A Rant

[Jeff Kavanagh]

I work at an archery shop and this is one of the things which is really starting to get under my skin.

I had a guy come in the other day inquiring about one of the new Ravin crossbows. He said he was saving up for it so he could shoot a deer out to a hundred yards. I'm not sure if he noticed the stunned, shocked, disgusted look on my face or not?
I hear this nonsense all the time. I have countless people come into the shop and when I ask them how their season is going, or now, how it went, I seem to get the same responses about all the deer they missed. If I delve deeper into the conversation it almost always turns out they are trying to shoot a deer at 50, 60, 70 yards. WTF!!
Where do these thought processes come from? Stop watching all the stupid hunting shows on TV and on YouTube! If you wanna shoot that far, hunt the rifle season! This is a live, moving animal you're shooting at, not a stationary target. At any given second things can change.
This is bow hunting, which is about getting close and learning about the quarry you're after. If I had a nickel for every deer I've let just walk right by me because things weren't right for a shot! Just because you see a deer, it doesn't mean you have to shoot at it! Bow hunting is about taking your time and learning. If you're trying to shoot a deer at 60 yards with a bow your an idiot. There I said it.

Years ago I was out with a friend with his compound. Now this friend was very proficient with his bow and he knows his capabilities. So we were out together and there was this really nice mature doe which came in. The doe was calm and relaxed and not aware of anything unusual. She would take a step, pause, eat a leaf, pause maybe take another step, repeat. My buddies ranged it at 27 yards which under the circumstances it was very doable. The set-up was perfect and I likely wouldn't of hesitated with my recurve. He took the shot. Just as he shot the doe casually took a step forward. Guess what? Gut shot. It took that little to turn a perfect situation into a full days tracking job to recover that deer. And it's not like she jumped the string, she just took a step at the wrong time. That one step put his arrow too far back and that was at around 27 yards. Now double that distance to 50 yards and imagine what the outcome could have been? Also keep in mind that we are both very seasoned hunters and this still happened.

Rant over.

[Fox]

Did we not beat this dead horse a while ago? Different equipment, different people, those people will be making the decision for themselves.

[rick_iles]

Good post ! For the most around here, you are preaching to the choir !!!
Listening to all the Rambo wannabes would drive me nuts as well....

[kokes]

Here we go again...I do agree with you, but You'd probably alot better off telling your opinion to your customers and educating them instead of ranting on here...

[Jeff Kavanagh]

Did we not beat this dead horse a while ago? Different equipment, different people, those people will be making the decision for themselves.

I don't think it's a dead horse at all.
Here we have new people getting into bow hunting for the first time and learning from the industry to take stupid shots. It's important to educate these people about these situations that shots like these are unethical. It's not okay to take a shot like that on a deer and people need to hear it from other more experienced hunters.
Also, these are not isolated events. I hear these stories constantly to a point where they are at epidemic proportions. It's not good for hunting and it's not good for our sport.

[Snowwalker]

Maybe print your rant( edited to remove any thing pointing at your shop) and post it in a good spot.

Would likely be more effective.

[Jeff Kavanagh]

I will guarantee there are many new bow hunters who frequent these pages.

[Jeff Kavanagh]

Maybe print your rant( edited to remove any thing pointing at your shop) and post it in a good spot.

Would likely be more effective.

This is a bowhunting forum. How is this not a good spot to post something like this?

[Gilroy]

I guess Jeff you are going to take the high ground and not sell these guys a bow?

Because you work at the shop and do not own it I can see your frustration but basically your shop is part of the problem unless you educate them right on the spot and maybe suggest a firearm instead.

The other culprit in the equation to me is the Ministry because of the gun restrictions and the longer seasons and better area,s for bow hunters.

[Jeff Kavanagh]

I am baffled here??

I post a thread to discuss about taking ethical shots while out bow hunting to try and help educate new people who bow hunt and I get nothing but negative responses? This speaks volumes about what is going on and about the kinds of things I am hearing on a day to day basis in the industry.

These are the kinds of things we should all be coming together on and working together with to try and change things.

"Shakes head and walks away"