Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

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Eddiegomes83
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby Eddiegomes83 » Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:44 am

Pudster wrote:As stated, it all comes down to yourself and your ability. I know a guy who says his range is up to 60 yards on whitetail, yet I know of 2 good bucks he has wounded trying shots in the 40 -45 yard range. That to me is un-ethical, with the excuse that they jumped or moved after the shot......duh, I am of the belief that your ethical effective range is what you can kill cleanly at every time. Last year I was struggling shooting, I assumed it was target panic, my max range I set for myself was 25yards. Fast forward to this year I figured out it was not target panic, but my drop away rest was not working properly causing really random arrow flight. This year i would feel comfortable increasing my range on a whitetail to 33 yards. Western game= less pressured animals, open country, bigger animals, and the ability to see them for longer periods of time after the shot.

33 yds....that pretty specific. Lol


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Drenalin
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby Drenalin » Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:24 am

Shots at whitetail are typically closer, and a lot of that is terrain. So some knucklehead may give you grief about a 40 yard shot on a whitetail. That same type of person out west will give a guy grief about an 80 yard shot, where 50-60 yard shots are commonplace. Bottom line is some people have too much time to sit around and write internet commentaries on other people's ethics, when their own ethics are all they should be concerned about.

Unfortunately, the hunting community in general eats its own.
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby Swedishbowhunter » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:21 pm

Eddiegomes83 wrote:
Pudster wrote:As stated, it all comes down to yourself and your ability. I know a guy who says his range is up to 60 yards on whitetail, yet I know of 2 good bucks he has wounded trying shots in the 40 -45 yard range. That to me is un-ethical, with the excuse that they jumped or moved after the shot......duh, I am of the belief that your ethical effective range is what you can kill cleanly at every time. Last year I was struggling shooting, I assumed it was target panic, my max range I set for myself was 25yards. Fast forward to this year I figured out it was not target panic, but my drop away rest was not working properly causing really random arrow flight. This year i would feel comfortable increasing my range on a whitetail to 33 yards. Western game= less pressured animals, open country, bigger animals, and the ability to see them for longer periods of time after the shot.

33 yds....that pretty specific. Lol

Well, It use to be 32, but when I had the ideal conditions at one at 32 I made a great shot, now i think i can stretch it out to 33!! lol
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The Runt
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby The Runt » Thu Sep 17, 2020 8:55 am

Pudster wrote:As stated, it all comes down to yourself and your ability. I know a guy who says his range is up to 60 yards on whitetail, yet I know of 2 good bucks he has wounded trying shots in the 40 -45 yard range. That to me is un-ethical, with the excuse that they jumped or moved after the shot......duh, I am of the belief that your ethical effective range is what you can kill cleanly at every time. Last year I was struggling shooting, I assumed it was target panic, my max range I set for myself was 25yards. Fast forward to this year I figured out it was not target panic, but my drop away rest was not working properly causing really random arrow flight. This year i would feel comfortable increasing my range on a whitetail to 33 yards. Western game= less pressured animals, open country, bigger animals, and the ability to see them for longer periods of time after the shot.



I know many people who wound animals or have wounded animals at very close range. under 10 yards. Many whom hunt from high stands and take close shots, in my opinion, run a much higher risk of wounding animals. So, I can't totally agree with your statement. I do agree if something becomes habit forming like your buddy who keeps wounding critters then it is a problem, but their problem.
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby blackwidow » Tue Sep 29, 2020 6:46 am

I hunt with a recurve, so I obviously like shots to be very close. I used to hunt with a compound, and routinely practiced long range shooting; 60 plus yards. At that yardage, I have no doubt that I could've killed anything that I shot at. That doesn't mean that I should ever shoot that far though. We need to remember that we are shooting at live animals, not targets. There are a lot of things that can go wrong over a long distance. One of the main things being: What if that animal takes even one step? You go from a short blood trail to a wounded animal in a hurry. I'm not trying to impose my ethics on others here either, I just feel that a lot of consideration should go towards what is best for the animals that we hunt. The hunting community's greediness with a "kill at all cost" mentality seems to keep growing, which helps to justify in the minds of some that it's okay to shoot really long shoots as long as you have the skill to hit a target at that range. I couldn't disagree more. This isn't about what you are capable of. It's about making a clean and ethical kill. Leave the long range shooting to the guns. This is bowhunting, it's supposed to be about how close you can get, not how far you can shoot.
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby wolfie729 » Wed Sep 30, 2020 12:41 am

Agreed I got tore up here years ago for killing a whitetail at 78yards spot and stalk in Michigan. I hunt both out west in september and my home state of Michigan as well as Kansas and Wisconsin for whitetails. I think its all situational. My bow set up is set up for longer western shots and I keep it the exact same for treestand hunting when I can’t shoot past 20 yards a lot of times. It all comes down to practice and what your comfortable with. I think the problem lies with a lot of guys don’t practice past 40 yards and so they feel its un ethical, but myself and few of my friends shoot regularly out past 100 and I would feel very confident watching a guy who can put it in a baseball at 100yrds taking a 70 yard shot on a KEY WORD HERE, Relaxed animal.
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Re: Why are long shots only "ethical" on western game??

Unread postby wolfie729 » Wed Sep 30, 2020 12:45 am

blackwidow wrote:I hunt with a recurve, so I obviously like shots to be very close. I used to hunt with a compound, and routinely practiced long range shooting; 60 plus yards. At that yardage, I have no doubt that I could've killed anything that I shot at. That doesn't mean that I should ever shoot that far though. We need to remember that we are shooting at live animals, not targets. There are a lot of things that can go wrong over a long distance. One of the main things being: What if that animal takes even one step? You go from a short blood trail to a wounded animal in a hurry. I'm not trying to impose my ethics on others here either, I just feel that a lot of consideration should go towards what is best for the animals that we hunt. The hunting community's greediness with a "kill at all cost" mentality seems to keep growing, which helps to justify in the minds of some that it's okay to shoot really long shoots as long as you have the skill to hit a target at that range. I couldn't disagree more. This isn't about what you are capable of. It's about making a clean and ethical kill. Leave the long range shooting to the guns. This is bowhunting, it's supposed to be about how close you can get, not how far you can shoot.


Good points and I can see what your saying and even though we differ on thoughts of distance I agree an animal on its feet can do a lot in a hurry. That being said in sage brush country on a bedded animal most of the time you will be extremely lucky and unlikely to get within 50 yards.
Earn what’s never given.


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