Big Game Spear hunting

Luke Tatro

Luke Tatro

New member
I am planning on taking a spear on one of my next hunts. I have seen the opprotunity to take a good many animals with it. What motivated me to do this was when I was watching one of my videos, Big Game Hunting Extreme 2, the fella said that he likes to use primitive weapons alot, then he went out with an in-line muzzleloader, with a scope and harris bipods. Real primitive. I was expecting a flintlock or something. So, I did some research, and the way I figure it, I can stick a deer or bear, let it bleed out a bit, stick it again. Use a shaft long enough to ensure a safe reaction time. Have back up. Any thing I missed in a nutshell?
 
There is a book you should read that deals with your topic, I think the title is "El Tigre" or something like that. The book may be out of print but you might find it at a gun show.

This is a book about hunting Jaguars with spear and arrows in Argentina. The book is loaded with photographs of actual jaguar kills at the time of the jaguar attack (they must be "induced" to attack the hunter).

The book was written by a Russian Mechanical Engineer and adventurer, who took instruction in the use of the spear from an aboriginal Argentine native.

Great read, in English language.

Cheers,
 
Check game regs first. Spears are legal in Alabama for deer & hogs, but only during the deer archery season, for example. It may or may not be legal where you hunt, or possibly only during certain times.
 
Peter Capstick had wrote in Death in the Long Grass(I think)about hunting cape buffalo with a spear. He did that after bragging about jaguar hunting with a spear and bet his fellow profession hunter he could kill a buffalo that way. Well he killed the buffalo with a back up shot from the guy he made the bet with.
 
I am heading to Zimbabwe in less than 2 weeks and will be hunting cape buffalo. There is no way I would do it with a spear and even with at 375 H&H I will only take a shot that I know the buffalo will go down.
 
I've got a buddy that took a black bear with a spear, also a black momba in africa just last year. He got a lot of flack in the local paper from liberals concerned about the snakes well being, they spent three weeks shelling him for it, guess they didn't know about the black bear!
 
The Cape Buffalo has a nick name in Africa "The Black Death".

The 375 H&H is the minimum caliber that you want to carry when going after Buffalo.

There are lots of unmarked graves in Africa of hunters that tried with biger calibers.

The guy that killed the black mamba with a spear /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Crazzy !!!!!

Gerhard
 
There are some risks that I will take, but there are many things to reduce that risk. Having a good professional hunter to back me up and knowing my limits. I have already told my PH that I will pass on any shot I do not have confidence in making. If that means a world record animal wandering off, so be it.

Then again I will not let the legend of cape buffalo start my knees to start shaking. Lion on the other hand may make knees get a little weak.

Hunting with a spear would be too much of a risk for me.
 
Was that Argentine jaguar hunter Sasha Siemel? Capstick discusses him at some length in one of his books.

IIRC, Capstick had a local make up a suitable hunting spear, practiced daily until he could hit a buff-heart sized target every time, then went out into the bush. Found a buff in thick cover near a handy tree. Got himself within throwing range of the buff and running range of the tree, then heaved the spear and ran like hell for the tree. The spear hit smack in the buff's heart, which annoyed the buff no end, and it took off after Capstick. He was almost within leaping distance of the tree, hearing the snorting and the thunder of the buff's hooves right behind him, when his foot caught a root and he went face-first in the dirt. That's when his buddy's .470 cut loose and the buff piled up almost at Capstick's shoe-soles.

Glad I wasn't there.
 
Yes, the book I have read, "El Tigre", was by Sasha S. It is a great read.

The spear technique was not to throw the spear, as a javelin; but, to plant the back of the spear on the ground and direct the point into the rapidly-approaching jaguar. Interesting. Gutsy.

Cheers,
 
Originally posted by Engine6:
[qb]The paper in Africa?[/qb]
Click to expand...
No the newspaper in our little hick town here, one of the editors is a liberal whack job that apparently loves animals and hates hunters (Hard to find in these parts) so he ran a story every week for three weeks about how awful and dispicable this guy was for flying into Africa to kill a snake with a spear.

Never once did he touch on the fact that he killed about 8 big game animals while he was there with a rifle... he only harped on the snake because it was done with a spear. Then again, maybe he didn't do enough research to know that the guy didn't pay $9,000 to go out there and spear one snake. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I have Capstick’s book “Death in the Silent Places” and grabbed once again after reading this thread.
Looking at the pictures it strikes me is how Siemel is not a big man and he is in one picture with a 300 lb jaguar he speared. That must be a wild ride holding the dull end of the spear until the kitty passes on. And it says he did it over 300 times!
Talk about an extreme sport. A bungee cord will never try to feed you to it’s young.

Mark
 
Mark,

Siemel killed a lot of jaguars, I forget just how many; but only a fraction of them were with a spear. He also killed many with a rifle, a pistol, and even a bow and arrow. Even so, just one with a spear would take a lot of guts! Mucho hombre!
 
I onced watched a video of some African natives go out after a Lion that was causing them problems, killing some of their people. There were about 20 of these natives with spears, some had two spears and all had sheilds to protect themselves from the lion. Like that was a big help hey. Those spear heads were about 4 inches wide at the furthest point tapering down to a point and the length was around 20 inches or more.

Well, they had found the lion and surrounded it in a circle. The natives continued to tighten up that circle until there was about 15 from the lion on all sides. The first man ran forward from the side and threw his spear into the beast, as the circle tightend up more. Lots of tribal chanting going on all the while. It suddenly turned and attacked the native knocking him down and mauling him up. Then another man quicly ran in and stabbed the lion with his spear and the lion again turned and jumped on him knocking him to the ground, when two more natives cast their spears into the lion.

Now that lion was running around with two spears stuck in him and several wounds and didn't look to me like he was losing the fight. Two natives came at the lion from the front while two more lunged their sprears from the side into the lion. One spear went clean on through the animal. The Lion collasped in the rearend and then he was charged by several natives sticking their spears into him. The lion died at that point. However, it was not a short event and at least 4 of those natives collected a lifetime medal to show off on their bodies from those lion claws.
 
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