In fact, I'd like to see states enforce a proficiency requirement. If you can't show proof of shooting in at least one 3D tournament each month for the previous 6 months, then you have to pass a proficiency test.
Maybe atleast 3 shoots per summer maybe. Sorry guys, I love to shoot just as much as some the others, but I don't always have the time to go to shoots. I hit atleast 3 maybe more in the summers, but they are local. I don't always have the time to drive an hour, shoot for 2 and drive another hour back home.
And what exactly is a proficiency test going to prove? That I can shoot at a 3d target or the bullseye on a target. Wow, I can do that all day long. All that a profiecny test is going to do is say that somebody is capable of shooting a bow and hitting a target. And I don't have a doubt in my mind that every person responding to this thread will pass this test with flying colors. Like bob said earlier in response to my post, what about the twigs or the many numerous things that could happen in the moment of truth? There isn't a test in the world that would prove if one of us is ready to shoot at an animal.
If you shoot all year round and can hit thumbtacks all day long....good for you and I wish I had the time and resources to do this my self.
If you shoot just in the summer, good for you and I know you guys still like shooting your bow.
If you pull it out a week before season and make sure it is still in good shooting order, good for you.
My dad don't shoot very much at all and has been bow hunting for 20 some years. I would put his shooting abilities up against about anybody!! I could practice everyday for 3 months and then go to a 3d shoot with him and it will be a coin toss on who wins.
We all share a passion, the passion to bow hunt. We don't however share the passion of year round archery. Does that mean the guys that shoot all year are a better shot than anybody else.....NO. When affield, it is the hunter that will succeed. You can drive tacks all day long, but if you can't get set up in a good spot for a shot, it don't matter how much you practice....does it.
I am not even going to touch the ethics portion of these posts that are being posted.
But I do want to address this.
From THE ETHICAL HUNTER courtesy of the NSSF
Those who break the unwritten law by shooting at excessively long range, use inadequate equipment or neglect to prepare themselves for the hunt must be corrected. Call them what you like, those who ignore the law are not hunters
Now I know bab said that he prepares himself for the season, just as everybody else has. Just cuz it may only be once or twice compared to somebody else's 200 practice rounds don't mean he didn't prepare!!