has many years of experience in building and shooting custom hunting slingshots. Each one is handmade and no two alike in appearance, just in function. The key to a hunting slingshot is in the draw, you need a good deep draw to get the power needed to take game. There are two types of tubes that can be installed on your slingshot, double tubes or single big tubes. For a beginner it’s recommended that double tubes are used because it is an easier pull. Double tubes are designed to shoot a 9/16” steel ball projectile. Once you have mastered the double tubes you can upgrade to the single big tubes which shoot a 5/8” steel ball. Both are more than capable of killing game, just the bigger tubes are harder to pull and give you slightly more killing power by shooting the bigger projectile. As a point of reference, before I upgraded to the big tubes I was able to take pheasant and squirrel with my double tubes. In fact Madison and I shot his big tubes and my double tubes side by side and my shot went the same distance as his. After everyone’s slingshot was in order we headed in the house for dinner, we went over the weekend agenda and sat around enjoying some good conversation. Once dinner was done Jim Parker, one of the other students, played his guitar and sang a few songs for us. Jim is a singer song writer, check him out on iTunes. After that we headed to bed to get a good night sleep for the weekend hunt. Wake up time was 0 dark 30 the next morning. We had a quick bite to eat and cup of coffee. Then we were in the trucks and on our way to our base camp located on an island out on what Madison calls the “big river”. We got the boats in the water with no problem and were on our way as the sun was coming up. At camp we wasted no time setting up. After set up Bobby Plude showed us how to construct a raised platform bed that is perfect for sleeping in the marshy environment. We also went over debris huts and a few configurations of setting up a tarp or poncho depending on clement, temperature and/or weather. He explained the best way to utilize a fire with the different shelters and taught some simple knots useful for wilderness living and survival. Once the classes were over it was back in the boats and off to a different island for our first hunt. Now to successfully hunt with slingshots you need every person working together. Similar to the tribal hunt of most Native American tribes. The six of us split into two man teams and walked in a skirmish line from one end of the island to the other. One person in the team shakes the vines in the trees while the other watches for any movement. You need to keep in mind not to fixate only on the one tree because the noise and movement could disturb a squirrel in an adjacent tree. Also while you are shaking vines and making noise you need to look for nests in the trees. Sometimes there are no vines so you may need to take a few shots at the nest to see if a squirrel is inside. Another key to the whole operation is to try and stay in visual contact of the other groups or at least with in hearing distance, so when someone does see a squirrel you can get there quickly. If and when a squirrel is sighted that person yells for the others to surround the tree, never taking his eyes off the target. The others need to set up a good perimeter so if the squirrel makes a run for it you have all routes of escape covered. Do not let it get behind you otherwise you run the risk of losing it. No one takes a shot until everyone is in position, the person that kept there eye on the target relays the targets position. That person may need to take a shot to try and move the squirrel so the others can get eyes on, commutation is key. Once all eyes are on the target everyone gets to take shots. Bear in mind when you first start hunting with a slingshot you may not land any hits but don’t let that discourage you. Your near misses will move the target enough for someone who is experienced with a slingshot to make the hit. Before you know it after a few times out you will be the one making kill shots. That’s the beauty of slingshot hunting no one can do it alone. It’s a team; no it’s a tribal effort. On the hunt we had the aid of Madison’s two Pit bulls Frogman and Lovy and Jarrett’s pit bull Red. It’s truly a great experience of man and dog working together to accomplish the goal. The dogs have a key role in the hunt; they keep the squirrel in the tree. A squirrel wants nothing more than to get on the ground; it knows if it can he will out run you, find a hole or get lost in the leaves. Seeing the dog’s on the ground keeps the squirrels in the trees. Although from time to time a brave squirrel will take a chance and go for the ground and that’s when the dogs can catch him. Even if the dogs are one step behind it that is enough to get the squirrel to run up another tree. It is also the dog’s job to watch and wait for us to knock the squirrel out of the tree so they can catch it; in fact they usually are the ones to make the final kill. Another thing that’s great about having the dogs is while we are out hunting for squirrels the dogs are hunting other game on the ground. On this hunt they found and killed an armadillo and brought him back to Madison. That just goes to show you what a great catch dog a pit bull is. Could you imagine in a survival situation having your dogs bring back food for you? Madison and Jarrett’s pit bulls are a true credit to their breed. The first day we got only one squirrel and had a few that just seemed to just disappear. This happens even if you do everything right, they just somehow get away. Madison and Jarett call it “pulling a Houdini”; it’s usually due to them getting into holes high up in the oak trees. But even still the thrill of the chase is awesome. Chasing them from tree to tree making hits, everyone getting pumped, the dogs getting excited; oh man it’s so much fun. After the hunt we headed back to camp. You only want to hunt for 2-3 hours at a time so you don’t wear yourself or the dogs out. After we had some lunch Madison and Bobby taught a class on survival