Pat Meiten Article
 

This is taken from the march issue of Petersons. Page 113, entitled Shot angle-heresy, and I quote.

" I once illustrated a point that todays carbon arrows are stronger and more dependable than shafts of the past. I related how I was once inclined to shoot a trophy qhitetail in the shoulder because of tight brush, seeking to penetrate the facing shoulder and pierce his heart."

O.K., how do you shoot through shoulder and get heart. I took an arrow out to my 3-d target and started playing with angles. Either Pats idea of shoulder is different than mine and hes calling the whole upper leg shoulder, or he was willing to take an extreme quartering to shot and or,from right above the deer. Either way, not high percentage. Bone does bad things to arrow paths. Just cause we can, dont mean we should. Now for the next part.

" Extensive testing-asking more of it than any real hunting situation could possibly provide-had instilled unwavering trust in my attached broadhead. My arrow went through both shoulders and split a sapling beyond. That buck didnt make it out of sight."

Now wait a minute. How did we go from the original shot thinking, one shoulder and heart shot, to putting an arrow through both shoulders.Something doesnt jive.Thats totally different angles. The deer would have had to move farther away. He says the deer went down. Im sure it did, eventually. The question being, and he leaves that part out, but how clean of a kill was it. Im gonna bet not very. I have been around my share of shoulder shots. Not a good deal. Can it be done. Sure. Just not at a higher percentage than both lungs.We owe them more than that. Im not dissagreeng with the basic jest of the story. Modern equipment has extended our average max range. Everyones max range will of course be different. The thing to remember is your max range should be configured on the days when your standing on the line shooting " YOUR WORST" Everyone has bad days. How do you know what kind of a day its going to be when your sitting on stand at five in the morning, and havent loosed an arrow yet. You dont. The days your on fire, and shooting like an archery God, dont count. Bad days give max range.Be honest with yourself. No one cares what you did yesterday, what can you do at this moment. Another question, if the deer he talks about would have been a little basket 8, instead of a " TROPHY," would he still have taken that shot. Im going to bet not. We need to treat every deer, like it was a trophy and give them the respect they deserve. In regards to the article I wholeheartedly agree with the basic thoughts behind the story.I also respect and admire Pats writing, and damn sure dont think Im a better shot or hunter than he. The point being, he either took a really bad shot, and is trying to justify it, or hes leaving something out of the story.Of course I could be an idiot, and am not understanding it. That has happened before. O.K, quite often. Anyway, bottom line. Modern equipment still overall doesnt make up for bad shot choice or placement.

RE: Pat Meiten Article
 

Well written very good point remind you of
the Zaft buck story!We owe it to the animals
we hunt to be as humane as possible be it
bow or gun a clean kill is a must!!

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RE: Pat Meiten Article
 

Kristen I see you and I are gonna be pals.Just because I happen to disagree with you in another thread, that doesnt mean we have to follow each other through cyberspace and talk trash. It looks like We could both probably hold our own , but whats the point.We need to get beyond that. Ill admit I deleted some snappy comebacks. I apologize for that. I shouldnt have wrote them to begin with. Peace.

In reffering to the Meiten article, like I said, overall I dont disagree. If you practice, shoot from the distance your conscience allows. My point was, just because your capable of long distance shooting, and are capable of shooting fly specks, it still doesnt allow you to put piss poor shot placement on the animal. Can the shoulder shot be deadly. Sure. Shoulder shots, should be an accident though and not an aiming point on whitetails.Of course the ASS shot can be deadly to, if you dont mind tracking and suffering. These writers of these magazines need to remember a lot of beginning bow hunters seek them out for knowledge. What I got from the article was that Meiten took a questionable shot, because, hey its a big buck and he wasnt going to get a better shot. Thats wrong. We owe the bowhunting generation behind us better teaching than that.

RE: Pat Meiten Article
 

I' d like to start by saying that I haven' t read the article. Based on what' s been quoted, I won' t be rushing to the newstand either.

Antler size shouldn' t dictate shot placement. IMO if a person wants to shoot a deer in the shoulder, he or she should buy a gun.

JRW

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RE: Pat Meiten Article
 

Hey, Im a reasonable guy. Figured it was worth a shot. Hey, I read somewhere that the longer you keep your head under water, the cleaner your hair will be. About five minutes should get that hair shiny clean. Hope that tip helps.:)

RE: Pat Meiten Article
 

I' ve read the article and was very impressed. It talked about people like Fred Bear taking shots at 50-60 yards with a bow to kill a mountain goat/sheep I believe. Everyone idolizes him. With the bow he was using there was no way he was getting as much kinetic energy as we are today. Heck most people would criticize you for trying to take an animal the size of a polar bear with the kind of kinetic energy Fred Bear had, but it was an adventure to us when he did. I think most people can' t handle a modern day hero. It has to be in the past for us to idolize it, and in the present we criticize it. I' ve been hearing of some Bowtech shooters with 74lbs of kinetic energy. We' ve got bows putting out near Rhino stopping energy(they probably could stop a rhino with the right shot placement) and the unsaid rule is bradside up to 30 yards. I' m not saying we have to go hog wild shooting 100 yards at deer facing us, but I don' t see it as such a big deal if someone wants to shoot a whitetail at say 45 yards if that person is good enough. With carbon arrows, mechanical heads, laser range finders, stabilizers, and arrow speeds up to 300 fps, I don' t think it' s as big of an issue as it once used to be.