Fauna and Weaponry of Another Age: The Tools and Range of The Megafauna Hunter

Excellent Ardent . An article is excellent if it keeps me reading and I learn something and you nail it on both accounts . Keep 'em comin' .
 
Ardent said:
indeed some of the stuff hauled out of the rivers there is from another age.
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I've been a flintknapper for close to 50 years and make atlatl's , bows n arrows and spears all hafted with my points and have hunted game with them .
 
I would love to get in touch about some points, it's something I want to hunt with. A knapper from the Bonaparte band gave me some points he made and I often think about using them, but can't bring myself to. In this case I'll get some pics on hand of some of the nicer, and less crude fragments found on the dig. Some had an impressive degree of workmanship in that 8,000 years BP range.
 
Ardent , have you ever submitted articles to bigger publications ? As for finding points and blades manufactured by the ancient ones , I've found , hmmm ... 30 or 40 in the Thunder Bay area along with a couple of celts . Found a couple manufactured from Knife River flint from the Dakotas so there were expansive trade routes . I've found quite a few copper implements , awls , fish hooks and scrapers along with a couple of spear point , dart points and arrowheads , all from the Lake Superior Copper Culture from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago . I live 40 miles from Isle Royale which was heavily mined for native copper during that time period . Artifacts from here have been found as far east as the St . Lawrence , west to Saskatchewan , north to James Bay and south to Ohio .
 
A nice set of knowledge on the subject, too, there atr. I'd love to become accomplished with the atlatl and take a coastal deer with it, or black bear.

Sort of on a publication, I was offered an entry level blogger spot for a magazine's website, and it was a very kind offer. The trouble I had with it, not to sound ungrateful, was the schedule, which was set and pressures you to produce material even when you didn't have the "fire". I typically get a bit of inspiration and write like mad for a few hours and that's the bulk of my piece. There's no telling where it will lead either, and that's my next problem, I doubt I could provide consistently subject targeted material like such a position understandably demands. Third, I enjoy carte blanche every time I write and having to answer to no one so to speak except you guys, the people I choose to share it with. Believe it or not I've had my first ranting hate mail from a fellow hunter and it seems the issue is he believes I have small manhood and am not a real man as is he. You open yourself up to that crap the more you expose yourself, and for the moment I'm happy knowing many of the people who read my stuff in person, and knowing more at least through forums like this. The day will come when I want to expand that seriously, I've dabbled with it with meagre success, but I'm enjoying this for now.
 
I'm surprised it took so long to get hate-mail. The biggest critics tend to be other hunters. The first assumption is usually that you can't do anything without a guide and you can't be as good a hunter as himself and his entire family back to at least his grandfather. I believe that this is to promote his fantasy that if he can't do something there must be a way to dismiss everyone that can, or already has.
 
dogleg said:
i'm surprised it took so long to get hate-mail. The biggest critics tend to be other hunters. The first assumption is usually that you can't do anything without a guide and you can't be as good a hunter as himself and his entire family back to at least his grandfather. I believe that this is to promote his fantasy that if he can't do something there must be a way to dismiss everyone that can, or already has.
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exactly !!!!!

What is it with people who think every outfitted or guided hunt is a canned hunt? But like you said DL, if they can't do it or afford it , there MUST be something hinkey about it................
 
c-fbmi said:
exactly !!!!!

What is it with people who think every outfitted or guided hunt is a canned hunt? But like you said DL, if they can't do it or afford it , there MUST be something hinkey about it................
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Anyone who can afford to buy, but is willing to forgo, a new pickup can hunt Africa. A working man's budget might not allow him to shoot all that is allowed on his license, as the trophy fees add up quickly, or allow him to book a 21 day hunt, but he can live his dreams if his desire is strong enough. When I booked, I badly wanted a lion, because to me the lion is iconic, and because I like the idea of hunting things that can hunt back, but the required 21 day hunt was beyond me, never mind the addition of trophy and camp fees. I was going to book a 7 day hunt, but the PH talked me into 10 days, and the difference those 3 days made to the experience was incredible. We did see our share of lions, even if I didn't have the opportunity to pull the trigger on one. We had close calls with elephants, and with buffalo, in the tall grass on one particular occasion and in the thick bush at dusk on another. Each provided it's share of thrills, and in the end I did get my buffalo, which is the only affordable member of the Big 5, or the Big 6 if you include the hippo when hunted on dry ground.

