We where out throwing the Atlatl! Honing skills and practicing!
Dart foreshafts with obsidian points.
Ben with a handful of darts.
Dart breakers!!! Stick haters!! Dart breakers!! Ohhhh!!
This dart has been with me many years. It has been thrown many times and the break here is at a previous repair before the Kerf joint. Don’t worry I can get more, I know a guy!!!!!!
Check out this Paleo damage!!
Dart is buried well into the main shaft.
Foreshaft ending up here, deep into the target!! This stout obsidian point stands up well to repetitive use and has not broken yet!
In Motion!!!
Dart breakers!!! Stick haters!! Dart breakers!! Ohhhh!!
Fact is a few of these darts are very old and most of the larger ones we are throwing are at least 5 years old and have been used in classes and demonstrations many times.
This one is hard wood and at least 20 years old. Not funny Slade!!!
Once I had a Scout troop totally destroy at least a half dozen darts in one class. Mostly a particular leader’s technique was highly suspect… as he would sharply turn the Atlatal at the end of the throw, and then almost like he was swinging a paddle ball game, strike forward and snap the back of the dart right off. The specific Atlatal has a raised spur that is high. I think this contributed to his overall finesse.
Nice shot! Izzy with a dart on target!
Out enjoying the mountains!
Talon sending one in!!
Talon nice shot on target!!
Ben putting one on the target!!
These next two shots, Slade and Ben sending darts flying in with powerful force connecting with the target!!
Jared with bone tipped dart.
Looking at this bone point and dart shaft we see 2 things….this is what happens when the foreshaft is not sized right to the dart….it pushes back into the dart node splitting the shaft. To ovoid this, the foreshaft needs to be oversized and beveled. I expected it to do this. I just wanted Jared to test it on the target. this dart is much lighter than the other darts we are using. This is evident in the penetration depth here.
Kink.. Paleo damage to the camera lens!!!!
Look at this motley Paleo bunch!!!
It was fun getting out and practicing with the Atlatl. We also threw the Rabbitstick Jared is holding, more about this tool latter. The main focus was Atlatl. Like anything practice is essential! Applying skill set, craft and refining both!!
