|
A hunter's dream:
a story about fishing reels,
bows and arrows, and guns
Send a link to a friend
|
“Give a man a fish and he has
food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of
him for the entire weekend.” -- Zenna Schaffer |
By Paul Niemann
[OCT. 9,
2003]
As hunting season approaches, we look
at the origin of the hunter's toys: the bow and arrow and the rifle.
Since I've never known a hunter who didn't also fish, we explore the
origins of fishing too.
|
|
The origins of fishing
Fishing began in the Stone Age (and a caveman called in sick the
following Monday to go fishing). Before there were fishhooks and
fishing string, prehistoric fishermen used spears to catch fish.
Later, the more “modern” prehistoric fishermen used a gorge to catch
fish. A gorge was a baited piece of bone or flint with two sharp
ends and a leather line attached at the middle.
Angling, which is fishing for sport rather than for food, dates all
the way back to the Old Testament. It's not known when the first
basic fishing pole (without a reel) was used, but one source
indicates that the Egyptians fished with rods, lines and hooks as
early as 2000 B.C. The first drawing of a fishing pole was from the
Orient in 1195.
In the 1650s, England's legendary Charles Kirby developed the bent
hook that we use today. In 1820, George Snyder of Paris, Ky., became
the first American to produce fishing poles with reels. Originally,
the reel was used mainly for storing excess string. It's possible
that the British made fishing poles with reels around the same time
as Snyder on “the other side of the Pond,” although there are no
records to verify or dispute this.
Hunting with bows and arrows
Prehistoric hunters used bows and arrows thousands of years ago, and
it's possible that the bow and arrow dated about as far back as the
first boomerang. Contrary to popular opinion, the boomerang was not
effective for hunting.
The bow and arrow wasn't the first hunting tool, though, as stone
axes and spears preceded it. The crossbow was invented in the Middle
Ages, around the late 1500s, and its silent nature benefited hunters
then as it does today. Even in 2003, there are still primitive
tribes of people who use bows and arrows to hunt down their meals.
 [to top of
second column in this article] |
From muzzle loaders and muskets to the 21st century
Gunpowder was invented in China around 1040 for use in fireworks and
rockets. It wasn't until after it arrived in Europe a couple of
centuries later that it was first used in guns.
The first known reference to a gun was in 1326, although it was
called a vaso because it resembled a vase. It bore no resemblance to
any modern guns; in fact, it was fired like a gun but it shot an
arrow rather than a bullet. Since it was called a vaso, it probably
came from Italy. Early guns were fired with burning sticks or hot
coals.
Shotguns were used to hunt small game as early as 1549.
Single-barrel shotguns were followed by double-barrel shotguns in
the late 1700s. Early muskets were muzzle-loading guns, which were
set off with a lighted match. Muskets first appeared in the 1600s
and were replaced by rifles around 1850.
Whether you hunt with a shotgun or a .22 -- a Remington, a Ruger or
a Winchester -- chances are that your gun is similar to those made a
hundred years ago.
My time's up. It's time to take my nephew snipe hunting. [Paul
Niemann]
Invention Mysteries™ is written each week by Paul Niemann, who has a
brother who once caught 46 fish in one afternoon on his family's
pond just south of Quincy. The writer can be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2003 Last week's
column in LDN:
"Who invented television --
an American, a Russian-born immigrant or a Scot?"
|
