I have no disagreement with how you see the animal. I also hate all the political correctness and "harvesting" and what not as well, unless "political correctness" encompasses the fact that bowhunters should wait for a broadside or quartering away shot in order to dramatically increase the probability of a lethal shot and recoverable animal, in which recoverable is defined as finding the animal in time as to be to consume the carcass.

If that "belief" system makes me "politically correct", then I plead guilty as charged, and you can accuse me of "drinking the kool-aid'"

I agree 100% and that is the whole point I am attempting to make.

I have no question that the shot originally discussed in this thread is a high percent lethal shot, but I am not sure how recoverable it is as it would most likely result in 1 lung as compared to 2, and most likely will leave only one wound which may or may not coagulate and seal off fairly quickly. If in fact the deer is one lungedand the deer runs a LONG way with little to no blood, the tracking job will be difficult at best even for an experienced hunter.

A gut shot is a lethal shot and with an experienced hunter, he can probablly find most of them if he has enough time and the weather is cold enough to and to keep the meat from ruining. Is that shot okay as long as I am confident in my abilities to hit the "vitals" and in my tracking ability?

I have laughed at this whole notion that "as long as the hunter is confident in his abilities.....blah blah blah." Surely, you guys don't take shots while you are saying to yourself "I doubt this is going to hit the vitals, but I think I'll try anyway."


One other common idea that has been brought up in this thread that I agree with, and that at the end of the day, nobody has to answer to any "etchics police" or justify anything to anybody but themselves and the good lord above. Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is watching.

Having said that, could I be tempted again someday to take a low percentage shot such as a frontal or quarterting towards? I hope the answer is no, but if a 350 class bull only presents that kind of shot to me on the last evening of elk season, who knows for sure, beacause after all I am just flesh and bones.

But I do know this. If I did, and whether or not I was successful in killing and recovering the animal, the fact would be that I took a low percentage, high risk shot that was irresponsible,careless, and yes unethical. No sense trying to "justify" my actions to myself or anyone else. It is what it is, as they say.

If a hunter has hunted any length of time at all, we have all had animals within our "comfort zone" but that never presented the right shot. That is what makes it challenging and fun. If one does not have the patience for that kind of scenario and be content to wait for another day rather than take a low percent shot, he probably needs to choose another weapon, but thats just my opinion.