Bear Speared

[Deer Wrastler]

Really ?? ...the article says it was legal...

I must have missed that part...never would have thought that is legal

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[Gilroy]

You nailed it IMO

\

My issue is NOT with the method he used to kill the Bear. It's with the decision to record,then publicize, a hunt that went horribly wrong by any standard of the ethics of a quick,clean kill that all of us,as hunters,aspire to,then,adding insult to injury by acting like an total immature a**hole after the fact like he'd done something heroic on the video. I think he needs a kick in the berries....more than once,for his appalling conduct.



I absolutely agree,but,deliberately feeding the anti-hunting/animal rights rhetoric,to me,is just plain stupidity on a grand scale.

I agree 100% and now we see the fall out from the Provincial Government more regulations.

[toddy]

I haven't re-watched this video since I read that article yesterday but in either this video, or the one of his wife shooting the bear with her bow they leave the bear overnight as the guy quotes its dangerous to tack bears in the dark..... which I found to be absolutely hilarious considering he just ran up to a bear and speared it . . .

There used to be videos on youtube of other guys spear hunting bears in Alberta. They would have their tree stand in the same tree the bait was attached too. When bear comes in they literally dropped the spear on the bear.

[zoli 16ga.]

A lot less people were anti chicken, cow, calf or foie gras....until videos started showing up, and people had to watch where their food came from. Look how many teen vegetarians there are now. This is the same.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Yes, he's and idiot for posting it, but not for killing a bear with a spear.

[greatwhite]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...pear-1.3722070

The Alberta government has condemned a controversial hunting practice after a U.S. hunter posted a YouTube video that shows him killing a bear using a spear.
The video, posted in June, shows Josh Bowmar, a personal trainer and former competitive javelin thrower, hitting the bear with the hand-thrown spear. It's believed the video was shot in May northeast of Edmonton.
"The type of archaic hunting seen in the recently posted video … is unacceptable," Alberta's Ministry of Environment and Parks said in a written statement. "We will introduce a ban on spear hunting this fall."
The department has also directed fish and wildlife officers to investigate to see if charges are warranted under existing laws.
Conservation groups press for change

"We've got at least one hunter that has come up here and wanted to hunt by use of a spear, so now it means we're going to have to address it by way of policy," said Wayne Lowry, president of the Alberta Fish and Game Association, a conservation group that consults with government on its regulations.
As the black bear approaches food left as bait, Bowmar winds up to throw his spear. (YouTube)

He said the 2016 regulations that came into force in July should prevent spear hunting by applying strict definitions as to what constitutes a weapon. But he admitted the lack of a specific ban could make the regulation a grey area. At the time the video was recorded, there was no law in place preventing spear hunting.
In the video, Bowmar was accompanied by Swan Hills outfitters John and Jenn Rivet and carried a two-metre spear equipped with 40-centimetre blade. A large black bear was drawn to the area through what is known as bear baiting, where food is placed near a waiting hunting party. That activity is also legal in Alberta.
"He's going down, I drilled him perfect," Bowmar joyously exclaims after the spear lodges in the bear's side. "That was the longest throw I thought I could ever make."
For added effect, a GoPro camera mounted on the spear captured the moment of impact.
"I just did something that I don't think anybody in the world has ever done, and that was spear a bear on the ground, on film," Bowmar says on the video.
Clean kill or unnecessary suffering?

The hunting party left the area afterward, due to darkness and rain, Bowmar later says. The next morning they returned and found the bear dead, about 50 metres from where it had been hit.
In a statement to CBC News, Bowmar said the bear "died immediately," adding the kill was "as humane and ethical as one could get in a hunting situation on big game animals."
Lowry disagrees. He said his organization was trying to get the government to outlaw spear hunting long before the Bowmar video surfaced.
"Since we want to promote the most ethical means of harvesting an animal as possible, I highly doubt that it's going to be a legal way of hunting in the future."
He said his primary objection to spear hunting is the risk that an injured animal could run off and suffer for an extended period. He admitted those risks also exist with other forms of hunting.
Bowmar turns to the camera and raises his arms in celebration after his spear hits the black bear. (YouTube)

