“Spear-hunting is being banned in Alberta following outcry after a viral video showed an American hunter killing a black bear with a spear,” Canada’s National Post reports. Can that be right? All it took was one American hunter on YouTube to get spear hunting bears banned in Alberta? Yup . . .
The government pledged to change the rules after the graphic online video of the bear’s death surfaced in 2016.
The video, posted on YouTube by hunter Josh Bowmar, showed a bear being baited before the spear, with a camera attached, was launched at the animal from 11 to 14 metres away. The video also showed the man celebrating when the bear was hit.
After the video caused uproar on social media, the province consulted with hunting groups and Alberta Environment and Parks received more than 3,900 responses from the public about the new regulations. Phillips said most supported the prohibition.
“Of the about 118,000 who hunt big game in Alberta every year, over 90 per cent of those folks are Alberta residents,” Phillips said. “We are really just reflecting what Albertans want.”
What was that about democracy being two wolves and a sheep discussing what’s for dinner?
The province has updated hunting rules to ensure big game animals do not suffer unnecessarily and to discourage reckless hunting.
“Albertans know that spear-hunting is not safe,” Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said in an interview.
“It’s not humane because most hunters know that the chances of getting close enough to hit that moving target with big game, and sufficient accuracy and force to kill immediately is next to zero.”
Hello? Have you seen the arms on Josh Bowmar?
Sigh. I guess there are some things you just shouldn’t post on YouTube. Like . . . Justin Timberlake’s new “Filthy” video. Is Justin Timberlake from Canada or is that Justin Bieber? Anyway, the new rules arrive just in time for the 2018 hunting season. How great is that?
Kill all the bears you want with rifles, shotguns and bows. But kill 1 with a spear…………
From what I saw in the video he was very patient and waited until just the right opportunity to make a clean kill… which is a lot more than can be said from most gun hunters who substitute patience and shot placement with caliber and ft lbs of energy to make up for a bad shot. But since he used a spear he must be shamed and banished…
Utterly ridiculous! Government never misses the opportunity to expand its self and dictate more of what you aren’t ‘permitted’ to do. Balls for using a spear + bait, as long as the bear, or any other population remains sustainable, I don’t give a hoot what someone hunts with, with the exception of poison.
Agreed, the anti hunting paternalistic rulemakers were looking for any excuses to ban something. If they could they would ban all hunting. Today we have a major problem with black bears in CT and the proposed hunting has not gotten the votes from the anti hunting legislators. The pr side has been mostly one sided in the anti hunting CT press with under reporting bear and coyote issues and over reporting the “Humane Society’s” shill president and their misrepresenting of hunting.
Everything we did in those faraway lands, good or bad, we did in the name of folks like ehren, rob and comrade more dead soldiers. We did it in their names and under their orders. The American military is under the leadership of the American pols and people.
JWM has no moral courage.
The government told JWM to go kill impoverished people who posed no threat to the US and he mindlessly obeyed.
And now JWM shows us he is too much of a dishonest child to take personal moral responsibility for his lack of moral courage, JWM blames everyone else for his lack of moral courage:
“We did nothing without their approval beforehand. And if they did not approve then they should have had the moral courage to try to stop what they thought was wrong. Refuse to pay your taxes. Renounce your citizenship and move to another country.
Until they have taken actual steps to remedy what they see as wrong they do not have the right to judge others.
My service(sic) was over 4 decades ago and I’m still proud of the men I served alongside.”
JWM has no moral courage.
The government told JWM to go kill impoverished people who posed no threat to the US and he mindlessly obeyed.
And now JWM shows us he is too much of a dishonest child to take personal moral responsibility for his lack of moral courage, JWM blames everyone else for his lack of moral courage:
“Everything we did in those faraway lands, good or bad, we did in the name of folks like ehren, rob and comrade more dead soldiers. We did it in their names and under their orders. The American military is under the leadership of the American pols and people.
We did nothing without their approval beforehand. And if they did not approve then they should have had the moral courage to try to stop what they thought was wrong. Refuse to pay your taxes. Renounce your citizenship and move to another country.
Until they have taken actual steps to remedy what they see as wrong they do not have the right to judge others.
My service(sic) was over 4 decades ago and I’m still proud of the men I served alongside.”
