WHAT A SHOT 2

[BBDOWN]

Well after my boy took his deer at 67 yrds we set the targets up and worked on the 40 to 50 max shot. He kicked my ass again 12years old! So I set the bag at 67yrds and I took 5 shoots 1 kill shot, then I let the boy at it 5 shots all fatal he put 5 shots within a pie plate, he wins but he knows now that there are ethics in the way we hunt. He told me he would not take that shot again even though he could! I thank all of you who put up a post he read them all and that really got him thinking. Now its my turn to get one I hope

[wabi]

Read the first post and in all honesty I'd say he was very lucky.

I'd seriously think about maximum yardage. The 50 yards an a whitetail is probably a bit too much, and 40 is a more commonly accepted limit. Personally, I stick to 30 as a maximum.

I've done some experimenting with deer's reactions to the noise of a crossbow and my findings were - you never know for sure.

I'd compare it to me being out in the woods and hearing a tree falling (definite noise to associate with danger). If it sounds like it's 100 yards away I'm not going to get too excited. I may look that direction to see if I can spot any movement, but I have little fear for my personal well-being. If it sounds like it's 40' away I'm going to be in motion quickly!
For you those distances might be 200 yards and 20', and for someone else it might be 50 yards and 30'.

My point is every living creature has his/hers/it's own definition of danger, and the same holds true with sensory perception. I suffer slight hearing loss, so that 40' distant tree might in fact be only 20' away.

For deer hunting I base my maximum range on the possibility every deer I launch an arrow at is going to start reacting as soon as it hears the noise. It's a simple math calculation to figure out how much sooner the sound reaches the target than the moment the arrow arrives. The gap is only a fraction of a second at close range, but how big of a gap is necessary for the deer to move far enough to ruin the accuracy of the shot? That IS a GUESS!
I'd rather pass a few questionable (in my mind) shots than fatally wound a deer that might suffer for days before it dies and never be recovered.
I had a "run of bad luck" a few years ago. I lost 3 deer one season because of other unforeseen factors (fletching came loose, hit an unseen tree branch, deer moved as the claws released the string). I seriously considered giving up archery hunting and did a long "soul search" before going back to it. I finally decided those unfortunate occurrences were something that couldn't be prevented or predicted, but I would do all I could to make my shots quickly lethal in the future.
I shortened my maximum range to 30 yards, and have actually kept most under 20 since then. The only loss of a deer since then was due to a scope failure and I was sure it was a non-lethal hit, so I didn't get too upset about it.

Not condemning your personal choice of what your maximum yardage will be, just asking you to give it careful thought before you pick a number. Just because you can shoot accurately at that distance doesn't mean it a good distance to be shooting deer at.

[Dash]

You made some good points there wabi.
It's good to see the young blokes aim is spot on. I enjoy long distance target shooting myself. But there's a lot of variables to hunting that aren't a problem for target shooting. They can stuff up an otherwise pretty accurate shot. The smaller the distance a shot is taken the less most of these variables make a difference to your shot.

[Dereck]

He is well on his way to being the part of the new generation of responsible and ethical hunters

You have done your job well

And at the very least he can teach you a few things about shooting

I know how you feel I have a 12 year old who can go toe to toe with me shooting as well

[sumner4991]

Be sure to practice some 8 yard shots . . .never know when you might have an 8 yard shot on a big buck and . . .

[bucknbill]

good to teach him responsible sportsmanship

[wheelie]

Well after my boy took his deer at 67 yrds we set the targets up and worked on the 40 to 50 max shot. He kicked my ass again 12years old! So I set the bag at 67yrds and I took 5 shoots 1 kill shot, then I let the boy at it 5 shots all fatal he put 5 shots within a pie plate, he wins but he knows now that there are ethics in the way we hunt. He told me he would not take that shot again even though he could! I thank all of you who put up a post he read them all and that really got him thinking. Now its my turn to get one I hope

Can assume he is under junior hunter program and under your supervision and your licence and a 67 yard shot as you said without your permission to shoot. And you want to keep bragging? Personally I think retraining to commands is needed. Maybe some are saying good shot, some of us were just shaking our heads and saying nothing! I will say no more!

[rayman]

If my son made a 67 yard shot and killed the deer, I'd tell him to wait for a 20-yard shot next time so I wouldn't have to wander around the woods all night looking for the next one he shot at. But then I'd bragg about it to everyone in the world I ever knew, and then I'd walk down the street bragging about it, and then I'd bragg about it on email, on the internet, and anywhere else I could bragg about it.