Thunderbird Atlatl will be at the Spencer Van Etten School District’s annual sportsman’s show Saturday, February 7, in Spencer, NY.
Stop by and see us on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you.
It is a busy time of year at the Thunderbird Atlatl shop. We are ready for your atlatl and dart orders. Gift certificates are also available.
In the next couple of weeks, we cannot handle custom orders. 
The majority of our orders are shipped Ground Advantage via the post office. Due to holiday shipping price increases and the oversize charge, there is additional shipping for other services. While not guaranteed, the post office says orders going out by December 17 should arrive by Christmas. Here are the holiday mailing deadlines for USPS/UPS/Fed Ex:
Note that these deadlines are guidelines; weather, inventory issues, congestion may delay arrival of packages.
Here are some of the shipping deadlines for those looking to receive packages by Dec. 24.
2025 holiday gifts shipping deadline:
USPS: Ground and First-Class by Dec. 17, Priority Mail by Dec. 18, Priority Mail Express by Dec. 20. Shipping might take longer for Alaska and Hawaii addresses. UPS: 3-Day Select by Dec. 19, 2nd Day by Dec. 22, Next Day by Dec. 23.
FedEx: Ground and Home Delivery shipments by Dec. 17, 4-day by Dec. 18, 3-day by Dec. 19, 2-day by Dec. 22, 1-day by Dec. 23; Overnight or Express shipping deadline is Dec. 23, Same-Day still possible on Dec. 24, depending on zip code.
Thunderbird Atlatl will be escaping the Northeast cold for a couple of weeks and will be attending two knapins in Florida.
We will be at the Silver River Knap-In Saturday, Feb. 17 & Sunday, Feb. 18 at Silver Springs State Park in Silver Springs, Florida. There will be International Standard Accuracy Competitions on Friday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 17, at 4 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 18, at 10 a.m. For further information contact Silver Rivers Museum at Silver Springs State Park at (352) 236-5401. The museum is located at 1445 NE 58th Avenue · Ocala, Florida 34470. It is located within the Silver River State Park. The park is situated off Baseline Road (CR 35) and one mile south of SR 40.
1445 NE 58th Avenue · Ocala, Florida 34470
www.silverrivermuseum.com
The following weekend we will be attending and demonstrating at the 11th Annual Ochlockonee River State Park Stone Age and Primitive Arts Festival. The event will be Friday, February, 23rd; Saturday, February 24th and Sunday, February 25th. There will be ISACs at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m.
Ochlockonee River State Park is located four miles southwest of Sopchoppy off of US Highway 319, 429 State Park Road, Sopchoppy, Florida 32358. For further information contact Kristin Ebersol, park manager, at 850-962-2771 or email: Kristin.Ebersol@dep.state.fl.us
Wendel Adams, my good friend who passed away several years ago was a fellow atlatlist who helped in the Great Atlatl Hunting Experiment where we relearned how to use atlatls for hunting big game. Wendel was from Kentucky. He was an amazing machinist and an avid outdoorsman.
The art of atlatl hunting had been lost and after about a decade of experimentation we figured out how to do it again. We also shared atlatl fishing trips in Florida and Kentucky.
Wendel helped me build my first dart tapering machine when he and his wife Bobbi came to visit us in New York. I think it was 2001 or 2002. Not to forget, the many times Bobbi and Wendel helped make my life and my family’s life much more comfortable on the road through their gracious hospitality.
I also remember the late Lou Becker, an atlatlist and boyer from Michigan who was an inspiration for me also in the effort to discover how the atlatl may have been used for hunting. I met Lou in the early 1990s when he was experimenting and making atlatls. Lou was a kind and gentle friend who shared his enthusiasm for hunting and learning with me. Along with his many other responsibilities, Lou served as President of the Michigan Atlatl Association.
Okay so it’s snowy and cold in a lot of places but we can dream of what awaits us (or if you live in a warmer climate, get ready for an adventure)! We’re already getting seed catalogs in the mail so think spring!
Fishing with atlatls and harpoons is exciting and fun. It’s one of the most satisfying uses of an atlatl even if you don’t get anything. We and our customers have experienced atlatl harpoon fishing in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, on lakes in Kentucky and New York, Michigan, Florida and Michigan. Thunderbird Atlatl’s harpoons have proven themselves over and over again.
Last July just off of Drummond Island in Lake Huron, Michigan, a group of us spent an enjoyable day and night making our equipment and preparing for atlatl fishing. We fastened two canoes together to make a pontoon so people could stand up in the boat safely so they could see into the water to shoot fish. This was all part of the Great Lakes Traditional Arts Gathering which will take place again in July 2014.
One of our canoes used battery powered lights. The other more traditional setup used birch bark torches. The piece of birch about the torch is a blind to keep the harpooner from being blinded by the light.