JWM is the smallest of men, PUNY, he boasts about how he will shoot any government agent who tries to infringe his rights, but when the government told him to kill nearly defenseless people he couldnt obey fast enough
JWM just another braggart with no moral courage, big hero talking the talk, PUNY moral coward who failed to walk the walk… and naturally this dishonest child takes no personal responsibility for his failure of moral courage, read his reply, his elaborate excuses for why it is everyone elses fault, not his… pathetic and laughable…
Shame on you JWM you PUNY man
Shame on myself for not having the moral courage to stop what I thought of as crimes. I did nothing to hold my elected officials accountable for what I saw as their illegal actions.
Shame on myself for being too big a coward to actually do anything meaningful to stop what I thought of as abuses.
And shame on myself for wrongly accusing JWM of crimes I know he did not commit.
I am a moron.
They should let them kill all the bears they want with a spear, but just with the spear, no back up gun, to make it more ‘sporting’.
Polar bear hunting should be spear *only*.
*And* pay-per-view.
Vegas would *love* it… 😉
Discovery should take note, it would probably surpass shark week.
As long as its real and not some staged junk, Id probably watch it.
We now return to Bear Week, where we film bears being drawn in with bait, play previously recorded stock footage, talk about them like they are the most dangerous thing in the world, then say they are just misunderstood creatures before playing more footage of bears.
Making hunting certain wild animal species spear-only during certain months would make for some interesting hunting stories. Reminds me of that guy I met who had killed a wild boar by jumping on its back and using a knife. He’s a brave man.
I haven’t seen the video yet, so I have no opinion to offer about the bear hunter.
This is the same video that caused the big Under Armour uproar among hosts of outdoor t.v shows, chief among them Tim Wells. Who is a very accomplished spear chucker. Ah yes…. it is totally unethical to use a method that our ancestors used for thousands of years to hunt game as large as mammoths and has been adapted using modern technology to be better at killing… should not be too surprised to see such a response from our cousins to the north or Trudeau-istan as one youtuber calls it.
Windingo54 gives another example of the rank stupidity of folks on this site, no ability to think in any meaningful way…
This moron Windingo54 stupidly argues that behaving in a way folks behaved in the past makes this behavior ethical today.
Windingo54 and the rest of you buttwipes are of course as dishonest and ignorant(this means you dont know much)as can be, but its important to stress that we can not underestimate the extent to which your stupidity(this means means you cant think or understand things when they are explained) contributes to the nonsense teeming in your heads.
For the good of the country yall should eat your guns or at least hack off your puny balls so we wont have another generation of imbeciles
The problem here is that Josh is white. If it were an Indian doing a traditional hunt like they did before the Europeans introduced those nasty fire-sticks, everyone would be fine with it.
“fine with it”? Mmm… no, they wouldn’t be fine with it… but they wouldn’t be nearly as loud and the left would consider their concerns less worthy of attention. But it does emphasize the point we need more celebrity hunters/shooters who are not OFWGs… just to make the bigots heads explode.
And I’m still ticked I can’t legally take deer in Texas with an atlatl.
🤠
In the pacific northwest, a number of tribes have exceptions to hunt the culturally-important whales using traditional methods.
Traditional methods being high powered rifles and chase helicopters. Cultural importance being able to sell it asian countries for profit. I assume the tribes aren’t paying federal taxes, either.
I would think all the anti-hunting people who think hunters are just bumbling drunken rednecks would be all over spear hunting of carnivores. I’d be okay with the aforementioned whale hunts if it was just some guys in canoes with pointy sticks and no life preservers. If you want it that bad, then -in all seriousness- good on you, mate.
Not only are you correct, but I posit that if he were Muslim and he was spear hu nting Christians in the middle-east they’d be fine with that.
BTW, before the Europeans had fire sticks they hunted with spears.
Shush! You’ll give them ideas!
And the ignoramus Gov. William J Le Petomane reminds us of the ongoing ugly strand of Islamophobia tolerated and encouraed on this sick and ridiculous site, again this torrent of hate speech should not be permitted.
The owners of this repugnant site should be fined for each failure to correct and remove these constant hate speech posts and at some point shut down
‘…this torrent of hate speech should not be permitted.’
Fuckin’ Nazis…
What the hell are you on about? Is there something wrong with you? Geez, go see a head Doctor or something.
The problem here is that Scott is a racist who enjoys posing as a victim of racism…
Youd have a hard time inventing a more horrific and degrading history than the indigeneous population suffered at the hands of European settlers and the military yet Scott the whiney weasel poses as so put upon, so discriminated against because white folks cant go hunting with a spear, while all the “Indians” get all these kinds of special privileges
This site is a disgusting magnet for these kinds of pathetic racists(usually aimed at black folks) and should be shut down, its just an endless stream of hate speech
Freedom of speech cannot be allowed. Open discussion of ideas must be stopped. Do not think. Only obey.
