Time to boycott Under Armour!

What does everyone think about Under Armour ended their relationship with Sarah Bowmar? Her husband legally killed a bear with a spear and a tree humper started a petition with change.org to have UA end their sponsorship.

I think we as hunters should stand up with the Bowmar's and ask companies like Academy to drop UA from their shelves.

#followthemoney

It really doesn't bother me. Why am I going to get all butt hurt that they're no longer going to pay her to wear their gear? I only own a few camo under Armour products that I only buy when I find it on sale, which I am going to continue to do so.

I'm not metrosexicle enuff to wear that doodoo anyway.

They got the boot because the anti hunters will join up and complain while us hunters set back and do nothing. We are a very strong demographic! We spend a lot of money pursuing our sport and if we stand together the anti hunters will not have a chance. This UA thing is just a small issue really compared to having seasons canceled but we should all back each other.

don't give a darn

I've been boycotting Under Armor for years. Way too expensive for me!

Who is Sarah Bowmar? What is this Under Armor you speak of?

Ive been boycotting them as long as ive been shopping... but I don't wear costas or a whole bunch of other chit either.

I hope you wear something under your overalls.

I'd need more details on the bear hunt before I get too butt-hurt.

My guess is that they were already unhappy with the Bowmars and this just finalized things. They didn't drop all hunters, just them. If you can't play by the rules, you get canned.

thecommandorancher

If we were post-zombie apocalypse and I had shot all of my rounds and all I had to hunt with was a spear, OK. I just don't think chunking a spear at a black bear is mainstream hunting. Spear to the gut is not an ethical kill, IMHO, not for sport hunting.

I am a UA fan. Best underwear and shirts there are.

Charlie

Cecil all over again. "If you don't do it exactly like me, it ain't hunting."

I have only bought one UA product, boots for work. They are fantastic I must admit. That being said, their clothing is exorbitantly overpriced. It's for guys that wear full camo to hunt and then climb in a heated box blind

I don't blame UA for distancing themselves from that idiot, legal or not you owe it to the animal to not make it suffer which that looks like a way to drastically increase the odds of that happening. Guys like him make all of us look bad. So I say he can go f**ck himself and they only brought it on themselves.

Don't ever pick up a bow and don't ever make a bad shot!!!! That animal died within 60 yards!

You basically just said it was ok for Company to tell hunters what's ethical and not ethical based on thier opinion regardless of legality.

The sponsorship is minute deal in grand scheme of things!!! If UA said their film didn't not express same views as UA cool, but they didn't. Instead UA publically stated that a legal hunt was unethical. That is a huge problem. Sorry but I'll be DAMN'd if I let ANTI whining determine what's legal and ethical for me.

I spear is just a big traditional now nothing more nothing less.


You should rethink your stance, especially since UA doesn't even want thier logo showing upon African hunt pictures!!!!!

Nope per back lash from pressure, hunt was a spring hunt. What month is it?

I'll continue to wear it.

Heck I can't afford it,,,lol

I'd bet there's more to it than that.

I'm sure, but fact is thier public statement was it was unethical. If UA simply said thier film doesn't express the image we want for UA that's cool end of story. Business is business. But they didn't they choose to blur ethics and legal.

Why y'all worried about what touches my grundies??

I don't care if they killed it with a Buick. Who are they to determine ethics???!!!

For that hunt or in general? Ethics are a personal thing.

Exactly.

I am not overly concerned with UA dropping them or the use of the spear. The term "ethics" is used every time there is any form of hunting controversy and in most cases it remains the hunters only defense. However it has become some what blurred and distorted.
If you wish to hunt a bear with a spear and be the only one to of achieved it then ok, but ethically you would have the safety of someone with a rifle or shotgun to kill the bear should something not go according to plan....like spearing it in the gut. Ethics are for the animals we hunt, not to appease the antis.

Ethics. What some are calling unethical is probably better described as inhumane, but that word has an even worse connotation that we all want to avoid.Where I grew up, it's considered unethical to deer hunt over bait, but that's the way it's done generally in Texas. Everybody's farts stink worse than our own.

Is sport hunting ethical? Could you define sport hunting?

Legal does not equal ethical. Plenty of things are legal, but not ethical.

