Alberta ban on spear hunting after American hunter kills black bear

Hunting is hunting with whatever legal weapon, so he did nothing wrong. However, I'm old so I absolutely don't get the fascination with posting everything you do online so everyone can see. The reality that we as firearms owners, or spear, or bow hunters can't seem to accept, is that the majority of people who see an animal killed, will be horrified. I realize you have a right to post videos, but the more it is done, the more we will lose sympathy with the public and therefore with politicians. Politicians are only interested in votes, and there aren't enough of us, so we lose.

I am middle age, and this is just my opinion....... I had no issue with his posting of his kill......... His celebration bothered me and I could see this coming a mile away........ But we are all different....

He worked hard at his craft..... He delivered a solid kill shot, and the animal died within 60 yards...... Not bad at all.... But, if you are going to post on social media, you need to understand the general public and the perception....... This looked like a gloat to me......

IMOP, and IMOP only, he showed no remorse for the animal...... I respect every animal I harvest.....

But, he acted like a freak after the throw, and laid claim to something he knew nothing about (something nobody had ever done).....

I won't judge him, but I will say that my most exuberant reaction after a harvest was a fist pump...... And that was after harvesting a sought after wolf.....

He did nothing wrong, and the ban is BS...... But he sure didn't help........
 
I am middle age, and this is just my opinion....... I had no issue with his posting of his kill......... His celebration bothered me and I could see this coming a mile away........ But we are all different....

He worked hard at his craft..... He delivered a solid kill shot, and the animal died within 60 yards...... Not bad at all.... But, if you are going to post on social media, you need to understand the general public and the perception....... This looked like a gloat to me......

IMOP, and IMOP only, he showed no remorse for the animal...... I respect every animal I harvest.....

But, he acted like a freak after the throw, and laid claim to something he knew nothing about (something nobody had ever done).....

I won't judge him, but I will say that my most exuberant reaction after a harvest was a fist pump...... And that was after harvesting a sought after wolf.....

He did nothing wrong, and the ban is BS...... But he sure didn't help........

I do agree with his right to post, even if I don't get it. I also think you are right about the level of respect he showed, excited or not but that's his right too. The ban is BS for sure but politicians deal mainly in two things 'emotion' and 'fear', make the public afraid of it, i.e. Black scary rifles, or cry about Boo boo bear being speared, will always work in their favor as they come to the rescue. There is no logic, just look at firearms laws we live with.
Whether we like it or not people, his post has now made spear hunting illegal. More hunting videos may do the same and IMHO, they are very close with trophy hunting.
 
I am growing very tired of the internet, ninja, SJW's, living in their mommies basement, getting all butthurt about videos posted online......has anybody told them about using the off switch? Nobody is forcing them to watch, but they do anyway, and then they get all upset. Question.......is it the video content that gets them upset or the fact that it reminds them that some people are still out there actually doing things for real, rather than living vicariously in front of a monitor and actually just wasting oxygen.
 
I am growing very tired of the internet, ninja, SJW's, living in their mommies basement, getting all butthurt about videos posted online......has anybody told them about using the off switch? Nobody is forcing them to watch, but they do anyway, and then they get all upset. Question.......is it the video content that gets them upset or the fact that it reminds them that some people are still out there actually doing things for real, rather than living vicariously in front of a monitor and actually just wasting oxygen.

At the risk of being a token douche bag, i actually share some of your joys, including archery and black powder.... And have harvested animals cleanly with both......

But, I have never been a sponsored Hunter...... And I can honestly say that I have never exhibited that level of "exuberance" after a harvest......

I have no issue with his kill...... I admire his level of practice in that he was able to execute it......

I don't like his reaction (we are all different, and that's OK)........ And I don't like the fact that he got the need to post it all on social media..
 
I guided hunters on close to 250 bears... that reaction he had was mild... I had one guy get so excited after the shot, he jumped out of a ten foot treestand and started running through the bush... the crazy bugger made it a longer tracking job than it should have been but I understood... it was his fifth trip (first with us) and first bear... and a dandy bruin too... he even left his bow on the stand and only had a belt knife... he later said he didn't remember getting out of the stand... I said; "I'll never forget you getting out of the stand." It's made for a good story for twenty years.
 
