RE: Idiots, Idiots, Idiots
I think calling uneducated newcomers "idiots" is harsh. When I started at age 14, I knew very little about bowhunting, shot selection, tracking, equipment setup and usage, etc... and that was even AFTER I had taken a bowhunter's education course. For the first four years, my hunting skills were so poor that I posed no threat to deer. <img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle> It wasn't until I gained experience that I began to understand how to hunt and to take game cleanly and routinely.
Most of these newcomers aren't idiots, they're just suckered in by slick marketing, promises of guaranteed kills, and big bucks. Pick up any magazine, watch any hunting show, talk to any pro shop clerk about how to get started in bowhunting, and the bowhunting intro is always the same. "So ya want to be a bowhunter, huh? Well if you're "serious" (the requisite buzzword), you'll need to this $800 MQ0U812 rocket bow, these $100 carbon arrows, this $100 scope, this $100 nifty flip-down rest, this $300 laser rangefinder, this $200 no-stink camo, this $200 treestand, this $20 call, these super $30 spring-open broadheads, these $10 bottles of urine, this $20 bottle of blood trail finder spray..." Barely is there any mention of equipment matching, tuning, or shooting, animal routines, locating game, hunting methods, shot selection, tracking, field dressing, or care for meat. Good Lord, the poor newcomer leaves the store with 3 months less mortgage payments, but feeling he's equipped like Arnold Schwartzenegger. As far as he is concerned, he's already paid for his deer and all that's left is to go shoot it. He does have a bow that shoots 300 fps afterall and broadheads that will open up and cut a deer in half, right?
The sad truth is that the newcomer would be better off owning just 1/4 the crap he just bought in a much simpler form and get himself better educated as to shooting, equipment tuning and limitations, and to hunting. Like me, the newcomer will learn with time and his own experience...faster if he has another hunter teaching him the ropes. Fortunately, I do see many newcomers posing questions on these boards. Though I am not for "mandatory" ANYTHING (we have enough "mandatories" in our lives), I think all would be well "advised" to take a bowhunter's course. That would help them along a little anyway. The rest will have to come on their own or under personal guidance.
I suppose the biggest part of why I answer alot of questions on these boards is because I enjoy being able to offer advise that could help someone in bowhunting. I'll even answer the sincere "is a butt shot OK"-type threads, wincing perhaps, but not blasting the questioner for what he simply does not know.