Why would anyone want to kill a bear with a spear? Ok, it may be legal, ethical is questionable. But there's no denying it's controversial & could be portrayed in a very negative light. I don't even think the majority of hunters would defend it. What possible positive outcome could there be?

If your Joe Blow & spear hunting pigs (pests) that's 1 thing. If you have company sponsors, & you do something extremely controversial, don't be surprised when the sponsor drops you.

Exactly it's a personal thing. UA's statement puts the entire hunt as unethical

UA has the right to do what they did. Others have the right to react accordingly by speaking out/not buying their stuff.

Happens all the time over all sorts of issues...

But that's just it. Some hunters called using dogs for Bear hunting and lion hunting as unethical. By using are own words it's now banned in a few states.

In the grand scheme a 6" wide slice through vital organs is more ethical then a 1.5" slice. A pastru with a broadhead is more ethical then a non-passtru, simply interms of recover ability, so guess now we need to ban traditional bows. I can go on and on. Do I want to hunt a bear with a spear, no I simple don't have the time to become efficient with it, but why would I limit someone from doing it.

I bow hunt elk and mulies only. I like the physical challenge of it. But I'm not going to condone rifle hunters that hunt those to species. We as hunters pick the hunt we want to experience, by our own self imposed limitations

You see hogs as vermin so it's ok for hogs, but people in England etc don't see them as vermin

Absolutely. But they choose to word it as Unethical. They could of said it doesn't support the image UA wants for UA. The later would of been a business reason, the unethical is a pointed political response, that deams a legal way of hunting as shameful

It's not the first time, nor the last time a company will try to sway the values debate. Target on the transgender bathroom deal, Chick-Fil-A on the gays, on and on and on....

It's a business decision - they are betting more will applaud their decision than get upset over it. Whether or not it's a good business decision time will tell. I doubt it will affect them much one way or the other.

Agree but unfortunately they turned thier back on a segment they sell to based off the whining of another segment.

It's unfortunate they made the statement they did, but they did.

It's more for guys who don't hunt in a heated box blind. I have some of their gear and a waterproof jacket I use for duck hunting. It's light weight and it works

I haven't made up my mind if I will purchase their gear or not based on this incident. However I will say their gear, while expensive, is quality.


People just need to stop video taping everything and putting it on YouTube. Videos, texts and cell phone cameras get more people in trouble than anything else. If that guy wouldn't have video taped it none of this would be happening

But then how will the world know how incredibly awesome we think we are? Look at me, I'm so awesome. It's a beating.

This.

I was never cool enough or had enough money to wear UA. I was at 10X last week in Ft. Worth looking at the new products for this year and they are making the exact same garment for half the price and they are a Texas company...Seems to be a no brainer.
Adios,
Gary

I think UA handled this the wrong way.

I also think the hunter did as well. There is a good reason if you hunt with a weapon with an outfitter you have to demonstrate proficiency before being allowed to hunt shooting your rifle or bow at the target. As was mentioned earlier in this thread the ethics part of the equation should always side on giving every effort available to try to make a clean kill without the animal suffering.

As an outfitter I can think of no demonstration you could show me that I would be OK with you trying to kill a bear with that weapon, knowing all the things that could go wrong that end up with a shot where the animal suffers.

IMO this was an ego driven hunt plain and simple, which I am fine with as long as the animal doesn't have to suffer so you can stroke your ego.

Matadors have been spearing bulls in Spain for centuries for sport. Cattle are domesticated stock even "wild" bulls. I wonder if any of them wear underarmer.

not a fan of the spear either but would like to see him take that bear on with a bowie knife (that bear would probably run off, needs to move up to a grizzly).

Who are they to determine ethics? Really???? They are the company doing the sponsoring. So it is like a job. So long as you are out there representing their company, if you do something they feel does not reflect well on their company, then you may get canned. Sponsorships like this one are all about public image. Look at what happened to Brian Lochte. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-ryan-lochte-problem-for-olympic-endorsements/

Yes, ethics are a personal thing, in this case, personal to the company the company and the company's bottom line.



Blame the tool and not the people? That is the same sort of logic gun grabbers use. That isn't good logic. However, if you are going that far, you might as well just blame the internet. People get into trouble for discussing and often posting proof of their activities on the internet. They do it in emails and in social media such as hunting forums, facebook, twitter, youtube, etc.

