My home state of Nebraska just legalized hunting deer with a spear during archery season. I was wondering if anybody has ever tried this and what are your thoughts about it. I don't know if this topic can be discussed on this forum or not. If it isn't allowed please delete.
I do believe if a person does want to hunt with a spear you should practice with it as you would any other weapon to kill deer with. The deer does deserve as clean as kill as possible.
If Rupe sees this he may have some information. Seems to me there was a guy many years ago from Texas that was quite skilled at this and was interested in hunting with him...
Heck I'd try it. Watching Tim Wells spear water buffalo in Australia makes me think it is very doable. I would hunt with just about any "weapon" just to try it.
I think we need to legalize sling-shot and blowgun hunting for deer too... Why stop at the mighty spear? Will there be spear restrictions on head size, or can a self sharpened stick suffice and be legal? And while we are at it - why not go weaponless and do hand to hoof combat? Drop on them from above and wrestle them to the ground and choke them out - UWFC style. (ultimate whitetail fighting challenge).
Well the way I see it is that alot of bow and gun hunters don't practice nearly enough and now spear hunting. All we need is to have a few deer running around with a spear in them and let that hit the news, not good. If you can't kill an animal with a gun or bow consistently then what business do you have using a spear. Whats the effective range? 5,10 maybe 15 yrds,good luck. Just so we are clear, not telling anyone they can't but not a fan of it.
Im with LB thats all we need is some treehuger to get a picture of a deer running around with a spear stuck in it!! Now if you run across a Mastodon Go ahead with the spear and big rocks!! Pat C.
Missouri made it legal to use an Atlatl to take deer a couple of years back. This fall a guy used one to take a deer for the first time since the new regs.
I see no problem with it. We all know that there are folks that think archery is just about EGO, and that hunting in general is just about EGO. I think there's more too it than that.
Of course we also all know that there are folks that should not be pursuing deer with archery tackle, due to a lack of skill, experience, discipline, etc., But that's true of rifle and shotgun hunting as well, and I'm certain that some slob that shouldn't be allowed will want to sling a spear at a deer, but should fear of slobs and what antis think keep others from being able to legally pursue deer by these methods?
I remember a quote from the ski/snowboard movie maker Warren Miller about snowboarding. At the time, many ski resorts were not allowing this newfangled way of getting down the hill on a board. They found that in their studies and surveys that the skiers basically didn't like snowboarding, although they came up with lots more "legitimate reasons". Warren Miller said that if "snowboarding came first, would it be fair for snowboarders to ban skiing?". Today there is snowboarding in virtually every resort in the world.
There were plenty that wanted compounds outlawed in Archery seasons back in the early years of the compound bow.
With that in mind, I have no problem with somebody choosing a spear, as long as it comes with the same ethical boundaries placed on it that we expect from any other weapon. I think a 2.5# spear (17500 grain)could efficiently take down lots of big game. Would I switch to it? Probably not, but I certainly would like to try it.
Another quote by W. Miller "Don't take life too seriously, because you can't come out of it alive."
I would try it. As kids we tried like heck to spear about everything that walked or crawled. Never remember connecting with much, but its as natural as sleeping outside, drinking from a creek, or building a fire.
I'm sorry but this thread will be closed due insensitive politically incorrect "spearchuker" slang being used to describe the truest form of hunting that shall be referred to properly as "spear thrusting"! We already had this discussion about "----------"! Get with the program humans! Mike
I've made a few of these. Accuracy is suprizing (within limits). The spear shown is actually a take-down spear, made so I could pack in my bow case. Weighs about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds, blade is a double edge hollow ground from a lawn mower blade (very good steel I might add), has a blood 'groove', 12 inches long(so 24 inches of cutting surface..how about that for you rage fans). Hickory shovel handle with recessed screw together fittings.
Never had the nerve to throw it through my chronograph, so don't know the kinetic e.
I can usually hit dandelion flowers at 5 to 10 yards, nearly every throw. 12 to 13 yards is about all the distance I'll pitch at (a stronger arm would make all the difference).
Sarge- You got it right. Played by Fred "the hammer" Williamson. And congratulations, you won a lifetime membership to Bowsite.com where you will receive much joy and merryment.
