RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

I assumed that would be self-evident. Constantly missing would be worse than constantly wounding. Right? Besides that how would missing be lucky? Except from the deers (or other quarry) perspective.

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

Let me try this approach ....

With a compound I am so much more accurate that I can extend my range out to 35-40 yards right now without having to practice much - I know this to be true. The sights on the compounds, the high letoff, the high speed and power, mechanical release ... all advantages to overcome mistakes made by the hunter (me) in a hunting situation.

With a longbow, my range is limited, maybe as much as 50-60 % of the range I can shoot with a compound. No letoff, instinctive shooting, 170 fps, low KE/momentum , fingers release. ..... all factors that make me less accurate than with the above mentioned compound.

This is an absolute true - with few exceptions.

I chose these challenges of bow type and equipment - so my question boils down to this -

Do I owe it to the game I hunt, or to the sport of archery to go with better shooting, more accurate shooting equipment ? Some of the previous comments would allude to the answer yes, I do have a responsibility to be as accurate as I can be - and certainly I am more accurate with a compound, so where does that leave me in my choice of a longbow ?

I am 1-4 on animals with my longbow. 3 misses, 1 double lung kill (my last shot on an animal). With a compound I don't think I ever missed an animal - I did make a couple of poor hits (high back shots) when I was a rookie, early on, but the last 5-6 years of compound hunting I did not miss.

Thoughts ?

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

I assume you meant on the practice range;) I don't care who you are or how good you are, everyone misses hunting, because sh!t happens. Anyone that thinks they can't miss hunting should be taking along a fork and a napkin with them. Cause they're setting themself up for a big ole piece of humble pie;)

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

silentassassin - Would you say that equipment leads to misses ? Do you think trad shooters miss a higher % of animals than compounds ?

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

stealthy,

Yes and no. I don't think the type of equipment leads to misses but equipment in and of it self can very well lead to misses. As far as whether trad shooters have a higher % of misses or wounded deer, I really have no idea. I have not been around that many trad hunters. I think there are to many variables involed to boil it down to the type of equipment. At the end of the day, no matter what type of equipment, it all boils down to the guy behind the string. How proficient is the individual with his choice of equipment? How good are his decisions in a hunting situation? How good does he perform under pressure? If you take the best shot in the world and you put him in a hunting situation and he chokes and makes a bad shot, all the practice in the world nor the type of equipment are going to make any difference. The more you practice the more likely that your muscle memory will take over in a hunting situation but that's not always the case. So, I just don't see it as that black and white.

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

silentassassin - I just clicked channel 153 (Outdoor channel) and saw a show on turkey hunting. At the end, they showed maybe 20-25 MISSES at turkey. The #1 reason they missed ? Poor shot selection. Walking turkeys, 30-35 yards plus turkeys, turkeys turning etc etc.

It was pathetic ! And they used compounds - they should not have missed at all.

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

If you have your licence, you have paid your dues and owe nothing to anyone. I would hope that you feel you owe it to yourself and the sport, to be as accurate and successful as you can be. Just my 2 cents.

RE: Do we "owe" it to anything/anyone to be accurate shots ?
 

stealthy,

I was watching the same show. All those misses boiled down to shot selection. They should have never been shooting at those turkeys as far as some of them were. Some of the shots were just missed. A couple were in some brush and shouldn't have been taken. However, the vast majority of the shots were too far. It was pathetic! I don't think it mattered what type of equipment was being used. Again, it all boiled down to the person behind the string and the decisions they made. In this case many of the decisions were bad ones[:'(]