So what do we all think of this?

[bowieknife50]

Josh Bowmar SPEARS GIANT BEAR On The Ground! EPIC HUNT? - YouTube

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[Jtelarkin08]

I think its pretty bad ass. The dude practiced his butt off with that spear. Also that spear head is 8x the size of a broadhead so nothing unethical about it.

 

[toadmeister]

In before the haters.

Pretty balzzy of him, I'd buy him a beer.

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[Felix40]

Pretty neat. I would certainly do it if I had a bunch of time and money laying around. Not crazy about the way he acts but no big deal.

 

[breacher]

Badass! About as primitive as you can get...

 

[COlineman78]

Certainly more badass than the video I've seen before with a spear from a tree stand where the guy pretty much just dropped it. The only thing I question is the gopro on the spear as it clearly caused it to wobble. However, he hit it clean and was obviously comfortable with it so not for me to judge.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Pretty cool. Too bad it was a gut shot although maybe the bear still expired quickly. Dude obviously seems practiced but is a little too dudebro for my liking. Surprised he didn't cut off the bear's head and spike it like a football.

 

[elkyinzer]

Cool achievement, no doubt it would take some serious dedicated practice to chuck a spear 15 yards accurately enough to kill something.

"I drilled him perfect"....No!! Dude, you hit him square in the guts, which is ok, but at least recognize and have some humility about it like a pathologically normal human! That and the overjoyed reaction are my numbers 1 and 2 hunting video pet peeves, I'll just let that be known from my soapbox.

Would a flat-bill get in the way of proper spear hunting form? I'm sure we'll find out soon enough...

The youtube comment section is hilarious/alarming though, what a bunch of freaking clueless citiots.

 

[IanF.]

alberta bear spearing - Google Search

 

[IdahoElk]

I'm sure it will help his career.

 

[jtw]

Not a fan of the placement, celebration or waiting til morning to find it. It just reminds me of crappy hunting tv. I had a buddy get into spear hunting. He's been practicing a long time (couple years now) and last time I saw him he said he wasnt consistently hitting in the kill zone so he was giving it up.

 

[elkyinzer]

alberta bear spearing - Google Search

Wow, that link is informative and a bit scary. I thought it was just the youtube yahoos raising a stink, but there are legitimate media outlets that caught onto this.

I also got a kick out of him saying, to paraphrase, "I am the first person in the world to have ever done it"....um, no, I highly doubt that no one ever speared a bear before modern weapons were invented. Didn't notice that the first time. You may have been the first jackwagon to publicize it on youtube, but far from the first if we are talking all-time here.

I find these situations fascinating as they relate to the Public Relations aspect of hunting and how that affects our future. If this one approaches the level of outrage that the African incidents solicited, I will be surprised. I get how the Cecil thing makes us look bad, but I don't see this one as being quite on that level. Still, I have some significant issues with the video. I guess at this point, I have more questions than answers:

The baiting? Why do people raise such a stink about it? Personally, I have no desire to do it, but I realize bears are unkillable in some places without, so I'll fight for it. Why do people think baiting (and hounds, and trapping) are so unsporting? What do we do to turn these around? Because we are on a path to all of these methods being illegal within a few decades, then what's next? Treestands? Optics?

Would it be more beneficial to all of us just to cease broadcasting hunts? I know, there is no mechanism to do so, but come on, you've got the blinders on if you can't see it's one of the biggest threats to what we do. I am conflicted. It's not hard to see how stuff like this galvanizes the general public against hunting. To a lay person watching that video, the portrayal was cruelty, plain and simple. It's not the act of killing the bear with a spear that looked the worst, it's how he acted after.

If he would not have acted like such a jackass after spearing the bear, would the public reaction be better? Why do these publicity seeking douchebags not realize that you have to act somber, appreciative, and humble after making a kill? I don't know this guy but I can tell you from just having looked at his social media platforms for 2 minutes that he is out for the attention, big time. Is that for business purposes? Should hunting media even be a business? Is he a narcissist? Is he just an idiot? How do we stop these idiots from mucking it up for those of us with a lick of common sense?

