Bow hunting, how far will you shoot ?

[lungbuster]

Sorry if it came across to bluntly, i can be a bit harsh at times.......

[Schultzy]

I agree allot with what Deerslayer and Dan says. Dan said he's heard people blabbing about expandables and taking Iffy shots, I've heard It as well countless times. I've also heard employee's that work at archery shops/places tell a 1st time bowhunter who's looking to get Into bowhunting that the new bows of today will let you take them long shots with out a problem because of the "speed" of these compounds. That's the last thing a 1st time bowhunter should be told. Every year I hear bad story's of terrible shot selections and It makes me mad. You can bet that the majority of the wounds/misses are probably long shots. The story's I hear are exactly that. It makes the rest of us look bad If you ask me.

Call It ethics police or whatever. Some people need to hear It. Would you rather no one cared? To me It all starts with that 1st time bowhunter at the archery place that has no other to get advise from or the 1st time bowhunter getting advise from their parents that already have bow hunted for years. Lets give the right advise the 1st time and we'll hear less bad decisions being made while their out hunting. But then again there's some people that should never, ever have a bow In their hand. Just like anything though, some people aren't made for something.

[Slider1005]

Being an inexperienced bowhunter myself I can say the farthest I would shoot is 20 yards. I practice at 30-40 but my groupings get alot bigger. I just don't feel confident yet at those ranges. I can oly imagine how I would shoot at a buck at that range. As stated it's all up to you, but I feel a beginner especially should not even think about letting one fly at 40 yards.

[Zap]

Being an inexperienced bowhunter myself I can say the farthest I would shoot is 20 yards. I practice at 30-40 but my groupings get alot bigger. I just don't feel confident yet at those ranges. I can oly imagine how I would shoot at a buck at that range. As stated it's all up to you, but I feel a beginner especially should not even think about letting one fly at 40 yards.

There is alot to be said for your opinion.
What I have learned in the short time I have shot a bow is that a confident shot is usually a good shot.
That being said there is alot of good things that will come from nailing the first half a dozen deer that you shoot at.
The opposite will happen from putting a bad hit on one of the first that you shoot at.
Staying within your skill level and picking the right time to release a shot will generally have a good result, a clean kill and increased confidence.
We all just have to remember that we cannot determine anothers confidence or skill level via the internet.

marty

[dan]

Seems to me, there is somewhat of a learning curve for the beginners that goes beyond just know what range or distance to shoot. Shooting a mature buck with a bow is not an easy task at any range for a beginner. A lot of us take it for granted knowing when to pull the bow back, when to release the arrow, when you can and can't move, Whats to far, when is he to close, etc.
Its not that easy for a beginner. Thoughts are racing thru a beginner, or a person who has never shot a big buck. He lacks the confidence it takes to make a smooth shot and is likely very nervous.
My biggest suggestion to a newbie would be to kill some deer. Don't wait for the big one. Work your way up. Killing itself takes skill and there is a learning curve. Shoot when you know you will kill the animal. And you will probably still wound one sooner or later. But push your limits and you will likely be disappointed more often.

[Slider1005]

Thanks Dan, and that is my plan. I love venison so I'm going to shoot what gives me an opportunity. It's just like anything else, you don't get good at it without practice.

[PredatorTC]

Seems to me, there is somewhat of a learning curve for the beginners that goes beyond just know what range or distance to shoot. Shooting a mature buck with a bow is not an easy task at any range for a beginner. A lot of us take it for granted knowing when to pull the bow back, when to release the arrow, when you can and can't move, Whats to far, when is he to close, etc.
Its not that easy for a beginner. Thoughts are racing thru a beginner, or a person who has never shot a big buck. He lacks the confidence it takes to make a smooth shot and is likely very nervous.
My biggest suggestion to a newbie would be to kill some deer. Don't wait for the big one. Work your way up. Killing itself takes skill and there is a learning curve. Shoot when you know you will kill the animal. And you will probably still wound one sooner or later. But push your limits and you will likely be disappointed more often.

Completely agree!! I took my cousin out last year and tried to help him get a doe. It was very interesting to watch what he did while the deer was coming in. He did not pick the bow off his lap, clip his release on the string, find a good time to pull back and so on. When i start thinking i remember doing a lot of this myself. "All Knowledge is rooted in experience!! " Eventually we had him all ready to go when the deer came up.

[WiBowhuntress]

I practice out to 40 yards but have not ever been put in a situation where I have needed to shoot that far. The buck I shot last year was 33 yards. I sunk about 1/2 of my arrow in him...luckily it was a perfectly placed shot (My arrow length is 25-5/8")
So I am comfortable out to 30-35 as far as penetration goes. I am confident in my shooting ability out to 40 but don't think the penetration would be good enough.
Most of my stand setups are configured with a 35 yard max shot.

