Think I might hang up my bow for the season...

[PolarBear]

You said you wanted opinions.  I will be real straight with mine. If you put an arrow into an Elk you need to exhaust yourself until you find it or the season runs out.  Your bull is out there wounded and I don't think you should be trying to kill another one.  Ran into a few guys out on opening day a few years back that wounded a cow and looked for a couple hours then went on to new hunting grounds and I said the same thing to them.

Gives us all a bad reputation and it's plain unethical.  Good luck finding him.

Dude your season SHOULD be over. Looking for new elk to shoot at is absolutely unethical.

Glad to see people finally stepping up and telling it like it SHOULD be, you hit an animal in the vital zone, you look 1.  until you find a carcass.  2. until you see it alive. 3. until the season is over.  No more shooting at different animals!  I'm sorry but the first page of this thread makes me want to puke.   

Amen!

[PolarBear]

no matter how good you are, at some point you will lose a animal.

Not quite.  I have been hunting big game for 43 years and have never lost an animal.  I know a lot of long time hunters who have never lost an animal. 

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

no matter how good you are, at some point you will lose a animal.

Not quite.  I have been hunting big game for 43 years and have never lost an animal.  I know a lot of long time hunters who have never lost an animal.

well your better then most, ill rephrase that "  if you hunt enough and have more tags ( diff states etc) it will happen... I hunt 2-4 states yearly, so in my 15 years of doing so that would be over 40 deer tags depending on state etc..... I have no idea who many animals you have killed with a bow so that may or may not skew that statement.

[PolarBear]

Some people's kids.   

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

Some people's kids.   

I know! shame on us for using logic and reason to base our opinions...  its a numbers game... if you have killed 50 deer in your life with a bow and I have killed 100... that is 2 x as many shots and chances and 2 x as many chances of something not going as well as you had intended it. That may be a crazy idea and all but it is factually based.

[PolarBear]

Lets put it this way.  I have been bow hunting since before you were born.  I seriuosly doubt that you gave killed even close to what I have with a bow.  Your argument is only valid if you have actual, factual numbers, of which you have none. 
 

[RadSav]

Don't just throw bow wounding into the equation.  I've tracked a bookoo load of animals shot with modern weapons and a few more with muzzy.  And I can not be the only one who has hunted the Winston over the past 30 years who has found stinky rotten rifle shot elk during late archery.  Happens to all user groups!  Just read the Bearpaw threads.  And it is getting worse now that gun manufactures who promise sub-MOA rifles and TV shows that edit out mistakes make so many think they are LR Snipers. 

Polarbear is a god amongst bowhunters!  Definitely not your average Joe Bow.

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

Lets put it this way.  I have been bow hunting since before you were born.  I seriuosly doubt that you gave killed even close to what I have with a bow.  Your argument is only valid if you have actual, factual numbers, of which you have none. 
 

 

ok well I do have a really good idea of how many I have killed, so lets start with you...  I have always enjoyed the line " I have been doing (this) since before you were born" so because you have done it longer that automatically makes you better and more successful? interesting mentality for sure.

[RadSav]

And don't forget, the planet Tatooine is a desert planet.  You can probably see your animals run for miles from your ambush spot.  You have to get to them quickly before they bake under the heat of the two suns.  But recovery of anything fatally wounded should be nearly guaranteed regardless

[Jonathan_S]

Lets put it this way.  I have been bow hunting since before you were born.  I seriuosly doubt that you gave killed even close to what I have with a bow.  Your argument is only valid if you have actual, factual numbers, of which you have none. 
 

 

ok well I do have a really good idea of how many I have killed, so lets start with you...  I have always enjoyed the line " I have been doing (this) since before you were born" so because you have done it longer that automatically makes you better and more successful? interesting mentality for sure.

Relax Francis.   

[PolarBear]

And don't forget, the planet Tatooine is a desert planet.  You can probably see your animals run for miles from your ambush spot.  You have to get to them quickly before they bake under the heat of the two suns.  But recovery of anything fatally wounded should be nearly guaranteed regardless

I just jet out there with my speeder and pick them up before the Sand People get them.   

[PolarBear]

Polarbear is a god amongst bowhunters!  Definitely not your average Joe Bow.

LOL!  Not even close! You or Bone have me beat by a long shot!!   I'm just an average hunter with a ton of self control when it comes to making the shot.  I have passed up on a LOT of really nice critters because I am not willing to take a "risky" shot, period.  Bad shots happen to good hunters/shooters, it is what you do afterwards is what defines your character. 

[lokidog]

Polarbear is a god amongst bowhunters!  Definitely not your average Joe Bow.

LOL!  Not even close! You or Bone have me beat by a long shot!!   I'm just an average hunter with a ton of self control when it comes to making the shot.  I have passed up on a LOT of really nice critters because I am not willing to take a "risky" shot, period.  Bad shots happen to good hunters/shooters, it is what you do afterwards is what defines your character.