Spear hunting bill stopped in Montana House committee

HELENA — The bill to allow a small group of enthusiasts to hunt with spears has been stopped in the House.

The measure targeted at a subgroup of hunters who hunt like prehistoric man for sport was tabled in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee Friday.

The bill, which had already passed through the Senate, drew a large amount of public interest because of its unusual topic. Gov. Brian Schweitzer singled out the spear hunting measure as a "kooky" proposal from tea party conservatives that hold sway in the Legislature.

Hunters supporting the bill say it's an exciting sport that connects them with the outdoors.

Critics of the proposal say there is no need for the legislation and that spear hunting could be used for poaching.

I'm not at all surprised. I couldn't get anywhere with Virginia.
The guy at fish and game told me quite honestly that to get spear hunting allowed, they needed to have good reasons to allow it, and NOT have it cause them problems.
It would be real easy to argue that spear hunting is a cruel barbaric sport for a handful of crackpots. And the fish and game dept would get nothing in return. 5 people in the whole state might buy a license.

I just don't understand all the hullabaloo over making spear hunting legal. Alabama went thru a bunch of meetings, thousands of dollars, and finally legalized spear hunting for deer. We had all of two spear licenses sold the first year...and zero deer killed. Haven't had a free range spear killed deer yet.

It is inconsequential if anyone hunts with a spear or even manages to kill ONE deer with a spear. Any DCNR should spend its money and time better.

Make em legal, add rocks, bricks to the list also. It won't matter as almost zero will be killed.

troy

It is all about public opinion. The actual results are not a factor.

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
I just don't understand all the hullabaloo over making spear hunting legal. Alabama went thru a bunch of meetings, thousands of dollars, and finally legalized spear hunting for deer. We had all of two spear licenses sold the first year...and zero deer killed. Haven't had a free range spear killed deer yet.

It is inconsequential if anyone hunts with a spear or even manages to kill ONE deer with a spear. Any DCNR should spend its money and time better.

Make em legal, add rocks, bricks to the list also. It won't matter as almost zero will be killed.

troy

I just love the "spear hunting could be used for poaching" line. idiots.

troy

It's the silencer that really bothers them.

i hunt with a spear and i do a number of times each year its not that hard to get with inor under 15 yards froma deer if you cannot do this your bush craft skill suck and you need to spend more time in the bush practasing these skills.

do not condem some 1 for using a spear to hunt befor you your self learn everything there is to know about hunting wtih a spear and have perhaps taken 10+ games animals with a spear.

heck just doinhg a quick search on you tube i found a vidieo of a guy killing 2 white tailed deer with a samburu spear it was a complete pass thru perfectly in the bread basket.

just like any other weapon get with in range and you win. and practise.

im willing to bet that any 1 here bitching about spear hunters or how "ineffective they are" can take a look at the fact we made the mammoth extict because of nothing more than the spear.

quote:

Originally posted by 700 nitro:
take a look at the fact we made the mammoth extict because of nothing more than the spear.

Mammoth hunting was probably very much like this.

kinda sorta but were here today arnt we? and yeah it prolly looked something like that hey if you have to eat you have to eat if you dont you die

the rreason you see people throwing spears at the elephants face is to distract it while other vilagers are supposed to run up behind it and with in range and implae a spear right into the heart lung zone and slice the tendons on the rear legs with blades of what ever make

also they are trying to feed way more people ie a village so they are going after much much larger game a spear is highly effective on smaller game buffalo and smaller.

im surpized how un orginized they were as most african tribes are far more effient when it comes to killing with a spear where was this filmed and if was south africa or zim it would explain it.

most spear kills in africa i have recorded involed a snare of some sorts to immobilize the larger beast then it was dispatched.

700 nitro, can you tell me what game animals you've taken with the spear? I'm pretty interested in spear hunting myself.

10 of boar 1 white tailed deer spear fishing dosnt really count but i do it every spring i guess you could count it a bit i spear pike and carp. iv also manged a few lucky kills on rabbits and 1 coyote out of a tree stand and working on more i finaly made the full switch to the samburu spear its killing power is great and throwing it is far easyer than the boar spear

i dont claim to be an all knowing expert of spears but i will how ever fight for peoples rights to hunt with 1.

for the record if i can get my ass there im willing to spear hunt with any 1 here its a thrill and i mean absolute rush!

