# I Got One



## pgandy (Aug 15, 2011)

I got one, that is a dog raiding the trash making those hours of practice more meaningful. Raiding dogs were a common sight 12 years ago when I arrived but rare these days. My dog woke me up at 0615 sounding the alarm, an almost daily occurrence. This usually starts as a result of a neighbours’ dog in response to a passing something usually a dog. After getting the front door open Odie, my dog, charged the inner gate excited. I could tell a dog was near and Odie was eager to have action, nothing out of the ordinary there. As I was getting the last lock off of the inner gate I spotted him. It is trash day and the trash truck hadn’t arrived. The stranger, about a 35-40 kilo solid dirty white dog, was in the trash. All I could see was his butt, the rest of him was behind a tree. I was still groggy and not fully awake at that point. I reached into my pocket for my Dankung and couldn’t find it at first. Like I’ve said before that melts in my pocket and is the reason I carry it and I was very groggy having been awakened at 0400 with Odie’s alarm. I then went in another pocket for a nut. It was a smaller nut that I use for practice weighing about that of a 9 mm steel ball. I don’t know why that one instead of the larger “business” nut, maybe because of a combination of speed, habit and still being half asleep. By this time the dog had gotten a scrap piece of skin(?) wrapped in aluminium foil from my neighbour’s bag, we share the same spot, and moved out into the open in my driveway. It was a clear shot, other than timing it between passing cars, at 10 m. I let fly. The band went snap and I saw the area on the back side of the stranger’s shoulder cave in, for a lack of a better word, but not the flight of the nut. The stranger immediately dropped his breakfast, did a 180, and ran without as much as a yelp. The nut should have just fallen to the ground after impact, and in my driveway been easy to find. I could not find it so I don’t know if I got penetration, which was not my intent. I don’t shoot enough animals to be familiar with expectations. I do know those nuts tumble and on inanimate targets I never know what to expect. It depends on the orientation of the nut at the time of impact. Sometime they hit like a hammer and other times they cut through. The band, while I use it as a practice band, is no slouch giving 8.5 fpe w/.50” lead ball. The band was a full loop of 1842 cut to 13.75”. I had been cutting an inch shorter but found that I could get two repair jobs instead of one after breaking with the extra inch saving money and without much power difference and certainly more than enough for practice. I have maybe 200 shots after the first repair job after perhaps 600 shots on this band set. For serious shots I use a pseudo tapered 1745 band and have some 2040 in route from China that I want to experiment with.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Pest control ... Sorry for the dog ... should have shot the owner for letting it run.

Cheers ... Charles


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## pgandy (Aug 15, 2011)

A feral dog. We have many here but not as much as a few years ago before the government stepped in. Trash raiding was only a minor problem. People would be attacked. I know of one fatality and many attacks. My house girl carries scars this today. I have fought them on several occasions. After the government cleaned things up a bit and I went just over two years with no problem then two attacks in one day. One was a pet the other feral. This happened a few months back.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

pgandy said:


> A feral dog. We have many here but not as much as a few years ago before the government stepped in. Trash raiding was only a minor problem. People would be attacked. I know of one fatality and many attacks. My house girl carries scars this today. I have fought them on several occasions. After the government cleaned things up a bit and I went just over two years with no problem then two attacks in one day. One was a pet the other feral. This happened a few months back.


Sounds like heavier gear than a slingshot is needed! Still, irresponsible owners were probably the origin of the problem ... too late to do anything about them (the irresponsible owners) now. Sounds like time for free spaying and neutering clinics.

Cheers ....... Charles


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## Berkshire bred (Mar 4, 2012)

its a shame that you have to resort to shooting as i am a dog lover myself but if the problem is really that bad ( and it sounds like it is) then that is what you have to do especially if there are attacks occuring. but could you not use plastic ammo so as to give the dog the message but not to seriously injur it as i know the power and capability of slingshots.


