T-rex bow?

[Dane]

If any of you recall, the Marshall family often confronted the T-Rex from the mouth of their cave, in The Land of the Lost. I always thought they should make a ballista and kill him, but I guess they were too busy battling Sleestacks to worry about harvesting dino steaks.

In the time it would take you to build that kind of bow, why not just dig a big pit with giant punji stakes, lure it in, and so kill the dino?

You guys can borrow my catapult when it is done, though.

[sailordad]

yup any weapon can kill anything

providing the person using it is capable of making the shot count,and dont forget perfect shot placement is also the key

heck i had a marlin model 60 .22 that could make one groups out to 150 yds with regular off the shelf ammo.

not that i would use it on ol' rexy there.

i,m thinking something more in the lines of a sherman tank for him.shoot him in the knee caps with that and he aint going no place fast

[Dane]

If T-Rex was anything like the CG one in Jerrasic Park, can you imagine trying to take perfect aim as he barrels down on you? A Sherman tank might not be so good....he's just flip it over if you missed, and wait for the snacks to come crawling out, sooner or later. The pit is much safer if you ask me. Can I patent it and sell it to dino hunters? 

[jape]

Well, a sharp broad-head in the kneecap would bring him down too, but I wouldn't want to get to the magick 20 meter mark though ... probably get told off for cruelty what is more by the Neanderthal League for Protection of Dino's, despite the foot-long teeth and claws! Back to the drawing board - explosive arrow heads, bolas arrows?

Kegan, you still think this is feasible?

[Papa Matt]

Brothers, basically I would say forget about trying to penetrate the skin with anything that doesn't involve an explosion. No man even with a sit-down bow will most likely be able to shoot any kind of projectile big, heavy, and fast enough to do enough damage.  Remember, T-rex was built to attack Triceratops and withstand blows from his 8-10 feet long, 10-12 inch wide horns. I don't think anything we throw at his skin will be much of a problem for him. Either explosives which detracts from our primitive fantasy, or 3 guys on both sides of him with killer aim and long thin supersharp broadheads stroke him right through each eyeball.

But what the heck, make the 300 lb bow with 2000 grain arrows just for fun 

[Papa Matt]

Brothers, this might need to be on a seperate thread but, I was thinking what kind of man it would take to standing up, pull back a 300lb bow and it brought something to mind--

Any of ya's ever read about the races of giant indians that were here when the Spanish began arriving, way before colonization? I have and by some Spanish accounts, they were extremely strong and shot superpowerful bows. I've read where some were 8-9 feet tall.

[Dane]

If a T-Rex is as tough as you guys say it is / was, a self bow just wouldn't do the job. The ancient Greeks, who developed catapults and ballistas, developed gigantic bows for war machines before torsion springs were invented. Some of these bows may have been 9 or 10 feet nock to nock, and certainly, that kind of power would be needed to kill the king of the dinasaurs. You'd need a system to pull the bow back, as well, like ratchets and pullies.

But what about the arrow tips? Could you smelt metals to go with such a bow in dino times? Or maybe gigantic stone tips? And would you fletch the arrows with dino feathers, since they may have been birdlike things?

And would they taste like chicken?

And would Rachel Welch be a guest of honor at the bbq in her fur bikini?

[Hillbilly]

yup. i gots a winchester modle 94 3030. ben lilly said it would kill anything!!

(uh, dose anyone els even know who he was? or am i the only one?)

Yep, Ben Lilly was a tough, fascinating old dude. I used to have a book about him, but I don't know where it got to.

[DBernier]

Hillbilly, didn't he have something to do with Teddy Roosevelt?

Dick

[wolfsire]

For a while now I'd been bouncing around in my head something like a crossbow, but more like a giant longbow set horizontally with a portable tripod and pully to draw.  Even if you built a pit, having those big chickens around, you'd want something portable and not too heavy.

But instead of a pit with spikes, it would probably be easier to locate at funnel and at the end of it put a row of spikes held togther like a fence, that can rotate to pop up out of the ground when releasing a counterweight.  Kind of like setting your spears against a charge.  Youd want them to pop up so that TR does not avoid them and the pit you would have to dig need only accomodate the pole ends, not all or part of the TR.  Digging a whole that big will kill you before the TR does.  The poles would still have to be pretty heafty.

[recurve shooter]

Hillbilly, didn't he have something to do with Teddy Roosevelt?

Dick

yeah. he was apointed chief huntsman by teddy, and offen guided him on bear hunts in the louisiana thickets. he hunted wilth a pack of hounds and was real, uh, like religious i guess about em. do an internet search on him. he really liked knives and made his own. also search the lilly knife. its pretty cool.

[JackCrafty]

Fun topic.

I think arrows with large cutting arrowheads (2-3" wide), aimed at the neck area, and fired by 5 strong men (w/150lb bows) at the same time, should put a damper on his day.

[JackCrafty]

Oh yeah...and I don't think T-Rex was equipped to tackle Triceratops (really thick skin, etc).  IMO, I think he was more of a scavenger.

[Dane]

Has anyone done penetration estimates to various kinds of dinos?

I still think the Sleestack cross bows may have some effect on thunder lizards, or they wouldn't carry them around. I think they dug pits too.

In the 1950s movie King Dinasaur, these scientits stumble upon a deserted island full of dinos. They end up using a portable nuke to blow up the entire island after rowing away in a rubber raft (not a good movie, I admit). I image that may be "the only way to be sure."  Points if you know what film that quote came from.

[Kegan]

I was thinking it would be in the point. Somehting really narrow, like 1" wide, with a long blade (6"?). Of course, these were bio-engineered dino's, so we have metal and what not available (but obsidian is sharper).

I definately would want to use some foot bow, or a crossbow, or catapult. No fun there!

So far, a 150#-200# bow, 2500 grain arrow, with a wicked, narrow point for penetration. Hill killed a few elephant with one shot from his 115# bow and 1700 grain arrows, getting about 30" of penetration.

Of course, there's also the idea of shooting poison arrows. You would only need a 70# bow and 700-800 grain arrows to poke a little hole to get some poison in 'em. And you could shoot them much farther away than with the clean-blade set up. But, again, not nearly so much fun !