By Chris Avena
There are hunters, there are mountain men, then there is Tim Wells. Tim Wells is the host of "Relentless Pursuit" that airs on the Sportsman Channel. Tim’s dedication and passion for hunting and the outdoors is evident through his television show. He shares his adventures and expertise while inspiring viewers to appreciate and respect the beauty of nature while engaging in the thrill of the hunt. Tim's commitment to conservation and ethical hunting practices further emphasizes the importance of preserving our natural world for future generations to enjoy.
Chris: Tim, let me ask you something. You are more of a primitive hunter.
Tim: Yeah, pretty much.
Chris: So, what makes one sit down and say, "Hey, I want to hunt with a blow gun?" How do you do that?
Tim: Well, my whole life I have been drawn to hunting. Not because I want to kill stuff. I have always enjoyed the hunt and the excitement of closing the distance and tricking my quarry. But I have hunted so much throughout my life and I know a lot of seasoned hunters feel that way that there comes a point where you're not getting the thrill out of it, like when you shot your first squirrel with a .22. You know?
You migrate into the mindset of – ok, now I am going to use a bow. Me, I found that mindset of primitive hunting ever since I was a kid. I was throwing spears and blowguns and stuff. I just love the challenge of trying to get in close to an animal. Sometimes I can get so close that you can smell the breath. That just gives me a lot more fulfillment when I'm in the field trying to be successful with my spear and my blowgun. Recently, because I have my own company where I build spears and I build exceptionally good blowguns, it makes it more fun because I am building them. I am testing new blowguns, and darts, or I have my new spear. I just came out with a new spear that has fins on the back like an arrow. So, this is very exciting to me. It's all part of the experience. It's like deer hunting. Yes, that's fun to deer hunt, but man, when you have your food plots, or you have your farm, you're engaging your deer, you're trying to manage them. Same way with my hunting, I like to be part of it. Everywhere from the beginning of making my blowgun, and my blow-darts, my spear, that's just part of it. It brings a lot of excitement to me.
Chris: I saw you hunting monkeys with the blowgun.
Chris: What was the distance and what kind of lung capacity and accuracy do you need to actually hit your prey?
Tim: Well, you want to be accurate. I have learned in Africa, where I use poison darts, which smashes it no matter where you hit it. But you are talking about where you saw that on YouTube or possibly on television. Those have to be lung hits. You wait for that monkey to give up the shot. The monkeys are quick. The blow dart only travels about 100 to 300 feet per second if you get a good, fast blow in it. The monkeys are relatively quick enough to get out of the way unless you let them get really close. So, I set up my baits so that the monkeys were in there at about 5 to 9 yards, somewhere in that area.
Chris: Still a distance with a blowgun.
Tim: Yes, but if I've got a rest, and I'm on them, and if they show me the heart and lung area, they are going to get it. I use good little darts. I make a 3-blade dart. Now that is deadly. The dart is called a redtail. I sell them on the website, www.slotmaster.com . The darts are injection molded. They are sharp as a razor, and I can kill any big game animal. A monkey or a baboon, doesn't have a chance.
Chris: So, what is the biggest game you can shoot with a blowgun?
Tim: I've killed black bears.
Chris: With a blowgun?
Tim: Oh yeah.
Chris: Holy shit!
Tim: You can watch it on YouTube. This year I killed a really nice stag in New Zealand. I have killed some whitetails, a beautiful mule deer in Mexico last year. Anything that you can get within range that is showing me its vitals. You put a razor dart in it. If somebody shoots me right through here and out the backside with my razor dart, I got about 15-20 seconds to say my goodbyes, because that thing will take down Big Game.
Chris: Is that legal in all 50 states?
Tim: No, no, no. Not Big Game. You can use a blowgun in Alaska, Hawaii, most parts of Texas, but you can't use it on whitetail down there, you can use it on all exotics. Of course, you can hunt all hogs. In Africa, you can use it on everything. It just depends where you are hunting. It's like anything, if you're in a blue state in the United States, chances are you will not be able to use anything.
Chris: I'm in a blue state.
Tim: Okay. Well, if it's a red state. You can, you can likely hunt small game with my blowguns.
Chris: Spear hunting, how did that come about?
Tim: Oh, I've been throwing spears
Chris: You have also caught a lot of flak for spear hunting, haven't you?
Tim: I don't care what they say about me. They have been saying that about me since I was growing up. I'm not out to impress anybody. They hate me for it, but you know what? A spear is the most ethical weapon you can use in the hunting industry right now. Hunters are shooting elk at 1,400 yards with a rifle. They are shooting them from a mile away. But ethics is not just about how well you can kill and how quickly you can drop your game. It is about giving the animal a fair chance. When you have a spear in your hand, that animal has the fairest chance in the world. He is going to use all five of his senses and probably the sixth sense to get away. And trust me, they have a sixth sense.
Aoudad are a prime example of that. You can be in a position where the wind is perfect, everything is in your favor. You can be hidden completely in the dark. The Aoudad will come within six or seven yards. And sometimes they won't get another inch closer, but they will know. I don't know how they figure it out. Big Whitetails are the same way. With a spear, you got to get him close. The great thing about a spear is if I slip up and throw it and it hits his back like in the stomach or he whirls to run. It goes through his hips or his butt or up through his shoulder and neck, that spear is so big and so sharp that when it goes in his body and he takes off running and that big six- or seven-foot-long pole is moving on him, it takes him out quick. I speared Cape Buffalo in Africa. I speared a hippo this year with it. I've speared all the big game animals and never lost them. Speared a Buffalo the other day, after I was putting it in my freezer, 60 seconds, that buffalo was dead out there on the prairie, still dead. I've seen guys hammer on the 300 Mags, and not get those bulls to go down. That spear takes them out every time.
