Spears? No one talks about spears here?

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Ugly Sauce

Ugly Sauce

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I think the spear is a great weapon, extremely lethal. A good spear will kill just about any animal that might want to scratch or bite you. I like to take one hiking in wild country. They double as a walking stick, and are a great aid crossing streams and cricks. And lighter than a rifle.

Spear on the far left has the Cold Steel "Zulu" head on it. I think this is my most lethal spear, and I don't fear much when I'm trekking in the wilderness. It is about seven foot long. I've taken that on some long back-packing trips in the Montana mountains. The head also comes off with a screw, instantly turning into a non threatening walking stick. Having said that, I've never had anyone become uncomfortable when I've encountered people on a hike.

Second from right is one I made the head/point for when I wanted to be a knife maker, a million years ago. It is very long, probably close to eight foot.

Third from right has a steel head, that looks like chipped stone. Don't remember where I got it. It is my short spear, about 6.5'. Also has the heaviest shaft.

Last, or far right, is "Rosalie". She's long and slim, and has a pre-made dagger blade for a point. They are all kept razor sharp of course.

There are some things to consider with spears. One does not want one shorter than they are, which can increase the chance of slipping and spearing one's self.

It's good to have a sheath to put on when walking on logs, crossing cricks and such. Again, you don't want to fall on your spear.

Never throw your spear. If you do, you don't have it anymore, and it's easy to dodge a spear. Not only do you not have it anymore, but if you threw it at an enemy, now they have it. Except for throwing spears, a whole other animal, spears are for poking, and slashing, but not throwing.

On shafts, I like a little bit of crookedness, or "character". Nice, perfectly straight shafts...not for me, but some people would prefer that.

The trouble with spears: a bit harder to transport, and very difficult to photograph!

Thanks for listening.
 
That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

I don't have a spear, but it's something I've thought about making. Chip Hailstone made one and used it on the show life below zero a few years back on caribou. I don't know what was edited out or not shown on TV, but it looked pretty neat. He used a spike bayonet off a mosin Nagant rifle best I recall.
 
Bazoo said:
That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

I don't have a spear, but it's something I've thought about making. Chip Hailstone made one and used it on the show life below zero a few years back on caribou. I don't know what was edited out or not shown on TV, but it looked pretty neat. He used a spike bayonet off a mosin Nagant rifle best I recall.
Click to expand...

wow, I never saw that one. Spike bayonet would work I guess. If one cut the muzzle end/attachment off a Mosin bayonet, and set that into the shaft, and wrapped it well, that would be pretty deadly. May have to try that! I'd name it "Babushka"!!
 
My uncle used to tell the story of a fort Indian that decided to hunt a buffalo with a spear as his ancestors did. Unfortunately for him all he did was annoy a ton of ill tempered buffalo. The only reason he survived is his companion used a weapon choice of his ancestors… a rifle stolen from the US Army.

The moral is- don’t let nostalgia get the better of your common sense.
 
I don’t know what is and isn’t real since Hollywood style editing and showmanship is prevalent, but the Tim Wells spear hunting videos make me believe that spears may be one of the most deadly manual weapons on this planet and are probably more lethal than firearms. Especially, on hits not touching the vital organs.

A solid hit with a spear to any non-limb part of an animals body is most likely a killing blow that will leave a massive blood trail.
 
I don't know when it was. I used to watch the show to learn things and get ideas. If I see something done, often I can emulate it.
 
Officers'Wife said:
My uncle used to tell the story of a fort Indian that decided to hunt a buffalo with a spear as his ancestors did. Unfortunately for him all he did was annoy a ton of ill tempered buffalo. The only reason he survived is his companion used a weapon choice of his ancestors… a rifle stolen from the US Army.

The moral is- don’t let nostalgia get the better of your common sense.
Click to expand...

I should have mentioned, that hunting Buffalo with a spear might not be the best choice. ;) Whenever I hit the wilderness with mine, I usually take my Ruger Super Blackhawk along.
 
earlthegoat2 said:
I don’t know what is and isn’t real since Hollywood style editing and showmanship is prevalent, but the Tim Wells spear hunting videos make me believe that spears may be one of the most deadly manual weapons on this planet and are probably more lethal than firearms. Especially, on hits not touching the vital organs.

A solid hit with a spear to any non-limb part of an animals body is most likely a killing blow that will leave a massive blood trail.
Click to expand...