I have an assegai spear, and some very low tree stands on my property. But I don't spear hunt here because it is not legal. I'm sure you can understand.
I tried to get spear hunting made legal here. The game commission said they would work on it if I could show that moving forward would have high positives (new licenses), and low negatives (public image). No chance.

quote:

Originally posted by 700 nitro:
10 of boar 1 white tailed deer spear fishing dosnt really count but i do it every spring i guess you could count it a bit i spear pike and carp. iv also manged a few lucky kills on rabbits and 1 coyote out of a tree stand and working on more i finaly made the full switch to the samburu spear its killing power is great and throwing it is far easyer than the boar spear

i dont claim to be an all knowing expert of spears but i will how ever fight for peoples rights to hunt with 1.

for the record if i can get my ass there im willing to spear hunt with any 1 here its a thrill and i mean absolute rush!

i know how you feel spear hunting is not legal here either but it still happens every now and then to prove a point and im trying to compose enuff vidieo footage to finaly allow it it all takes time and it all starts with some 1keep at it man if we get enuff people filming there hunts well get it legalized.

just becacause something is illegal dosnt make it right .....fight for your rights or lose them.

The videos very well could backfire on you. It does prove your point, it also proves spear hunters are currently breaking the law. Also if the videos are bloody, it could make spear hunters look blood-thirsty, or whatever.
I am totally with you, but I also understand what the arguments against spear hunting are. Even though those arguments are not accurate and don't make sense, it is still public opinion and money which sets policy.

quote:

Originally posted by 700 nitro:
i know how you feel spear hunting is not legal here either but it still happens every now and then to prove a point and im trying to compose enuff vidieo footage to finaly allow it it all takes time and it all starts with some 1keep at it man if we get enuff people filming there hunts well get it legalized.

just becacause something is illegal dosnt make it right .....fight for your rights or lose them.

i under stand but if no 1 stands up for our rights were just gonna get mowed over some 1 has to have the balls to stand up to big brother and say this is what we want and this is whats right other wise we get nothing at all.

there is absolutly no way to identifie exatly where the hunt took place as long as i dont have any "identifing land marks in the vids"

btw spear hunting is bloody i blow a 2" wide hole completely thru stuff if the anti hunters dont like it there welcome to try and stop me out in the bush wich i openly welcome what happens in the bush stays in the bush.

alcohol used to be illegal then people fought for there rights...... just 1 example..

and there are many more. iv spent time in jail it dosnt bother me then again i have some extreamly good lawyers and never spent more than a few days to a week there

I don't think "public opinion" has anything to do with it not being legal.

In Alabama we had only to fight the hardheaded ostriches in the DCNR who are opposed to anything new. There was NO outpouring of public opinion, for or against. Only a handful of folks trying to get it legalized. Which they finally did.

troy

seem it might be the same here i managed to get the email of the minister that takes care of affairs like this and i even managed to gain appointment with them and well to discuss they are not opposed to it they just want some 1 to show interest in it

Dredging this post up.. 1 year old....

I guess I am kinda mystified as to why the DNR would even care about banning spear hunting.... although I have no reason to doubt that they will knee-jerk ban anything they legally can...

I would think it would be the opposite....
1. Nearly ZERO risk of "Overshooting"... having stray bullets go miles and kill kids, hit houses, etc... Less risk even than bow and arrow...
2. FAR less risk of stupid mistaken shots that end up killing cows, pets, fellow hunters, and even kids....
3. It might be a nice, quiet way of dealing with "Urban" nuisance game animals... Several states have started allowing cities to declare "Suburban" hunting seasons - allowing Bow and Arrow ONLY hunting within city limits... as in... shoot a deer in your front yard....

I think the down side is... Few hunters really are interested in it because of the physical nature of it... but that could easily change as we get more populated and game animals overpopulate the suburbs....

It would be a fine revenge against the trophy Urban buck who is eating all your flowers/trees/fruit and horning the tar out of your mailbox and making scrapes all over your front yard....

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by TruckJohn:
Dredging this post up.. 1 year old....

I would think it would be the opposite....
1. Nearly ZERO risk of "Overshooting"... having stray bullets go miles and kill kids, hit houses, etc... Less risk even than bow and arrow...

I was surprised to discover that archery within the city limits carries the same penalties as discharging firearms. It seems like an atlatl should be legal; it far predates modern government that bans it.

quote:

Originally posted by TruckJohn:
Dredging this post up.. 1 year old....


I would think it would be the opposite....
1. Nearly ZERO risk of "Overshooting"... having stray bullets go miles and kill kids, hit houses, etc... Less risk even than bow and arrow...
2. FAR less risk of stupid mistaken shots that end up killing cows, pets, fellow hunters, and even kids....

Thanks

Seems like maybe we should ban hunting with rifles and all hunt with spears to save the children.

If you want to hunt with a spear go for it, I could care less, but do not make asinine reasons to justify it.

After finding a Hunting arrow in my suburban front yard last year - It's absolutely not "Asinine" reasoning by any stretch of imagination....

"Urban" hunting is becoming more of a reality.... As Responsible hunters - we need to make sure that we don't ruin the sport by doing stupid things that kill neighbors...

While I am not a Spear hunter right now - from what I have seen, I could consider it even less risky to "Innocents" than bow hunting - which is allowed in several "Urban" hunting areas...

Thanks