While I agree not making a gutshot in the 1st place is ideal, I have to think more people would find more of thier gutshot bow deer if they didn't push after the deer so fast. Odds are it will be 100-150 yds away curled up dead, if given 8-10 hours to die. Yea its going to take a much bigger effort than a 50 yd bucket blood trail but it can be done.


Stealthy,
you mentioned hunting a state with legal Xbows and it not making a difference. I wish I could say that would be the case in my state. Would your views change if in your heart you felt adding Xbows would highly affect(and in a BAD way) your hunting? We have a boatload of hunters in PA and even in the archery season, it can get quite crowded. Add in several more thousand Xbowers and there starts to be more deer shot in the archery season, so then the next step is shortening, what's already one of the shortest archery seasons around. How would you feel then?
Also you have been shooting bows for a long time, that's why you and many others here can pick up a tuned bow and shoot it well, in a short amount of time. New guys in general can't do that, unless they have a shooting coach.

Silentassassin,
You have very good points in the story you tell.