[lungbuster]

Now don't take my personal ranges or opinions as something a newbie should be doing, everyone is different. Some people are only confident and effective at 20 yards or less no matter how long they have hunted and as long as they know this and are happy with it there's no reason for them to change. But I think what alot of people posting in this thread don't realize is this, most competent archers can shoot long range with alot of practice and discipline, they just need to stretch thier practice to the limit. What i mean is if most people would practice at 70 and 80 yards religiously, they could effectively kill animals at 40 and 50 yards in the right conditions and be confident. Would I tell a person just starting out to shoot 30 or 40 in the first few weeks of thier practice NO, but let's say a newcomer was to start practicing right now for fall and was shooting 2 or 3 times per week from now til then, after the first 5 or 6 shooting sessions at 20 yards or less, I would encourage them to back out to 25 or 30 and start progressively moving back every other week or so until they cannot group inside 10". Once they reach a limit where they cannot consistently put 3-5 arrows inside a 10" circle, they would need to back down 10 yards to where they can. Now let's say this range is 40 yards and they can consistently put 5 arrows inside the kill zone every time, this does not mean they should attempt to shoot an animal at this yardage NO because we all know shooting targets and live animals are totally different, but maybe they can be confident to shoot animals at 25 yards because of this practice, so the first and second years of hunting that is thier maximum range and when THEY feel they have enough experience they can start increasing thier range.......The thing is everyone is DIFFERENT, everyone advances at thier own rate, EVERYONE reacts differently to shooting animals, everyone has THIER own set of standards or ethics if you will, so my point is this, advise to new archers is welcomed so long as it is the right advise, but trying to impose a set of standards or ethics on a new archer (unless he/she is your kid) is not right to me. As I have said before , as long as they are not purposely wounding animals or breaking the law, who am I to tell someone they are wrong? Is deliberately shooting a deer in the liver unethical? It is a vital hit and as long as the hunter knows how to follow up that deer he/she will have thier prize at the end of the blood. Does it cause a deer to suffer? Maybe or maybe not, remember we do not know how deer feel or suffer or if they have emotions, maybe it's no different than double lunging a deer and it goes down in 10 seconds, what is time to a deer? maybe they can't recognize that they are mortally wounded and would go about thier business for the 2-5 hours it might take for them to bleed out and die from a liver hit. No one will ever know the answer to that and so if Joe Shmo likes to take liver shots @ 60 yards and recovers all of the deer he shoots, who are you or I to tell him he is wrong and unethical???????

You do your thing, I'll do mine and we'll all get along fine!

[adrenalin]

If Joe smo shoots a deer at 60 yards in the liver intentionally I would say he's an idiot. Period. If a deer has an 1 1/2 inch hole in it's side with a busted rib and a hole in it's liver you can bet it's in a of a lot of pain and won't die for a few hours. If deer have nerve endings they can feel pain. If you had to stand their and watch the animal from the time it was hit until it died could you still take that shot. Think of it this way, if you knew your dog was going to die where would you want them to be shot?

[lungbuster]

I'm not condoning this shot, but I also can't say it's unethical.............And yes deer haqve nerve endings, but do they feel pain the same as you or I , I don't know.......... My whole point is everyone is different and have the right to be different because we live in the land of the free (at least for now), and I don't care to have someone tell me my way is wrong or thier way is better, just as I wouldn't impose my beliefs on someone else. Do I think anyone should intentionally shoot deer in the guts or liver, no but if they can prove it is effective and lethal who am I to argue????

[Zap]

Ethics debate aside, some things are just wrong.

marty

[lungbuster]

Now let me say I'm not trying to anyone off here, but some of your views are likened to tree huggers saying poor defenseless animals have feelings and should not be killed............How does anyone know that a double lung shot is less painful or more painful than any other shot on a deer? It is definately a quicker kill, but what if someone found out it was actually more painful than a gut wound or a spine wound? Would everyone suddenly deem a double lung shot unethical and start shooting them in the spine or the guts???

The point I am trying to make is: once you start telling people thier way is unethical and should not be done, it opens a whole new can of worms on how your way may not be as ethical or "humane" and then the division of hunters starts and you get hunters fighting eachother when we should be banding together to stop the real threats to our heritage and way of life. A treehugger would love to see this kind of post even though I don't think any of us are actually mad at eachother (at least I'm not), but to someone just reviewing the thread it looks like we are in fighting and on most forums it would be and tends to get blown out of proportion.............Go to any other forum on the net and do a search on ethics and you will see a whole lot of bickering..........That is why I say my way may not be your way, but if we are both hunting in a legal way and not intentionally wounding animals why should we be so concerned if my way isn't yours?????????


(BTW I am not in favor of any shot other than a double lung or heart shot , but someone else may have a different way of thinking and that is fine by me so long as they aren't blatanly wounding animals and not recovering them)

[dan]

I would not intentionaly shoot liver or guts. I also do believe there is some suffering and pian involved in liver and gut hits. Otherwise you would not see the majority of deer hit in the liver going straight to water and bedding with there wound in the water. They are obviusly trying to ease the pain.
I do believe a gut shot is far less painfull for a deer than the way they die naturally if we don't hunt them... But thats no excuse, at least not for me, to not try to kill them quicker and more humane.
I guess though, that if my arrow were to wander a bit, I would rather hit the liver than the shoulder. Shoulder and the deer survives with a wound that will bother and suffer him for a lifetime. Liver and he is dead in 4 hours and the suffering stops.

[Scot]

I routinely practice at 50 and 60 yards and am a better shot than I have ever been. Having said that I hold my shots to 30 yards and in on whitetails. My longest kills are at 37 and 39 yards. One shot was perfect,the other was lucky,the buck took a step as I shot and I had been holding for a long time,I hit him high and back but I caught his femoral artery. He was stone dead in about 20 yards.A foolish shot unjustly rewarded!