What is wrong with any of the things you mention about Fred?

He lined his own pockets is that a bad thing? He gave many patents to the industry to build the sport. What's wrong with making money. Are you running for comunist of the year?

He drank while he hunted. There is nothing imoral about that. It may be illegal these days, but that is a practical issue. If you are in the middle of the Alaska wilderness with a bow and a bottle, all I can say is it sounds like a good place for you.

There is nothing wrong with shooting on the same day that you flew. What's next, are we going to vilify all the archery greats who hunted on days that might currently be out of season, or for species that were treated as vermin then, but are now game animals?

Long shots ethicaly is iffy, but then that was comon back then. And I think to some extent ethical. Every hunter has a safe range. Fred Bear is probably as safe at the distances you mention as any newbie might be today. To me this is a social issue. Nowadays we hunt for fun largely, few of us could really say we need to do it to put meat on the table. I think if the guys from the past came forward to see the laser rangefinder tiddly winks game we have made of an honourable chore, they would be shocked at us. but back then what justified hunting was the need for meat, even though FB was a sportsman, that was the backdrop. If I was starving, and had more arrows than meat, I would take a 100 yard shot too. That may not be what was going through the archer's mind, but it was the backdrop. The other thing which isn't perhaps ethical, was the fact that they were promoting archery. The general view was that archery tackle couldn't kill anything, and was weak. So you see pictures of Fred abusing his bows, and making heroic shots. Was he right to do so, maybe not, but that is what made the sport appealing to then contemporaries. Obviously it is unsporting to use all the gear we use now to make the sport easier. Any time you decide to make the sport easier for you at possibly a higher chance of wounding for the animal, you could be accused of the same thing Bear did with long shots. There are tons of examples of that kind of thing in archery today. Including long shots. Look in the mirror first.



Edited by - ossage on 01/29/2003 18:53:21