Another look at 100 yard shooting

[SEW]

Most of you are correct. You are not bowhunters, your crossbow hunters. Just like there are gun hunters,compound hunters , recurve hunters, longbow hunters and selfbow hunters. There not all the same. After you have hunted for 55 years from the ground with a recurve/longbow, you will realize you wont have to take a shot over 30 yards.

“After you have hunted for 55 years from the ground with a recurve/longbow, you will realize you won’t have to take a shot over 30 yards”.

1) How does this relate to this thread? Is this thread about traditional bow hunting or the factors involving xbow shooting?

2) Must we all hunt from the ground with traditional bows to really be a “bow hunter”?

3) Incidentally, though I don’t impose my personal traditional bow limitations on others who use xbows, I just finished my 61st year of traditional bow hunting AND xbow hunting. They are not the same! Just like traditional bow hunting and compound bow hunting are not the same either.

4) “Will realize you won’t have to take a shot over 30 yards””. No, I don’t “have to” but “I can” take a shot well beyond 30 yards with my xbow AND with a compound vertical bow.

5) Though both you and I are devoted traditional bow hunters, I don’t impose my traditional bow limitations on other types of bow hunters nor do I judge those who elect to use vertical compounds or xbows as not being bow hunters.

6) Have you considered going to or remaining on a traditional bow hunting forum?

[otisbrazwell]

This year I went from vertical compound bow (took about 50 deer this way over 17 years) to crossbow. With the compound 30 yards was my limit and this is based on my skill as an archer. The crossbow is still very new to me and so far 30 yards is the longest shot I've taken. I've taken 3 deer this year with my crossbow and I have to say the biggest problem I'm having is estimating distances. I use landmarks and range them with a rangefinder, however once I'm looking in the 3x scope of my crossbow I can get a little disoriented with those landmarks. This is one reason I have limited myself to 30 yards; another reason is that my crossbow (matrix 380) is much louder than my compound by a lot.. The chance a deer will jump the string is high.

Shooting at still targets with my crossbow I can easily put all my arrows in a 3 inch circle at 50 yards. Even so I feel I should keep my hunting shots under 30 yards..

dont think you need a matrix 380 for you type of hunting. get youself some ear plugs as deer dont realy mind the twag from the 380. myself
i would have no problem shooting deer at 50yrds with a bulldog 400. last 2 deer were 20 & 19 yrds i could of used a buck knife duct taped to a broom handel as a spear. bolth deer droped were they were standing so in that case the bulldog was over kill.

[grouse]

As far as practicing on coyotes or bobcats goes - why is that OK? There may be too many of them, but they just do what they are programmed to so, they're not evil. We should no more want to inflict suffering on them than on deer. We should do all we can to guarantee a clean kill every time we pull the trigger on a living thing.

[robertyb]

As far as practicing on coyotes or bobcats goes - why is that OK? There may be too many of them, but they just do what they are programmed to so, they're not evil. We should no more want to inflict suffering on them than on deer. We should do all we can to guarantee a clean kill every time we pull the trigger on a living thing.

I have never shot a Bobcat though I could have on many occasions but I kill every Coyote I see that I can. I hate them with a passion and wish they had never moved into my section of the country.

[IronNoggin]

... another reason is that my crossbow (matrix 380) is much louder than my compound by a lot.. The chance a deer will jump the string is high.

No, actually it is not.
I've run with a Matrix 380 since they first came out.
And I have killed a fair number of deer with it.
Only ever had a single whitetail buck that was full alert, looking at me, and TRIED to duck the string - at 55 yards.
He was dead before he could fully duck. Made it 17 yards after the hit.
The only one that the noise really concerns is US by and large.
The other few dozen that bow has taken paid zero attention.

Have you considered going to or remaining on a traditional bow hunting forum?

My thoughts exactly.
Do NOT attempt to belittle others simply because they do not hunt exactly the way you do.
Ain't no way to start off in a new-to-you Forum, and sure as hell ain't no way to make friends.

Cheers,
Nog

[grouse]

As far as practicing on coyotes or bobcats goes - why is that OK? There may be too many of them, but they just do what they are programmed to so, they're not evil. We should no more want to inflict suffering on them than on deer. We should do all we can to guarantee a clean kill every time we pull the trigger on a living thing.

I have never shot a Bobcat though I could have on many occasions but I kill every Coyote I see that I can. I hate them with a passion and wish they had never moved into my section of the country.

I'm not suggesting it's not OK to kill coyotes, I'm just saying that it's unethical to risk wounding them unnecessarily. They are highly evolved and intelligent so consequently are very good at what they do. I don't want them on my farm and have killed them, but I still respect them.

[grouse]

As far as practicing on coyotes or bobcats goes - why is that OK? There may be too many of them, but they just do what they are programmed to so, they're not evil. We should no more want to inflict suffering on them than on deer. We should do all we can to guarantee a clean kill every time we pull the trigger on a living thing.

I have never shot a Bobcat though I could have on many occasions but I kill every Coyote I see that I can. I hate them with a passion and wish they had never moved into my section of the country.

I'm not suggesting it's not OK to kill coyotes, I'm just saying that it's unethical to risk wounding them unnecessarily. They are highly evolved and intelligent so consequently are very good at what they do. I don't want them on my farm and have killed them, but I still respect them.

[SEW]

Grouse,
I respect and agree with your concerns about the coyotes.

A coyote killed my 1/2 grown male kitten in my yard. That didn’t leave good feelings with me.

