NY Bowhunter

There's a lot of gimpy deer out there that were not hit so well by someone hunting with a gun too. There's going to be a degree of idiots out there no matter what you're hunting with. I wouldn't lump all the bowhunters into the same stereotype because of a few isolated stories like this. In fact I would tend to believe bowhunters go above and beyond to be ethical and respect the sport. I personally know of a lot of gunhunters that grab their shotgun opening morning, dust it off while on stand, and let lead fly at running deer. Not putting down one method of hunting over the other, just stating that i dont' think it's a fairstatementto say bowhunting is less ethical than gunhunting and should be illegal.

bowtech die hard

Honestly I think you should take it easy. You're talking about taking away a hunting right here. I live to bowhunt, and you saying something like this sounds like you're from an animal rights group. People injure deer with rifles and shotguns all the time too. That's why it's hunting, that's what happens. I take offense to that kind of thing.

bushmaster_5bko

I know a guy that i go to school with has shot 2 does in the head with his bow same way, however i disagree with that technique. One year over by my house there was a nice 8 pter with an arrow stuck out its nose, from what i heard from ppl in the neighborhood it died of starvation because with the arrow sticking out it couldn't eat.

IndyHunter83

I'll assume it was luck because no deer deserves to be killed like that. Gun or bow shooting a deer in the head is risky at best. one question though. Is he gonna have the taxidermist put the arrow in the deers eye when he has it mounted????

kwaldeier

its a nice buck tho!

timbercruiser

I can guarantee that I am far from being an anti-hunter. I've killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 175 deer, all with a gun, exceptone with a bow. I will have my 12 year old grandson with me on Alabama's special early youth hunt tomorrow and there is a very good chance he will shoot a deer. I'm not questioning the ethical part of hunting with a bow, I'm questioning the number of people I have heard talk about sticking another one that got away, usually by not being a good shot with a bow or taking a poor shot. On these forums there are often people talking about sticking one that they fail to find. If you are proficient with your bow and can harvest and collect 95% or more of the deer you shoot, then I congratulate you, shoot another one.

Rhody Hunter

nice buck but bad shot placment even though it did the job .You should never take that shot

Bulzeye

There areseveral issues that contribute to this.
1-Not proficient / tuned / practiced
2-Uneducated in proper shot selection / deer anatomy
3-Lack of blood trailing and tracking skills to recover awounded deer

I feel that #3 isvery important and often understressed, because we are all going to make a bad hit by accident someday. All year long, guys talk about equipment choices, tuning, clothes, scents,and even shot placement and selection, but 'how to find a wounded animal' never comes up until somebody is on the verge of losing one or has already given up. Consequently they end up spending time on here asking questions instead of staying in the woods looking for their deer with the knowledge they should already have, at least in an acedemic sense.

A thread like this (and a picture like that)is an opportunity to educate new and/oruneducated and/or lazy hunters in the importance of the choices we make and how they can be judged by outsiders. However, I don't think that any of our own should besuggesting thatbowhuntingbe made illegal because of the actions of a few unsrcupulous(or unlucky)individuals.

There are lots of people who misuse guns and baseball bats too. Not a single one of those incidents, nor all of the lives that they have affected is a reason to take away my gunsor bats. If you want to take away my hunting privileges, you better be able to prove that I don't do it right.

pahntr760

This is the kind of stuff the Anti-Hunters love to see. Lets not do this kind of thing so they have one less thing to worry about.

NY Bowhunter

F%#@ the anti's. Why is everyone worried about what they are reading. I'm not going to hide in some hole and watch what I say to appease them freaks.