jim gasque slingshot collection

Stalking game with his slingshot

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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

“One of boyhood’s traditional toys has come of age. Jim Gasque, North Carolina sportsman, has proved that the ordinary slingshot, when properly made and used, can be an adult weapon of deadly accuracy at distances up to 30’ — a range sufficient for stalking small game. He shoots regular No. 0 buckshot.

NC sportsman Jim Gasque
NC sportsman Jim Gasque

“His slingshots are made as shown, the dogwood forks being dried in a slow oven overnight after tying. Instead of inner-tube strips, he uses two rubber bands 1/16” thick, 5/8” wide, and 7½” or 8” long.

“When shooting, he takes a stance similar to that in archery, body at right angles to the target, feet apart, and weight balanced on both feet. Holding the shot cup at the right eye, he stretches the rubber by extending his left arm fully while aligning the target in the sights.”

Rubber Band Sharpshooter; How a North Carolina Sportsman Makes and Shoots His Slingshots, by Tom Cushing, Modern Mechanix, Aug 1946

Jim Gasque, an outdoor writer from Asheville, NC, authored Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smokies, a classic 1948 work that offers a period portrait of outdoor life in those mountains.

The book, re-released last month by the University of North Carolina, was the first nationally distributed book on fishing in and around the Smokies, although Horace Kephart, who also was a great fan of angling in the region, often wrote about it as well.

chart showing varieties of slingshot

Filled with anecdotes, fishing and hunting stories, and recollections of legendary local sportsmen and guides, the book presents a social history of these activities before the founding of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934.

Gasque’s guide covers trout fishing on well-known creeks like Cataloochee, Deep, and Hazel; smallmouth bass fishing on rivers like Oconaluftee, Tuckasegee, and others; and lake fishing on Fontana, Nantahala, Chatuge, and Santeetlah. Thanks to careful preservation by the park, the streams Gasque describes still draw sportsmen today.

“The techniques and few flies noted in the book are as deadly on trout today as when the information was penned half a century ago,” says Don Kirk, author of Fly-Fishing Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains. “Gasque’s chapters on Cataloochee and Deep creeks are extremely insightful.” The book offers a nuanced glimpse of the region just prior to an era of significant development and growth.

Gasque is best known for his only other book—Bass Fishing: Techniques, Tactics, and Tales.

sources: http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=1566
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/08/05/rubber-band-sharpshooter/?Qwd=./PopularScience/8-1946/sling_shot&Qif=sling_shot_0.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=XL#qdig

More articles on fishing:

Something Fishy’s Goin’ on Here(Opens in a new browser tab)

We used to catch the cat on a trot line(Opens in a new browser tab)

Book Excerpt: ‘Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia’(Opens in a new browser tab)

One comment

  1. I had no idea that you could make a child’s toy into a weapon that can be used for hunting! Just the idea that you can shoot a regular buckshot from one is amazing to me. I’ll have to study this a little bit more and see about making one for myself.

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