Freedom of speech is not unlimited.
Hate speech is one of many types of speech not constitutionally protected (criticizing the goverment under the Adams administration, criticizing the war under the Wilson administration, shouting “FIRE” in a theater etc are other examples)
Speand less time bloviating about the 2nd amendment(which you similarly misunderstand) and more time reading scholarly treatments about the 1st amendment you ignoramus using my nick
So the hate speech I’ve been spewing against the decent people commenting here on TTAG is not legal?
ProfessorManque is wrong? How is that possible? I’m unfallible.
You are definitely fucked in the head. Holy crap, and you are probably running free in society.
I have no problem with a democratically elected government setting hunting rules as they see fit. If the people disagree, they will let it be known at the next election. Simple and efficient.
What color is the sky in the world you live in? Modern representative democracy is anything but simple and efficient. It is also no more just or intelligent than the voters. Good for you for being satisfied with it though.
I’m not saying it’s perfect. But it is the best way we’ve come up with to allow people to govern themselves. I certainly don’t have a better alternative to democracy that I would sign up for today.
King Of The World. That’s what we need.
And if I was KOTW things would be so much better.
I have a better alternative to pure democracy: a Constitutional republic, where the powers of the government are well-defined and limited, so that the scope of things which the government is allowed to meddle in is limited and minorities are protected from the tyranny of the majority.
If only some country had ever tried something like that….
@Cloudbuster,
Gee I never realized that the we have a representative democracy in the US; certainly never seen that point discussed on a firearm blog or forum before. If you’ll re-read my original post, you will realize that I did not single out one form of democracy as superior to all other forms of democracy, nor was I trying to imply that Canada’s version of democracy is superior to other forms of democracy . I was merely making the comment that democracy in general is the best form of government any one has come up with so far to allow people to govern themselves, and that I prefer it to any other form of government seen on this planet so far.
Does the US Constitutional require input from the people to amend it? If not, then it’s not a democracy at its’ core. I understand that it’s a practical improbability that all the pols would team up and get rid of all democratic process from the Constitution, but in theory, it is possible.
These days, it’s really not wise to post some things in public.
Unfortunately, too many people object to killing just for fun, and that video made for very poor public relations.
It was also reported that, instead of putting the bear out of it’s misery, he let it crawl off and die. Then returned the next day for the trophy video.
If it was reported like that then Jeff should sue for libel – the bear was skewered, ran a short distance (<50 yards), laid down and died shortly thereafter.
I've shot deer clean through both lungs that ran farther.
I question the motives of any "reporter" who would state it any differently.
🤠
“Unfortunately, too many people object to killing just for fun”
What nutjobs…
It happens a lot that when somebody capable does an uncommon thing all the uncapable drones have one of two reactions: 1)never thought of that lemme try it and fuck it up royally and 2)never thought of that lemme ban it so we can go back to hating common things.
So many things existed as legal and uncommon. It is when they become known and then move toward common that they risk becoming illegal. Bumpstocks are a recent and notable example.
Learn this lesson and stop posting shit all over the intertoobs.
So much wrongness…
1. Did I miss the part where they explain why spear hunting is less humane than archery hunting?
2. Mob rule means if I don’t feel the need to throw spears at bears no one can.
3. The founding fathers of Canada couldn’t forsee modern “assault spears”
4. Bunchafudds
5. I’m still mad at underarmour if anyone is asking
This is how our ancestors hunted. To honor them by imitation is a great celebration of the spirit of the wild. A rifle, shotgun, crossbow, compound bow or even a longbow is easy by comparison.
That would work if he was native American. Everybody would be extatic about his connection with the roots, traditions and more natural hunting. But white guy with a spear evokes no such romantic ideas. He is just a meanie who skewered the cute fluffy Teddy bear.
I will buy no Under Armor products ever.
And how was it that the First Nation People of Canada hunted?….
What a bunch of hypocrites, how dare they deny the FNP the ability to legally hunt the way of their ancestors. They should be ashamed for what they have done.
The real issue is the video going viral and non hunters seeing “how the sausage is made”.
Make normal hunting videos go viral and all hunting will become illegal.
They complain that a gun is unsportsmanlike but when someone goes the harder way they complain about that too.
They want ALL hunting banned.
They want us to be pussified little vegans.
When you can go down to your local supermarket or butcher and buy all the meat you could ever eat, hunting just isn’t “sporting” any more, irrespective of the production line slaughter of literally millions of pigs, sheep, goats, cows etc etc each and every year. these idiots should watch how halal slaughterhouses operate; they simply lay an animal down and slit its throat, letting it bleed out.