I may have seen one of those. I saw one show where a man stalked up on a sleeping animal, and threw the spear into it, using some kind of throwing spear. The other one I saw was where the guy was up in a tree stand, and threw a big heavy spear like thing straight down at an animal.

My personal interest in spears is not as a hunting tool, but as a very lethal weapon, easy to carry, and useful for other things such as bush-craft chores, (one can do many knife-chores with the point) and as a self defense tool against animals that might want to bite or scratch me. !
 
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We used to spear northern pike from ice shacks. Twelve to 20' not uncommon, using weighted 7 tine steel spears. Mostly straight down, with occasional carp or buffalo but no game fish. Spearing walleye is common for local scuba divers in season. A rubber spear gun is used.

I have read that spears are much more effective in defense against mambas than firearms, but have not had an opportunity to test that info.
 
I've been a fan for a while, though admittedly I neglected their use for hunting or defense against animals, probably because I don't live near deep wilderness anymore. I'd definitely consider if it went into those areas again. I got interested in them through martial arts; Chinese at first, then recently historical European (partisan and pike). I have a couple different sizes and types, from a small makura yari (Japanese bedside spear) to a 10 ft pike, as well as a few rubber-headed training ones. Sparring last summer was great fun with my friends, and we experimented with a variety of weapon pairings. We can armchair about combat from behind a keyboard all day long, but there's nothing quite like actual full-contact sparring and I learned a couple of useful things.
Generally speaking, the spear wielder is going to have the advantage over someone with a shorter weapon, even without a lot of training. It's simple: The reach means you can just stab them before they ever get close enough to hurt you. A clever opponent with a short weapon will try to get around the point by pushing it aside or parrying it, and then close in very fast where they will then have the advantage. But there are ways to counter this. One is holding the point out as bait for the opponent to try and knock aside, but when they try, you drop the point just low enough they miss, then bring it back up and into their torso or head. Another is to simply deny them the point by holding it low at their knees, with the spear butt high. This means they can't interfere with it without leaning forward, putting their head and chest into range. Finally, with shorter spears, it's over overlooked then you can pull the haft back very quickly and still be presenting a sharp point even if someone is close up.
 
I haven't fooled much with this stuff since my SCA days long ago, but I was fond of the boar spear.

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They're typically built stout so it can make a good skirmish weapon.

This one is not a weapon per se, but as I have one and a couple of its cousins out in the shop for brush cutting it could be pressed into service. Which is how most pole weapons originally came to be in the first place.

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The only pole weapon I've ever actually used with intent was one of these:

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The dog took my point and vacated the area as well as one aggressive hog who thought he could buffalo me.
 
We se "spear" to mean many things. Things which had far more distinction in days of old.

There are differences between "thrown" items like javelin and pillia and the like. Versus the "retained" ones like assagai, spontoon, or yari. Which gets blurred when mixed in with polearms, like lance, halberd, and the various billhooks. Or, for really blurry, the naginata.

As HEMA and SCA aficionados will know, long arm practice is complicated. If fascinating.
 
This is the most incredible book on African hunting I have ever read. I rate it above Capstick, and that is high praise indeed. It is the life story of John Hunter, one of the most famous PHs of all time, who lived and hunted in the "Glory years" of African hunting, the first half of the twentieth century. In it, Hunter devotes a full chapter on a lion hunt with Masai tribesmen he witnessed. He describes both the spears used and the short swords called "semi's" that the Masai closed in with to hack the Lion to pieces. They would surround a Lion and when the lion charged, whoever was the target had to hold his ground. The spear blades were soft iron and easily bent. A bloodied, bent blade was never straightened until later. It was admired and proof you were in on the kill. As can be seen in the pic, the blades were very long and the shafts quite short. These were not throwing weapons.

Sorry about the sideways pic, my puter has covid.
 

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hiking with one sounds like a solid idea. years ago at a camp, a neighbor a ways down the old dirt road always had dogs that were a bit on the come right up to you and growl 3 feet away, although as far as I know nobody ever got a bit from one of them, but - growling angry dogs get on my nerves. after a while i figured out you didn't have to even hit them, just the sight of grabbing any long stick and waving it over my head in a threatening way would send any of those dogs the other way. I never found out, but speculate that those dogs knew what a beating stick was.
 
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