People get into trouble because they do stupid stuff, illegal, unethical, and/or in this case, that their sponsor does not feel reflects well on the company.

That the event got documented is exactly what you would expect to happen. As hunters representing UA, they document their hunting and promote UA in the process. They would not have had sponsorship without documenting their hunting and sharing it on social media.



They may or may not wear it, but you can bet that UA doesn't sponsor any matadors. https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ua-roster

Who are they to determine ethics? Really???? They are the company doing the sponsoring. So it is like a job. So long as you are out there representing their company, if you do something they feel does not reflect well on their company, then you may get canned. Sponsorships like this one are all about public image. Look at what happened to Brian Lochte.

Yes, ethics are a personal thing, in this case, personal to the company the company and the company's bottom line.



Just bringing some light humor to the heated battlegrounds.

The whole world is about self promotion these days.

Even Jesus healed and then said "go forth and tell no one". People should practice that discretion more these days

I feel the same way. Without knowing more about this specific hunter's history hard for me to make a judgment on this one video.

But...Corporations only make decisions for one reason... the bottom line. The didn't do this to appease antis or make light of hunters. The did this to ensure profitability... nothing more nothing less. There are no bleeding heart liberals when they are looking at P&L statements with investors.

Agree 100%. Just another byproduct of the commercialization of hunting.

Well, Jesus wasn't engaged in a business to make money from sponsors to help pay for his hunting pleasure, LOL. So the out-of-context quote from Mark, Matthew, etc. doesn't seem to exactly apply here. Sponsors want promotion, but they want positive promotion. Sarah Bowmar probably should have run the hunt parameters by UA before appearing in the video in UA gear or at least before releasing the video.

Not sure where you got the idea I thought UA had no right to pull support or make business decisions against a type of hunting they don't like.

I stated I didn't care. And I don't think they get to determine ethics for others. Nobody does.

They made their decision and I fully support their right to do it. And I'm all for each individual hunter making their own personal choice about ethics and the support of legal hunting. I hope the hunting community unites and makes UA's business decision bite them right square in the grundies.

Wow, a good debate going on in a hunting forum discussing ethics and Jesus. I could dig into this!

Seriously, the word ethics these days has almost become defined as "what the person with the microphone feels is right". It's funny that we define what is ethical based on who we are talking about or to who we are talking. Sad. There exists an objective ethic. Many people in the US don't believe that anymore and rather subscribe to relative ethics, or moral realitivism. This is part of the reason the US is falling apart at the seams. In relativism, what is right is based on the moment and the emotions, rather than what truly is right or wrong.
In this situation, it seems the spear did the job and quite well, dropping the bear at 60 yards (per statement made above, I have not researched it myself) which is probably much better than most bow hunters do with WT deer. Does that make the spear any more unethical than a bow? Does that make ancient Indians who only killed with spears unethical? I think we all know the answers to these questions. The problem lies in the nature of the kill. This wasn't done for hunger, to feed a family. It was done for self promotion, as evidenced by the GoPro strapped to the spear. Is any hunting done for self promotion unethical (needless killing)? Possibly...would you say a kid killing a mouse to show off to his friends is unethical? This touches on Jesus saying not to tell people of his healing, it wasn't so much about self promotion, but that the people didn't believe in Him as the messiah and it wasn't the proper time to reveal himself to those people, he did plenty of self promotion when the time was right, just in more subtle ways than this hunter.
But as has been mentioned, corporations don't really have an ethic to them, they operate in very black and white (red) terms, and whatever decision is being made is done in a purely profit minded decision. It may be hard to believe, but I bet there were people who placed both sides of the argument to the powers at UA, and the argument was made which side do we potentially piss off more, the Antis or the pros. UA's problem was they tried to make it sound all fancy when they injected ethics is a simple business decision. That PR person needs to be dropped as well.
There are a lot of questions to be asked to get to the root of your ethics, as some have said, ethics is personal, and not everyone has the same ethics. However, it does not mean your brand if ethics is actually right. Just ask if Jeffrey Dahmer's (spelling?) or David Koresh's (again, spelling?) ethics should have been allowed to be "free to express", as according to relativism there is no concrete right or wrong, just what you feel is right or wrong (until what you feel is right conflicts with mine and then you are wrong, its never me who is wrong). So complicatingly simple right?

