ORIGINAL: rem700man
ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter
I'm all for mandatory bowhunter ed for all new bowhunters including an accuracy test and blood trailing instruction.
Getting it to happen for existing bowhunters would be a good idea but unrealistic. The best way is to put it in for newly licensed bowhunters going forward.
Btb:
Another self-centered,,greedy post,,,,with little thought put into what your writing. I bet half the guys your age cant pass a proficiency test 1st of all and 2nd of all how in the he!! with the current liscensing process in Pa. will you or anyone else for that mattter determine whether or not aapplicant for an archery liscense will be a 1st year applicant or a 50th year applicant? Cmon man!,,,we as hunters dont need more rules or tests,,,application deadlines,,etc,,,,According to you theres no real herd health problem so there should not really be any problem with a few deer slipping by with an arrow in their guts! I have seen a few posts prior suggesting that a good archer put 5 shots in a pie plate at 20yds and 40 yds( im n ot suggesting that you posted this and i actually dont believe that this is your thought process) but if i could'nt put 5 shots in the bullseye @ either yardage and struggle to get my fingers between em to pull em out i would surely hang it up!! Proficiency tests are all based on opinion as far as im concerned and i for one am never happy until the utmost accuracy is achieved,,,but then again theres guys on here that have shot at and killed more deer than i have with less expectations and they are just as good a hunter as i am if not better
I'm not quite sure how the idea of trying to educate and properly introduce new bowhunters into a sport with very unique and specific challenges and limitations could be interpereted as greedy and self centered.
There are probably some arcehrs out there of ALL ages with varying degrees of experience who could benefit from bowhunter ed and a proficiency test. Ideally all hunters would be responsible enough to learn their sport their equipment and their quarry well enough to minimize potential mistakes but in the real world, easing in an education program for newbies seems like a good solid step in the right direction.
If a proficiency test for all became the rule tomorrow, I'd participate with a smile. I have a hard time understanding why any bowhunter would resist a simple attempt to raise the bar among our ranks. It's already mandatory in many states and provinces for ALL bowhunters.
By the way, Rem700, I can't recall, are you a bowhunter?