ORIGINAL: SwampCollie
ORIGINAL: MeanV2
ORIGINAL: Schultzy
ORIGINAL: BowHuntingFool
Its bowhunting and about getting them in close.
Never!!!!!!!
Right on BHF! Bow hunting is up and close hunting, not a shooting sport!!
Steve, No offense bro, but tell Chuck Adams that or Phil Phillips.
What Bowhunting is to one does not mean that's what is to all. There are areas I have hunted if you are not willing/able to shoot at least 40 yards then you might as well stay home. I am a Bowhunter exclusively. I never have gun hunted for big game.
My 2 biggest Trophies were taken at 84 yards and 3 yards respectively.
I was not flinging the arrow when I took the 84 yard shot at my Elk. I had shot out to 90 yards everyday in preparation for that hunt on advice of the outfitter.
The Elk ran only 60+ yards. I wouldn't take that shot today, but more because my eyes are not as sharp as they used to be than for any other reason.
The thing you have to realize is there are right and wrong times to take a 20 yard shot, but if you are capable there are also right and wrong times to take a 50 yard shot. Last year I passed up an 8 yard shot at a real bruiser Whitetail because the percentages for success were not good.
I have shot close to 30 animals at ranges of at least 40 yards or more, and I have yet to see one react to the shot at those distances.
Dan
No offense here Dan, but you know as well as I do that an elk is not a deer.... at least not in a target sense... you've got a whole lot more target in an elk than you do even a very large whitetail. Plus, as you mentioned, you were ready for an extended range shot. And no doubt in the type of terrain you were in, (likely very open) getting to within 80 yards (and for a flatlander like me getting UP to where the terrain is open) is a feat worth mention in itself. But comparing a long shot on elk and a long shot on a whitetail is like the difference between hitting the green from the tee and a hole in one.
The whole point of the initial post is really not "would you take a 70 yard shot" but more "would you take a shot that you know is further than you ought to be taking in the given situation." For you I suppose the range should have been 125
The example you gave about passing on the deer at 8 yards plays to the heart of the whole matter.... abilities and circumstances are looked at subjectively... and its up to us the hunters to make the call when the time comes whether we can make an ethical shot or not.
Thats FUNNY!!!!!!! Who gives a rats ass what Chuck Adams and (whoever)Phil Phillps is thinks!
I hunt for me...........Doesn't Chuck Adams shoot a Rage Broadhead!