Totally agree with you, but also props for using the word “irrespective” rather than the non-word of “irregardless!
At one point PETA said that we should hunt animals with spears because it was “too easy” to hunt with a gun. Guess that’s out the window.
No Andrew Lies PETA did not ever advocate the cowardly killing of animals by any means, you are a liar who likes to lie to smear decent folks like PETA…
And everyone on this donkey site regularly lies like this, so yall might ask yourselves if your views are so self-evidently correct as you insist then why do yall need to constantly lie to bolster them?
You see if your views were so manifestly correct as you like to think then you could simply state them honestly and everyone would recognize the truth… mull that over stupid liar Andrew Lias
And never forget, Andrew. PETA collects millions of dollars for the welfare of animals and then murders the animals in their shelters.
It coulda been worse! He coulda punched a ‘roo in da face, fer cryin’ out loud!
https://youtu.be/FIRT7lf8byw
Haha oh the humanity of kangaroo assault! I had forgotten about that video. If a kangaroo had a choke hold on one of my hounds a jab to the jaw would be the least of his worries! 10mm and 30-30 bullet holes are a little bit more permanent than a sore mouth!
If you make an attention-seeking video like that you will get the attention you don’t want.
This is not rocket science.
The Bears haven’t won a game for along time… Oh the other bears,,. You go to the salmon lake, get in your bear blind, blow on your salmon call, and spear the shit out of them bears
Maybe you could spear the shit out of some of them Bears while you are at it, and then buy a better team.
Leftists are such effing pussies, it’s so pathetic.
I think you all missed the real point:
He was an American, hunting in Canada, and he outclassed and shamed and entire nation of liberal hunters.
Oh snap! 😮
Funny, I thought Alberta was one of the more conservative provinces.
Maybe if he wasn’t such a douche bag…
Well, there goes the neighborhood.
Seriously, I would have thought hunting with a spear would be the ideal way. More honored, more primal, more in tune with nature, and it gives the animal a chance to fight back. It would be the perfect way to hunt, dreamed up by those who never hunt. Long suffering deaths are rare in the animal kingdom. Quick kills are humane and safer for the predator. If I were a lioness, I certainly don’t want flailing sharp hooves everywhere. Judging by the fact the hunter isn’t all torn up, I’d say he dispatched the bear quickly. This whole uproar seems silly. Then again, I haven’t seen the video.
Okay, yeah, saw bits of the video, but my comment stands. He is a bit of an asshole, though.
Impressive skills and confidence – or recklessness – but in this clip he comes off as self centered and attention seeking type of man – and unethical hunter. They left the speared bear and went back in the morning, claiming that tracking it at night would be too dangerous. That is true, but even if the spearing occurred in the morning and thus left light and time for tracking, they still would not be able to pursue the animal and put it down – because they deliberately did not had back up weapon with them, and had no guarantee to retrieve spear. So, basically, they disregarded their duty to finish off the wounded animal as quickly as they can – just for the sake of looking more “badass”, “cool”, “hardcore” or whatever brings more likes or subscribes these days.
“Canada Outlaws Bear Hunting With a Spear”
I’ve never seen a bear hunting with a spear, but then again, I’m not from Canada.
Right? Don’t bears have fangs and claws to hunt with?
Canada’s Constitution does not include the right to arm bears.
So much hypocrisy it makes me sick. Ive literally had people yell me how bad hunting is while eating a burger. You just cant win with these people. Im a pussy if i hunt with a gun but youre unethical and cruel if you hunt with a spear or knife. To me It seems like a spear would be more humane than a bow. Look at the size of that broad head.
Bowmar wanted lots of attention.
He got it.
Personally, I’m not a fan of these type of shenanigans. For every clean kill there are any number of animals seriously wounded and or maimed that escape long enough to die horribly. This kind of ass-hattery raises the risk of an adverse outcome substantially.
While I agree a gun is a far more superior hunting weapon, the vast majority of all animals meet pretty dismal ends in the wild.
Looks like a Cold Steel spear. I like the cold steel products. I have a camp shovel you could pry a car door open with. Good stuff.
You can hog hunt here in Alabama with a spear don’t know if you can deer hunt with one, maybe?
A spear is a thrusting weapon. That kill was made with a javelin. From the glittering of the ruby on it, I’m guessing a +5 NRG.
What else can we expect from a country run by libtards? Pretty soon, they will probably ban hunting altogether.