Javelin champion uses spear to take big Alerbertan black bear; the media is freaked.

I think it's awesome and the animal rights lunatics never miss an opportunity to show their true colors. They're misguided, misinformed, wretched human beings. If you took them back 150yrs or more, they'd either be too dainty to survive, or they would wake the hell up.

Archers and gun-folks work to have the skill for a proper hit. Why would a spear guy be any different?

I imagine that the point of a hunting spear would allow for deep penetration and an arrow's width of cut. Quick bleed-out.

Was it legal to hunt with that spear? If so, these whining grass eaters need to cry somewhere else. As long as a hunter stays within his/her own abilities to put the meat down quick, I don't see a problem. People screw things up on a disturbingly regular basis using every possible hunting method/implement due to either trying to work outside their skill level, improper/unprepared equipment, or just plain incompetence. Looks like this guy did none of those things. The same crybabies would do cheetah flips if he got an instant kill with a rifle because "its unfair and the animal didn't have a chance". I just don't concern myself with what these people say, and I would have a real hard time taking any threat from them seriously. Personally, I wouldn't want to confront someone who can fling a spear like that due to my own sense of self-preservation.

Well put, FL-NC. I agree; as long as the hunter is ethical, the method not a factor.

Besides, I've always wanted to jump from a tree stand and take a deer with a knife....

entropy said:

Well put, FL-NC. I agree; as long as the hunter is ethical, the method not a factor.

Besides, I've always wanted to jump from a tree stand and take a deer with a knife....

Click to expand...

I think we've all played that one out in our heads...... Tree-stand time leaves plenty of opportunity for day-dreaming.

Not enough options on the poll for me to do anything but say unsure. The way I see things, you have 2 very different schools of thought on ethical kills. 1 is power, the other is placement. Both have served to prove themselves over the full extent of human history. Thousands of years ago, mammoth among other critters were driven over cliffs to their death. As brutal as this sounds it was raw power. The power of gravity used by humans to serve a specific purpose. Jump to the opposite end of the spectrum and you have the stories of a 22 short killing some big dangerous game that it seems it would not be up to the task of. Eye shots, ear shots, etc with pinpoint accuracy allows for extremely good placement with essentially no power to be deadly. Literally every method in between that has been used to procure dinner is a combination of power and placement (or precision). Modern deer rifles at extreme ranges offer killing ability but often result in injured game forcing people to reduce their max range to what they deem acceptable. Same for muzzle loaders of a bygone era, archery equipment, atlatl, thrown spears, etc all the way to the club... Each step in evolution of the dinner getting device seems to move away from power in favor of placement. Use of a short range spear at the hands of a skilled hunter allows for a lot of power to be applied. That power, even with little precision (or in this case a lucky hit) does a whole bunch of damage on the target. With that much power, it's pretty much going to be a question of hit or miss. There's not a lit of room for a 12 inch long 5 inch wide blade to merely wound a critter. It's either a hit and kill or a miss and the animal walks. In my eyes, it's more ethical, more primal, and awesome. I absolutely don't intend this rant to be against long range hunters or anything of the sort. Ethical hunting relies on a balance of power and placement. Does the tool have the power, and does the hunter have the skills to provide the placement.

Here is the essence of ethical hunting...

A hunter practices with his or her weapon in order to become competent, able to quickly and humanely kill the prey. Practice, patience, and the correct state of mind are important, as well as what you do with the kill.

A spear can be a reasonable choice of weapon, as long as the hunter was competent.

I am not competent with a spear, knife, or blowgun. I do fine with a compound or crossbow, or a rifle.

Video's down.

I think the use of bait is arguably more unethical than the use of the spear.

What the Dr. said.

Throw is at 4:00 in, looks like he was excited.

There will always be a group of people who object to seeing the killing of any animal under any circumstance.

Likewise there will always be a group of people who are fine with the killing of an animal with any legal means.

Everyone else falls somewhere on the spectrum in between these two anchor points.

I have no problem with the legal taking of game, with one exception...I don't like unskilled hunters. I believe I owe it to the animal to give it as quick a death as possible. Bad/unexpected things can certainly happen in the field to throw something off...but that should be an exception, not the norm.