But for some the dream, and desire to make the dream a reality, was never there, or was never important enough to pursue. Growing up, motorcycles were always on the edge of my interest, but were never enough to make me spend the money on; we all make our individual choices. So it goes with a hunter's interest in exotic game and equally exotic places. If they are hunters, I don't understand their criticism of those who do choose to pursue their dreams, and if they're not, we'll never be able to explain it to them. But then there are the others, who have a fantasy about what hunting is and about how it should be conducted, but have never done it themselves, and are deeply offended when faced by the reality, sometimes in print, but particularly in video, where it usually ends with the poser rooting for the lion (or elephant, or leopard, or hippo, or bear). And why is it they choose to participate on a hunting forum? I guess to set the rest of us straight.
 
Boomer said:
Anyone who can afford to buy, but is willing to forgo, a new pickup can hunt Africa. A working man's budget might not allow him to shoot all that is allowed on his license, as the trophy fees add up quickly, or allow him to book a 21 day hunt, but he can live his dreams if his desire is strong enough. When I booked, I badly wanted a lion, because to me the lion is iconic, and because I like the idea of hunting things that can hunt back, but the required 21 day hunt was beyond me, never mind the addition of trophy and camp fees. I was going to book a 7 day hunt, but the PH talked me into 10 days, and the difference those 3 days made to the experience was incredible. We did see our share of lions, even if I didn't have the opportunity to pull the trigger on one. We had close calls with elephants, and with buffalo, in the tall grass on one particular occasion and in the thick bush at dusk on another. Each provided it's share of thrills, and in the end I did get my buffalo, which is the only affordable member of the Big 5, or the Big 6 if you include the hippo when hunted on dry ground.

But for some the dream, and desire to make the dream a reality, was never there, or was never important enough to pursue. Growing up, motorcycles were always on the edge of my interest, but were never enough to make me spend the money on; we all make our individual choices. So it goes with a hunter's interest in exotic game and equally exotic places. If they are hunters, I don't understand their criticism of those who do choose to pursue their dreams, and if they're not, we'll never be able to explain it to them. But then there are the others, who have a fantasy about what hunting is and about how it should be conducted, but have never done it themselves, and are deeply offended when faced by the reality, sometimes in print, but particularly in video, where it usually ends with the poser rooting for the lion (or elephant, or leopard, or hippo, or bear). And why is it they choose to participate on a hunting forum? I guess to set the rest of us straight.
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Nicely put. I'm starting to follow this topic a tad closer.
Sometimes the telling of such stories sounds elitist, which I find off-putting. But when told right; I find it very entertaining and even likely something I might enjoy doing.
Now to time it so I can afford it despite life's little 'speedbumps' without waiting too long and finding I'm too old to do it.
Hide the egg money and stay in shape I suppose.
But again...nicely put.
 
c-fbmi said:
exactly !!!!!

What is it with people who think every outfitted or guided hunt is a canned hunt? But like you said DL, if they can't do it or afford it , there MUST be something hinkey about it................
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It was all explained quite nicely 2500 years ago by a Greek named Aaesop. Seems a fox decided that the grapes he couldn't reach were sour..

"Any fool can disdain that which he cannot have".

When others are able to obtain the "sour grapes" it threatens the false premise that he found comforting. All that's left is to attack the achiever.
 
Mate has the Sambar Deer ever crossed your mind to hunt?

Certainly aint no African safari type hunt.... You may be surprised how elusive these animals are an maybe you can spread the word about the Sambar deer in your writings some time, worldwide.


sorry for straying off topic, enjoying the read

wl
 
Thanks, the compliments are very much appreciated. Here is another fragment I mentioned earlier to atr on monster hunting of old technology, this one of higher workmanship and with sharp edges, from about 8,000 years ago as judged by the ash layer.

It is actually a fragment of a large point, I just have awkwardly large palms that skew the scale unfortunately.

 
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