Take the ethical shot

Not preaching here but I just want to say a few things.

I am as far from PETA as you can get but I just came across a pic of a deer with an arrow sticking out of her snout. Went through the top and was still sticking out of the bottom of her mouth. I know there are times that bad shots accidentally happen... I have made a bad shot too far back on a deer so I'm not calling anyone out. I'm just trying to say that all sportsman need to focus on ethical shots and not on killing an animal any way possible.
Lastly, I just want to say it isn't cool to shoot at any animal unless you have a humane shot..For all the new hunters on this board I want you to know it isn't worth bragging about if you take a poor shot even if its only a pig..

That's all- it just gets all over me when animals suffer bc of us hunters, especially when it could most likely be prevented.

mmmmmmmmm popcorn

Amen.

Haha- hey it was on my mind and what better place to say that than a hunting forum.

I agree with you though

Send me a pm with your email and ill send you the pic to post

agreed

Amen

I agree. I also see a lot of jackwagons going straight to the field without sighting in and young bow hunters who jump in the game without respecting the commitment to practice and ranging, etc. Nobody hunts on my place without proving their capable of a decent group.

Not again

How do you know the bow shot was unethical?

Exactly!!! To some on here, anything under 100 yards with a bow is ethical

If you shoot a deer in the head at a reasonable archery distance, one of two things happened: you either need to practice more or you didn't take an ethical shot.


I can see missing a little back or a little forward, but a head is a long ways from the heart.

I practiced with my bow for 3 years before releasing on a deer. I wanted to make sure my pattern was consistent . I wanted to try to avoid all negative possible scenarios. I know things happen in the field that you can not predict. If that was me I would not be going out and shooting at anything except my 3D target! Practice Practice Practice!

One bad hunter gives us all bad names!

Well brother in law, I don't know 100% I guess..
But when you shoot an animal in the face, chances are your weren't making the ethical shot.

That joker was probably laughing about doing that too.

I was in nilgai camp last year and some of the dudes were laughing about shooting the animal while running, hit it in the front leg and they were all cutting up about the way the nilgai ran off on three legs.

Guess what, they never found the animal.

Congrats guys...

Personally, I am sick of hearing about 'ethical' shooting. A person using that word sounds like they are ashamed of hunting. I hunt and I take the shot that presents itself if it's a good shot that I can make. I pass on the ones that are likely to fail. Ethical is a subjective word that doesn't mean the same thing to most folks and it grates on me every time I hear it.

You use the word 'ethical'. What does it mean to you? Probably that's the word a person would use to justify hunting to the PETA meeting, where no word is going to placate them.

Just out of curiosity, what word do you prefer to describe a shot with a bow to the head of a deer or a 100+ yard shot with a bow?

I can think of a few: stupid, ignorant, ridiculous...

Maybe we should use a more PC version and just call it "low percentage", that way we won't sound like we are trying to placate PETA

IMO, someone who has to have proper hunting ethics explained to them shouldn't be hunting. Shooting a deer in the head with a bow is unethical. A newbie taking a shot at a deer 400 yds away is unethical, poachers are unethical. See it's not that hard.

"I have always tempered my killing with respect for the game pursued. I see the animal not only as a target, but as a living creature with more freedom than I will ever have. I take that life if I can, with regret as well as joy, and the sure knowledge that nature’s ways of fang and claw or exposure and starvation are a far crueler fate than I bestow." Fred Bear

Heart/Lung shot is the only way to go in my book. If it is not available, I won't pull the trigger. I have guns that put bullets on top of each other, but an ear/head shot does not leave much of a margin for error or the unexpected. I would rather pass than shoot one in the snout. Too much respect for the animals to do anything else.

Heartily agree with first post. Not only is it not fair to the animal, but it makes hunters look bad. Fact is, most people don’t hunt, so their opinions on hunting are formed by the behavior of others. We hunters need to present a positive impression of ourselves and hunting, or we will lose the battle of public opinion. And once that happens, further restrictions on hunting are sure to follow.

With a bow crazy things can and will happen. You can hit a briar you did not see and it can turn an arrow. Happened to me on a 10 yd shot at a bobcat, missed it by 3 ft.
Your string can catch a piece of clothing and cause you to go off target. Hit a Buck in hind quater due to that one, yes I got lucky and hit the femoral and deer was recovered.

Human error/murphys law can cause things to go way off center reguardless of ethics.

I agree!!!

No doubt, bad shots happen to anyone that hunts. Sometimes things just don't show up in your line of sight until the arrow dips, sometimes the animal gets the drop on you at release, and sometimes it's just fatigue or a bad release. There is a difference between poor decision making and an unintentional error. Either way, I believe a good hunter should feel a little remorse for any missed shot and a lot of remorse for a bad hit.

If that sounds like PETA, my idea of hunting and yours is a bit askew.