AKTA Rules

First and foremost Safety is the main consideration. Make sure you have a large enough area for spectators and competitors and all safety rules are stringently adhered to as well as cordoning off the Throwers Lanes and surrounding area.

The second consideration is to have fun. These rules have been designed with the newcomers to knife/hawk throwing in mind and as such the newcomer is as important as the lifetime thrower since it is likely the newcomer who will go home and share their experience with others and therefore are the future of the club/group.

Experienced throwers should make sure that any newcomer gets all the help they need to succeed in the art and sport of throwing and to progress as rapidly as possible.

Remember this is a family oriented sport and the use of foul language, alcohol or drugs will not be permitted, these are merely guidelines by which you may have a safe and educational AKTA Sanctioned Throw!

Individuals wishing to hold an AKTA Sanctioned Throw should have some type of insurance or legal waiver to be signed by ALL participants and spectators or those wishing to try this sport, as it has inherent dangers and injuries may occur if safety and care are not practiced.

The AKTA is not responsible for any liability or damages incurred while ANYONE is hosting an AKTA Sanctioned Throw. It is the responsibility of the person(s) operating the throw to make sure they are protected legally.

Knife & Hawk Throwing Rules

Targets will be 5.

Each one would be a 16 inch diameter log round (or painted boards) with a 4 inch diameter bulls eye worth 5 points. An 8 inch diameter secondary ring worth 4 points, and a 16 inch diameter outside ring worth 3 points.

Targets may be numbered or lettered to define throwing pattern or a predetermined order may be set up prior to start of throw at host’s discretion.

Knives may be 9 inches in length minimum to a total length of 16 inches maximum. This will give those people with smaller knives they’ve gotten elsewhere and are comfortable with some leeway along with the closer distances.

The target heights should be about knee height for the bottom rounds and about shoulder height for the top rounds on an average sized man or 24" for the bottom and 67" for the top.

As a general rule, this would be the bottom and top of the log rounds respectively.

There will be 4 distances that knives will be thrown from, these are minimum distances and you may stand anywhere behind these lines for your throw but not in front of these lines.

They are 7 feet, 10 feet, 13 feet and 16 feet which will be a required ½ spin, 1 spin, 1 ½ spin and 2 spin respectively.

Anyone standing over or stepping over the lines will have that throw count zero after a suggested 2 verbal warnings by line judge/scorer.

All throws must be by the blade or handle as per distance requires.

There will be a total of 60 knives thrown, 5 knives from each of the 4 distances, 3 times which will have a possible scoring total of 300 points.

In case of any disputes or questions, another designated person or thrower will be asked to confirm the scoring.

The highest point ring cut will be the score and knives may not be touched by thrower until they have been scored.

Any thrower touching the knives before scoring will have that throw count zero after a suggested 2 verbal warnings by line judge/scorer.

Tomahawk Throwing Rules

Tomahawks will have a minimum handle length of 12 inches from bottom of handle to top of handle or the part that is in line with the handle in cases where all metal or plastic/composite handled hawks/axes are used with a maximum cutting edge of no more than 4 ½ inches along the curve of the blade.

The AKTA will allow the one piece all metal axes such as the Hibben, Condor, SOG or similarly constructed one piece axes as long as they fall in the length and width parameters required.

There will be 4 hawks thrown at the outer 4 targets (leaving the center target unused) at only the 13 foot distance, 5 times for a total of 20 hawks for a possible total point score of 100 points.

No thrower may step over this line to throw and the same warning rules are suggested for this event as well.

The person with the highest accumulated points from both knife and hawk will be considered the overall winner of the throw.

The newcomer who has the highest combined score for both knives and hawks would be considered the winner of the newcomer event.

The event holder will be responsible for any/all trophies or other categories (IE: 2nd place, 3rd place or Children’s categories), but the AKTA will help promote any AKTA Sanctioned Throw on their site as well as offer setup logistical advise and when possible offer stickers, patches or certificates and possibly an occasional prize knife/knives when available.

Any other events such as Mountain Man games, Obstacle Course, Escape & Evasion Course, Long Distance, Woods Walk or any other games or challenges will be totally at the discretion of the event host but scores and winners of these events would be posted along with the AKTA scores on the AKTA site.

Targets Example