Hunting with a slingshot

Necroman99

Necroman99

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Whitby Ontario
so i'm just asking for ridicule but...

I work somewhere where we've got a chunk of land and the local wildlife have learned its a safe place to hang out (particularly the Canada Geese). They've also learned they can afford to get pretty aggressive without consequence with most people and even vehicles...always makes me laugh when they freak out when i won't brake for them.

Anyway, after dodging about 50 piles of goose sh*t in the parking lot and then getting hissed at today I get to fantasizing about how satisfying it would be come the fall to get my migratory license and then just bludgeon one of these morons in the head on my way to my car, throw it in the trunk and go home...that fantasy turns into all the clever (but humane) ways I could accomplish this without bringing a "weapon" to work...and that finds me during my coffee break looking around the internet for info on what would and would not be legal...bringing me to a site about slingshots where a couple of guys are talking about hunting small game with them, in Canada (here in ontario I think) complete with photos of their kills...pictures of Canada geese with the very effective outcome of a 10mm bolt to the head. It's being presented as completely on the up and up. He got a migratory lic...went out and hunted this bird with a slingshot. The arguments being presented are that the regs spell out things you must not do and things you must do...provided your activity violates neither you're golden...

You could not hunt deer, moose, elk, turkey, bear, etc. with a slingshot because the laws spell out the weapons you must use...but in the case of small game they really do not spell out what you must use...you could use centerfire, bow, xbow, air-rifle, rocks, spears, sticks, slingshots...you can't do something inhumane but...ok so I'll stop. For migratory birds I was blown away cause I turned around and a quick google search revealed a MNR Q&A that said no .22 rimfire....only longbows and shotguns...but finding that reg itself eluded me.

I'm not planning to do any of these things (the geese at work are safe guys) but it got me spinning because it seems to be an accepted practice among some guys to bring a little CO2 pistol to try and peg grouse while deer hunting (my hunters ed instructor advocated it) and if you can do that then it seems like any humane method should work (slingshots being my flavor today), and then where does that take me...which species are fair game with any "humane and not specifically prohibitted method"...

I don't imagine there will be a good answer other than ask a CO but what the hell...there it is.cou:
 
Migratory birds are federally regulated which is why provincial regulations rarely mention them if at all. The Ontario regs don't even give the seasons or anything about them anymore other than the one little paragraph noting that shooting from a boat (or whatever) is legal under the migratory bird act.

So the short answer is, the province or MNRF can not answer your question about the geese - they have no authority and can not make laws or regulations. Although I have had a CO make sure we were hunting with steel shot.

The Mirgratory Birds Regulations state:

15 (1) Subject to subsections (4) and (5) and section 23.1, no person shall hunt a migratory bird

  • (a) except with a long bow and arrow or with a shotgun not larger than number 10 gauge;
  • (b) by the use or aid of live birds, including non-migratory birds;
  • (c) by the use or aid of recorded bird calls, except as permitted in any part of Schedule I;
  • (d) with a shotgun of any description capable of holding more than three shells unless the capacity of the gun has been reduced to three shells in the magazine and chamber combined, by means of the cutting off or the altering or plugging of the magazine with a one-piece metal, plastic or wood filler that cannot be removed unless the gun is disassembled; or
  • (e) from any aircraft, sailboat, power boat, or motorized vehicle, or any vehicle to which a draught animal is attached.

So no 22's, pellet guns, rifles, crossbows etc...
 
Necroman, I like the way you think. Hahaha I just had to explain to my wife why I was laughing, and she saw no humor in dreaming ways to kill cocky geese in a parking lot. But I sure did!
 
For waterfowl both federal and provincial laws apply. Read them close, just because it's not in a synopsis does not mean it is not there. Thats why it says on the short list of regs included with your stamp to check the official regulations!
 
I took a blue grouse this deer season with a slingshot; it was very near the area of the blue grouse that has been attacking people too. I don't want to say I'm a hero but who knows what kind of madness that slingshot stopped.
 
It does get me wondering if we'll ever get to a place where we need effective strategies for effective control of "urbanized" animals...I read in the OFAH magazine last year there are places in the usa considering bow hunts in city parks because deer hang out there and get aggressive during the rut. I live in a suburban area and I've seen or heard stories from reliable sources that make me think it's almost time. My aunt came face to face with a big coyote in her front yard and it was not afraid of her. For my part, I've got probably 100 or more rabbits living under my deck at those of my neighbours (30x100 lots so close quarters). Where I live I'd say they make up 80% of the roadkill I see. Yes they are all cute and cuddly but they sh*t everywhere...come spring I've got to make the kids wait a week or so for it all to kind of settle down into the lawn. I insist on extra safety in this environment but I know that I could get those numbers down pretty quick and safely with a 1000fps air rifle.
 
