We credit him with all that .......... and then ponder that he took unethical shots, shots he didn't think he could make, and write it off as simply a different day and time ?
Not entirely. The shots he took were NOT considered unethical in his time. It truly was a different day and a different time. Different mindset. Different circimstances.
It's patently absurd to judge bowhunters of yesteryear by applying today's standards to them. The whole process of bowhunting was in it's developmental years and - once again - what they learned then is a huge part of what has formed our code of ethics today.
The rest of our code has been formed by the anti-hunting establishment - a group of well financed complete idiots that no hunter ever had to deal with before the 1980's. We've had to really tighten up on our behavior to keep from feeding them ammunition.
In that way, the anti-hunting movement has been good for hunting.