Why a Slingshot?

My first hunting was done with a BB gun or 12 gauge shotgun at age eight.  There is obviously a lot of difference in the capability between the two tools. I couldn't hunt much with the BB gun other than little birds, and I didn't like the 12 gauge, it was too big for me, kicked, and made a lot of noise.

I was stuck with those two gun options for a few years.  At age twelve I went to work in the hay fields with an uncle. I made enough money that summer to buy my school clothes and a beautiful Browning .22 semi-auto.   I always prefered the .22 for squirrels or rabbits  even when older. It simply seemed more appropiate than the bigger shotgun.

My bow for big game and slingshot for small game.

I never owned a slingshot in my youth and can't remember using one at all.  I did have a .20 caliber Sheridan air gun, but I most often stuck with a .22 for my small game hunting.   Pumping up the Sheridan for a shot to often spooked what I was hunting.

I could go on and on about all the guns I've owned and shot and how I eventually became a deer hunter.

To keep this short and simple lets just say that after about ten years of whitetail hunting with a rifle I wanted more.  One way to get more was to start bow hunting.


At first I was little interested in the bow or bow hunting, I simply wanted to be allowed to hunt more. The close encounters of my first bow season changed my attitude. In a short time I was thinking the rifle too easy or not challenging enough. The bow was challenging; it took me six bow seasons to get my first deer.

I sometines saw rabbits, squirrel, quail, and other small game and pest while bow hunting for deer.
At first I carried extra arrows with small game tips/heads.  I soon realized taking a shot also required retriving the arrow.  Arrows are not cheap!

Hit or miss going out to retrieve an arrow was a big disturbance to my deer hunting area and spread my scent over a larger area.  I started looking for a better tool to use for small game while bow hunting.

My first thoughts were a rimfire handgun with quiet low power rounds or a air pistol.  I started doing research. When looking for air guns on the Marksman website I also saw their slingshots.  I'd actually bought a Marksman slingshot before my bow.

I'd never shot a bow and didn't want to spend a lot of money for a bow with no experience at all.  I thought shooting a slingshot would be similar to shooting a traditional bow and would only cost me a few dollars to try that first.

Now using a slingshot seems "a no-brainer" for a traditional archer, but I didn't know much about slingshots, and even less about using them on small game.  I already had one, so I bought some new tubes/bands, and ammo for it.  I thought it was fun to shoot, much like my bow,  but I couldn't hit anything consistently.

My internet research found a considerable number of serious slingshot shooters. What I read indicated that the slingshot was very capable of taking small game at short range.  I knew I had a lot more to learn.

I now had slingshots on my mind.  When I saw one for $2.99 in a local farm ranch store I bought two. I thought maybe I could shoot one of them better than the Marksman.

Soon it was deer season and on my second hunt of the season I half heartily stuck one of the cheap slingshots in my pocket along with some 3/8 inch steel slingshot ammo.

That morning while sitting on a short stool in my ground blind I heard something coming over my left shoulder. It was a covey of quail feeding by only five yards from me.  It was a few seconds before I thought about the slingshot.

I fished the slingshot out and of my pocket and missed, but the birds didn't seem to notice the shot.
I missed again, but the third steel ball nailed a cock.  The birds ran out to about ten yards as that one fluttered and died.

My forth shot was another miss, but the fifth ball took much of the side of a hen's head off.  She fluttered and flopped around and sent the others running for cover.  I was as excited as when I shot my biggest deer.  I couldn't believe I'd just taken two quail with a slingshot.  I was hooked!

I'll tell more about what I call my bowhunter's handgun and why I think the slingshot is such a great tool in future post.