As a long term sustainable survival hunting weapon which is not dependent on modern manufacturing to maintain its effectiveness, the throwstick has many advantages over the bow, as well as other possible survival weapon choices. In an open country scenario against a group of animals, it has a longer effective hunting range than the modern compound bow. It's much more durable than arrows and with the proper knowledge at hand and some basic tools, it's easier to make than to make a good arrow, even with stone tools. It offers long term usage unless it is abused and thus broken or lost. It is deployed much more rapidly than a bow, even against moving targets, and is easier to keep in ready position for long periods of time, making opportunistic shots possible and eliminating the need for a tree stand. It flies on a straight trajectory making range to target trajectory/holdover calculations irrelevant. It is able to break legs, making the escape of game impossible compared to a shot with an arrow which kills slowly, allowing possible escape. It has other uses than as a hunting weapon including digging, hand to hand fighting, clearing brush, tending fires, clearing trails, etc.... It has a shotgun like effect when thrown at a flock of birds, allowing the taking of multiple animals in one single shot at extreme ranges, and then retriving the stick and the game afterwards. On a single day's hunt with a throwstick it can be instantly deployed hundreds of times and retrieved afterwards. It is useful to hunt a variety of both small as well as large game. It is the last ditch weapon of opportunity when everything else has failed. It was one of a very few items the Aboriginal peoples of Australia carried to survive in some of the harshest environments on earth.

It has disadvantages too. It is difficult to develop and maintain accuracy. It is not good in thick brush where it gets hung up before it can even reach its target. It is only as powerful as the thrower can throw it to be. It is right or left hand specific. It can be lost if thrown in the wrong places and it does not float in water. It is..., primitive. It is not nearly as easy as hunting with a rifle. Yet even against the modern rifle, as a survival weapon, the throwstick has some advantages to speak of as well. It is silent and stealthy, not scaring away surrounding game or attracting unwanted attention. It never runs out of bullets. It has no moving parts to fail or to keep clean or dry. It is much lighter in weight than a gun. It can replace other tools one might carry such as a shovel or machete. It is more quickly deployed than a gun at close range targets.

Throwsticks have their place in a survival tool kit. In a modern and violent world I wouldn't expect to win a battle against a gang carrying AR-15's with a boomerang. But I'd keep both weapons handy for the appropriate time and place.