I could care less if someone makes a shot @ 800 yards, or jumps on a hog's back with a pair of toe nail clippers. To each their own. I do think some have lost touch with why we hunt. A lot of people can't even go in the woods any more without a Go-Pro duck taped to their forehead.

Spear boy got the attention he was looking for.

If every outdoorsman/woman that buys this stuff, stops buying, probably wouldn't make a dent in their sales. Now if they bring up poor ethics for jogging, or bike riders, they will go broke..Oh sorry, left out the Yeti crowd

That guy deserves props. It's been many years since I'd have been crazy enough to stand there with no cover and chunk a stick at a bear. Pretty wild video. Looked like a solid hit to me...not a gut shot. You can see blood spew . Maybe one lung and gut if anything. That was awesome. I'd rather bowhunt but that's pretty impressive.

Problem is there are to many people with nothing to do but go to a coffe shop and sip they're fancy drinks and be offended about everything. Live in the now and be happy and much as you can. Don't let stupid little things make you mad. Be happy that dove season is close. Then the whole year will fly by and we will be so happy till Tax time and we will all have something real to be mad about. God bless us all:)

^^^ First world problems for sure!

I would bet no one is mad at the antive Africans killing baboons and lions for survival purposes, but one "rich dentist" goes over and kills a lion and the world is suddenly alive with anti-hunters.

More about the haves and have-nots than hunters and anti-hunters in my mind. The more classes of people the powers that be get to fight each other, the more the powers can get away with while everyone focuses on the fighting. Diversion. Classic power play. the world is getting very good at that too.

Haha.....live and learn.

I'll stick with Cold Gear for hunting and Heat Gear for my socks year around..

One thing to do is call up the big hunting stores and tell them about the situation. Having UA products sit on their shelves making no money will hurt.

A little bit different situation but Cabelas had planned on having the guys from Big Fish Texas show up and everyone called in and told them the guys on the show don't support recreational fishermen and Cabelas canceled them.

I don't care about the ethics part. He hunted lawfully. And if you guys who are thinking about ethics don't believe the same people complaining about this crap wont go after your bows and guns then you don't know jack.

That is what I feel like people are missing, this is just the start. Next will be bow hunting when someone posts a video and the animal runs off. If we as hunters don't make a stand crap like this will only get worse. I've seen plenty of hunting shows where an animal shot with a bow or rifle ran way, way farther than that bear, why not the outrage then? It is only a matter of time.

Nope, I was commenting on the contextual irrelevance of citing Biblical passages for this situation. You can't really tell people who are in the business of promotion of products, who are paid to promote products, to "go forth and tell no one" because that is what Jesus said. Jesus just wasn't in the sporting goods marketing business. The video was entitled, “Cabelas and Under Armour Forest Truck Tour”.

My thought is that they bailed before the media made a big deal of it. They look like heroes in the eyes of the left now.
The media can sway the sheeple of this country in a powerful way, UA didn't want to be part of that.

This thread needs to be moved to the Spear Chucker forum

You might want to go back and read my post. I never mentioned Jesus or his quotes. I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about above.

Love Jesus!

Amen

David killed lion and bear with his spear so I'm pretty sure Jesus wouldn't mind this deal.

Did David have some kind of [censored] hunting YouTube channel? Or GoPro cameras mounted so he could promote himself?

I don't think so. He did end up with some pretty good PR once the Bible was published though.

interesting ... saw this link to a petition to Cabela's to stop selling UA ... Link to Petition

First response is kind of funny.

I must say, this thread sure has covered some pretty wide ground. We've gone from bear hunting to Jesus with a GoPro.

So maybe, just maybe "unethical" wasn't the right term for me to use. "Unsportsmanlike" would be better.

Consider this video as a basis for my point of view. (I'm purposely not embedding it.)

Alternative Black Bear video

When you see that, how do you possibly get an adrenaline rush throwing a spear at one? Now, do that to a grizzly as someone said? Little more sporting there as they'll chew your [censored] off with a gut shot or a miss!

If you didn't like my comment on ethics, this will give you validation. Not only do I usually wear full camo while hunting, I do wear it in a box blind, that has a cot where I can take a nap, it does have a heater I use a great deal AND I'm usually wearing my UA drawers, UA socks and even UA long johns. That's just how we do it.

Charlie