What drives me crazy about "Bow Hunters", and I am a Bow hunter.

What drives me crazy are the people who don’t pick up their bows all year until the week before hunting season. There is no way you can only shoot once a year and be a decent shot. Some people think they can but put them out on a brezzy day, a cold day, a rainy day, or even 30 yards from a deer they will fall apart. These are the guys who make gut shots. Now I am no animal activist but I do think one should care about shot placement. Just because you can shoot a deer with a bow doesn’t make you a bow hunter, just a person that wanted an extended season. I totally understand wanting an extended season, but you need to be as proficient with whatever you hunt with.

A true bow hunter practices, and practices a lot. He knows his bow, he knows his arrows, and practices to the point it becomes an extension of his arm. When a shot presents itself they see their sight picture and take it carefully. If the sight picture closes before the shot, they back off and don't just shoot with their crossed fingers.

I love dear meat and go hunting whenever I can, so killing deer doesn’t bother me. But when I see a deer that has been gut shot or hit in a place that it wont die quickly, that really bothers me. I am not a perfect shot and am guilty of shooting a deer to far back, but No animal should suffer if you can prevent it.

If you want to be a Bow hunter you need to start practicing months before you hunt, maybe even years depending on how accurate are. Bow hunters practice from a standing position, kneeling position, from their ground blind, their tree blind, and all of this fully clothed in the gear they hunt with. Back packs, long sleeve clothing, boots, and whatever they put on their head, like a beanie or camo face mask. Not doing this can result in real unforeseen problems. There may be a zipper or a Velcro strap in the way of the string travel. You also may not be able to find your anchor point with a beanie on. If you are up in a tree or ground blind you may not have a clear shot from tree limbs or tall grass. These may just be a few things Bow hunters think about but they greatly consider them before they go. These few things can very well blow an opportunity of a life time.

Also if you want to be a bow hunter... Don’t just get lessons from your brother in-law that shoots every now and then, Get lessons! In archery there is nothing harder than getting rid of a bad habit. I am talking shooting every day in a blank bale for 21 days just to get rid of one bad habit. (But we can talk about that in another posting)

My point is, be good with whatever you use to hunt. Not only is it cruel to gut shoot a deer but you will have some major tracking to do to find it. And normally when you do find it, coyotes have already eaten all the best parts.

#archery #gutshot #gut #shot #arrowmiss