would you stalk with a bow if it was legal?

[MJ75]

You can't get more up close and personal than bow hunting.

You can get up every bit as close and personal with a rifle! lol

 

[Mannlicher_Stu]

You can get up every bit as close and personal with a rifle! lol

You could if it was deaf and blind and couldnt smell and walked with a lisp

 

[CAM]

No i wouldn't a rifle is better as a bow is more like sport.

 

[MJ75]

You could if it was deaf and blind and couldnt smell and walked with a lisp

Have we been struggling recently?

 

[bambislayer]

A bit of a crude weapon for 21st century culling work don't you think ?.

Sorry...not for me for the following reason alone..........

An arrow or bolt.......cannot produce hydrostatic shock to the animal's brain and therefore the animals is suffering for an extended period of time until the drop of blood pressure to the brain results in it's death.

IMHO

Rocky

I agree entirely but their is something quite natural about the whole "going back to basics", dying instantly is actualy very un-natural is it not?
I feel sometimes our world has become too sanitised and maybe we are getting a bit too detached from reality, ie the animal dies 100m away and we don't actualy witness the death 1st hand and up close? Animals die in factories and the public eat meat from plastic containers rather than a carcass?

A bit philisophical and more a question than an answer

 

[jingzy]

I agree entirely but their is something quite natural about the whole "going back to basics", dying instantly is actualy very un-natural is it not?

Stuart,

dont know about you, but I would rather go un-naturally and instant rather than the other way.

back to the original though,

no, I would not like to use a bow and arrow as it goes against deer welfare in my opinion. Given the means that we now have, I believe it to be verging on cruelty. A deer in our area was seen for up to 10 days with a crossbow bolt sticking out of it.

 

[Muir]

Crossbows are marginal for deer. A broadhead on a hunting arrow makes a wicked wound that a respectable rifle bullet would envy. It doesn't knock the deer down but it does a huge amount of damage when introduced to the heart/lung/liver area and deer die quite quickly after the initial run. Bow hunting is a gritty way of taking game but trust me when I say that a well placed broadhead is lethal: certainly more so than a bad rifle shot or a shot made with an inappropriate bullet.~Muir

 

[Richiepolecat]

No i wouldn't a rifle is better as a bow is more like sport.

Isn't that why you do it because you enjoy it? No you do it for management reasons.....

If people are worried that it is inhumane, then maybe you shouldn't be hunting. Not all shots are humane and animals suffer, just like in nature.

 

[kuwinda]

My 2p worth.

When I was living in Africa I did buy a compound bow and broadheads for hunting specifically warthogs - they are just too easy with a 375.

Never got the length of using it though - what no-one has mentioned is that it takes A LOT of practising - every day - to get both proficient at placing the shot at differing ranges (you can actually see the arrow looping and you need to practice shooting at 15/20/30 yds etc) and also at holding the pull for a minute or two. Even with an 80lb compound bow it takes time to build the shoulder muscles to enable you to do this without a wobble (or maybe I'm a woos )

I've never tried it but I can imagine hunting deer with a bow is in a whole different league hardness-wise.

(As an aside I hunted in the Masai Steppe with some Ndorobo and have a set of bow with arrows that they use for hunting big game - and also some of the kit they use for making the poison that goes with it. That seems to work)

 

[Hodadr]

I for one would not like to see the repeal of the ban on hunting with bow and arrow. Why?

Ahh well I am not convinced by those who challenge that they would not effect a clean kill, if that were the sole prerequisit we would all use granade launchers rather than rifles. I am sure that as many archers as riflemen (apparently thats the correct termanology, see the police statements from Rothbury) get buck fever and fluff the shot.

Competence with ones tool, however big or small has always been the ultimate goal of every hunter, and we still get idiots with guns, why would it be any different with bow and arrows? At the end of the day even though they are banned for hunting you can still walk into a shop and buy a bow and arrow capable of killing, to the idiot and reckless legalising hunting would make no difference.

But i drift from my point, legalising hunting with bow and arrow would be a bad move because my bank balance could not stand another sport, where money is truely no object with every gadget and gismo available.