Chris: That is one of the first ways mankind learned to hunt.
Tim: Absolutely, man. There's not a more ethical, traditional way to harvest game than with the spear. But if you are hungry, you might need a driver.
Chris: So why isn't it more widely in use?
Tim: Well, that's changing because a lot of people are buying spears now. They go to my website. I make the best spears in the world. They are buying lots of them. I can see the chart going higher and higher. Now other states are making it legal. You can spear whitetails in Nebraska. It looks like Arkansas is going to make it legal this year. It will be legal in Arkansas for bears and deer. You can bait down there as well, which makes it easier to spear an animal. So, I'm very excited about it. You can spear in Texas, you can spear in Hawaii, you can spear all the big game animals in Alaska. There are a few great states left, but the men are men, and we can hunt as our ancestors or our forefathers did. I appreciate those states that are willing to buck the crybabies out there and the liberals that are trying to take them from us. They stand by their code and let us hunt like men should hunt.
Chris: What do we need to do to make spear hunting more widely accepted in the United States?
Tim: You have heard it before. If you need to change something, you have got to call your state representatives. You have got to ask your game and fishing director, why can't we spear hunt? What do we have against spear hunting? It's the most ethical means of hunting that there is. So why can't I hunt big game animals? Spear hunting would benefit every game and fish. Arizona, for example, if you live in a good spot in Arizona where there's big bull elk, you have waited sometimes 15 years to draw a tag. That's because the department of Fish and Game are trying to manage the resource and get as many people to access it with as limited amount of kill as possible. After all, if they let everybody hunt, they'll kill all the elk. There won't be any left in that unit. But if they would allow us to spear hunt, the success rate by spear hunters would be less than 4 percent probably. This would allow numerous more people to go elk hunt. I know personally that I would rather sit in the trees for 15 years and kill one elk than to not be allowed to hunt at all. Hunting is about listening to the bulls in the timber feuding, seeing all the other creatures, being in the wild, and being part of nature. It's not about drawing blood. That is an end result. If they let us spear hunt in these states, the game and fish could raise a lot more money, not hurt the resources, and allow guys to hunt elk. They may not kill many of them, but who cares? It's their option if they want to pay $1,100 and come to Arizona and hunt a big bull, knowing that they're going to have a spear in their hand and it's going to be tough. That's the choice.
It makes no sense to me why any state would make it illegal to use a spear for hunting. It's sad, it's a travesty, and I beg for anybody that has any kind of influence out there with your state representatives or with your fish and game departments to speak up. And if you're on the board for fish and game, do you feel that what I am talking about makes sense? Hey, give me a call. I'd be happy to fly out to your state and talk to your fish and game department as I have with other folks. I will give you the real facts about spear hunting.
Chris: You had an incident where you speared yourself.
Tim: Yes, I dropped it. Well, I didn't really spear myself. I had my spear in a tree. Razor sharp. My camera dropped out of the treestand and it fell on the ground. I was halfway down the tree. I slipped on a branch and I had forgotten to secure my spear. It would be like putting your 12 gauge up there with a slug in the chamber and pointing down and not securing your gun. But when I shook that tree, I shook my spear loose. It came down and it went into my thigh. So that was a pretty long day for me.
Chris: How'd you get out of there?
Tim: Man, I had my radio up on the top of the tree as well as my water. I couldn't move my leg. I had to pull the spear out, and I had to stop the bleeding. That was a nightmare. I couldn't climb back up the tree to get my radio, so I had to wait until dark till my PH came looking for me. I had to keep my composure. Thank goodness I lived through it but it could have gone either way.
Chris: That could have turned ugly fast.
Tim: Yep, that was quite an ordeal. But, yeah, I love spear hunting, and I sure look forward to doing it over and over and over.
Chris: You know, Angie Kokes says she's a better spear hunter than you.
Tim: Yeah, she says a lot of things. Angie is probably one of the best spear hunters in the world. She is patient and extremely accurate. But when you put patience and accuracy together, she never drops a spear unless it's right. I have never seen her lose an animal, she spears them, and kills them outright. They usually die fast when she's involved. She's a killer. She's a little mouthy, but other than that, she's pretty good.
Chris: She backs it up.
Tim: Yes, she does.
Chris: So, what is next for you?
Tim: Well, I am not going to be spear-hunting them, but I'm going to try to kill my first desert bighorn next week. I'm going down to Sonora, Mexico. It's a little dangerous down there, but I'm hoping for a good hunt. Do some predator calling with my FoxPro and you never know what's going to happen when you're in Mexico.
Chris: Yeah, that's a fact. You might get hunted by the cartel.
Tim: Well, you know, there might be something down there, you go to Mexico, you leave it in Mexico, you don't know what's going to happen.
Chris: Alright, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today.
Tim: Hey man, you're doing a good job. Great magazine man. Proud of you. That's fantastic. You single-handedly did that yourself. That's fantastic. Keep up the good work. Good for America. Good for the Hunter.