The hunting community at large will rally around this guy like they always do, when we should be congratulating him for his achievement while simultaneously scolding his deplorable disrespect for the animal and asking ourselves existential questions about what these kind of situations mean to the hunting brotherhood.

 

[gelton]

This thread reminds me of Tim Wells and crew...those guys take all kinds of big game with spears including bear...they also have the best intro to any hunting show on the air. Deadly accurate with a bow too.

[video=youtube;U5bU9ScGBvk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5bU9ScGBvk&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[robtattoo]

I'm 50/50 on this. I thoroughly admire what he intended to achieve. Killing a bear, off the ground, no blind, with a spear? Awesome.
However.....
I can't help but think that if I'd done what he did, how he did it (gut shot, intestines in trees, etc....) I'd have either edited the crap outta the video, leaving out the nasty bits & 'The Next Day....' title. I know it wouldn't be an accurate portrayal, but it's posted on a general media outlet for anyone to see. Those of us who know, would know (y'know?) but the general public wouldn't be subjected to the reality, thereby keeping them all happy(ish). I'm not a fan of the big overcelebration after killing an animal. Any animal. But I do understand that pent up adrenaline needs an outlet. Just clear it off the video.

 

[Jacob_Outdoors]

I agree with some of the others about his celebration, and this new wave of "bro hunter" that seems to be taking hold, but I'll leave that for another thread.

The anti-hunter can be just as fickle as two hunters who disagree on hunting weapon superiority. Some of them will say that taking game with rifles and compound bows is a disgrace, and that all hunters should hunt the way our ancestors did if we want to truly be hunters. Then a guy kills a bear with a spear and suddenly its "inhumane". I think the over the top celebration and this new wave of hunters definitely isn't helping our cause.

 

[IdahoElk]

Sasha Siemel "Tiger Man" was spearing Leopards mano a mano for years in the rain forest of Brazil in the 1920's, His book Tigrero is about his life in the jungle and his many encounters with leopards using either a spear or Selfbow.Hands down one of the best book I ever read.
This guy was the real deal
Sasha Siemel

 

[tipsntails7]

The guys kind of a tool and he smokes it in the guts. Not really my thing.

If you want to do something like this because you want to have at it, but if he did it for notoriety or to make people notice his social media accounts, again not a fan.


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[jm1607]

Just seems a little too "Good ol boy" "Bone Collector" ish to me.. Those guys don't give a crap about shot placement.. The kinda shows when they come on the Outdoor Channel I switch to Sports Center..

This thread reminds me of Tim Wells and crew...those guys take all kinds of big game with spears including bear...they also have the best intro to any hunting show on the air. Deadly accurate with a bow too.

Wow... Is that shit even legal? He shot the bear in the forehead...

Is that the guy that dropped the spear on himself in Africa?? I kind of hope so lol

Reminds me of:

[video=youtube;3-RJqDvVmqk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-RJqDvVmqk[/video]

 

[pyroducksx3]

The anti's cry when we shot them with a firearm and say it isn't giving it a fair chance, now a guy does it with a spear and it's inhumane.... we are just never going to win. It's not a big surprise. Now was the dude celebration a little over the top, yes but it's his moment not mine. We as hunters are an odd bunch, bring up longrange hunting, hunting with a spear, hunting over bait, hunting behind a fence and your bound to get someone's panties twisted. Hell if it's a legal hunting means and you are proficient I wish you the best of luck and good hunting.

 

[Justin Crossley]

The anti's cry when we shot them with a firearm and say it isn't giving it a fair chance, now a guy does it with a spear and it's inhumane.... we are just never going to win. It's not a big surprise. Now was the dude celebration a little over the top, yes but it's his moment not mine. We as hunters are an odd bunch, bring up longrange hunting, hunting with a spear, hunting over bait, hunting behind a fence and your bound to get someone's panties twisted. Hell if it's a legal hunting means and you are proficient I wish you the best of luck and good hunting.

^^Nailed it^^