In the case of this guy, it sounds like you couldn't get much more prepared. He was a collegiate champion in his choice of weapon. If the animal piled up dead 60 yards away I'd say he did his job.

It may be shocking to people, and I didn't care for his reaction after the kill, but the reality of it is...he doesn't need my approval. It was a skilled kill with a legal weapon. No story here.

The response is rather comical. Use a modern sporting rifle with a scope and you're an evil sniper who picks on defenseless animals with modern technology. They say, throw down your rifle and fight without weapons. The size of your manhood is brought into question. Use a spear and you're a barbaric neanderthal using archaic weapons that aren't humane. The size of your manhood is again brought into question. The underlying question is, why are the bunny huggers so obsessed with our manhood?

i have never seen the need for high fives or fist bumps after taking a animal, but thats just me. to me as long as the death of the animal is not dragged out for fun or pictures and its taken legaly, i,m ok with it. eastbank.

I saw a video where a guy threw a spear down from a tree and it smashed into a deer, breaking it's spine clean in half and penetrating to it's insides/heart area, blood squirted all over the place. It was a devastating wound, with a nice big thick broad head spear point. It was basically DRT.

I have 0 doubts that the proper spear with a good throw is every bit as lethal as an arrow, at least from an elevated position.

As far as I'm concerned the guy who killed a black bear with a javelin is a total light weight and deserves no high fives. He gets nothing but contempt from me. He would get respect from me, if he, instead, had the guts to go after an Alaskan brown bear. Now that would be something. As it is he's a jerk in my book. As for the rest of you, who no doubt will call me out, I don't really care what you think of me!

You're entitled to you opinion, phil. As I see it, he took that bear legally, and didn't violate any customary rules regarding fair chase, safety to others, and a humane kill. I would be excited too if I took a bear by any method-especially a spear (not that I would even try it for a number of reasons). His reaction is just who he is. Our opinions really don't figure in to the big scheme anyway.

I hate to see animals suffer. Granted, it seems the bear didn't suffer long, but others will probably try the same stunt and wind up merely injuring the animal. I hope this guy at least eats the bear. If he doesn't, my wish for him is to meet Mr. Angry Brown Bear and armed with only a sharp pointed stick.

phil dirt, somewhere it was stated that the bear died within sixty yards of the hit. Seems like a lack of suffering, really, given the thousands of posts I've read of lengthy searches for game animals after a shot from a firearm or an arrow from a bow.

What did the bear weigh? Some 400+ pounds or thereabouts? Plenty big enough to ruin your whole day if it gets a chance. Hikers/campers have been killed by bears of that size. Don't need grizzlies or the big brownies.

Phil- read my first post. Just because its inherently easier to hunt with a magnum caliber rifle than a sharp stick, that doesn't mean that dummies don't gut shoot or otherwise totally fornicate the canine using modern weaponry when hunting- resulting in long-suffering and often unrecovered animals. That didn't happen here, because this guy is obviously very good at hurling sharp sticks.

My Cousin's boy hunts with an atlatl. He's an anthropologist and runs kid's camps where he teaches the use of the atlatl. He lives out at Comstock, west Texas, and picks on javelina a lot. Javelina have very poor eyesight. This sets 'em up for stalking with short range weapons. I don't know what else he's gotten with it, but for small game.

Now let me get this straight, people are making death threats against a fellow who is capable of killing with a thrown pointy stick. I guess we are in the shallow end of the pool afterall.

The bear was baited and then it was killed for what, for sport? The bear really had no chance. Like I said earlier, if he went out hunting grizzlies with a javelin, I would at least give him credit for having guts. As it is I have only contempt for him.

I am reminded of the signature of one of the members of this blog, a quote by the Greek philosopher, Bion of Borysthenes. "Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport, but in earnest."

So unless you're a sustenance hunter who doesn't bait and uses only a gun your against hunting?

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Is this thread about spear hunting or baiting? :banghead:

I bait, have no problem with it. I hunt with sticks, okay, they're carbon fiber sticks with metal razor points fired from a crossbow, but sticks never-the-less. I'm sure a well thrown spear kills quicker than a broadhead on a 300 grain bolt.

Anyway, long as it's legal, I have no gripe what so ever and admire the guy for his arm strength and accuracy.