Guys,
Like I said, this can get a little technical, but to debate whether a miss is worse at 10", or 3", it's still a miss. It seems that some guys think they actually hit where they aim 100% of the time, with no degree of error. To shoot at a deer and say it only ducked enough to change the point of impact from the heart to just under the spine, and to admit that was enough evidence to take the shot again, is at best irresponsible.

I do shoot a fast bow, with cat whiskers, lots of felt, a little teflon here and there, limb savers, and harmonic dampners in the riser(thanks Mathews), and I also have the ability and confidence to not only tune a bow, but know when it can be better and change arrows or broadheads in a few minutes to better suit my set-up. That being said though, many can't. Many are better off shooting in the 230-250 range just because it is much easier to tune. I tune many peoples bows in my garage-I don't like to, usually don't have the time, can't stand working on even my own bow, don't charge for it, and certainly don't advertise, but I feel a responsibility and most are friends. I always downplay the speed, and try to get them to shoot the most forgiving, quiet combo, regardless of speed. Most guys aren't into their archery, especially on the tuning end, as much as most of the guys on this board. Speed can be an excuse to shoot very irresponsibly, and that's the point of this post.

I've read some of Bill Winke's articles, not the one mentioned here though, and this post certainly wasn't in reference to him. Seems like a decent guy, but my personal opinion, without even reading the article, was that the article seems irresponsible, especially if it was only base on gravity and an assumption of a deer's rate of drop to a humans. AGAIN, we are not dealing with just the forces of gravity in this topic, so all the figuring and brain power is not needed.

I'm a bottom-line kind of guy, and the bottom line is: Shoot a modern bow, quiet it down the best you can, tune it the best you can or have someone help you, and don't think the speed of your bow is an excuse to take a shot at an alert deer, at ANY distance, whether it might only mean a 2" miss, or a 10" miss.

If that 2" miss, was already of miss of 3", and you picked the wrong spot to aim at in all the excitement-then there is one thing you can say about your 5" miss-it sucked, 303fps or 240 fps.

You're right though straight, I too will take 34% less error any day, but I heard someone say before-"A miss is a miss"-there might actually be some truth to that!

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.



Edited by - NorthJeff on 01/31/2002 08:17:53