ORIGINAL: HuntingBry
Not an ethical shot?!?! What video were you guys wathcing? It was a quartering away shot within bow range. That is a bowhunter's dream shot. Now the execution was not great. He hit high, but was fortunate to catch the spine. There may have been a follow up shot, but we don't know.
As far as the comments go, there were only 5 up there that I saw and none of them said anything about textbook. It sounds like a lot of the posters were young hunters so in their view dropping a buck in it's tracks may not be a bad thing. That's all a part of learning. The shot selection though was good, with the only exception being that the buck startled coming in. I know I would have taken that shot.
I think all these shows on TV and the videos that try to preach proper shot selection (which is a good thing) have made us all a bit quick to judge each other and immediately criticize someone instead of trying to offer constructive help. Honestly, it gets a little old.
I couldn't agree with you more about the shot selection, the deer was opened up well and it appeared all shooting lanes were clear for a nice quartering away shot.
But that wasn't the point. . .young hunters or not. . .comments like "awesome shot" and "textbook" did indeed come up in the viewer comments section.
And we never really did get an opinion from the shooter.. .but he posted the video without a reference of a poor execution on an acceptable shot selection.
I hope this young hunter learned from this hunting trip, as I have plenty of experiences to yet learn from myself. I think that was the only point Duc, myself, and others are trying to make. Videos like thiscan be used as educational tools for all hunters, not just to captureour favorite moments while afield. I learned something from watching the video. . .in this instance, you have more time than you think tore-set up on a spooked deer.
I never posted with the intentions of holier than thou or delusions of grandeur that every shot I will make will be double lung. Do I strive to achieve this, certainly. But I do know, I won't be calling a spine shot, "textbook".