I felt good about my 5 yard head shot...I say... If it feels good do it

You mean the Fred Bear who took shots at running mule deer with a bow???

If anyone has The TRUTH 4 Bowhunting... make sure you watch the Bonus Feature Classic Fred Bear hunt. Yes, it is pretty cool.... but I was sort of suprised.

Lets not forget that one half of "Pope and Young" who touted his shooting of african game at well over 100 yards with a longbow......

Lets be frank here... what we as hunters deam "unethical" today was often common practice in the past. Anyone ever seen a punt gun??? That was standard practice in the late 1800s and early 1900s. My grandfather remembered hearing them boom in the Chesepeake as late as the second World War. There was the use of live decoys (Judas ducks) and shackled ducks. Baiting... not only effective, but corn sacks were handy to carry out the dozens of ducks you shot.

I'm rambling, but the point here is that we are a much more PC, ethically, morally (or so we think) society today than we were just 30 years ago.

Ethics by their nature are not laws. They are a set of personal standards. Essentially they are intagible.... a group of beliefs and practices. You cannot put a lable on it, or set it in stone.

I'm inclined to agree with you on that Longbeard.

How many stories have you heard about peolpe who shoot turkeys with 12ga shotguns at 80 yards? I've heard plenty... but you don't hear about the ones they cripple up....

We also mustn't forget the elk Howard Hill wrote about (Hunting the Hard Way) taking at 185 yards up a mountainside with his longbow back in the 30's.

Or the hunting methods used, species hunted and shots taken by Will and Maurice Thompson after the Civil War (The Witchery of Archery).

We also must not impose our modern day views of ethics on these men. Even though what they did way back when is often unacceptable to us, or even illegal now, it was the foundation on which bowhunting has been built.

Who ever posted the deal about Fred Bear would be rolling in his grave has no idea what he is talking about!!!

In a reprint interview with old Fred he admits his farthest shot was 112 yards at a moose.... 112 yards!!!! I am sure he is rolling over in his grave. Really I don't think he would care one bit.

Everyone goes into the woods for his own reasons... Some it is getting close some it is to test the equipment and take far shots with his bow.... It doesn't matter the reason, we are all on the same team.

I'm not getting that statement. Are you saying it is unethical for anyone to take a shot on running deer?

I think there are people that have in the past, I would not take the chance.....

The thought wouldn't even cross my mind! I am dead serious!

Very well put Arthur!
For me the wild card continues to be the movement of the animal not the shooting ability of the archer.
The gentleman who made the 72 yard shot on the mule deer is being honest and I respect that! A mule deer is considerably larger than a whitetail.Are they as high strung and fidgety?