Atlatl competitors take aim with ancient weapon

SEDGEWICKVILLE, Mo. -- Like a pitcher preparing for the perfect fastball, Ron Mertz firmly planted his feet, squared his shoulders, aimed at his target and launched his dart.

He missed the wild boar he aimed for first, but got lucky with a short shot at a bobcat, landing his spear -- made of river cane -- in the "kill zone."

The targets, set up Sunday at a rural farm in Bollinger County, were just one station competitors in an atlatl sporting event took aim at with the Stone Age hunting weapon. The atlatl was first developed thousands of years ago in Europe, but using it was compared to a modern day pastime in America.

"Throw it like a baseball," said Mertz, the former president of the Missouri Atlatl Association from Town and Country, Mo. "If you can flick your wrist, that's where most of the action is. That's what really gives it its energy."

The event's host, Curtis Waggoner, has traveled the country for similar competitions but put on his first this weekend. It began Friday with the International Standard Accuracy Contest (ISAC), where competitors -- 10 in all -- each took five throws from 15 feet and another five from 20 feet. A shot in the center earns the thrower 10 points. Competitors submit their final scores to the World Atlatl Association, Waggoner said.

"ISAC was developed so that people all over the world can compete against each other over the course of a year," he said. "My score today could be compared to somebody who threw in France three months ago."

An atlatl can vary in shapes and sizes -- some sold by the archery club are made with real bear claws or deer antlers -- and if thrown correctly can reach speeds of 100 mph.

The hunter's course was the most appealing to competitors, Waggoner said. A trail on his land led participants to a havalina, an alligator exiting a swamp, a lion, a mountain lion, elk and deer. Each shot presented a different challenge for the competitors and near the end of the trail, a shot at a standing black bear tested their timing.

Competitors had to take their shot at the target before a marble, dropped down PVC pipe, fell into a tin can.

"I try to emulate a real hunting scenario," Waggoner said. "Everybody had a blast with this."

Waggoner, with his daughter, Amanda Koehler, designed the hunter's course after seeing other courses in Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi and Wisconsin.

"It's always been a big family thing. It's so much fun," Koehler said. "We travel all over the country for bow shoots."

Waggoner, Koehler, her son, Alex Foster, 8, and Mertz were the only four to finish the atlatl competition Sunday.

Alex shot his first bow and arrow at age 2. Through competition, he said he's learning to keep his focus.

"It's hard to focus because you can't actually control the dart," he said.

Several others drove to Sedgewickville to compete Friday and Saturday, though, including a couple from Arkansas and a man from north of Columbia, Mo., Koehler said.

The ancient hunting weapon is starting to gain more of a following after the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 2007 approved the use of the atlatl for hunting small game. Missouri became the second state in the nation to allow the atlatl to be used for deer hunting in 2010.

"It's become quite a milestone for atlatl users," Waggoner said.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

County Road 372, Sedgewickville, MO