There is a guy from Hilo Hawaii name Gene Morris who has been hunting with a spear since 1972 - and quite successful I might add. 592 big game kills, including lion, cape buffalo... He is nicknamed the Spear Chunker and even has his own - Spear Hunting Museum - in Alabama. I think most of his spear hunting was done from a tree. His spears sell for $525 - very deadly. I met him before when I used hang out at Jimmy Lee's Archery & Taxidermy in Hilo. Check out his website www.huntingwithspears.com
On Saturday, Nov. 28, 2011 "The Spear Chunker" died doing what he loved, sitting in a tree stand on private property in Elberta, spear in hand. He was 78 years old.
“This museum has become my total life and obsession,” Morris wrote in his last will and testament, which was updated for the last time in April of 2010. “The museum contains all my spear hunting animal trophies, spears, artifacts and other spear hunting mementos that were acquired in my world-wide travels while spear hunting.”
The will stipulates that upon his death The Spear Hunting Museum Trust Fund is established. The will also stipulates that all of Morris’s holdings be sold so that the museum can be operated in “perpetuity,” with Heather Morris as the museum’s curator.
I would love to try it to....it would definitely test your skills as a stalker/woodsman..This would be the ultimate primitive weapon experience in my opinion...well short of throwing rocks at them..lol
lineman21, I'm giving this very serious concideration. Been making and throwing atlatl darts for about 8 years now. Since the possibility of using them on deer I've upped my practice time to the same as my shooting time with archery equipment. So far I'm very confident at 8 yds. and 4 out of 5 in vitals at 11 yds. It's definatly baby steps on moving back sometimes a 1/2 yd. at a time. Still playing with weight and spine but my most consistant is a 64" dart 1/2" diameter weighing around 3700 grains. Would like to know how fast it is but no one will let me try through their crony for some reason. This is just a guess but I'm thinking around 70 fps. and it's probably more which gives me around 38 foot pounds of KE. They definatly sink deeper in the target than my 52# longbow so penetration is not an issue. The moment of truth would be the arm movement. I have taken many deer at 5 yds and under so don't think that would be any problem. Next will be cutting down some saw blades for heads and see how they do, so far it's all been 300 grain field points. Alot to work out before I would try it but it sure would be a fun challenge.
Chip, the PC police would never allow a character with that name in this day and age! Years ago there were a bunch of guys at the local archery club that went to Ontario every year for bear. Over the years they were so successful with their archery tackle (trad gear back in the day) that a few of them started usings spears for baited bears. As far as I know they had some success. I don't know if the practice is still legal however.
Tadpole Have you tried to design one with expandable blades yet?It would be twice as accurate and you could practice with a fieldpoint!I do like the Throwing a lawnmower through it comment!
I've seen a video of a guy spearing a black bear over bait. He had a reas long spear and sat high in a tree directly over the bait. He didn't throw the spear but instead just kind of waited until the bear was directly under him and just poked it down between the shoulders. It was one dead bear for sure.
Of all the hunting ever done the world over. . . if I could go back in time and choose one. . . I would go wtih Sasha Siemel on a jaguar spear hunt (with Sasha there with a shotgun just in case)
Tiger hunting with Corbett would be amazing
The first known expedition with Clark for Marco Polo would be awesome
Hunting with Harry Selby in Kenya's Frontier district for 100+ lb elephant would be spectacular
The list could go on and on
But spear-fighting a 300 lb jaguar would have to take the prize
If you havent' ever read about that. . . you need to. He would walk in on a bayed jaguar, goad it into a charge, and sink the zagaya into the cat's chest, then fight that sucker. Once the fight was on, it was death for the cat or the hunter. Literally having a jaguar by the tail, and not being able to let go
Why we shoot deer in the wild. (A letter from someone who wants to remain anonymous, who farms, writes well and actually tried this)
I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up - 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope.
The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it, it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope, and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no Chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled.
There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in. I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand... kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite?
They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ...... I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly.. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.
It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.
That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp ... I learned a long time ago that, when an animal - like a horse - strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head.
Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down..
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope......to sort of even the odds!!
