If you can tune in, don’t miss the Weapon Masters special on the atlatl Sunday at 9 p.m. on the Military Channel.

You can also view clips of it on this link:
http://military.discovery.com/video/weapon-masters.html

In the segment featuring Atlatlists Bob Berg of Thunderbird Atlatl, Mark Bracken, Doug Leeth and Mike Waters, the four top notch atlatlists try to see what a stone point on the end of an atlatl dart will do when it hits the armor worn by a Spanish Conquistador! Producer Alex Jouve traveled to Letchworth State Park in upstate New York in August 2007 to see if the Aztecs armed with atlatls really could have presented a challenge to the invading Spanish Conquistadors a few centuries ago. The World Atlatl Association held its annual meeting at Letchworth State Park last year and a few of the best atlatlists in the world just happened to be around for the challenge!

Watch to see what kind of a challenge is presented by the atlatl Bob Berg, Mark Bracken, Doug Leeth and Mike Waters give the visiting Conquistador a great challenge!

Thunderbird Atlatl made the international news this month with a feature on owner Bob Berg in Traditionell Bogenschiessen (Traditional Bow Shooting)in Germany. The article was written by Frank Reinshagen. The article discusses the development of Thunderbird Atlatl and the company’s growth.
The article also shows Jaap Koppedrayer of Yumi Archery and Bob Berg figuring out the art of Japanese bow string making.
Thunderbird Atlatl dart shafts were used to make darts for a documentary on Naked Science called Prehistoric Americans. It was great seeing Thunderbird’s darts in action!
Spring is here and it is time to get your atlatl orders in for the upcoming spring and summer months. Give us a call or order on line.

Atlatl contests can take many forms. An Ithaca College student and Park Scholar, Peter Berg, has produced a reality television show called “The Race” which is patterned after the popular CBS television show “The Amazing Race”. “The Race”, unlike the national show, took place over a four day period in upstate New York. “The Race” involved six teams of two people each from Ithaca College, located in Ithaca, NY.

An atlatl challenge was one of the many challenges the participants were able to tackle during their four days of competition. The atlatl challenge was set up at the Waterman Conservation Center in Apalachin, NY on Friday, Oct. 20. The five remaining teams had to complete this challenge before receiving a clue to go on to the next phase of the race.

Bob Berg gave each team rudimentary instructions on the use of the atlatl and set them up with equipment. Their task was to shoot at the target which was placed about 12 yards away and place two darts within each of the five successively smaller rings ending with the gold bull’s eye. Complicating this was the fact that the day had been cold and rainy. The ground was at first slippery grass which quickly turned into slippery mud as the activity progressed. The action was fast and furious as the participants had to retrieve darts after each round as fast as they could on the slick surface. The contestants were all college students with varying degrees of natural talent for throwing darts with an atlatl.

Atlatls were used in another leg of the race as contestants had to locate one of five atlatls that were hidden on Hiawatha Island. Hiawatha Island is an island on the Susquehanna River near Owego, NY. Contestants had the choice of going to Hiawatha Island before or after the atlatl challnege. The competitiors who went to the island first had no knowledge of atlatls had to guess what they were.

The contest ended at the Gazebo in the Courthouse Square in Owego, NY, followed by dinner and an overnight stay at the First Union Presbyterian Church, also in Owego.

The staff at Thunderbird Atlatl enjoyed the opportunity to help on this project and we look forward to airing of the show on Ithaca College Television in November. The show can also be downloaded from Ithaca College TV web page when it airs.

Watch David Letterman on CBS this Friday, Dec. 23! Massachusetts Atlatl Champion Gary Nolf will be casting a dart through a wreath during the show’s “Show and Tell” segment!

We have been busy with atlatl orders this Christmas season and have enjoyed talking to many of you on the phone. Please call at 1-800-836-4520 if you have any questions or need additional atlatl information. You can also email us at contact@thunderbirdatlatl.com or thunderbirdatlatl@gmail.com.

We are looking forward to our visit to The Alamo in February – more on that soon!! Check out the video clip by Arthur Haines using Thunderbird Atlatl equipment. You can link to it by going to atlatl resources on our links page or click the following link: Atlatl Demonstration Video (wmv)

Thanks to Arthur Haines for the video clip!