A Rant

[ride.lift.shoot]

A portion of the onus falls on the industry appointed 'ambassadors' of bow hunting (the likes of Hanes, Dudley). When they boast of shooting 100+ yards in practice and taking animals at the 60-70 yard range with compound equipment it encourages the masses to imitate.

Great post Jeff, this is certainly the place for discussions around bowhunting to be taking place, if it isn't, then I've been duped by the section name of the forum for years now.

[Fox]

This is my first post ever on the bowhunting forum. After 30 plus years working in the field and dealing with hunters......you wouldn't believe most of the stories I could tell.
Regardless, this is about a good friend of mine who worked at a hunting/fishing shop in the Sudbury area. He too could go on all evening about horror stories related to him in confidence, during the day from hunters and anglers alike. The point is this: we'll read a post on here about some unethical hunter and we'll see the retort that he's no hunter, he a poacher. Well, I beg to differ. He's unfortunately a very large proponent of our hobby and is most definitely a hunter, especially in the eyes of non-hunters.
Bottom line, archery or rifle hunter. Makes no difference. There's bad and very bad in both groups.

Exactly!!!!!

[kk1]

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.

Well said. Couldnt agree more! Long shots are a recipe for disaster. Sure it might work out, but definitely wont everytime. 35yrds is my max.

[tracker]

I have seen guys at our range shooting at the 100 yards with a xbow. They were grouping arrows into a pie plate. While watching the 1st thing they said was I would never do this deer hunting? Nothing wrong doing at a range. You can try to educate your views but will they listen.

[jamesb]

Eventually everyone at some point or another has a shot that doesnt go exactly to plan. And sometimes we never find the deer. Personally has happened once to me.
Worst feeling in the world. Cant completely avoid it obviously. But not taking crazy shots will certainly help. Just my opinion. Good job for starting the conversation.

[DanO]

It can't be said enough Jeff. Good Post!! In a bow shop you're likely dealing with new bow hunters so by all means educate them please. My only hope is they absorb the advice. There are lots of guys who think it's their God given right to do as they please so long shots will continue to be glorified.

[duckslayer]

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

so it’s ok for you to beat the 30 30 and .410 dead horse..............over and over and over again........ Maybe you should just keep quiet .......... was nice for a while around here when you seemed to have disappeared but nope here you are again spewing your know it all crap.......... so do we need to check with you first from now on before we post anything up to see if you ok the subject????



Jeff, this is exactly where to post this topic up and this subject NEEDS to be beaten like a dead horse so maybe some guys will actually get it ...........REAL bow hunters don’t take those kind of shots and it defeats the purpose of bow hunting.

[jaycee]

so it’s ok for you to beat the 30 30 and .410 dead horse..............over and over and over again........ Maybe you should just keep quiet .......... was nice for a while around here when you seemed to have disappeared but nope here you are again spewing your know it all crap.......... so do we need to check with you first from now on before we post anything up to see if you ok the subject????



Jeff, this is exactly where to post this topic up and this subject NEEDS to be beaten like a dead horse so maybe some guys will actually get it ...........REAL bow hunters don’t take those kind of shots and it defeats the purpose of bow hunting.

Great post!, but you forgot the .270 , just say it like it is .

[huntnmachine]

duckslayer, all I can say is awesome post!!

[smitty55]

Great reply, both paragraphs. I was quite surprised when this was his response to a very good post.

Cheers