Let’s start off with a
story. This one’s about my general
season deer hunt 39 years ago. Yes, I
remember it; it was one of those formative experiences that shaped who I became
as a hunter in later years. I was young
and eager to kill my first buck. With
gunshots echoing back and forth across the mountain from every direction, I was
definitely feeling “trigger happy”. So
when I saw a big buck bouncing through the sage brush 300 yards away, I didn’t
hesitate to empty the magazine of my 30.06 at that deer. Of course, I missed.
I met up with my dad a bit
later and told him what had happened.
His response surprised me and I didn’t understand it. He looked at his boots for a minute, with his
hands on his hips in that familiar posture that he took whenever he was rolling
a decision around in his head. And then he
said, “If you haven’t learned to shoot any better than that, then put your damn
gun away. Your hunt’s over.”
The statistic that really jumped out at me was how much more the wounding rate was for LE Elk hunting vs. the general season. Is it that the open bull units or spike unit hunters have less opportunity to shoot at an animal or is it the pressure of the hunt causing people to take riskier shots? What do you think?
I do think that technology has something to do with people taking harder shots. How far is to far and the angles of the shot are questions that we all have to make responsible decisions on. Even when we make good choices in those areas things can still go wrong. Same thing applies to other weapon choices as well.
I like how Mike had a mentor to teach him. I don't think that any classroom instructor would have had the same impact as his father or a fellow hunter. Have any of your fellow hunters ever spoken up about questionable distances/shot angles? How many of you have regular discussions about good shooting practices while you are out on the hunt just to remind one another of the importance?
Yes my mentor looked at me with a look that told me everthing, after I took a 80 yard shot in the field. That look was a disgusted look of disappointment like I taught you better than that. I was told your not a great bowhunter buy how far you can shoot an animal, but to get in close to your animal and then put a clean shot on that animal, that's the true test of a bowhunter. I have tried to hunt by what my mentor taught me everytime I am out in the field. Bowhunting I think is a up close and personal hunt , that is why I do it.
“Bowhunters have to accept a regional draw for the first two
weeks. If you don’t, you’ll lose statewide
archery altogether.”
I was sitting in a mule deer committee meeting in the DWR
offices in Springville when that ultimatum was put to me by the SFW board
member who was serving as the Northern RAC representative. Before I overcame my bewilderment that such
an outrageous statement was being made in a room full of honorable men who had
come to work together in good faith for the welfare of Utah’s deer herds,
another mind-boggler followed. “If
bowhunters will accept this, we’ll take 5,000 permits from the Northern region
and turn them into archery permits.”