trapping. They went over how to look for animal sign, the best places to set traps, a few different trap triggers and trap configurations good for catching small game. Madison also showed us a way to use our slingshot as a trap engine; a slingshot is a great multipurpose survival tool. After class we headed back to camp to learned how to make stools out of natural materials; a great skill to know for setting up a wilderness camp and nice to have for sitting around the fire. We then had some dinner, sat around the camp fire talking and going over the agenda for the rest of the weekend. The next morning we had a quick breakfast and it was back to the hunt. We headed to a different spot and quickly got on a roll getting two squirrels within a short time of each other. Unfortunately the next 3 were little Houdini’s that dispersed off into the woods. When we finally found another it put up a heck of a fight; we battled with it for close to half an hour. At one point we thought we had him heading for the ground, he transitioned from one tree into a small half dead oak right on the bank of the river. We had him! he’s got nowhere to go, right? Wrong! He found the only hole in that little tree. The hole was only about 20 feet off the ground and the tree was maybe 30 feet tall sitting right on the bank of the river. Right then we decided this one was not going to get away. Unfortunately there was no way to smoke him out, the tree was half dead so we decided to do the next most logical thing and chop the tree down. The only problem with the plan was we left our axe back at camp, but such a minor detail was not going to stop us. With Jim’s saw and Madison’s parang we went to work, each person took 20 chops and a turn with the saw until the tree fell. Once it did fall it fell towards the river and landed with the hole down in the mud. Turns out the tree was too heavy and at too steep an angel because of the way it landed on the bank of the river we could not get it to roll. We could not get to the squirrel, but on the bright side he could not get out either. At this point we needed that axe! So we decided he most likely could not get out and we headed back to camp to have lunch and grab the axe. After about 3 hours we made it back to the tree and took turns chopping it up. Sure enough the squirrel was still in there. Once we found the hole he jumped out and the dogs were waiting; they made short work of him. Our hard work had paid off we got the squirrel and some good fire wood. I know most people would say that sounds like too much work for one squirrel, and believe me it was a lot of work. But that’s not the point, the point was we worked together and we got him. On the way back to the boat we got one more squirrel bringing our total for the day to 4; not a bad days work. That night we supplemented dinner with the days catch, made sure the dogs got their fare share and settled in for our last night on the “big river”. In the morning we broke camp, staged our gear then set out for one last quick hunt. We took 2 more squirrels bringing our total for the weekend to 7. We picked up our gear, loaded the boats and headed for the boat ramp. Got the boats on the trailers and were on our way back to Madison’s place in no time. Once back we unpacked, sat around recounting the weekend’s adventures and said good bye to Jim Parker who had to get home. I on the other hand was lucky to be able to stay for a hunt that was to take place the following weekend at the Quonset hut. During the week we found projects to keep ourselves busy. We worked on our slingshots, got the Quonset hut ready and Madison even showed us how to make a spear. Friday we stayed at the Quonset hut which sits on 40 acres of prime hunting land owned by Madison Parker. That afternoon Madison, Bobby, Ryan and I along with the dogs went on a quick hunt. Kind of a small hunting group, but we were on top of our game. The commutation was outstanding and everyone was right where they needed to be; we took 2 before the sun went down. Even Madison said it was one of the best hunts of the season, which was very cool to have him say. It just goes to show you in a short amount of time how well we worked together. Saturday morning we were joined by one of Madison’s friends named Big Mike. Big Mike is a squirrel hunting veteran and fell right in with us. That morning we went out but found nothing. It had been cold the night before and was still cool in the morning; the squirrels were just not out. In the afternoon we headed over to another piece of Madison’s property just down the street to try our luck and lucky we were. Within a few minutes we were on one; we quickly got him and found another. As we were setting up on the second squirrel two more of Madison’s friends showed up. Trey and Lex, more old salts of slingshot hunting and without missing a step they were in there with us. We took 2 more before heading back to the Quonset hut. Sundays hunt found us without Big Mike but we gained Jarett and his son Avery. We hit the hunt early and were on them right away. We had a lot of good fights and a few escapes but we walked out of there with 2 more bringing our total to 7 for the weekend. My time spent with these men was the most fun and rewarding experience I have had in a long time. I’m sure the friendships I gained will last a life time. I am so grateful to Madison and his lovely wife, Star, for letting me be a guest in their home. Madison, Bobby and the rest of the crew at Primitive Supply Slingshots are the salt of the earth. The work they do is top notch, they truly love to teach and care if you learn. The thing that sets them apart from other wilderness skills and survival teachers is they add the slingshot hunting in with the training. No one else adds the hunting aspect to the class, not to mention slingshot hunting teaches you more than just hunting. It’s a valuable lesson in the fact that no one can do it alone. In a true long term survival situation, I don’t care how much training you have or how bad ass you think you are, you cannot and will not survive without the tribe.