Alabama began issuing spear-hunting permits last summer, and there have been more angry animal-rights activists than you can shake a pointy stick at ever since.

But now that hunting season is over, it appears white-tailed deer and wild boar didn’t really have to worry about getting the shaft.

Of the 64 sportsmen who applied for permits, only half got within spear-throwing range, and just one lonely hunter bagged a deer.

“The spear is the greatest deer saver around,” says the state’s game-and-fish director, Charles Kelley. Still, the U.S. Humane Society is determined to publicize the practice, which it considers barbaric.

Says a spokesman, “Cruelty cannot stand the spotlight.”