StruttinGobbler3

ok, kind of a long story, i just need to vent right now. a friend of mine decided he wants to get into bowhunting this year, but didn't want to spend a lot of cash. so he buys a used bow. nothing wrong with that. but heres the bad part. he goes into wal mart, picks up the cheapest arrows and broadheads they have, doesn't bother to tune his bow or even see where his broadheads are hitting, he just screws em on and goes huntinyesterday afternoon. a doe happened to walk by, he says he "guessed" her at around 45 yards, and slings an arrow at her. well, he can't find the arrow or any tracks, so he calls me to come track it for him. i found her tracks going into the woods, and i'm thinkin, whew he missed her at least he didn't wound her. not five yards later i spot blood. very dark, almost blackish blood. i'm sure everybody here knows what that means. gut shot. the fact that he couldn't find the arrow is probably because it didn't pass through. well, long story short, i told him we should back off til tomorrow. today i went back and spent 5 hours searching for this deer, and i used every tracking trick and technique i know. no deer. i'm just so pissed that he picked up a bow without even practicing and took a shot that long on top of it, with no respect for the animal. i told him exactly what i thought of it.am i right to be mad, or should i give him a break?

Rory/MO

You have every right to be mad. In fact, I'm kind of pissed myself[:@]

Ken/WV

Every doubt to be mad....when getting into bowhunting he should have been open to your advice and you should have explained practicing to him. You also should have explained that bowhunters respect what we hunt, and try to take every step in making a clean ethical kill.

I'm in the same situation, I have a buddy just getting into bowhunting. Last year he bought his bow after 1-2 weeks into season. He shot and shot, and I finally took him hunting. He had a doe pass by at 15yrds and never took the shot because he wasn't comfortable yet with taking a shot at a live animal. I told him that was the best thing since he wasn't ready to shoot. Your buddy is disrespectful to our sport.

buckmaster

You have every right to be mad, but posting here isnt going to help any... It's only giving gold to the Anti's. Posts like this only make us as hunters look bad.

I just hope maybe he learned a lesson in doing so. Maybe he now realizes this aint an easy game, and that the animal deserves more respect than that.

Schultzy

This stuff Is more common then we all think. Make's me sick as well!![>:]

StruttinGobbler3

yeah...sorry i didn't mean to throw a bad light on bowhunters it just made me furious that he would do something like that. i tried to tell him that he shouldn't be hunting until he'd practiced enough to make a clean kill, and that he shouldn't be shooting at anything over thirty yards even then. this is my first year of serious bowhunting and my limit is thirty yards, i wouldn't think of trying the shot he made. but he completely ignored me, and since this didn't take place on my land i have no control over what he does. i just hope as buckmaster said that he learned a lesson from this

racewayking

I have an ex father in law that was just like the friend you mention. He got a new Hoyt Havotec and new arrows and montec broadheads. He also got a climber stand and felt he didn't need to practice with any of it. I tracked 3 bucks that we never found and finally got fed up with him. He would never tune or shoot his hunting setup and always had an excuse. I also helped him out of a climbing stand snafu that could have ended badly.

As much as I loathe him for his hunting ethics, I did love hunting with him and sharing time. The key now is to use this situation to validate the importance of shooting regularly, practicing with hunting arrows and taking ethical shots. Hopefully your friend will realize the importance of responsible hunting after this experience.

2 Lunger

Yep, you should be pissed. But, that dark blood could very well be a liver hit and very well could be a dead deer. Either way I think it would be ok to slug your buddy. Sometimes you have to do that!

fingerz42

Yep. I'd be pissed as well. Im glad you let him know what you think of it.

lou-lou

No excuse for being lazy, I understand not spending alot of money on something you might not even like, one cannot expect the same type of commitment and attention to detail of another as we are with our own hunting style. As bowhunters we value every aspect of our loved tradition and the game we seek. Only thru teaching and hands on experience can one learn ethics.