Spear Hunting

[thriller]

Its fun as well, but I like to catch them with Kevlar coated dogs. The gun is a little rough on the pooches ears and its a little dangerous to the dogs as well. This way I can bar some (makes them get huge with huge teeth!) as they get lazy and dont fight. This is an interesting way to hunt hogs that dates back 100's of years though. Its fascinating to see the dogs work, modern protective gear puts little risk to the dogs.

 

[observe]

...not only hogs with dogs and spear....

.

 

[observe]

also hog hunting with a spear--dogs and horses
still the sport of kings today.....

 

[observe]

Ukhunter etal.

I am now at a computer, and can respond more in more detail.

Thanks for your input on a sport/activity [hunting] that we both feel passionate about....

Maybe we came from different cultures, countries, backgrounds or experiences in hunting, and that’s why it seems a bit odd what the other one try say....?

I will never disagree that the prey must suffer as little as possible in using ANY hunting tool during a legal hunt...

I will disagree with your statement if we talk about numbers; in that by far more animals are wounded by inexperienced, bad or unskilled [hunters?] shooters with a rifle than with a spear.[--and arrow combined!!]

Not many people worldwide practice for this very specialized discipline of 'primitive hunting' with only a spear [with or without dogs] , thus the lower numbers. Fewer still will even take the time or have the patience to hone their hunting skills to even come close enough to a wild animal to solo hunt it with a spear out in the wild. The success rate solo spear hunting without dogs like me is very, very low--all denouncing your sweeping statement of more animals are being wounded by spear than by rifle...

For sure some gremlins might take up a spear to try and impress friends/girls [for TV /YouTube-ratings/likes....?], and it could result in wounded [wild?] animals--but even more so with a rifle.

The concept of people doing stupid things out there in the wild is the same with any hunting tool, but I think more so with a rifle as it is more readily available.[also distance become less of a factor with a rifle]

I really don’t think the concept of animals suffering that you want to rise is directed towards the correct target [spears] when you put a blanket bet out in public belittling a spear or the few true [ethical] spear hunters…..

Without for example, knowing the circumstances, situation, background skill set ect,ect of this picture below, one cannot blindly state that what transpired here was ‘unethical’, only because an unusual hunting tool [spear] and uncommon animal [baboon] was involved….

If we want to talk about ballistics and compare the killing capabilities between a spear, arrow and bullet, a lot of factors need to be taken into consideration, but by just looking clinically at the wound channel for one, and the effect of that terrible and huge spear wound breaking bones while fully penetrating --- together with all the secondary internal cutting damage the spear-blade do while falling out of a running animal- , and then again judging its 'killing' properties---maybe you will then think a bit different about a spear's deadly effectiveness when used the correct way in the hands of a responsible person?

An argument could also then be made that the margins of error while hunting with the correct spear, is more lenient than with a bullet…?

I really don’t think we have an issue with each other here, just maybe a misguided perception...?

I've tried to address your two main concerns raised;

1] Suffering of spear hunted animals

2] Effectiveness and killing capabilities of a spear

[You have not raised the conditions where illegal poaching is going on, and that’s why I did not add that criminal activity into this debate]

We need to understand that there are good and bad people in the hunting arena with ALL the different hunting tools out there…

Just one last thought on another previous comment about ‘ETHICS’

Ethical hunting has NOTHING to do with the hunting tool [spear, arrow, knife, gun etc] but EVERYTHING to do with the person, his character, skills, attitude, responsibility and respect for the prey….

We need to understand each other and stand together in protecting sustainable and ethical hunting, irrespective of the tool used!

 

[Bert the Turtle]

My son's first hunt was feral pigs with a spear. (thrust not thrown) It is a very exciting hunt and working with the dogs while using a spear connects one with the past in a way more modern methods do not. Dogs are very good at finding and catching animals, but they are not efficient at killing them. Man is very good at killing but can't compete with dogs when it comes to finding and catching. While I always liked dogs, I never really understood the connection between of our species until I saw this first-hand. To hunt with dogs and spear is to understand two seminal events in human evolution: the domestication of animals and the development of weapons.

As already mentioned, spears and knives are a lot easier on the dogs' ears than are firearms. One should not cause dogs pain and hearing damage out of a mistaken belief that spears are an inefficient weapon.

I can assure anyone who questions the lethality of a spear that a 2 1/2 inch wide spear thrust through the chest cavity is as rapidly lethal as any firearm with similar wound placement. Only a brain shot or the odd heart shot that renders the animal unconscious through a pressure wave to the brain will be faster.

 

[CAustin]

Spear hunting is a big no no for me. Very unethical, especially when our number one priority should be to minimise animal suffering. Why use a tool which leaves you very little room for error?

To be honest, I'm on the fence about bow hunting too but that's a subject that could make me very unpopular on here!

Your choice sir but spear or bow is entirely ethical in my opinion! For heavens sake you can take down a bull elephant with a bow doing a heart lung shot! The animal will not go any more distance than he would with a rifle shot.

 

[observe]

lol

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

lol

View attachment 57723

You blend right in, amazing! Is this you in the picture?

 

[observe]

Yes Jerome,its me trying the difficult feat of spearhunting warthog on foot walk and stalk without dogs.
Different terrain,different cammo different challenges!
As always,its the hunt and not the kkill that matters..

 

[observe]

The hunter’s horn sounds early for some, I thought, later for others. For some unfortunates, prisoned by city sidewalks and sentenced to a cement jungle more horrifying than anything to be found in Tanganyika, the horn of the hunter never winds at all. But deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter’s horn, a prickle of the nape hairs, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of their fathers, who killed first with stone, and then with club, and then with spear, and then with bow, and then with gun, and finally with formulae. How meek the man is of no importance; somewhere in the pigeon chest of the clerk is still the vestigial remnant of the hunter’s heart; somewhere in his nostrils the half-forgotten smell of blood. There is no man with such impoverishment of imagination that at some time he has not wondered how he would handle himself if a lion broke loose from a zoo and he were forced to face him without the protection of bars or handy, climbable trees.-- Ruark.

 

[kathy]

observe, very well put sir. Forrest