I think they were influenced by the old English archers, who shot LONG distances. Like I said, it was a weapon yet to be proven in modern times.

I can't speak for Fred, but I have seen ethics change a LOT in my 37 (almost 38)years. Folks that cared very much for the game, yet did things that we consider very unethical today. Even game laws have changed--lots of things that were common when I was young are illegal today.

I read somewhere (take it for what it's worth) that Fred's preferred shot was the hindquarter, hoping to hit the femoral artery--who does that today? Now we know the double-lung is THE shot for bowhunting, but who was around to tell that to Fred?

Also, he had a job to do on many of his hunting trips--to get film footage of an animal going down. Unlike today, where you seldom see an animal even get a scratch other than on some cheesy hunting shows, those films were family entertainment back then--and Africa, Alaska, etc. were even further (harder to acess)--there was pressure to get something on film (read more about that in Fred's field notes).

'Course all we can do is speculate and give opinions, but based on what I experienced growing up, it was a good bit different back then.

Chad