DIY Survival Gear Test - Throwing An Improvised Spear

Making your own improvised survival gear can be a great way to boost your confidence in your skills and abilities. The only problem is sometimes that gear doesn't hold up the way you planned. The best way to avoid this problem is to test it so that you will know how it performs and if there are any flaws that need to be corrected.


My recently improvised spear was put to the test and held up very well. After a few practice throws from about 25 feet, some fairly decent results were achieved. Now it takes quite a few practice throws to get it right and throwing a 5 1/2 foot improvised spear isn't as easy as it may seem. Using an old hackberry tree as a target, decent results were obtained after a couple of complete misses and a few glancing blows. My efforts actually came out as well as RW, Jr. for a change. Putting some hefty effort into my throw managed to sink the spear about 3/4 of an inch into the tree. It took some effort to remove the spear but the spear head remained intact and didn't come off the spear after it was removed. This was one of the main things that could have caused a problem. If the spear tip came off, it would be just another stick.


A picture of my best throw is shown above. Not too bad for an old guy with a pointy stick.

RW, Jr.'s spear throw turned out pretty decent as well and he managed to sink the tip solidly on target. Of course, Mrs. RW was closely supervising our activities and took her turn at throwing the spear also. Although most of her throws were glancing blows, she did manage to take a small chunk of bark off the tree being used as a target.


DIY survival gear is great to have around but it's important to make sure it works as intended.


Staying above the water line!


Riverwalker