All these events are true so help me God... An Educated Farmer
Where is our Moderator ?? The title of this site is Bowsite.com Im all about hunting the way a person wants within the leagle laws of his or her state. However I think the world of hunting has evolved beyond the spear. The hunting channel is getting out of hand with the crap its producing for public viewing. Theres all ready crossbow take over. Next it will be spear only season. A blow gun season.Lets not forget how challenging it is to snare whitetail. Comon lets keep this off Bowsite.com There you go Pat L. heres an oppertunity to start a new web site. You could call it Bludgeonting Wildlife.com
Just did a search on this earlier this evening too. Been wondering about it since I heard of a guy spearing one during one of the traditional only hunts in McAlester Ok. this year. Supposedly there is to be an article in Outdoor Oklahoma on it. I got the story second hand but from 2 different parties that said they were there when the deer was checked in.
I'd agree with Stormcloud that the world of hunting has evolved beyond the spear. However, its also evolved beyond archery, hence the popularity of "traditional" equipment and seasons. Looking for the state of the art in deer population control, I'd have to nominate government exterminators using suppressed. 223s and night vision, over bait piles. Kind of takes some of the fair chase out of the equation, as well as most sportsmen and women.
Yes, this is Bowsite.com, but I've seen and read of rifles in some of the coyote hunting threads, even a knife used to dispatch a feral hog. I don't think the occasional spear thread will threaten the bow-centric nature of this site
Checked out Huntingwithspears.com, their spear isn't mechanical, but looks like it'd leave quite a bloodtrail nonetheless. Haven't seen too many other commercially available spears, might not be looking in the right places.
Sweet! That's probably the right way to go, build your own. Between DC and Tadpole's input I might have enough guidance to rig something up. Add a year or two of practice maybe I can get enough skill to actually use it. Wouldn't try it without knowing my limits.
Having seen what a spear can do I have no doubt you could kill anything with one. I know a guy who hunts pigs with one and it's like a huge double edge knife on a great big lever. He says it takes surprisingly little force to drive it home. 2" or so cut... more like 12" cut when that lever starts working on that blade in there. It looked like you used a mixer inside the chest.
FAR more damage done than any broadhead you will ever see.
Where do I mount the sights and hook the release? Also wonder if syms labs will do a vibration dampener for this thing, or maybe one for your throwing arm? DPowers that was some funny stuff!
EEB,,if you make your own, stay away from making one from an old bastard file. The one I made from a 12 inch file had an awesome sharp edge , but was very brittle, broke in half the first time I dropped it on the floor.
EEB,,if you make your own, stay away from making one from an old bastard file. The one I made from a 12 inch file had an awesome sharp edge , but was very brittle, broke in half the first time I dropped it on the floor.
dpowers- way to funny. swivel limb treestands had the bears with spears over bait in their promo video. they didn't throw them, they thrusted them into the bears. "like throwing a lawnmower though them"- good stuff
I remember a quote from the ski/snowboard movie maker Warren Miller about snowboarding. At the time, many ski resorts were not allowing this newfangled way of getting down the hill on a board. They found that in their studies and surveys that the skiers basically didn't like snowboarding, although they came up with lots more "legitimate reasons". Warren Miller said that if "snowboarding came first, would it be fair for snowboarders to ban skiing?". Today there is snowboarding in virtually every resort in the world. There were plenty that wanted compounds outlawed in Archery seasons back in the early years of the compound bow.
With that in mind, I have no problem with somebody choosing a spear, as long as it comes with the same ethical boundaries placed on it that we expect from any other weapon. I think a 2.5# spear (17500 grain)could efficiently take down lots of big game. Would I switch to it? Probably not, but I certainly would like to try it.
Another quote by W. Miller "Don't take life too seriously, because you can't come out of it alive."
Dan, I would be interested to know your take on crossbows.
There are African tribes who have somewhat perfected spear hunting and defense. I remember seeing an old video of a male lion attacking 4 or 5 spear wielding men...or maybe they were attacking him..the lion didn't stand a chance. Watusis I think. In a few moments time he was skewered and down. I suspect that spear heads need to be a whole lot smaller than we see them made in this country, with a light weight shaft, possibly cane. The heaviest and toughest of broadheads screwed onto steel inserts anchored into reinforced, tapered cane shafts. The idea is to build a relatively light weight spear that will throw well and achieve deep penetration with a heavy duty but narrow blade. The more adventuresome spearchucker might consider a tether tied to his wrist to keep game from running off with his spear.
Andy... I vote for the non-tethered spear. Too many bad memories of being dragged around by a mid sized dog as a kid. Could not imagine a grown elk or deer running through the woods at 30 mph with me in tow.
