By Cam:
Today in Surviving the Apocalypse we started the day by making the hunting tool that sparked the invention of the bow, an atlatl. It's a hard word to pronounce, but I assure you that it is an actual thing. An atlatl is a spear-throwing device that has a very similar design to a pot hook. To make the atlatl, you first cut down a sapling and find a branch the is growing at an angle. Once you have your sapling and your branch, cut off a part around the branch that is about the size of your forearm. Trim off the end of the branch so that it is about an inch long, and then you have your atlatl. These devices can double as pot hooks if you want them too.
The atlatl was used to hunt large creatures like wooly mammoths when it was first made. Once those animals went extinct, the bow was created to hunt smaller animals for food. So after we finished making our atlatls, we moved on to making our bows and arrows. Word to the wise, do not attempt to make these tools unless you have a razor sharp knife or a chainsaw, and an infinite amount of patience.
To make a bow, first find another sapling and cut it so that it's about the size of you. Then determine where the handle is going to be, what part is going to be the front of the bow, and then start to carve the bow. This is the time where you'll want that chainsaw. Start to remove material from the back of the bow, but don't remove any material from the handle. This process takes a long time to finish, but once you are done removing material, then you carve "shoulders" into the ends of the bow. This is where you will tie the strings to your bow. Now no bow is ever complete without arrows. To make those find any live branches, make a divot in the end of the stick for the string, make the other end a sharp point, and straighten out the arrow. To straighten the arrow, I'm not kidding, put the stick in your mouth and bend it with your hands until it's straight.
After we finished making our bows and atlatls, we hiked back up to Burleigh Hill for the real challenge. When we got back to our campsite, we were divided up into two groups of three. The challenge was to brew any type of tea that we wanted. To do that we had to make and sustain a fire, build a tripod, melt snow then bring it to a boil, then find the material that we needed to make tea. Now I don't want to say who won (*cough* it was my team *cough*), but the difference was very pronounced. Now we are one step closer to surviving the apocalypse.
Today in Surviving the Apocalypse we started the day by making the hunting tool that sparked the invention of the bow, an atlatl. It's a hard word to pronounce, but I assure you that it is an actual thing. An atlatl is a spear-throwing device that has a very similar design to a pot hook. To make the atlatl, you first cut down a sapling and find a branch the is growing at an angle. Once you have your sapling and your branch, cut off a part around the branch that is about the size of your forearm. Trim off the end of the branch so that it is about an inch long, and then you have your atlatl. These devices can double as pot hooks if you want them too.
The atlatl was used to hunt large creatures like wooly mammoths when it was first made. Once those animals went extinct, the bow was created to hunt smaller animals for food. So after we finished making our atlatls, we moved on to making our bows and arrows. Word to the wise, do not attempt to make these tools unless you have a razor sharp knife or a chainsaw, and an infinite amount of patience.
To make a bow, first find another sapling and cut it so that it's about the size of you. Then determine where the handle is going to be, what part is going to be the front of the bow, and then start to carve the bow. This is the time where you'll want that chainsaw. Start to remove material from the back of the bow, but don't remove any material from the handle. This process takes a long time to finish, but once you are done removing material, then you carve "shoulders" into the ends of the bow. This is where you will tie the strings to your bow. Now no bow is ever complete without arrows. To make those find any live branches, make a divot in the end of the stick for the string, make the other end a sharp point, and straighten out the arrow. To straighten the arrow, I'm not kidding, put the stick in your mouth and bend it with your hands until it's straight.
After we finished making our bows and atlatls, we hiked back up to Burleigh Hill for the real challenge. When we got back to our campsite, we were divided up into two groups of three. The challenge was to brew any type of tea that we wanted. To do that we had to make and sustain a fire, build a tripod, melt snow then bring it to a boil, then find the material that we needed to make tea. Now I don't want to say who won (*cough* it was my team *cough*), but the difference was very pronounced. Now we are one step closer to surviving the apocalypse.
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