I think that every year, many a good archer practices in his back yard and gets to the point of stacking arrows in tight groups at long yardages and comes to firmly believe that they can kill any animal that comes within that range. At some point, be it this season or next, they will have an animal well within that range and they draw and shoot with total confidence...and something goes wrong. At this point the animal either runs off unscathed, or much worse, with a non-fatal arrow stuck in the wrong place. It is at this point and only this point that they will come to realize that hunting situations are never perfect and there is an absolute multitude of things that can go wrong in the woods that would never happen in their back yard. They will also realize that the occasional bad shot on a rubber deer causes absolutely no harm to anyone. Once they get the wonderful experience of laying in bed knowing that there is an animal out there somewhere with a 1" plus broadhead stuck in it and suffering badly, they will begin to realize what the seasoned bowhunters who have been there and done that are talking about.

IF you can make a non-fatal hit on an animal, knowing that you have caused that animal to suffer greatly and go home and sleep well, then by all means shoot as far as you can see them. You are the only one that has to live with it, well, besides the animal that is. Let your conscience be your guide.

The seasoned bowhunters are trying to save the new ones from a sickening experience, but sadly most of the new ones still have to see it for themselves before they will understand. Taking long range shots will get them there in a hurry.

Just one more little story along these lines. I' m currently teaching my daughter' s boyfriend to shoot. I got home one afternoon a couple of weeks ago and he was there and had been shooting earlier that day. He proudly announced that he had been tearing up the twelve ring on every shot at twenty yards. He even robin hooded one of his arrows. I was excited for him so I told him I wanted to watch him shoot. He had a friend with him that afternoon, so we all went out to the back yard. His first shot nailed the deer right in the base of the tail. After we managed to quit laughing our arses off, I told him " Congratulations, you just got you first whitetail. Of course, that' s all you got!" I' m still cracking up over that. Just the pressure of a couple of people watching him made him miss by two feet at twenty yards. Now do the math on a seventy yard shot with buck fever.