I'd much rather see spears legal during bow season than crossbows (except for the handicapped crossbow exemptions, of course). getting close enough to whack one with a spear, achieving the wind-up and the fling without being detected would be at least as challenging, if not moreso, than getting a bowstring pulled back without detection (unlike crossbow hunting).
I have nothing against crossbows- I just think they compromise bowhunting seasons and thereby should be situated in muzzy hunts or any-weapons hunts.
The night before we did the KE calcs compared to a broadhead, the spear thrown even at low velocity is so much heavier and has such a large razor-sharp cutting surface that it is truely a formidable weapon.
The next day my buddy scored on a hog. He had to get close and threw a perfectly placed spear (lucky?} with great shot placement. The wound was devastating, it nearly sliced the animal in half, though the spine prevented that. Blood everywhere. Very swift death followed.
I don't know if this is even possible with deer, which has a different set of sensory skills compared to pigs. To get that close with a heavy spear... deer would be gone before you were able to heave the thing.
Sharp as all heck and plenty dangerous to carry. I'll stick with my bow and broadheads!
If the efficacy of archery is found largely in the ability to get close, how much more so the ability to kill in spear range? :)
The most remarkable hunt I will ever witness is the bushman who ran down a kudu and speared it as it stood staring in abject exhaustion. Can you track an animal at a steady jog?
If the efficacy of archery is found largely in the ability to get close, how much more so the ability to kill in spear range? :)
The most remarkable hunt I will ever witness is the bushman who ran down a kudu and speared it as it stood staring in abject exhaustion. Can you track an animal at a steady jog?
Search YouTube for persistence hunting and watch the hunt in Kenya wher they literally run a Kudu down. At the point of exhaustion, a spear is used to finish the job. I've been looking for an opportunity to try this on antelope here in idaho. The tool at the end is much less important then the skill and fitness of the predator.
Persistence hunting whitetail would likely require a large area where you have permission to hunt (probably a lease these days), as well as superb tracking skills to keep up with an unwounded animal in Nebraska or Alabama cover. On the bright side, camouflage and scent elimination might lose importance. Probably better to stick with the treestand or sneek up and plunge the spear in before the animal has a chance to run. Of course, if anybody does manage a modern persistence hunt, I'd like to read about it.
As hard as it is to get drawn on a whitetail when using a stick bow, I cannot imagine thrusting a spear and having them anywhere around when it gets there.. No doubt a spear would kill them, just be an amazing feat to hit one.
The best way to spear a deer is to get in a tree and drop the spear on it. It is a very silent delivery. Gravity does it all. Like throwing a large dart, you just guide it for the launch. You don't throw it horizontally at a wt deer.
You don't throw it from a tree. Just aim it and drop it. The force you impart into it is just to steer it toward the target. It is a silent and effortless motion.
not quite the same deal- it's on a 50 acre game farm so I'm not sure how sketchy the whitetail is compared to a public ground deer- but the kid does manage to do a horizontal atlatl whack right through the doe's heart.
Well it would kill one but trying to hurl a 7 foot arrow outta a tree and get it done ain't going to happen on a WV deer. Nor is trying to get it done on the ground. Not to mention a spear. God Bless
Not so sure how a spear would work, I think you would have to be directly over the deer . We have killed about 30 hogs with a spear but Mike is correct in that it is more thrusting than throwing the spear. No need to worry about expansion or blood trails, they'er pretty much right there where you pin them to the ground
Old thread but making a spear now. Hope to hunt with it this weekend. It will be in the tree with me in a stand that historically sees a good number of deer VERY close and within 3 feet at times of the tree I sit in. Last year I had 3 encounters with does and 1 buck that I know I could have simply dropped this spear into them. It is made of 1/4 inch steel plate and used #16 box nails for pins in the 8 foot oak closet hanger rod and will be epoxied together and wrapped with Kevlar cord in epoxy resin.. Low tech and with common materials but it don't have to be fancy to do the job. It's legal in Nebraska to hunt this way so I'll be a dual weapon hunter this year.