British tabloids and online discussion groups have been quick to condemn not just the method of killing the bear, but also Bowmar's enthusiastic approach in the video. After spearing the bear he seems giddy about his success.
"That's going to be some epic footage," he proclaims to the camera. "Yeah, I got mad penetration. That's a dead bear."
The headline in U.K.'s Daily Express read: "Warped Hunter Kills Starving Bear with Seven Foot Homemade Spear."
The Mirror headline was: "Hunters in Sick New Low as Black Bear is Stabbed with 7 ft Spear then Left to Die."
Lowry was more tempered in his criticism. "There's much more ethical and effective means of harvesting an animal."

[trimmer21]

British tabloids and online discussion groups have been quick to condemn not just the method of killing the bear, but also Bowmar's enthusiastic approach in the video. After spearing the bear he seems giddy about his success.
"That's going to be some epic footage," he proclaims to the camera. "Yeah, I got mad penetration. That's a dead bear."
The headline in U.K.'s Daily Express read: "Warped Hunter Kills Starving Bear with Seven Foot Homemade Spear."
The Mirror headline was: "Hunters in Sick New Low as Black Bear is Stabbed with 7 ft Spear then Left to Die."
Lowry was more tempered in his criticism. "There's much more ethical and effective means of harvesting an animal."

This doesn't surprise me,in the least. British attitudes towards hunting and animal rights is completely FUBAR,anyway.

[SK33T3R]

Who cares what the British think?
That whole country is run by the tabloid's and Coronation Street!
They sure helped us with our fur industry.
Just "bloody awful"

[greatwhite]

It's kinda funny for many years I have read anti's saying your going to hunt be a man and use a spear. Now someone does it and they get upset.

As for the fella being happy about killing his bear, I don't see an issue with that.

[Dythbringer]

I agree that this should be put in the same class as someone who uses a compound bow for big game on an evening hunt.... A rifle is the only safe, humane way to do it....

A rifle isn't the be all and end of all of hunting. There have been plenty of circumstances where big game has been lost because of a bad shot with any type of hunting tool.

Now onto this circumstance. I am not 100% certain what the problem is for a lot of guys. This guy is accomplished with the weapon he chose to kill the bear with (NCAA athlete whose sport was javalin), he didn't break any laws (the type of weapon, baiting the bear, etc) to harvest the bear, he certainly used his equipment within it's operational limits (10 to 12 meters from the bear and he got about 60cm (over 1/2 a meter) penetration) and there is evidence the animal died quickly (shot was in the vitals, short recovery distance). So why are guys on this forum condemning this hunter because he is using a technique of killing an animal which is different but as effective as an accepted form of hunting by hemorrhaging (bowhunting)? Using terminology such as "archaic" and "brutal" can too easily be used to describe any form of hunting by anyone who disagrees with hunting (or a form of hunting).

Rather than acknowledge how skillful this guy needed to be to kill his bear (simply getting that much penetration for example requires a heck of a throwing arm), he is getting ripped apart by his own fraternity because he didn't use a "traditional" way to hunt. These same people have no problem with bowhunters who kill their animals in the same way (hemorrhage). That is hypocritical way to apply your hunting ethics (my way of making an animal bleed to death is vastly superior to your method of making an animal bleed to death).

As always the litmus test for an "unconventional" style of hunting should be: a) was there a fair chase to the hunt, b) did the hunt follow all hunting laws and regulations (and no regulation involving the type of tool used doesn't mean illegal), and c) was the animal killed in a humane way? (I didn't put a condition about consuming the meat because there are a few species we hunt where we don't have to worry about meat spoilage) Since it seems those conditions have been met, I would say that there is no reason to condemn this guy for his approach to bear hunting.

Dyth

[Dythbringer]

It's kinda funny for many years I have read anti's saying your going to hunt be a man and use a spear. Now someone does it and they get upset.

As for the fella being happy about killing his bear, I don't see an issue with that.

You could go and wrestle a bear to death (or any animal) and the anti's would be upset. It isn't the method which gets them angry it is the end result.