the cyclist's friend

[ians]

don't recall seeing this on the SJS website.

ian

[jags]

brilliant wonder would i get away with it 

jags

[John Saxby]

Skip the noise and commotion & expense, guys -- the item below deals effectively with baboons in Namibia and raccoons in Canada. with no lasting harm done but the necessary message delivered. Cheap, easily repaired, & requires only gravel as ammunition.  

[jags]

 
CLASS

[Andre Jute]

Skip the noise and commotion & expense, guys -- the item below deals effectively with baboons in Namibia and raccoons in Canada. with no lasting harm done but the necessary message delivered. Cheap, easily repaired, & requires only gravel as ammunition.  

Yo, John! When I was a boy in the countryside about 300m from Cape Town, every boy too small for a pellet gun or a .22 rifle wandered about with his "kettle" (diminutive for "catapult") sticking out of his back pocket. Our parents had never heard that children should be kept 101% safe...

[jags]

man many a bird i nallied with my catapult when i was a kid oh looking back i regret that now but we were innocent  knew no better.

jags.

[julk]

I have not grown up yet…
I still use one against the squirrels in my back garden.
Hit one the other day as well.

I get mine from Tamarack Outdoors.
http://www.tamarackoutdoors.co.uk/PBSCCatalog.asp?ActionID=67174912&PBCATID=2093169&PBCATName=Catapults
Julian

[John Saxby]

A friend in Windhoek gave me mine, Andre.  I first saw these many years ago in Lusaka, Zambia, used by the posties on their delivery bikes -- they used their catapaults to make sure that the dogs in the wealthier suburbs kept their distance. Their catapaults used cut-up recycled bike tires.

Not many things will make a raccoon retreat, but a couple of summers ago I used my catapault to chase one from a tree near our back deck and BBQ -- he was eyeing our meal.  Just a small stone on the rump was enough.  He was a big guy, and thoroughly indignant about the indignity visited upon him.  Doubt I'm a good enough shot, though, to hit a squirrel as Julian did.

[Andre Jute]

We used to save up to buy square elastic. It was whispered to have magical qualities. Since I never hit anything, I must have misheard the incantation.

[Danneaux]

I have one of these little hummers...
...but don't dare use it except in target practice waaay out in the woods, for it is classified as a weapon in some jurisdictions -- with some justification. It will put a 1/4in ball-bearing through a 1/2in sheet of plywood at reasonably close range. It folds for transport and compact storage.

I could never use it against an animal, however; too tender-hearted for that. Too dangerous to use on people, so it only comes out every few years for aggression against rogue paper targets affixed to pretty thick plywood with an open field of fire behind.

Best,

Dan. (...who is almost but not quite scared to use the thing and hopes like crazy the rubbers never let loose or break while aiming at full draw)

[jags]

dan seen those  catapults in action im like yourself i could not kill an animal for fun target practice is good fun .