About 20-25 years ago, an extreme cold spell gripped the entire Central US. Ice , snow, bitter cold, single F digits above and below zero for 3 weeks. I was hunting on a Sunday afternoon when it was about 0 F, -18 C, when 8 coyotes followed my tracks across a field to the tree I was in. I was about 15’ up. Planned to get down about 1 hour before dark to make it to PM church. I tried to get them to leave. They wouldn’t! They were jumping up to try to get me when I tried to get down. I had a quickie quiver with only 4 arrows. I tried to beat them away with a broken limb. Didn’t work. I stayed until way after dark. No . They had left. It was a long crunching way back to the truck. I took up coyote hunting. I’m likely not as compassionate as I should be. Fortunately, I’m saved by Grace and not Law.

[Johnny One Shot]

Funny part is Dr Saxton pope and art young basically the fathers of bow hunting took 100 yard shots at deer with trad bows quite often.

Are you saying these men were ethical hunters? How many deer did they lose? Wound? Just to fling a 100 yard arrow? Nowadays this thinking plays right into the Anti hunters agenda.

[Johnny One Shot]

Most of you are correct. You are not bowhunters, your crossbow hunters. Just like there are gun hunters,compound hunters , recurve hunters, longbow hunters and selfbow hunters. There not all the same. After you have hunted for 55 years from the ground with a recurve/longbow, you will realize you wont have to take a shot over 30 yards.

You are also correct , most on this forum are probably crossbow only hunters but some also hunt with vertical bows . Most people including myself just consider it all bowhunting . Therefore , in my eyes we are all bowhunters . So to come on an open forum and imply that others shouldn't even call themselves a bowhunter because of a self-imposed distance is almost an insult to me and judging from some of the posts I'm not the only one . A self-imposed distance of any range is just that , self- imposed . I personally wouldn't try to push my thoughts of how far I think someone else should be shooting at a game animal . I feel like members on this forum are well aware of what their equipment will do and use common sense when using it .

If all would go back and read my original post, I said "If I had to take over a 30 yard shot, I wouldn't call myself a bowhunter" I said I, not anyone else... ME. Not anyone else. It wasn't pushing my thoughts on others!

[Boo]

Most of you are correct. You are not bowhunters, your crossbow hunters. Just like there are gun hunters,compound hunters , recurve hunters, longbow hunters and selfbow hunters. There not all the same. After you have hunted for 55 years from the ground with a recurve/longbow, you will realize you wont have to take a shot over 30 yards.

You are also correct , most on this forum are probably crossbow only hunters but some also hunt with vertical bows . Most people including myself just consider it all bowhunting . Therefore , in my eyes we are all bowhunters . So to come on an open forum and imply that others shouldn't even call themselves a bowhunter because of a self-imposed distance is almost an insult to me and judging from some of the posts I'm not the only one . A self-imposed distance of any range is just that , self- imposed . I personally wouldn't try to push my thoughts of how far I think someone else should be shooting at a game animal . I feel like members on this forum are well aware of what their equipment will do and use common sense when using it .

If all would go back and read my original post, I said "If I had to take over a 30 yard shot, I wouldn't call myself a bowhunter" I said I, not anyone else... ME. Not anyone else. It wasn't pushing my thoughts on others!

Perhaps you can explain to all the good people here why you wouldn't call yourself a bow hunter.

[Timbrhuntr]

If you have to ask who those 2 men are that shows how much you know about bowhunting i guess and answered any question I had of your qualifications to judge who is or isnt a bowhunter lol

[Johnny One Shot]

If you have to ask who those 2 men are that shows how much you know about bowhunting i guess and answered any question I had of your qualifications to judge who is or isnt a bowhunter lol

I did NOT ask who Pope and Young was!!! Better read my comment again... I know perfectly well who they are. Talk about judging.... you don't know anything about me and my knowledge of Bowhunting. I didn't judge anyone but myself. My question was "Would you call them flinging 100 yard arrows; ethical hunters?" Also, if you are a bowhunter and you take a trophy deer with a crossbow, why doesn't P&Y let you enter it in the Pope and Young record books???? In the eyes of P&Y club you are not recognized as a bowhunter.

[Johnny One Shot]

You are also correct , most on this forum are probably crossbow only hunters but some also hunt with vertical bows . Most people including myself just consider it all bowhunting . Therefore , in my eyes we are all bowhunters . So to come on an open forum and imply that others shouldn't even call themselves a bowhunter because of a self-imposed distance is almost an insult to me and judging from some of the posts I'm not the only one . A self-imposed distance of any range is just that , self- imposed . I personally wouldn't try to push my thoughts of how far I think someone else should be shooting at a game animal . I feel like members on this forum are well aware of what their equipment will do and use common sense when using it .

If all would go back and read my original post, I said "If I had to take over a 30 yard shot, I wouldn't call myself a bowhunter" I said I, not anyone else... ME. Not anyone else. It wasn't pushing my thoughts on others!

Perhaps you can explain to all the good people here why you wouldn't call yourself a bow hunter.

For MYSELF, my criteria for bowhunting is 30 and in, for the shot. I'm NOT imposing that criteria on anyone but myself. You good people seem to want to put words in my mouth, that I am not saying. smh You good people sure don't make a new poster feel very welcome by twisting their words around...

[Boo]

I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. I just thought you could explain to the people you are engaged with here, why you wouldn't be a bow hunter because of a self imposed distance. It doesn't make sense to me so I thought you could clarify. Is it because of a past experience? What you've read? How did you come to 30 yards rather than 20 or 35 yards. Just asking.