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hawk distances?

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Everyone is different... To get your distance; stand even with the face of the block at your side... Take seven normal steps away from the block... Where your toe ends with your last step scratch a mark in the dirt... Turn and toe that mark, this should be your distance... Take note of the way your hawk sticks, or hits the block... This will tell you if you have to move in or out a little... Most competitions only require that your hawk makes one complete revolution before it sticks... Just keep practicing and you'll get it... Hawk throwing really is fun! :)
 
As Ohio Joe said only I take six steps then turn on that step. That will always give me my starting point then I have to look at how the handle points. With my large throwing knives I do five steps and then adjust depending on the handle.

As for those guys that throw sidearm, I have no idea how they do that. Have any of you ever saw those guys that start the hawk pointing down by their ankle, take their step forward and throw sidearm? I watched a young man at a meet throwing that way. I was amazed he could stick it so well and accurate I might add.
 
I only take 5 steps, but I am 6' 8" tall. Side arm ain't that hard, just stand at the same place you normally throw and step off to the one side about 1/2 step, when you reach the top of your throw bring your arm down sideways in a big curve and do like you normally do. Throwin' is a good stress reliever at the end of the day. :eek:
 
HAWK=for one revolution, 4 1/2 steps, turn and throw. If the handle is angled to the block take a half step back. If the handle is angled away from the block, take a half step up.
KNIFE=5 steps. handle up-1/2 step foreward. handle down=1/2 step back.

SET YOUR OWN DISTANCE!! do not let someone else set a mark and try to force you to throw from there. They are trying to rig the competition! It is very unusual for two people to throw well from the same spot.

don't you love it when the hero in the movie just throws from any old spot, nails some sucker between the eyes and makes the hawk or knife stick every time he throws??
 
don't you love it when the hero in the movie just throws from any old spot, nails some sucker between the eyes and makes the hawk or knife stick every time he throws??

Yeah. A knife or a hawk is too good a weapon to throw away. I wonder how common it was in 'real life' to throw a hawk in battle? I have no doubt it was done as a passtime, and possibly to collect small game (not in this boy's hand :redface: )
 
Yeah. A knife or a hawk is too good a weapon to throw away. I wonder how common it was in 'real life' to throw a hawk in battle?

There is at least one documented case I know of where a Native threw his hawk at the guy he was chasing, just as they were approaching a fort and it was obvious that he wasn't going to overtake him. Kind of a frustrated last resort. I think most hawk throwing was done as a recreational past time and friendly competition.
 
We play a game called "Walk Back". You start at the block and start walking away from it. The next competitor calls stop. You then have three seconds to turn and throw. We do set a minimum distance you must pass for safety reasons and a max distance. You have to learn to adjust your hold on the handle by moving up or down. Sometimes you must decide to do a turn and a half or double turn throw. This is usually a eliminiation contest, when you miss your out. Try it sometime.
No Powder.
 
Y'all reckon those native Americans on the warpath gave the mountain men or whomever time to pace off carefully the distance he liked to throw from? It would seem to me unlikely anyone did much throwing of hatchets, tomahawks, knives or swords. Graybeard
 
One rondevoux that I attend has an elaborate setup for knife and hawk, targets going every which way and one that comes down a cable right at you, you have to throw the knife and hawk and you can't throw after it stops, it's done so fast you never know the distance yet some are able to stick them.
 
This is a little off subject, but what's a good target to use for throwing a hawk? I used to throw my cheap, made in China, Ka-bar (I'm not throwin' my real Ka-bar!!) at a big piece of 3/8" plywood,(And suprisingly, it stuck!) but I'm thinkin' a hawk would just tear a piece of plywood up too quick.
 
This is a little off subject, but what's a good target to use for throwing a hawk?

My favorite is a cross section of a tree. That way you are throwing into the
end grain and it not only sticks well, it lasts a long time.

Kyle.jpg
 
A good size slab from a tree stump hung on a center post with the back side wired so as not to slip or fall to the ground. Use some eye bolts on the back side to snug it up, and run some heavy wire over the top of the post. I hung my 8 inch slab of elm 32 inches off the ground. It's about 24 inches wide x about 30 inches tall and the post that holds it is an eight inch round treated corner post that ranchers normally buy... It's in the ground about two feet... This height seems to work for the entire family when we're practicing and playing some hawk games... :) I'm glad, Claude posted that picture. I've used that method too and it works quite well! :)
 
You are supposed to use a bow to shoot an apple off the kid's head not an AXE! :haha:
 
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