Things have changed since a family friend drove a 13-year-old Angie Kokes out into a pasture to hunt deer for the first time. The way she remembers it, they sat there looking over a small canyon all day and didn\u2019t see a single animal. Kokes thought there had to be something more to deer hunting than being stationary and searching distant terrain, so she went out by herself the next day.<\/p>\n
Thirty-four years later on Oct. 10, she crept up over a bank on her 256-acre ranch in North Loop, Nebraska with a 6-foot, 3-inch spear in both hands, parting the tall grass and getting ready for a throw. She saw antlers glint in the sun, and then the body underneath them, about eight feet away. Years of practice, failure, and success built up to this moment. She hauled the spear back and hurled it downward. She had found there was much more to deer hunting, indeed.<\/p>\n
Spear hunting might be the method of harvest American hunters are least familiar with. Images of loincloths, wooly mammoths, and sharpened rocks lashed to wooden shafts with rawhide come to mind. But modern iterations of spear hunting are more akin to extreme bowhunting, where proximity and patience are key. In Nebraska, spear hunting is codified in state law as a legal method of take for deer, elk, mountain sheep, turkey, and antelope, as long as spears aren\u2019t poison-tipped or explosive. <\/p>\n
With that said, plenty of hunters and non-hunters alike do not like nor understand how Kokes hunts and they don\u2019t hesitate to tell her so through her social media. But she meets this opposition with open and honest conversations about her practice and mentality as a spear hunter, which she says changes minds in some instances. Kokes assuages concern about ethics and fair chase with a simple observation: she\u2019s seen dozens of game animals run off with nonlethal bullets or broadheads lodged in their bodies. But when she spears an animal, it\u2019s from near-touching distance and the animal dies quickly. In other words, she thinks it might be one of the most lethal forms of hunting when done properly. <\/p>\n The other reason many hunters have negative ideas about spear hunting is because it\u2019s often done over bait (which is controversial in some circles), and it\u2019s usually presented as more of a stunt than a serious hunting method. While Kokes has hunted some animals over bait, even the harshest skeptics can\u2019t deny that stalking within mere feet of a bedded whitetail buck takes incredible skill. It\u2019s a testament to how seriously Kokes takes her style of hunting, and when she launched that spear on Oct. 10, she was confident it would hit home. <\/p>\n A friend had tipped Kokes off to the buck, who was hanging out in a creek bottom on her property. She sprinted inside and grabbed her spears, not even taking time to change out of her t-shirt and shorts.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you know whitetails at all, you know they can be bedded one second and be a mile away 30 seconds later. So I didn\u2019t feel like I had time to change into my hunting clothes,\u201d Kokes says. <\/p>\n She ran back outside and started the stalk about a quarter-mile from her house.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew the wind and cover were right, so I basically crept up on him over a bank,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought he was gone, it was so thick I couldn\u2019t see him at all. So I reached a spear over the bank and tried to hold the weeds back so I could see down better. Around that time the light reflected off an antler and I realized he was there.\u201d<\/p>\n The throw was similar to the ones she usually takes from treestands, on a downward trajectory from above. But this was the first time she\u2019d ever thrown from the ground. Kokes prefers more angled shots where she can hit behind the shoulder and get a good exit wound, ensuring a quality blood trail. Her range tops out at 10 yards. When she saw how great this shot opportunity was, she let the spear fly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hit him dead-center,\u201d she says. \u201cYou could hear the lung pop. He jumped just a little bit, then laid right back down in the same place and expired. I really expected him to take off and run, but [the spear] is so sharp, it hit him and then it was over.\u201d <\/p>\n America isn\u2019t quite sure how to feel about spear hunting. When celebrity hunter Josh Bowmar threw a spear<\/a> rigged with a GoPro at a Canada black bear in 2016, an investigation ensued and Canada banned the practice. His wife Sarah, also a celebrity hunter and fitness influencer, was promptly dropped by Under Armour, one of her sponsors at the time. Uproar followed. Supporters of Bowmar\u2019s tactics lit piles of tech-knit exercise clothing on fire in their driveways while critics of the spearing called for punishment. (The Bowmars were later charged<\/a> with Lacey Act violations for a seperate incident but have yet to be convicted.) <\/p>\nThe Buck Stops There<\/h2>\n
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Built From the Ground Up<\/h2>\n
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