I had a fella newly arrived to the sport write to me and ask about hunting with his new self bow. He was all excitement until he got on a bulletin board and had everyone caution him about his responsibilities to the sport and how he needed to acquaint himself with his weapon thoroughly before going afield. He was deflated thinking of maybe having to spend a year or two in practice before hunting game. Here is my response to him. Provided here for your debate.
"Bullshit, Fred. Don't let the ethics police stand in the way of your excitement. There's no joy found standing in front of MacKenzies for a year, making yourself a wreck of anticipation and doubt, measuring groups and wondering if they are good enough, so that you can't make a shot when the time comes. Practice, yes, but get some sharp broadheads and go hunting. Do it as soon as you can legally. Get some bleeder blunts and go small game hunting. Do it as soon as you can. Let the arrows fly on the small game. Rabbits and squirrels are easier to hit than deer, moose and elk. When you are hunting something larger, just wait until you get close enough so you know you can't miss. Work to get that close. Your first moment of truth may require an animal with a death wish, one that wants to impale itself on a nocked arrow, but such animals exist (perhaps not for long, but they do exist). As you grow in confidence, extend your range. Exercise discipline, not abstinence. That's the bedrock of this sport."
<P style="MARGIN: 0px; __styleDocument: [object]">The ethics police where all raised up on concrete and asphalt.They don't know what it is like to shoot a rabbit out of the side yard, or pluck a squirrel off the limb of the tree swing, with a 30# fiberglass monkey wards bow. They always seem to be afraid of sending their $5 arrows into the tick infested timber......</P><P style="MARGIN: 0px; __styleDocument: [object]"> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0px; __styleDocument: [object]">I have a friend that will go to the farm market, buy some cheap rabbits, turn them loose in the yard and let his kids shoot them with their bows.Some might say that is cruel and unusual, but he is teaching his kids how to shoot at animals.How would a fella ever learn that whithout doing it?</P><P style="MARGIN: 0px; __styleDocument: [object]"> </P><P style="MARGIN: 0px; __styleDocument: [object]">I say go huntin. Clint Eastwood said," Every mans got to know his limitations".Limitations will come naturally. Learn them and follow them.</P>
TImo Wrote:The ethics police where all raised up on concrete and asphalt.
LOL. Say, did you notice a certain word in my post that did not get transformed by the auto-censor? Damn. I wonder what else in the way of an extended vocabulary is available to me.
I believe strongly that you cannot learn to kill without first killing.<br><br>Like Timo said I'll bet most of us with some gray in our beard cut our killing teeth on blackbirds, yard squirrels and in my case crop destroying rabbits.<br><br>I am anxious to hear somebody rebut this theory. Especially on this site.<br>
I have a buddy that compound hunted until I gave him a recurve (thankfully he thinks its just plain weird to get advice off the internet).I went o pick him up from a stand and he had an ear-to-ear grin.I said "did you shoot one?"<br><br>he said "no! but I missed twice!"<br>
<P><IMG src="http://www.websitetoolbox.com/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" align=absMiddle border=0> Looks like some sound advice from the right folks! I can't imagine not being able to take a kid out and let him shoot at rabbits with a bow. Ever watch a kid shoot even if he has shooting experience? Most I've seen fall a tad short in the accuracy dept.... I wouldn't stop that kid for a minute to tell him he needed to practice more. Shooting at small game is the best experience that I believe that kid would ever get. A grown-up is no different!!!! Just shoot and let the Ethic Police sort out all the B.S. that THEY deem right or wrong. CK</P>
I think a lot of what you see on the internet is washed for the sake of not giving ammo to those who would oppose us. Keep in mind the first wildly successful (OK, wildly might be an exaggeration) site was the Bowsite and Pat L. originally started it to combat AR folks. It grew from there in many ways. Of course now he's shooting tame lions on video with a compound so who really knows
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<P><FONT face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif">It's sorta funny because a lot of those guys chirping about this and that are usually the ones who have never or very rarely kill anything with a bow.</FONT><BR><FONT face=Georgia></FONT> <BR><FONT face=Georgia>Great conversation here. Dean, our auto-sensor is set pretty low here. I think it allows for more "straightforward" conversation <IMG src="http://www.websitetoolbox.com/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" align=absMiddle border=0></FONT></P><P><FONT face=Georgia>-Brian</FONT></P><BR><br>
Ok, Brian. Just got an error message when I tried to use my fav-o-rite phrase to express my delight that we had relaxed auto-monitors here. Told me I had to remove the word "" before I could post, and wrote it just like that: "". Apparently it was so embarrassed by the phrase that it couldn't even identify the offensive word precisely, but had to substitute for it two quotation marks.
John, beyond and before the LW and the internet, extending to the magazines—even before TBM turned up the volume—this sanctimonious attitude held most of us captive. The popular conceit was that we had to prove ourselves worthy to hunt with supposedly more difficult weapons by adopting a higher standard. In reality, the standard here should be no different whether you hunt with a classic bow, a compound or a rifle. Ethics are ethics, and self-control is just that.