OH hunter Josh Bowmar, a fitness trainer, posted the video to his YouTube channel on June 5.
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The hunting party didn’t find the bear till the next day; a wait Bowmar’s hunting guides, John and Jenn Rivet, claim was necessary because it would have been unsafe to search for it into the night.
In a statement, a spokesman for Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Parks calls spear hunting archaic and says a ban is to be introduced this fall as part of updated regulations.
The department has also directed fish and wildlife officers to investigate to see if charges are warranted under existing laws.
After the spear pierces the bear’s side, the man raises his arms in the air, smiles broadly and exclaims: “I smoked him”. “That was the longest throw I ever thought I could ever make”, Bowmar tells the camera. “If (I) didn’t care about the humane killing of this bear, why did I spend years preparing and practicing, becoming extremely proficient with a spear to make sure I could harvest this bear ethically?”
Alberta’s big game regulations detail rules for hunting with firearms, bow and arrow, and crossbows, but do not specifically address the use of spears. The next morning they returned and found the bear dead, about 50 metres from where it had been hit.
Arguing the killing was humane the once all-American college javelin champion added: “Spear hunting gives the animal the greatest chance of escape, considering our ethical killing range is within 10 yards”.
‘Trust me, no one cares more about these animals than us hunters, especially me’.
In a response to a comment on her Facebook page, Bowmar’s wife, Sarah, said on Monday her husband’s critics have “nothing better to do”.
Bow hunting is legal in Alberta and 19 percent of 119,000 big game hunters in the province past year purchased archery hunting permits, according to a government website. Based on the blood, he boasted about “a lot of penetration” and the “epic footage” he had.
He says using bait to hunt black bears is legal in Alberta, but some people do take issue with the practice.
“Hunting should be done with the most effective means possible to ensure you have a quick and immediate death as possible”, he said.
‘Animals are not trophies, and bears and other awesome creatures around the world need us to channel our collective disgust at this and say no more to this selfish brutality’.
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The online outrage and death threats mirrored that of when American dentist Walter Palmer, shot and killed Cecil the Lion in July, 2015.
