HuntingBry

c903, that is one of the most well written and thought out posts I have ever read on this forum. My journalism professor would slap you on the back (that was his way of showing approval) for this.

In recent years I have become an admitted tech junkie of the new archery toys that are out there. It is what keeps me going after the season ends. I love shooting and tinkering and playing with my gear trying to get perfect arrow flight and maximizing my ability to take game. However, once the season starts that all stops. I rarely buy archery gear once the season starts because my hunting set up should be finalized and locked down long before then. If I do buy gear it is usually blades for broadheads or something of that nature. My bow does not come out of the case unless I am practicing or heading to my stand. I am in the woods whenever the weather and work permit and when I am not I am usually thinking about what I can do to improve my odds of taking a deer.

I think what has happened over the years is that in the past archery was hard. The gear wasn't easy to shoot because you had a choice of traditional gear with no let of or a compound with very low let-off. You HAD to practice a lot to have any hope of successfully taking a deer and a lot of people didn't want to deal with it. Not to mention you had to know the woods and the deer in it to hope to get the shot that you've worked all year for. Since then the gear has become easier to shoot and it is not unrealistic to think that you couldn't buy a bow and within a few hours have it sighted in well enough to hunt. That is not something that I recommend, but with today's gear it is possible. Because of this, the commitment that you spoke of in your post is not there. In the past you had to be committed to bowhunting because success required it. Now, that commitment is not needed thanks to the advent of all the new technology. What we see now is guys that blame lost deer on their gear, guys that shoot a deer and feel tracking a couple of hours and a couple hundred yards is sufficient, guys that think that hitting a 5 inch circle at 20 yards and screwing on some mechanicals is good enough to hunt, and guys that want to shoot that wall hanger, but don't want to put in the time hunting him.

I would say most of the guys on this board are committed to bowhunting, but this makes up a small fraction of the population of bowhunters. Hopefully things will be scaled back as you said and people will be forced to commit themselves to the sport again. I know I'm committed, and it sure sounds like you are. Anybody else?

Edited by - huntingbry on 10/30/2002 15:04:08