If you’ve ever tried to catch wild game with your bare hands you already know that the ability to hunt at a distance can mean the difference between a meal and disappointment. Most the time anyway. I have an old Vermonter neighbor that routinely brags that he hunts deer with a knife. He has a lot of stories, and this one seemed about as believable as any of them when he told it.
I’ve tried to approach the deer on our land, and I was amazed that moving slowly, most of the year I can get within 20-30 feet before they skitter off. They usually only bound a dozen yards before looking back to see if I’m chasing and then resuming their meal. We have some very trusting deer, and clearly, there are not enough hunters in our neck of the woods to put the fear of the freezer into their minds.
Even at 20-30 feet away, with our very trusting deer, I’m not fast enough to hunt one with a knife. At that range, even the most primitive bow and arrow would be mighty handy. Fortunately, homemade arrows can be made surprisingly quickly with very few tools.
Two homemade Bone primitive arrowheads attached with pine pitch and sinew.
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