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/american-hunter-draws-fire-after-killing-black-bear-with-spear-in-northern-alberta





The Alberta government says an online video showing a black bear being killed by a spear is unacceptable and it plans to ban the practice.

The video posted in June on the YouTube account of Josh Bowmar, who runs an Ohio-based fitness company with his wife, set off a deluge of outrage before it was made private.

By the time it was removed from public view on Monday it had garnered more than 208,000 views.

The 13-minute video shows the man launching a spear — with a camera attached — at a bear from 11 to 14 metres away and captures his jubilant reaction when the animal is hit.

***

Alberta Environment and Parks spokesman Tim Chamberlin called spear hunting an "archaic" practice.

"Work is well underway to update Alberta's hunting regulations. We will introduce a ban on spear hunting this fall as part of those updated regulations," he said in an emailed statement.

"In the meantime, we have asked Fish and Wildlife officers to investigate this incident to determine if charges are warranted under existing laws."

Bowmar said he was surprised by the reaction to the video. He said spears have been used for hunting since the "dawn of man" and the notion that the method is inhumane "couldn't be further from the truth."

He said the spear blade he used was 13 centimetres wide and about 40 centimetres long and penetrated the bear more than 60 centimetres deep.
Does this mean natives are also banned from their traditional hunting methods that they have fought to keep for decades?
 
The government wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot spear. Exceptions would be made is my prediction.
how would they do such a thing without discriminating against others who prefer these traditional methods?

Spear hunting in BC is legal for everyone for this very reason.
 
at some angles you do put your arrow or bullet a littel farther back to get the arrow to pass threw the vitals moat times you aim for the off side shoulder .hold a broom stick in front of your chest put it at your last rib and point it towards the shoulder on the other side you will see that it will pass threw the pump house.

I understand the angles to hit vitals, but that bear would have needed to be facing about 1 or 2 o clock for a spear that far back, no?
 
Possibly not for long.
alberta banned it without an exception for the indians. If there was to be an exception it would not be called a ban, It would be tabled as a restriction for non indigenous hunters.

BC has a large coastal population of natives that will never allow such a ban on their traditional hunting methods, and frankly, our prov government has never been interested in enforcing what regulations we already have
 
how would they do such a thing without discriminating against others who prefer these traditional methods?
Spear hunting in BC is legal for everyone for this very reason.
Most of us know the realities of governments discriminating against (or favouring) one group or another. It is wrong but no one says life is fair.
Possibly not for long.
Maybe.
Wasn't there a fellow on the west coast of Vancouver island that used a spear to kill a cougar that attacked his wife? Used a Cold Steel spear if I remember correctly. I don't recall any "outrage" being fed to social media.

Just another clear example of antis (hunting & firearms) just wanting a across-the-board ban. Not happy people using scoped rifles and not happy when a basic spear is used. The same antis mouth-pieces that spout off about how unfair it is using modern scopes & firearms to hunt, "Try using a knife or spear to hunt" some of them have said. Now that someone has actually done that, these same people are now "outraged". Damned if you do, damned if you don't. F'em.
 
alberta banned it without an exception for the indians. If there was to be an exception it would not be called a ban, It would be tabled as a restriction for non indigenous hunters.

BC has a large coastal population of natives that will never allow such a ban on their traditional hunting methods, and frankly, our prov government has never been interested in enforcing what regulations we already have

It will be banned for non natives pretty soon unless we let our BCWF reps know we oppose it. It has been on the radar long before this. Spears, slingshots, atlatls, air rifles, anything non conventional.
 
It will be banned for non natives pretty soon unless we let our BCWF reps know we oppose it. It has been on the radar long before this. Spears, slingshots, atlatls, air rifles, anything non conventional.

A ban is when it includes everyone. It is a restriction when only certain demographics are prohibited from the use of.

No hunter should support any such discriminatory law. Our country prides itself on diversity, such a discriminatory regulation by the provincial government if imposed, spits in the face of what canada is all about
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom