Spearing sharks

Currently it's illegal to spear sharks in Florida, but it is legal in other states and countries. I believe it should be legal for a few reasons; it allows the spearfisher to defend his catch without the moral hindrance of the shark going to waste if it's been killed. Sharks are good to eat and have a lot of yield. Spearing sharks will take pressure off other species as one shark has more meat than many other harvested fish put together. Most importantly it allows a diver to confront a shark with a predatory mindset which puts the diver at less of a risk than if he were to react defensively.

Here's some interesting shark spearing footage.

This is a picture of Wally Gibbins, an Australian spearfisher and a Tiger shark. Although the shark was killed with a powerhead I think it is still appropriate because Gibbins invented and made that powerhead and used it with a pole spear. Also it's an old picture at the time of which I would think taking a shark of that size freediving was very challenging and took a lot of cojones.

Good story Core, thanks for sharing. Have you shot other sharks? Where do you figure is the best shot placement to land one?

Thanks for the tips Core. Antoine Berry in one of the videos above does not recommend shooting the shark in the head. I believe a stone shot is very unlikely and he says that the shark goes crazy and becomes dangerous when shot in the head. On the other hand shooting the shark towards the rear will tire it out putting the diver at less risk. At least that's the theory and I wanted to know what you thought about it.

In Cuba subsistence spearfishers will kill nurse sharks for food when they can find them. I know the feeling when you see nothing all day and finally you have this big beast in front of you. However I tried nurse shark meat and didn't like it. Since then every time I saw the cuban spearfishers carrying one I thought "abusadores". But you have to see it from their POV also, none of that fish goes to waste. And they do risk their precious shafts and guns to get it when they don't have a powerhead.

Here's a shark story from Killshot (Eric) and Roberto Reyes.

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Day two and Lenny decides after breaking his fins the day before to not dive with us today. After getting the props all fixed up and healthy we head out to the south drop to a place Roberto and I had dove on his previous trip. Lots of pinnacles right near the deep water. Once again in the bluer than blue water we begin the chum dance the bag off the side of the boat, bait fish on the stringers and Steve getting shooting pratice on triggers for fresh chum. We proceed to do this for a few hours and same as the day before. NO hoo's anywere. Water must be to warm. Steve and Roberto and my wife Gail take to the water again and my wfie gets buzzed by a good sized reef shark but plenty safe between Roberto and Steve who are heavily armed. The shark decides better and swims off. After Steve shoots another trigger another reefy gets brave and Roberto lets him have it with his Rob Alexander. Lights out for him. Back in the water for another round Steve gets another barracuda for chum, Roberto gets a good sized horse eye jack and two snappers on one shot on a deep dive to what looked like atleast 80 or 90 feet. After about 20 minutes more we start to drift off the deep side of things and I begin really chumming up some more fresh cuda and notice way down deep some reefies moving really fast around the bait and quickly eating it up. I look up out of the water and over towards Roberto and ask if he had seen the all the sharks tearing up the bait and he acknoledges that he had and how cool it looked. At this time Steve has decided to leave the us and swim back to the boat off away from us and is back at the boat. As I see he is safely there I take a look down and see what looks like one of the reefies coming to have a look at me or my flasher hanging on the float. Admiring the beauty of him I notice he is not really going to slow up and notice as he gets much closer that he is huge and not stopping. Getting closer he turns to my left and lights up in the sun with the ever present stripes of a huge tiger. SHIT!!! Iturn to look and yell to Roberto that there is a tiger here and he is big. I then stick my head back under water to keep my eye on the shark and shorlty after feel Roberto grab my arm to let me know he is there and I am not alone. As the tiger makes a turn back in our direction Rob gives the shark a charge as if to try and scare the beast off only to have it redirect itself head on towards me with the jaws opening. With gun pointed towards the shark in seld defense and about ready to shoot the best less than 10 feet away Roberto decides the shark is moving to fast at me and getting way to close and agressive and last his shaft fly. Direct hit behind the eye and the shark veers away just short of us. After a few holy ****s and and screaming for the boat we get in and begin the long task of subdiung the besst and trying to boat it. The whole shark incedent took less than about 20-25 seconds from the time I first seen it to when Roberto blasted it. Needless to say we were never able to get the shark into the boat being that it was a solid 13 footer. After the cleaning and pictures and all the clean up I look back and can only be glad for one thing and that was for having a solid dive buddy. Thanks Roberto!!! Not sure how much a shark like that weighs to give you an idea, three of us could not drag it into the boat and we had to use a small 4x4 off road vehicle to drag it up onto our pier. The jaws we removed were big enough for us to step into and pull up around our waist. Also we noticed that this shark had absolutely nothing in its stomach upon cleaning it. If I could say one thing about bluewater diving, always make sure that your dive buddy is near. Roberto if you have some pics to add please do. Eric

Terry Maas also shot a tiger shark. I'll try to find the story.

I also seem to recall a story of someone that stoned a tiger shark shooting it in the mouth and then dragging it to shore but I don't remember who. Maybe someone from Hawaii.

Article HERE. This is not exactly hunting sharks, it was a defensive kill.

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Mr Clasen was hunting yellow fin tuna with fellow fisherman Cameron Kirkconnell, photographer D.J Struntz and film maker Ryan McInnis in the Gulf of Mexico when the encounter took place.

The group were about to leave the deep waters south of the Mississippi River's mouth, when Mr McInnis found himself alone in the company of a tiger shark.
With no time to lose, Mr Clasen grabbed his speargun and swam to his stranded friend, who was being circled by the giant predator.
'I positioned myself between Ryan and the shark and I tried to watch it for a second, hoping it would pass us by,' explained 32-year-old Mr Clasen.
'I noticed that the shark was getting tighter and tighter and just kept trying to get a back angle on us and behaving in an aggressive manner.
'The shark made a roll and looked like it was going to charge us so I just went ahead and took the conservative route and put a shaft through its gills.
'Cameron and I have been around sharks for years and we all have a lot of experience with them but this encounter had a different feel to it.
'Down in my core I really felt the shark was there to feed. I didn't want it to come to that.'
Mr Clasen spent nearly two hours wrestling with the giant 12ft shark, spearing it seven times and even attempting to drown the beast before eventually finishing it off with a long blade knife.
'Once I shot it in the gills I felt a moral obligation to finish the job,' says Mr Clasen.
'I didn't want it to go on any longer than it had to. I shot the fish like I would do any other fish and worked it up closer and did my best to kill it as humanely as possible.
'I speared it in the gills which I knew would kill it and from that I tried to put a shaft into its brain as quickly as possible.
'I shot it six times in the head with a spear and I wasn't having much luck - it was a slow drawn out process.
'Sharks are so resilient and so tough from millions of years of evolution they are just survivors.
'The best way and quickest way to finish the job and kill the shark and recover it was to get a rope around its tail, drag it from the back of the boat and attempt to drown it.
'In the end we had put a knife its skull once I got lose enough to it and use a long blade knife even after trying to drown it.'

Mr Clasen has been free diving and fishing since an early age. Hailing from Mississippi, he was brought up in a fishing family, and is an expert in all fishing disciplines. Despite his experience, Mr Clasen took no pleasure in disposing of the giant shark.
'This was one of the most remorseful moments I have ever had in all of my years in hunting, gathering and fishing,' explains Mr Clasen.
'Personally I never shoot anything or kill anything that I am not going to eat.
'We saved the tail and the head, cut a giant chunk out of it and ate a piece.
'I wasn't there to hunt the shark, it was a defensive move for me and I would do it again. Unfortunately it had to be done and its not something I was proud of. It was a situation that presented itself to us. This was one of those rare instances where we had to protect ourselves.
'I have so much respect for sharks in general. With the amount of time that we spend out there we are exposed to so many potential risks.'

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Aaron, some are very good.

Monster, yes interesting about not having a PH.

I remember Ryan posting a vid of how he first saw the tiger shark, if anyone can find it please post a link. I know it's on his video page but for some reason I can't see those videos.

It can smell before and during cooking. But not after and there's no bad taste. The only shark I didn't like so far is nurse shark.