adams

I owe it to myself first and foremost. I take bow hunting too seriously to go out and hunt without being as "sharp" as I possibly can be.

Would you hunt with dull broadheads?[:'(]

Second, I respect the animals I hunt and truly believe that I owe it to them to be as proficent with my weapon as humanly possible. Ethical shots that offer a quick clean kills is the standard I hold myself to. If I'm not in position to take a high percentage ethical shot the deer has won that evenings hunt. Best believe I'll be back to match wits again though. Another day, anouther hunt.

wihunter402

I like the way you put that.

HAZCON7

Simply put, I believe we owe it to our sport to be the best we can achieve.

stealthycat

Why ?

If I am "best" with a compound, am I unethical to keep on shooting my recurve, maybe wounding a few along the way ?

thundermug

Stealthy...I think what they are trying to say is...um, how can I put this? If you don't know you can hit them where it counts but just think you can and you try and wound it, then you took a shot you should not have. If you practice at 15 yards and you see a deer at 16 yards......what do you have circles around your stand marking yardages? Someone needs to get a grip on that statement. They could have just as easily said 15 yards and 1 inch, LOL!

I can remember when several years ago I was the only one talking ethics and almost no one else would speak up, unless it was on the other side of the fence.
All I will say is if someone is constantly wounding deer and having to track a deer for a long time to put more arrows in it, or lose it all together then they are doing something wrong and need to change something somewhere. If they do not correct their mistakes then they are UNethical. I cannot understand why some people just don't understand this concept.

I will try to use a different approach. What if you were to take your lunch to work everyday and put it in the fridge in the break room. When you go to lunch at say 12:30 your lunch bag has been opened and a bite taken out of your sandwich. This happens every day and you finally found the culprit, but they say it was an accident that your bag and theirs were identical. You look and yes they are the same in appearance but you always have cheezits, and they always have barbeque tater chips. Well...if they were to pay attention they could easily notice that they had your bag and not theirs but for some strange reason they wouldn't do it. They would still take a bite of your sandwich and then notice it wasn't theirs and they'd put it back. Are they doing something wrong? Of course they are. It doesn't matter if they say it was an accident, the point is they will not pay attention to what they are doing and change.
Ethics is a deeper issue than many people think, but really all it boils down to is they are doing something wrong but will not fix it.

BOWFANATIC

Dont post scenarios and then disregard them when someone responds specifically to your scenarios!

If you choose to use a compound...stick within your maximum range!

If you choose to use a xbow...stick within your maximum range!

If you choose to use a longbow...stick within your maximum range!

Whichever weapon you choose , you owe it to our sport to become proficient within your desired maximum range!

If you truly are not proficent with your longbow at 20 yds or 15 yds then you either need to practice more or shorten your range!

AK

Regardless of what you shoot and how well or poorly you shoot, you'll do your quarry and yourself a great service by only taking shots that you are confident with...be it a rifle at 400 yds, a flintlock at 100, a compound at 50, or a longbow at 25.

BOWFANATIC

Stealthy , let me ask you two questions if I may.

1) What is your maximum range with your longbow?

2)Are you confident you can put your arrow where it needs to be every time when hunting within your maximum range?

stealthycat

thundermug

I'm not disagreeing with that ... but why constantly wounding ? Why not after constantly missing ? (the only difference being absolute luck the arrows didn't hit meat, right ?)

BOWFANATIC - We're not on the same page here ! We all talk maximun effective ranges ... but thats all relevant and/or irrelevant depending on the situation. On this site we might talk the talk, but in the woods its a different ball game, you and I know this as do most guys who hunt a lot.

dunno. Seriously. Some days you don't want to be a pop can at 30 yards. Some days I got the groove. Other days, anything over 15 yards is safe

I dunno my effective range - it varies. How can I say that ? When I whitetail hunt - stand hunt - I try to pre-mark my 20 yards ranges. Why ? Because I practice most at around 20 yards in my backyard. Remember, when I've been in a stand for 3 cold hours, a big buck starts coming in .... am I going to really, REALLY setlle down and let my mind calculate the difference between 17 and 26 yards ? Sometimes yes, other times ... no. Actually my biggest problem it seems is tunnel vision ... too MUCH concentration that I ignore limbs that are between me and the point of focus. Anyway, if I can have that 20 yard reference I think it helps, if nothing more than just mentally.

I shoot a lot - do I the confidence to put the arrows where I want them to go ? yes and no. Confident enough to let 'em fly, but I know I'm realist enough to know that I'll miss too.

Now, lets also take into consideration this. I KNOW if I picked up a tuned compounds I would not miss at 20 yards - ever. I cannot say that about my longbow. Seriously, theres few reasons to not keep 4-6" groups with a compound at 20 yards and I'd dare say 25-30 yards. They're that good with minimal practice.

Knowing this ... knowing I can shoot BETTER with a compound .... am I unethical not to use one ?


AK - what is confidence ? I know one guy who hasn't killed a deer in 8 seasons of trad hunting. He's missed a bunch, never killed. He goes into every season confident ... but chokes . Why ? How's he different ? Is he TOO cautious on his shooting ?

Scenario - my Dad and him were turkey hunting. Mind you this guys been hunting all his life. A tom comes in , literally wears a path out around the decoy and as it starts off my Dad finally gets a shot and kills it. For 10 minutes this bird was strutting and circling that deopy on this guys side ... and he never shot. Why ? Said he as afraid the bird would see him. Me ? I'd have MADE something happen. Sure, might have got caught moving, but I aint sitting there with a tom at 20 yards and do nothing either !

Similar with deer hunting, is it not ? Do we all wait for the head down, 100% broadside, calm deer at exactly 20 steps shot ? What if a big bucks comes in, slowly walking, 27 steps, slightly quartering .... take the shot (feeling confident you can) or not ?

BOWFANATIC

Absolutely not!
Like I said before , it's my opinion that we owe it to our sport to be proficient before we step in the woods with whatever weapon we choose!

Are we on the same page now?