PABowhntr -
1. Don't we go through this every year about this time?
Uh, yes, I think we do <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>
" 2. Are you going to play Devil's Advocate again?"
No, I really believe what I am typing here. I think the anti-crossbow setiment has no basis, or at the very best selfish ones. Waiting for that one good arguemtn that refutes mine .....
Charlie P - Honest answer. Me too. I really wish they'd pass a law and let me hunt the Leatherwood Wilderness Area by myself. I know, 20,000 acres to me sounds a bit selfish, but I think I'd be okay with it !
basserman - You entered the unseen and untrackeable magical element. Skill. Some people got it, some don't. I can shoot a compound quite well, I struggle everyday with a longbow. Some are naturals, some are not. I don't think, short a proficientcy test, that hunters as a whole can regulate that. And even then, a proficientcy test proves little other than the equipment is tuned and the person can shoot a target in ideal conditions. Good points I agree with all of them.
DG - more good points. He had a very closed stance is the reason he was whacking his arm so much. We're close to the same size in hght, weight and build. I showed him to open his stance a bit and rotate his elbow out instead of in. He'll be fine if he's listening <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> Good point on the hitting what you aim at. Another thread perhaps ??
" Because he personally hasn't been able to take an animal with trad gear, and he personally finds it so much more difficult, he thinks his personal experience is some universal truth."
JRW - Of course you're right. My 13 years previous bowhunting and association with crossbows and compounds don't mean diddly, does it ? Want to talk about the guy on the LW who missed a Grizzly twice, then hit it low, then lost a whitetail ? And he has 20 years experience killing animals with trad bows ! I am in NO WAY dissing him - I highly admire him and more so for posting the truth on his hunts. I love the semi-live hunts - I mean fantastic stuff for a rookie longbow hunter to watch. I watched a Fred Bear video the other night and he choked on a grizzly - shot WAY over its head. Don't tell me it aint different when almost everyone I know says it is and agrees.
I think you must be a natural, no kidding JRW. I really think you are gifted in that shooting a recurve/longbow doesn't seem to be "hard" for you. For most of the rest of us I think its more of a challenge.
Universal Truth ? Lessons learned and personal experience are invaluable. Can't help but believe in it too. I don't think I'll ever be as good with a compound as I am with a rifle at 50 yards, and I don't think I'll ever be as good with a longbow as I am with a compound at 20 yards. Accuracy doesn't neccessarily dictate what I hunt with though - most bowhunters defy that notion and go with the challenge as long as the accuracy is good enough. I aint debating whats good enough, but I DO know that for me to kill a whitetail I gotta be much closer than I'd have to be for killing one with a compound (max ranges considered). I also know that the benefit of drawing and holding the bow and speed and flat shooting of a compound would have netted me a fine bull and a fine deer. No excuses, just the truth. So harder is it ? Yes, without a doubt !
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