Which was first, the chicken or the egg?

In this case, it' s not semantics and the rule was here first. Matt McPherson is the one that decided to put a high letoff bow on the market way back in the early 90' s when he owned McPherson Archery, but still several years after the rule was passed. It was meant strictly for target shooting and turkey hunting. It was never meant as a big game hunting bow. At least, that' s what the advertising copy said.

But, guys that like that speed and willingly overbow themselves to get it, flocked to the high letoff bows and the other manufacturers had to follow suit with their own versions to maintain market share. And, sure enough, they started hunting big game with them. Now, just 10 years or so later, they think they should have the same honor of placing their name in the Book as someone that has abided by P&Y' s rules all along.

Since I' m already mud here, I' ll go even further and say what I really think about this. What I' d like to know, if Beatty had taken that buck with an old Bear Whitetail Hunter, would there be any of this outrage over the rule? Of course not. But he took it with a Mathews (hmmm... Matt McPherson AGAIN) and the Mathews cult has gone bonkers over it. And those of you not in the cult have fallen into formation and goose stepped right along with them.

Of course P&Y would like to have the largest buck ever taken with a bow in the Book. Actually, to my point of view, they do have. When you go back the the Beatty buck it was taken with a ' bowhunting shooting system' that does not meet the definition of a bow by their standards. The Zaft buck? Didn' t make world record because of scoring deductions by the official scoring committee, not because of what letoff the bow had.

You know, since it was in Ohio, Beatty could just as easily have been shooting a crossbow when he took that deer. How many think it should have been entered if it had been a Horton instead of a Mathews?

Naturally, that' s just the way I see things from where I stand.