This past week end, the TomahawkGuys had another great time throwing the ‘hawks. The weather was a little cooler than normal but that only made the campfire feel even better. We played around for awhile throwing for distance, where “Night-Hawk” nailed another 6 rotation throw, before we settled down to a game of “Around-the-World”, then moved on to using the NMLRA paper targets as pictured above.
We have been getting in a lot of good ‘hawk throwing lately. With the cooler autumn weather we have been having a nice campfire going next to the target range. Doesn’t get much better than that! On this particular day we were inspired to try for some new benchmarks. Here are a couple pics of “Night-Hawk” showing a new personal best in the “half-throws” with a 4 1/2 rotation stick. He also sticks one from 7 full rotations out again!
Yesterday was a great day to be outside. It was picture perfect with bright sunshine, just right temperature and colorful autumn leaves. A good day to invite some friends to the TomahawkGuys main target range for a little ‘Hawktoberfest action. Among those were a few folks who got to throw a tomahawk for the first time. I recently built a couple extra portable stands and it was an opportunity to use them to set up 5 throwing lanes so there wasn’t a line of people waiting to throw. I knew all those extra targets laying around would come in handy for a time like this.
Here is a picture of some of the younger folks enjoying themselves learning to master the throws. For most it was their first or second time throwing but, like most people, they caught on fast. At one point one of them told me he stuck 66 throws in a row, and this was his first day throwing! It was hard to break them away even at supper time. The lure of brats and metts grilled over the open hickory wood fire was barely enough to get them to stop.
Well, here is a sneak peek at my latest tomahawk. It is similar to another custom hawk I already have but much heavier. I am doing a test run on this to see how well it holds up… more later!
Here we are with Steve, one of the original “TomahawkGuys.” We got together on this autumn Sunday afternoon to finish setting up his new target block and to do a little throwing of course. He now has a 32″ diameter Tulip Poplar block on his “camo” portable target stand. We also marked it up in the “TomahawkGuys” 7″ square pattern so that it is useful for “Around-the-World” and “tic-tac-toe” games, both of which are very fun to play. Also, pictured is one of his daughters who enjoys throwing hawks too! His hawk of choice is Beaver Bill’s Thin Line model.
Just a few weeks after “Night-Hawk” set a new distance record for the TomahawkGuys at 96′-3″ with a 7 rotation throw, I, “Bat-Hawk” surpassed that with my own 7 rotation throw from 98′. Amazing thing is that we both stuck the ‘hawk on our third attempts at the distance. That is one “heckuva” heave to get the tomahawk all the way down there to the target block. Too bad we don’t have video of these throws, we are going to try to get some video of all the different throws that we do one of these days. I do have a couple crumby snapshots of what the target block looks like from 98′ and closer shot of the hawk in the block from the 98’ throw. This block is a 33″ diameter piece of Tulip Poplar. And the ‘hawk is a BB Thin Line.
Here is the classic video showing Ed Ames teaching Johnny Carson how to throw the Tomahawk. Ed Ames is the actor who is best known for his role as “Mingo” on the 1964 TV series “Daniel Boone”. In the video he talks about doing a 1 revolution throw but he is actually doing a 1 1/2.
On several occasions I have had the opportunity to teach younger folks how to throw the tomahawk. I have taught kids as young as 6 and as old as… Here we have the grandson of a good friend of mine. I recently set up this friend with a new ‘hawk and target block, and I happened to be there when his grandson was visiting and he was very interested in giving it a try. I demonstrated a few times and guided him through the first few throws and in short order this was the result. Here he is with his first “stick.” Needless to say he was very excited! My friend tells me that now, just a few short weeks later, this grandson is routinely beating him in their weekly tomahawk competitions!!!
Just got a couple new Beaver Bill Throwing Hawks, a Premium model and a Thin-Line! I was out testing them today and they fly beautifully as expected. Stickin’ every time, well at least when I hit the target, at 4 rotations once in a while I threw wide, maybe I should say wild!! Anyway, I was taking a few photos and I thought I would try some unusual angles. This is one my favorites.
Actually that’s 96′ 3″. That’s right, Night-Hawk (aka Patrick) takes possession of the distance record with an incredible throw of 7 rotations at 96′ 3″. Trust me you have to put your whole body into that throw. He was using a Beaver Bill Thin-Line Tomahawk and nailed it to the target block on his 3rd attempt. He was progressing back from 1. 2, 3, etc rotations on the “old range” when he reached the natural limit of that range due to tree limb interference. On the 6 rotation throw we are under a lower tree and to throw a 6, clipping a small branch is not unusual. Well, because his step was working out to be a little farther back that day he felt he couldn’t get off the throw without major tree branch trimming. Just so happens that the week before we set up another “unlimited range” just over from the old one. We had yet to throw on that range so I (Bat-Hawk) encouraged him to move over there since there is really no limit to how far back you can throw from. Next thing you know this is the result. We hadn’t worked out the distances yet for that range so we were not sure of the rotations involved but we did know that it was further away than any other throw we had yet achieved. We measured it off at 96′ 3″ and still have yet to figure out the exact rotations being either 7 or 8. Where one stands to throw the tomahawk is highly dependent on a number of factors including personal technique, length of the handle and weight of the tomahawk head. So, if you are using a hawk that has a lighter head such as a Beaver Bill Thin Line, and a handle that has been shortened a couple inches (which I always do), you could be standing a few few feet closer that if you are using a BB Premium model, which is heavier, and a full length handle. Oh BTW, this is a 31″ sycamore target.
TomahawkGuys 
You must be logged in to post a comment.