There's a reason why indigenous people rarely use a spear when they have a bow. Now, if you're talking a specialty situation (e.g., animal charging you) I can see the adrenaline junkie aspects. On a horizontal spear throw, one you have to get pretty darn close and two if they can jump the string on tradbows, they can definitely jump your arm movement. So then you have a wounded animal to try and track down. As far as a straight down drop, you could use a big rock and bonk it on the head to stun it, then finish the job with whatever.
By the way, no need to make the darn things, lots of places sell them.
Yes certainly no need to make something if you can buy it. There is an individual need in everyone's life to walk their own path to see where the trail leads to find what they may. If I needed protection in the woods on a hunt or just a walk I think this spear would serve me well. I won't be lobbing it far if there's an opportunity, the bow will come off the hook for that. I'll be hunting on my own property with his only.
You can get great spear shafts from golf courses , old flag shafts, 7' fiberglass , thought about this subject for 30 yrs. Still have not tried it, but I have 30 flag shafts
Gimmicky will be when Horton hits the scene with a TD carbon-fiber unit utilizing mechanical blades and featuring a POV camera mount...we can all enjoy 'being the spear' and hoping for total penetration.
I like Ollie's idea of a grenade season. If you used a flash-bang grenade, you might even start a "Catch and Release" craze. Stun the critter, take your hero photos, and let it go for others to enjoy!
Someone above was talking about the Watusi in Africa. As I remember it, that is the way a boy becomes a man. He has to get a lion to attack him and then when the lion leaps the hunter fixes the butt of the spear into the ground and spears the lion through the chest. Many times the lion dies as he falls on the hunter...similar to how that actor kills the grizzly bear in that movie the Edge...
My dad killed one two years ago with a homemade spear. Chucked it out of our barn loft and through a little 5 point buck. Pictures probably won't show up on this damn website but I'll try anyway.
rman is right. Golf Course flag poles are the best. I'm being serious too. They wobble just right so the spear doesn't turn sideways in flight. The blade always leads with them as the handle. I know, my dad fantasized about doing this way back in the 80's. He made about a dozen. The golf flag pole threw the best. After practicing with it for just a couple days, he could hit a 2 foot celcer bale every time from 20 yards or less. No lie. The flag pole was the difference.
He never has actually tried it on a deer though. But, he sure did talk about it and, he sure did get good with it. You want to talk about hacking something up. Usually a celcer bale would last a couple years with a mining belt back stop for arrows. He'd go through 4 or 5 a summer with his spears
Try a golf course flag pole. You'll never use a stiff handle again. It will definitely improve your accuracy and, increase the distance you are able to throw accurately. God Bless
Practiced with SIMBA today! Threw about 15 times and discovered a method that has me very consistent. I'm throwing down off the deck into about a 14"x14"x 4 foot long piece of styrofoam. The height is about 12 feet and out to 5 yards I was hitting the same hole the last 4 throws.. I don't rare back above my head with my throwing hand but simply support and guide with my left hand and my right hand holds the very end of the spear maybe a little past my right eye. I bring it up to point of aim with my left and thrust in a straight motion through the spear tip all in one motion. It's heavy enough that it penetrates to the wood shaft where the hard edge of the foam block stops it. I think in the intended target, the shaft would punch past the hide. That would give me more that 12 inches of penetration.
Why not ....Its all Placement and KE . For feral hogs and wh deer fine....doubt if you will get many Turkey, ELk , Pronghorn ,....Kudu, Cape Buff, Tahr or Red Stagg with it. Those that Believe WH deer buck are # 1 ......Bear`s statement was made when there were Not many deer .The Same with the Kudu by Jack O` Connor in the 70s . Having hunted 80 species Globally with bow and harvested 62 species ....WH deer and Feral hogs are not in my top 50 species to hunt . Try a Val Rehbok, or any of the Tiny Ten, Chamois or Red Stag with Spear !
Made a sheath for the spear out of Lexan and it is secured in place for transport with a 1/4 inch bolt through the blade and sheath. It will come off and hang point down by a small loop of rope while hunting. I weighed the spear at 4 pounds with a new fish scale and did the math for kinetic energy. If I can throw it at 30 fps it will deliver a little over 55 foot pounds of K.E. This is with the same formula as used for arrows, speed x speed x weight divided by 450240. When not hunting I will leave the spear in the tree with the sheath on and hanging by the rope on the sheath to keep it from rusting. I put a very light coat of grease on the edge for rust prevention also. Will hunt this evening!
