Highly Entertaining Games While Touring?
 

One that comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfQ_...eature=channel

sling shot!
+ its actually useful, you never know when your marksmanship may one day come in handy.
i.e. bear

This: http://cool.abhar.org/video:109345

Do you mean a sling or a slingshot?
I think a slingshot shot might just annoy a bear, whereas a sling shot might actually hurt (kill?) one (worked on Goliath)... Never tried it on a bear myself...

I know a guy who went to Penn State Altoona. He's exactly like that even though he graduated a long time ago. In fact, he was permanently banned from my local bar for being a bad drunk.

I don't know anyone from Penn state and I didn't mean to imply anything by the video. I just thought it would be entertaining after a long day in the saddle.

or not

I'd like,HELL with that ,I'D PAY to see somebody take on a bear with a slingshot/sling....Now THAT would be entertainment!

No fair having it attached to the trigger of a rifle...LOL!!!!

seriously huh, god help you if you had to actually try to defend yourself from a wild bear with a slingshot.

however... I have used a slingshot on a variety of occasions with bears. Coyotes, and even a mountain lion (once). the deal is that a lot of animals freak out once they hear something whizzing thru the air.
its better than nothing... its entertainment, and you'd be really surprised how much impact a slingshot provides.

I know it sounds lame... but really... worth its weight

Not lame... great fun, and potentially a survival skill... 'though I prefer a sling to a slingshot although I find it much harder to be accurate... practice, practice, practice :)

edit: I've never shot at anything more alive than a coke can, though I sometimes wish I could whip it out, load and shoot at dogs while riding... I'll give this a try - probably be me crashing more than likely :/

imi, at least you would entertain the dogs (the crashing part I mean) as most of them are just bored to tears when we click on their "predator-prey" instincts. I sorta feel sorry for them if you stop and then they are back to being just regular old Fido living on the farm with a car an hour or two going by (and not "FIDO the great warrior, chasing down a bounding buck, about the provide food for the whole dog pack")

waaaaah!!! :lol: :thumb:

the key to slingshots is to pre-assemble a pile of choice rocks. (ammo supply)

it goes something like this:

i.e. camping, and you have to use something like a bear bag to hang your food.

ideally you're camp would be located in a strategic position.

identify "avenues of most likely approach"
stock pile choice rocks (ammo) in multiple locations, to easily expedite "shoot and move"
think: observation posts, range cards, sectors of fire, and interlocking sectors of fire.

become familiar with the target areas.
assign priority targets, typically in a 1,2,3 fashion, ranging from closest to furthest... 1.2.3.
practice picking from your ammo pile and simply firing off those rocks in a quick succession, firing priority targets, 1,2,3.

if you practice this method, its easy to illicit some excitement, especially if you happen to have set up camp in a location that provides some cover
i.e. behind big rocks, fallen tree, etc...

you'd be really surprised how well it works, especially if you practice, meaning: to practice that repetitive loading and firing, without looking at the target.
priority targets are stationary, something like center mass of a path way, a large object at the apex of a turn, etc...
practice firing at the location by way of alignment (azimuth of fire) with the priority target.
you don't have to actually see what is coming, just fire in that direction.

so it goes something like this:

you go on a bike tour, maybe a dirt tour, you and a couple of buddies are hanging out, cook, etc...
go hang your food from a tree, so that if a bears come around, at least you have some distance from their source of curiosity... maybe
in the night you hear a big noise, you jump up, grab a rock, and fire priority target. probably immediately from your sleeping location (kind of like sleep with your riffle)
while your buddy locates the target with a big ol light

or better yet.

there are multiple slingshots in the group. even better!

think guard duty.

unless you are super fancy with steel shot, and an ammo holder, a slingshot isn't all that great for "on the fly" type of shooting. its best as ambush/stationary defense.

I know for a fact that I hit a bear center mass at about 30ft while backpacking in the Russian Wilderness, near Weed, Ca... Callahan, Ca. Near The Marbles.
they don't like being hit
and they don't like fast things flying thru the air, ricocheting, and shattering off of granite.

I fired a rock at a mountain lion above Big Sur, almost in Ft. Hunter Liggett, and it jumped away (down) from its perch as soon as I let go of the rock. I continued to fire a conical pattern of fire (if I recall correctly; I think this is referred to as a "beating zone of fire" <--- indirect fire

slingshots are great!
big fun

and of course there are:

laser slingshots

I can't see the video from work, but I take a slingshot along, too. I don't spend much time in bear country,, but I have certainly whizzed a rock into the darkness at something going 'rustle' in the night and with good effect (it stopped rustling for the night). Likely an armadillo, possibly a chupacabras.

And it's "beaten zone", AsanaCycles... We think a bit alike... ;)

hihi... magnificent post AsanaCycles! :D do you trip wire the perimeter as well or just set booby traps?

just to clarify... you are talking slingshot not sling right?

Imi, glad you liked that....

and Asana and co, that made me chuckle, Call of Duty, The Wilderness Version. (sectors of fire etc, Im sure some are saying "wackjob militia type", it made me smile knowing what you've mentioned of your previous employment...) still kinda funny tho, line of intersecting fire for the varmits ;-)

dry twigs and branches for alerts
C4 decoys (think Caddy Shack) bike tour

slingshot

and don't forget slingshot fishing!

Or potentially deadly.

It is an extra item that I don't need so I probably won't be carrying one, but I can see it possibly being useful wrt bears. I forget whether it was Sequoia, Yosemite, or both, but... On this year's tour I was told by the rangers that the recommended procedure if you see a bear in the camping area was to yell, wave your arms, and throw small stones. I think we also saw signs that said that. I think they recommended against aiming for their the head with the stones.

Wussy

you are lucky, I bought a can about 15 years ago when doing some hiking out west, and always wondered what sort of distance it sprayed, what spread it had etc etc, having never sprayed one in my life. Didnt want to try it out and loose pressure or "stuff"--so figured that in the few frantic seconds one would have in a real situation, i would have to whip the thing out, and hopefully have a few seconds to do a test spray and get a roiugh idea of what distance it squirts...
kinda unnerving not knowing if it would go 3 feet or 10 feet? I have a feeling that in a real situation, you would have time for a 2 second squirt just as the damn thing would be nearly on you and you'd have to be ready to jump and to keep on spraying....
not something I would ever want to experience.