Lemond, I'm not trying to cause friction, but I'm going to agree with DeBob to an extent. I shoot both a compound and a recurve. I started with a recurve, but went to a compound with sights after joining the Navy because it was easier to shoot accurately than the recurve. Shooting instinctively takes constant practice, and being on ship for so long prevented me from doing that. Now however, I shoot both, and enjoy it. I understood your analogy, but I don't think it can be fully applied to bowhunting. Unless you feel you are in competition with other hunters for the biggest, best deer, the analogy doesn't apply. My only competition each season is the deer, and people were killing plenty of deer before any of this technology hit the scene.

DeBob, I think many bow hunters shoot extremely fast set-ups as a result of the growing popularity of 3-D archery competitions. Fast, flat set-ups are an advantage when shooting at targets up to 60 yards away. Unfortunately, many hunters make the jump from 3-D targets to live targets. Some shots I see and hear others taking make me wonder. I will not shoot over 30 yards with my compound, or 20 yards with the recurve. I don't think any shot over 30 or 35 yards is a safe one, just because deer can move enough at the sound of the bow to result in a poor hit. Shots should only be taken when you are sure you can make a good, clean, killing shot. When someone shoots at a live animal, with an arrow, over 35 yards away, you can never be sure of that. That's why I say it's not ethical. They may be sure of their skills at 40, 50 or 60 yards on a deer target, but that thing doesn't jump at the sound of a bow.

Now, like Lemond said, lets hear some more about those opening day set-ups.



Edited by - NJ_bowhntr on 08/28/2002 06:43:03