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## pgandy (Aug 15, 2011)

I could use plastic. It would have to be shipped in and the shipping and custom fees are very high. The nut I used is readily available at the hardware store at 75 m up the mountain for 2¢ USD. I use them rather than balls because they don’t bounce nor roll nearly as badly as a steel ball in addition to the price. The last steel balls I had shipped in cost about 52¢ USD each to give an idea of shipping and custom rates here. Seeds would be probably a better alternative as this is what the Indians use in their blowpipes on birds. I don’t know how well they would hold up over the long run in my pocket. The nut is a regular carry with me as I use them for pest control in the garden shooting insects. I always have the Dankung and a few nuts in my pocket. I too am a dog lover and can remember only a few times in my life that I did not have at least one.


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## Yenny (Apr 2, 2012)

May I ask what kind of nuts you shoot? Since there's wing-nuts and such. Just not sure which specifically. I would think that shooting them wouldn't be so accurate but I'd like to try them.

Also pretty willing to try a seed, just not sure what I'd shoot that would be readily available here.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

biceryen said:


> May I ask what kind of nuts you shoot? Since there's wing-nuts and such. Just not sure which specifically. I would think that shooting them wouldn't be so accurate but I'd like to try them.
> 
> Also pretty willing to try a seed, just not sure what I'd shoot that would be readily available here.


Georgia is the peach state .... sooo, you might try shooting peach pits. Just be sure to use a largish pouch.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

just last week i caught a dog knocking trash containers over looking for food . i use paint balls to let him know not to go trash digging . after ive hit him a couple of times , whenever he comes near the trash can, he looks around and walks wide of the area, lol .


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## Scrambler84 (Dec 8, 2011)

A good shot on the butt always works they do remember. I have gotten some cats that do remember Good Shot good Story ...


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## pgandy (Aug 15, 2011)

biceryen said:


> May I ask what kind of nuts you shoot? Since there's wing-nuts and such. Just not sure which specifically. I would think that shooting them wouldn't be so accurate but I'd like to try them.
> 
> Also pretty willing to try a seed, just not sure what I'd shoot that would be readily available here.


They're just common hex nuts that I buy in the hardware store at the corner. They run around 2-3¢ USD making them cheaper than importing steel shot and bounce less than steel balls and without the roll making recovery easier. I have an assortment of sizes, but being metric won't match your local supply. The weights are: 1.4, 3.1, 4.5, and 6.9 gm. I have the three larger sizes on my desk in front of me and they measure across the flats: .432", .492" .558". I used the 3.1 gm nut on the dog. This morning while doing my chores I came upon a leaf eating beetle that measured about 20x40 mm. I blew him in half with the 6.9 gm nut. The 3.1 gm nut will do a number of those beetles. As a plus in addition to the cheaper price, for me, the nuts give more impressive results than round balls, either better penetration or a more smashing impact, depending on the orientation at the time of impact.

Am not sure what seeds the Indians use in their blowpipes, but it is highly unlikely that you have the same there. You will have to look around for something that will work if you want to go that route. Just be aware that it is possible. Charles idea of peach seed should work and there are other things that can be used.


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## pgandy (Aug 15, 2011)

biceryen said:


> Also pretty willing to try a seed, just not sure what I'd shoot that would be readily available here.


Being satisfied with the projectiles that I am using I have had no reason to investigate other shot. I have only recently become aware that some Indians are using seed as shot in blowpipes, although I have long known about clay balls. I think everyone believes a dart is the projectile for a blowpipe. It is certainly the most common. I have taken up to pigeon size birds with my blowpipe using .44 cal steel balls.

You have raised my curiosity and think that I'll start investigating seeds. Olive pits came to mind while lunching and will try these with the next olives that I buy. I can think of one advantage right off that appeals to me and that is the lack of my signature being left behind. I have switched to a large extent to steel balls in my blowpipe as it doesn't take a genius to associate the dart with a blowpipe possibly leaving a sign behind. The ball bearing if found will attract less attention and the pre oxidized ones are harder to spot than the bright shinny ones. At the moment my preference is steel balls in the blowpipe and lead with the slingshot, although I am doing more with nuts in the slingshot. They are cheaper and work, so what the heck. Seeds are bio degradable and if found no one will think twice about a seed. This is not to say that a seed will be equal to a metal ball, but sometimes it should be enough, I believe, for the job and certainly won't set off the metal detectors that I pass, another advantage of lead. I think I'll start checking out seeds.


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