PATHWAYS NEWSLETTER 12/8/2017

MAKE YOUR OWN SURVIVAL BLOWGUN
By Benjamin Raven Pressley
The blowgun is another weapon that can be produced in the survival situation and is used for hunting small game, such as squirrels. However, I have read accounts of Cherokee boys being so accurate that they would shoot a dart at a deer’s eyes blinding them which slowed them enough for them to catch up with them and kill them with their knives.
The blowgun can be made from a pithy centered branch that is split and hollowed out, such as Sumac, like the Houma did, or it is most easily made from a length of River Cane, like the Cherokee. You can also use Bamboo, but the thick sections of bamboo are harder to get out. A good length is ½ to 1 inch in diameter and 4 to 8 feet long. The River Cane blank should first be heat straightened as described earlier for the atlatl darts.

The interior wall joints must be removed. In the survival situation this is best accomplished by splitting the blank into two equal halves down the length of it and using stone flakes or grinding stones to grind them away smoothly. The two halves should then be glued back together with hide glue or pitch glue and bound with buckskin, rawhide or cordage. If you make one at home, you may wish to use a heated steel rod to burn out the sections, instead of splitting the cane and sanding the interior smoothly. Check the straightness once you have all the sections knocked out by looking down the bore. You should be able to see a circle when looking into the light. It is more important to be straight down the bore, even if the outside appears to be crooked. Sometimes if you roll the blowgun in a circle you may find that you see a perfect circle. When you find that point you should mark the top of the blowgun so you know where to turn it when firing a dart. I like to go ahead and tie a light weight string with a fluffy feather on the underside at the other end. That way I know where to turn the blowgun for firing and I have a wind direction indicator built in. I do like Rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea) best. River Cane is native to North America, Bamboo (There are 91 genera and about 1,000 species of bamboo. They are all members of the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae.) is its Asian cousin. River Cane is much easier to work with than Bamboo. The joints in Bamboo are thicker and can never seemingly be sanded smooth enough. A smooth bore is essential to a blowgun. There should be no left over material inside or anything to slow the exiting dart down. Because of the way plants grow the root end will be a slightly larger diameter than the other. The dart is placed in the larger end and exits the smaller end. This has a ‘choke’ effect on the dart causing its fletchings to really lay down and a lot of force is built up for the fastest exit possible.

The darts are made by using any lightweight, small diameter wood. Splits of River Cane or Bamboo work well. At home, just for target practice, using Bamboo skewers that you can purchase at your grocer works very well. I use thick walled Cane or Bamboo when I make darts from this material, so it can be rounded. Flat pieces of cane have a tendency to ‘plane’. The Cherokee used to overcome this problem by heating the shaft material and twisting it into a corkscrew. The corkscrew design does not make it spin as some have theorized it only stabilizes it by keeping it from planing. For most hunting, though, you will need a heavier shaft material. I prefer split, round diameter, straight-grained hardwood. I like Locust (Gleditsia triancanthos) best. Darts should be sharpened on one end and about 10 inches in length. Grind

the point, rather than whittling it. It makes for a stronger, longer lasting tip. You also want to really taper the point back, if you don’t it acts like a blunt tip and doesn’t get the penetration you need. I have seen darts bounce off of squirrel hides before for this very reason. Another alternative that you probably will really find not necessary is to make a tiny point of stone or bone and hafting it in the point end of the dart.
Fletchings should cover about 4 inches of the butt end and can be made from rabbit fur, cotton, Bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) down, small bird feathers and some other plant downs.
When choosing fletching material, keep in mind: a) The material must be just light enough to give drag to the dart to stabilize it but not outweigh the rest of the dart; and, b) It must also be light and fluffy enough to fill the chamber of your blowgun as air is pushed through from your breath, causing it to be propelled out and yet be able to lay down aerodynamically when exiting the blowgun. Small bird feathers work well, ‘fluffs’ or very tiny feathers, not stiff spined feathers. I really like small turkey breast and thigh feathers. Tiny feathers must be tied in, layering one row on another as described with thistle down below. Fluffs may sometimes just be tied at the top at a point a few inches from the butt end. I have found fluffs to cause more drag and slow the dart down though. If you use rabbit fur cut a thin strip and spiral wrap it, securing both ends. Rabbit fur is very heavy for a dart, so you will have to experiment with the weight ratio. Cotton can be secured well enough for a one shot dart by just licking the shaft of the dart and rolling it on without string, kind of like the South American aborigine does with the plant down they use called kapok (Ceiba pentandra). You can experiment with other downs used in this manner. Cotton works this way because of its long fibers that can be spiral wrapped around the dart, unlike Cattail down that does not work. As far as plant downs go, you will have to be very selective. Remember the purpose of the down is to carry the seed of the plant, so you will have to remove the heavy seeds and they will have to be secured in the same manner as described next with the thistle down. It cannot just be rolled in glue! Which brings us to Thistle down. Thistle down is the material of choice. Get a bulb that is dried but not opened or catch them before they open and tie them shut and allow them to dry till you’re ready to use them. Native Americans would split a piece of cane and clamp bulbs between the two halves tied together until they were ready to use. Remove the down carefully, keeping it flat and in one line. Carefully remove the seeds, brown chaff and rough up and soften the hard areas that held the seed, while keeping tightly clamped between your thumb and forefinger. Holding a length of cordage in your mouth, with the other end secured in a notch in the butt end of the shaft of the dart you are rolling, so one hand

holds the dart shaft, while the other holds the thistle down. Secure the fletching material by wrapping it with the cordage catching just enough of an edge to hold it and allow it to fluff out as you move down the entire fletching area, feeding the down into the string as you go and tie off at the end.

The dart should slide in the blowgun easily but snug. It is placed in the end you will blow, flush, point first. You may even want to insert the freshly made dart to the depth you want it and burn the excess while in the blowgun making a nice flat finish. The blowgun is held with both hands with the elbows resting on the chest and together. The dart is then blown with a sudden burst of air after aiming at the target.
The blowgun is used in many cultures throughout the world. You will be impressed with the accuracy and distance you can achieve with it with very little practice. Everyone has seen the National Geographic specials with the South American aborigine bringing down monkeys with a poisoned dart with a blowgun ten feet long or more. They often used poison from the mucus of the poison dart frog. If you wish to experiment with some poisons concentrated tobacco works well. Poison is not necessary, however, for most small game and as far as we know was not used in North America. Monkeys have a more advanced nervous system and the additional reassurance of the poison is necessary for hunting them. Most darts are constructed heavy and long enough to bring down most small game.