YouTube Outrage and Outreach

"Dude ... I am going to make it my mission ... to hunt you down ... and then I'm going to do to you ... what you did to that bear ... then I'm going to take your head ... and it will be kept as my [expletive] trophy."
"Mark my words ... I WILL find you ..."
Video comment

"A real hunter kills quickly and humanely and shows respect for the animal that he has killed."
Video comment

"I drilled him perfect. I just did something that I don't think anybody in the world has ever done. I can't believe that just happened ... He's going down, I drilled him perfect!"
"That was the longest throw I ever thought I could ever make."
"Oh yeah, I got mad penetration."
Josh Bowman, American hunter

A YouTube video posted on June 5, 2016, shows American hunter Josh Bowmar throwing a spear at a black bear from about 10 to 12 metres away. The hunt was near Swan Hills, about two hours north of Edmonton.

This man obtained a hunting permit on entering Alberta last June. And he began his unorthodox thrill about two hours north of Edmonton, near an area called Swan Hills. After his hunting expedition he posted a video of what he had succeeded in accomplishing. Bowman felt he had done something admirable; in the months since that video was posted several hundred thousand people have viewed it, and a number of comments were posted, none of them complimentary to this peculiar hunt.

What the man did as an avid hunter and a man considered a U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association athlete complete with "All American honours" in javelin throws, was use a spear he had made, to impale a black bear with. He set up a lure with a bait bin, and as the animal approached, the 'hunter' released the spear which struck the bear in its side from about ten to 12 metres' distance. The bear fled into the bush.

A camera picks up this intrepid hunter walking over to where the spear lay, crowing about his precision hit as dusk began to fall. Then the video picks up again the following day, to show some of the bear's intestines hanging about on low branches. And finally, Bowman discovering the animal about 60 to 70 yards on from where he had struck it. It appears that a Swan Hills outfitter team had aided the Bowman hunt.

Not only is the hunting community rather less than pleased with this display of stupidity and animal cruelty, but the environment and parks department of the province has asked Fish and Wildlife officers to investigate to determine whether charges can be laid under existing laws. And the existing laws are to be updated to distinguish this type of 'hunting' to be disallowed in future.

A YouTube video posted on June 5, 2016, shows American hunter Josh Bowmar throwing a spear at 
a black bear from about 10 to 12 metres away. The hunt was near Swan Hills, about two hours north 
of Edmonton.