Arthur P

think he had his animal honored by Boone and Crockett. You get your wish for the animal to be honored, P&Y remains true to their rules. Where' s the problem?

Ah... The problem is that Matt McPherson didn' t get a major advertising coup with a P&Y world record whitetail to add to his 5 page ads.

But if he didn' t make bows that exceed 65% letoff he would have. RIGHT??? It' s not P&Y' s fault. It' s not P&Y' s fault Beatty hunted with a non-compliant bow. Bad situation all around, for sure, but pointing fingers at P&Y over it is kinda stupid.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Arthru P, you are exactly right in that last post....

Kanga

Arthur.
You just opened up another can of worms

But you hit the nail on the head use the gear as per the rules and reap the rewards.

Big Country

If P&Y does raise the letoff % limit, I will still shoot a 65% letoff bow for two reasons.

1. I truly feel that they are more accurate! And yes,I have shot a bunch of 70-80% bows.

2. With most modern, rock hard wall bows, letoff % numbers are just a feelgood thing anyhow. You hold a bunch more than 80% when at full draw so you don`t cam over while aiming.

Take two identical bows with different letoff %.....the lower letoff bow will draw way smoother, and I think they launch better too.

I am on your side on this one Arthur and Cougar, and a few others. But I fear we are in the minority here.

This should really open up a can of worms....if P&Y raises the letoff%, I will grumble for a while, but if they include crossbows, my membership is over![:@]

Pluto

Arthur, thats were you are wrong. The compound bow letoff was originally set at 50%. I am sure there was a discusion and a vote like what is happining now.

What is so magical about 65%? Why was 65% chosen? It was the highest letoff of any bow at the time. Not because it is some kind of magical number were at 66% you have gained an unfair advantage over everyone else.

Arthur P

Actually, Pluto, that' s where YOU' RE wrong. Untill 1988 there was NO restriction on letoff because it wasn' t needed. Compounds started off around 30% letoff, went to 40%, then 50%. P&Y learned of 65% letoff bows being introduced and the issue finally got disturbing. Higher the letoff, the closer the compound got to the crossbow, and they did NOT want to make things easier for the crossbow lobby.

So, rather than have the trend of higher and higher letoff continue, they enacted that rule. 65% was chosen because that was the highest tech available at the time. The hope was that bowhunters would continue to voluntarily comply with their rules, as we all did at the time, so there would be no demand for anything more and the trend would stop.

Only problem is they expected bowhunters would continue to hold themselves to a higher ideal than the law called for - we were ALL ' elitists' not all that long ago - and they neglected to take human nature into account.

wolfen68

Arthur P...I' m glad you' re here. It' s impressive how much actual factual information you have brought to this debate and I, for one, appreciate your endurance and fortitude as you deflect so many uneducated statements based solely on personal and selfish emotions. This is a classic debate. All of these high tech freaks, speed junkies, and outspoken yet mistaken newbies trying their luck with a seasoned and wise veteran. Wake up folks...the man is right.

Arthur P

Wolfen, the ' wise' part might be going a little far afield, but I do prefer ' seasoned veteran' to ' old guy' . Thanks for your kind words.

Mahly13

OK guys EXACTLY WHAT is SOOOOO unfair about an 80% let off bow? I have heard (OK read) many times that the 65% are MORE accurate, and that the 80% let off bow REALLY aren' t holding THAT much less weight...So WHY do you guys HATE these bows SO much that you would not honor and animal shot with one?
Seems some just HATE speed for whatever reason. No carbon arrows, no high let off bows etc.
What makes a buck shot by an 80% (or whatever) let off bow LESS of a trophy?

Arthur P

NOTHING!

What if you catch it swimming across the lake, motor up to it in a boat and whack it with an axe while it' s completely helpless? Still the same animal but it' s how you took it that determines who will honor it.

I guess you' d enter that swimming animal in Axemasters.[&:]

Like I said above, the rule was put in place to make it harder for crossbows to worm their way into bow seasons. If you don' t mind the idea of having a dozen crossbow hunters ganged around your tree, then fine. Even though there are a lot of bowhunters on your side with the letoff issue, I doubt you' ll find very many of them that are in favor of being in the woods with crossbows. And they' re the ones that really confuse the dickens out of me.