I was trying to think out of the box recently for new ways to set throwlines in the tree and saw the thread on helium balloons. That got me thinking about the following which we tried as kids and it had great thrust and human control.

So how's about the old Indian hunting device, (don't know the name) but it was like a hand thrown catapult where you would put the end of a spear on the cupped end of a long stick which was catapulted forward by hand but the stick provided great leverage and acceleration of the spear. All we would have to do is replace the spear with a throw weight and line.
What do ya'll think?
Got any other out-of-the-box ideas?
Maybe we can continue the balloons, rockets and other device thread here.
Also, can anyone report any results from trying some of these methods mentioned in the helium balloon thread. How did they work?

That spear-throwing device is called an atlatl. A number of States allow hunting with these to throw a dart or spear, while others do not. Evidently there has been some interest in this weapon since its use was recently featured on an episode of Survivor.

The same type of device was described extensively and used frequently in the Earth's Children series of books by Jean Auel. (The most famous book was Clan of the Cave Bear, which was made into a comically bad movie starring Daryl Hannah.)

Interesting idea. Here's a graphic showing how it works

Looking at it I don't think it solves the problem. It's still an overhand throwing motion. If you've tried you know that it's very difficult transfer that motion to an effective upward throw. Still worth some testing.

Something similar could be done as an underhand throw but I don't think it would be greater than the force already generated by swinging the weight underhand with current technique.
-moss

Howzabout a sling like that Samson used to kill Goliath?

Originally posted by NickfromWI
Howzabout a sling like that Samson used to kill Goliath?

You could definitely get some distance with that, but can you imagine trying to keep the throwline from tangling while you're whipping the thing around in circles?