Migratory bird laws aside... We have killed hundreds of grouse and hares over the past 40+ years while bowhunting... a 3/8" steel ball fired from a tapered band slingshot will blow right through the head/chest of a hare and nearly take the head off a grouse.

Funny story...



About 30 years ago I was bowhunting moose in a remote Northern Ontario area. As was our habit, during midday hours we would take a walk for grouse. Because we were bowhunting, we did not want to be firing guns in the same general area so our preferred tool was slingshots. I had walked an hour or so and had ny limit of grouse in the bag and was on my way back to the boat (we had portaged in) on a series of old grown in logging roads. Suddenly I heard voices ahead of me on the trail... I was dressed in full camo typical for bowhunting, so I stepped ten feet off the trail and leaned against a tree. As the two hunters approached I could tell from their conversation that they were lost and tired and a little scared. As they struggled their way through the grown-in alders and drew abreast of my position, one guy turned his head and looked right into my eyes, and just about jumped out of his boots, yelling "Holy Sh!t!" They were miles in the bush and lost and had seen no signs of any recent human activity, so they were pretty startled to see me like that... by even greater chance they turned out to be a couple of my old highschool teachers. They asked me what in the world I was doing out there and then they asked me where "there" was... I told them where they were and drew them a map on how to get back to their vehicle. I also said that I was grouse hunting and was on my way back to camp... they looked around, and not seeing a firearm of any kind, said "grouse hunting with what?" I pulled the slingshot out of my pocket... they thought I was joking... so I showed them my birds, and for further evidence, I took out a pop can and paced off 15 yards and stuck it in the fork of a tree branch with the bottom facing us, I walked back to them and drew and released and a pefect hole appeared in the exact center of the bottom of the can, they were incredulous as they only had three birds and had missed a number of shots with their 12 gauge shotguns after walking all day long... and I had a limit after an hour of hunting using only a slingshot.

Instinctive shooting with a proper hunting slingshot and proper ammo can be very effective... far moreso than most realize.
 
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I can't wait to see the headlines by CBC Hoyt when you slingshot a burglar between the eyes or through the nutsack, breaking into your home!! That should get Bob Rae wound up worse than he was when Ian Thomson fired a warning shot at the guys fire bombing his house! Laugh2
 
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Nutsack is a better choice, gets their attention real fast and tends to stop the spread of abberent genes which then raises the general IQ of the nation....
 
I used to carry a folding slingshot during grouse season while I worked.

One day we saw a ruffy about 25' or 30' away on a log. I pulled back with a 3/8" ball bearing and let fly aiming for the centre of the body. As soon as I released I knew I'd miffed the shot high and left. By a pure fluke of luck it hit the grouse square in the head and it fell over stone dead.

My helper who was a local guy said "Holy ****! Were you aiming for his head?".

I said matter of factly "Of course. Less bruised meat.".

Later that night in the bar I overheard him telling his buddies that I was the best slingshot shooter he'd ever seen............

In that same small Ontario town there was a local prospector/trapper who could call in Canada geese and then kill then by wringing their necks.

Other guys would feed them bread until the season started then use a hockey stick with a loop of snare wire to snare them by the neck as they came in close. It was not exactly a sportsmans paradise.
 
Smcx said:
Long bow? What about a recurve or compound? Lol
Click to expand...

And that's why (they) say to consult the regulations.

From the act's definitions:

long bow includes a recurve bow and a compound bow; (grand arc)


When I lived in Ottawa I belonged to a fish/game club that was on the list the Ministry would call to take care of "pests" on farm land. The program involved the farmer calling the MNR and making a request. The MNR would contact us and we would send a couple guys to meet the farmer, come to terms as to where/when etc and then go out "blasting" in accordance with whatever approval the farmer had got.

There was two instances where the request came down through NRCAN (don't remember exactly but think it was them) to take care of Geese that were destroying corn crops. The specific instructions were - we could shoot any/all Canada Geese that were present in the field. We had to leave them where they were shot - they could not be retrieved, or eaten by us or the farmer - the carcass had to remain "rotting in the field" as a "deterrence" to other geese - no idea if it worked or not but we turned down a couple more opportunities later on because of the "waste" - but that was the "federal" guidelines that we had to follow - they certainly don't "cull" the way the province does.
 
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Many years ago, as a youth, I collected 165 Squirrel pelts in one winter,
all were shot with my slingshot.
Went to Vancouver as a young teen. The PNE had a slingshot counter
Break 7 bottles in a row, win a stuffed panda bear. After the 4th win,
they told me I could not play anymore. lol.
They are a deadly rig for smaller game & grouse, if you know how to use
one. Dave.
 
jlovie said:
I know this is an old thread but wanted to ask those of you who are taking grouse and squirrels with a slingshot, which one are you using? I'm thinking it's not a bad skill to have in the back pocket.
Click to expand...


I was always a fan of the Barnett Diablo with 3/8 ball bearings. Killed a lot of grouse over the years with rhat slingshot.
 
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