I was wondering whether there are systematic differences between effective weaponry against wild animals vs. against humans.
Here is one thought experiment to get things started:
Assume our fighter is deciding to train for 5 years with any hand weapon. Choose the best weapon for the following scenarios:
A. A fox, a wolf, a tiger and a brown bear protecting her cubs (one at a time, on consecutive months).
B. A deer (!) and a bison.
C. A roman foot soldier with 1 year’s experience. Mano a mano in an open field.
Our fighter is wearing a denim jacket and pants.
Initially, I will disallow bows, arrows and flamethrowers (awwwww) but permit spears. Our hero may train with both hands: short sword & shield and short sword & knife combinations are ok; a long spear & knife combo would be problematic.
Feel free to vary the parameters of the thought experiment, if you believe another scheme would address the underlying question better.
In all cases, a spear (and shield). You want to keep all those aggressives as far away from you as possible. The Roman soldier’s best weapon was not his gladius or his pilum but his discipline.
Pepper spray I heard was a very good deterrant. I saw this on a program for hikers that ran the risk of bear attacks. (They had the really big cans, not the little ones that women carry in their purses) :eek:
I read an interesting article in some science magazine once, claiming that if you ever find yourself in the wilderness, unarmed and threatened by wild animals, your best bet might be to find a bush with long, sharp thorns and take as large a branch as possible with you. Heck, dig up the entire bush if you can. Just hold it between you and the animal, and try to hit it on the nose if it gets to close. And pray fervently to any gods you happen to believe in.
Apparently, most wild animals will have a healthy respect for such a ‘weapon’, as they will know from experience that getting a thorn in your flesh is no fun when you don’t have fingers to pull it out. The article refered to work done by some anthropologist who claimed that our ancestors may have defended themselves against wild animals that way, but I have no idea whether he/she had any proof of that idea, or what present-day jungle dwellers would think of it.
The article did give an anecdote about a guy who used this trick when his car broke down in the middle of a park with lions and tigers; he survived, but of course maybe the animals just weren’t hungry that day. Anybody want to volunteer for a controlled experiment?
This weapon won’t do you much good if your aim is to kill the animal, rather than just defend yourself. On the other hand, it has the advantage of not requiring training or a lot of advance preparation. It won’t do much against the bison or the Roman soldier, but if you ever suddenly find yourself in a jungle with hungry lions I guess you might as well give it a try… Just don’t blame me if you get mauled anyway.
In the case of a canine animal (Wolf,Hyena,Dingo)
If you are lucky enough to be attacked with a frontal assault.
By simply placing your arm in front of you in a horizontal position,these beasts
will always take your arm…you’ll have one shot… as the animal leaps to
take your arm,they leave their entire underside exposed from their neck on down.
A good fixed-Blade Knife (Bowie) can inflict a Mortal wound.
of course,from the bite,there is infection…seek medical attention
Dude, personally, I’d want, oh, an 8fy halberd (I don’t know how long halberds are, but I know quarterstaves tend to be 6ft).
With 5 years of training (assuming the fighter takes the proper steps of QS -> HB), Fighter would be really quite speedy. I only have about 6 months of training with QS, and can already beat up on someone who has 5 years of experience with a sword. So, speed plus ax head plus spear end . . . pretty damn effective, I think. Even without the halberd end, it still hurts like a bitch to get hit with a stick (oh, trust me).
With the brown bear and bison, I’m not sure how effective it’d be, tho. Just hope the spear end is long enough to actually do some damage when you stab. Or just try to chop with the axe part.
A. Can we use those giant weighted nets I see in gladiator movies? That to slow them down, plus maybe a spear or halberd. The brown bear is rather difficult, though, but the halberd might work. Wouldn’t want to try it though.
B. Deer and bison - probably a throwing weapon, so a spear. Is this in a pit, or do i have to run them down on the range? That would suck. Even the Indians had horses and bows.
C. Foot soldier - this would scare the crap out of me. I’ve heard a master swordsman was almost unbeatable, so maybe that. Count on my training and agility - a year’s experience is formidable, but I think Roman soldiers were taught to fight in armies, using the phalanx and shields to protect themselves, so I might have a shot.
All of this changes if I get a horse. Then it’s
A. Sword and shield, try to dance around them. The bear would still kill me though.
B. Spear - tricky, but at least I’m close to their size now.
C. A giant pole, like a joisting pole, or a sword and shield. Cavalry was almost unstopable before the invention of the long bow.
I would say net and spear – which I understand was the favorite combo of the Roman gladiator, the only person who would have been in the OP’s situation on a regular basis. In fighting the foot soldier the net is used to tangle your opponent’s weapon (not thrown to cover them) and is very effective at disarming your opponent, and the spear is long enough to keep the enemy away.
Throwing any weapon would be a mistake in that you would be instantly disarmed at that point.
I also see a problem with a long weapon in fighting animals in that with their quickness they could easily get too close to you for a long weapon to be effective. In other words with a spear or halberd you would get one chance to kill a bear, bison, or wolf if they charged you, and if you missed they would be “in for the kill” and too close to your body for the weapon to be useful. Maybe a spear and short sword combo in that situation.
From what Ive learned of bear attackes, before you realize what is happening, the bear is going to knock you down, be on top of you with you lying underneath him, and your movement is going to be very restricted, you might have one arm free.
Remember that a blade kills by hemorage, and it takes quite a while for them to bleed to death.
Carrying a thorn bush is the sillyiest think I ever heard of, bears even accept bee stings to get honey when they can find it, and Ive seen them run thru thorny bushes. Bear have poor eyesight, and when they are running toward you just before they pounce on top of you, they probably wont even see the little branch that you are holding.
Ive never heard of a fox attacking anyone, unless it was rabid.
Ive seen a deer attack someone, and they seem to stop for the same unknown reason that they start. Grabbing(and holding onto) the antlers(if it a male that is attacking) is the best self protection against a deer. IF it is a doe, keep your back to the deer and its hooves away from your face.
a bison will keep throwing you around with his horns, you wont get close enough to do much to him.
A wolf or tiger will grab your thoat first thing, after which it really doesnt matter if you kill him before you die or not.
Don’t forget that blades also cut tendons and muscle. That will stop a fight long before the critter or man can die from blood loss, not to mention plain old decapitation.
I’m fond of the Lochaber Axe. I like the short-hafted ones. I think that I could take out legs with it in the case of a running animal and take out a foot soldier like a tree. With the leverage you get on a swing of a big bladed pole arm it would be hard to defend against. Here’s a url :Lochaber axe
Yet it occurred to me that spears might be preferable in many contexts, since they keep a healthy distance between the fighter and their opponent.
At the same time, I know very little of these matters. Thus my inquiry.
Susanann
----- Carrying a thorn bush is the sillyiest think I ever heard of, bears even accept bee stings to get honey when they can find it, and Ive seen them run thru thorny bushes. Bear have poor eyesight, and when they are running toward you just before they pounce on top of you, they probably wont even see the little branch that you are holding.
[WAG] Lion tamers make effective use of chairs: the 4 separate points apparently confuse the felines sufficiently to ward off attack. Perhaps the varied branches would cause the animal to balk: after all, only humans are capable of such an unusual “attack”. Still, some substantiation might be in order. [/WAG]
Halberds are cool, but they’re two-handed weapons, whereas a spear (NB not a longspear) is a one-handed weapon. You want the shield to cover yourself while the varmint’s dying.
BTW wasn’t the classic gladiator combination net and trident? A trident might lack the penetrating power for quickly killing something like a bear.
