Nets, spears, traps, fishing tackle are all too often overlooked.
Learn to use a bow or use traps...cant think of anything small enough to be killed by a sling shot I’d want to eat
Wrist rockets are great.
squirrels be afraid.... be very afraid
Practice. Then, practice a lot more.
http://www.youtube.com/user/joergsprave?feature=results_main
This guy makes every sort of slingshot you can imagine and puts them through their paces. If you want to know what is possible in the area of rubber powered projectile weapons, his videos can show you a lot. Be sure to go back to his earliest videos, he describes the different types of rubbers you can use and their pros and cons.
He also has his own website and forum, any serious questions, ask there. http://theslingshotforum.forumotion.com/
When I was a kid I used a surgical-tubing sling shot to hunt rabbits. Lug nuts were the best ammo.
When I was a kid I knew a guy who was a marvel with a slingshot. I think it takes a long time to get that good tho.
I have one which has the wrist support and it is powerful enough to do some damage. I never did get to where I was real accurate with it.
Get a small crossbow. Seriously. They are silent and can be very accurate. My son takes a lot of deer with his, and it’s light enough for even me to use.
Friend of mine used to use some kind of blunt tip arrow for small game. Worked very well and was short range and painted day-glo orange to make recovery easy. Maybe an archer here can add info.
Possible prepper interest?
I recommend that you do some research into the Blowgun also. I have used them in the past very effectively. Most people think the darts have to be poisoned. That’s not always true. If you learn on a lightweight blowgun you can ramp up a larger size like half inch or even three/quarter inch. Learn to make your own darts and you will be very surprised and pleased at the results.
As far as slingshots go? I like the wrist rocket and I’ve also made an old fashioned sling, aka King Davids sling. They are a bit difficult to get used to so it’s practice, practice, practice.
Just search thru and watch this guys videos.Yep he is the same guy as on Dual Survivor, but in real life he gives survival classes.
A couple of his videos shows how to mod a slingshot to bow hunt with hits pretty hard with regular arrows!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpiyq02ccQ&feature=related
This is the video of the sling modification.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIcCRJGYug&feature=relmfu
Get a good air rifle. A gas piston rifle in .22 will take small game. A .25 or larger pneumatic rifle will get bigger stuff. Most of the pneumatics (except the large calibers) have barrel shrouds that make them pretty quiet.Chapman’s guide to airgun hunting is on the web as a pair of PDFs. Do a search, lots of info.
Get a pellet rifle. Cheap ammo. More accurate than a slingshot.
Pellet gun.
.177 cal, break barrels are better than pump.
Sling shots are not very accuarte, require a lot of practice, and in so doing your surgical tubing will tear, it does that fairly quickly too.
For last ditch ranged skill, I recommend learning knife throwing, no spin method is best, but it takes a lot of practice. This would not be good for hunting except perhaps rabbits but even then, but it is fun, could be used for self defense, and is good exercise.
An air gun like a Gammo is quiet, cheap to shoot and powerful. Also fishing tackle, crawfish traps, fish nets, etc.