Ohh do you think the FC would need to see a DSC2 for the bow aswell

 

[Sikaside]

I have to say that although I wouldnt knock another mans sport, bow hunting in the UK is a definate no no, I have had to deal with deer that have been shot with both bolts and arrows, it is not nice.
Why use a weapon with limited range and power, when you can still stalk close to your quarry, which you should do anyway ?, using an high powered rifle ensures a clean kill, giving the animal the respect it deserves.

 

[calmac]

your spot on their m8t

I'd have to see it 1st hand in order to form an opinion. To me the argument about the bow being 'prehistoric' or 'outdated' is just stupid - its all about the placement of the shot and competence of the hunter for me.

If i determine that the animal will suffer regardless of the hunters competence and shot placement then i'm against, but if not then who am i to slate another method of hunting.

There are some i wouldn't allow to hunt at all regardless if using a rifle or a bow!

 

[rockingod]

With you there Sikaside

I have to say that although I wouldnt knock another mans sport, bow hunting in the UK is a definate no no, I have had to deal with deer that have been shot with both bolts and arrows, it is not nice.
Why use a weapon with limited range and power, when you can still stalk close to your quarry, which you should do anyway ?, using an high powered rifle ensures a clean kill, giving the animal the respect it deserves.

 

[CAM]

I mean that I think a rifle is better and safer and I think using a bow to kill a deer is more like you want to manage deer for sport.

 

[User00014]

Ian

Thing is, don't we only ever shoot when there is a safe backstop, don't we? So the 3000m comment isn't really relevant is it?

in reply to that , a quote form a gamekeeper who first introduced me ito stalking -

IF ALL OF US WAIT FOR THE PERFECT BROADSIDE SHOT `ALL OF THE TIME , BUGGER ALL WOULD BE SHOT !

and can anyone on this site honestly say they have not taken a shot with a risky back stop ?

cheers lee

 

[Muir]

My 2p worth.

When I was living in Africa I did buy a compound bow and broadheads for hunting specifically warthogs - they are just too easy with a 375.

Never got the length of using it though - what no-one has mentioned is that it takes A LOT of practising - every day - to get both proficient at placing the shot at differing ranges (you can actually see the arrow looping and you need to practice shooting at 15/20/30 yds etc) and also at holding the pull for a minute or two. Even with an 80lb compound bow it takes time to build the shoulder muscles to enable you to do this without a wobble (or maybe I'm a woos )

I've never tried it but I can imagine hunting deer with a bow is in a whole different league hardness-wise.

(As an aside I hunted in the Masai Steppe with some Ndorobo and have a set of bow with arrows that they use for hunting big game - and also some of the kit they use for making the poison that goes with it. That seems to work)

Exactly. I shoot recurve and long bows (no sights or cams) and practice for optimum arrow placement means shooting 100 arrows a day leading up to the hunt. This is for basic proficiency. In light of this thought, maybe there are a large number of UK shooters who should not hunt with a bow? I run into so many people on line that can't get around to shooting a .22 off hand for rifle practice on a regular basis. Imagine them trying to shoot 100 arrows a day, every day. Not likely to happen.~Muir

 

[unicorn]

Hi i think that its a great way to hunt deer and i would stalk with a bow in uk if made legal

 

[norma 308]

love to give it a go once i had been shown and was happy i could hit bull and be consistant ,dont know if i could spend hours upon hours clipped on up a tree stand though ......i get tired just sitting up a seat for 2 hrs quite like that little trigger thingy they use instead of holding the bow string must take some practice !!!!

 

[Taff]

Having practiced wilt a bow in Illinois,and met some folks who are good with one I would like to give it ago but don,t think I was good enough with it at this time, most people who object to bow hunting on morel grounds, no very little about bow hunting. Hunting with a bow is different from the hunting we do over here with rifles it takes far more skill and dedication.

 

[limulus]

Bow hunting wouldnt be for me.
As for air rifles not being suitable for rabbit or hare! What a load of bo77ocks. If I live another 48 years I wont get any where near the number of rabbits I've killed with my S410 or Rapid 7 as I will with the .22/.17hmr.
Prior to PCP air rifles I used a Hammerli .177 to shoot wasps as they landed on a stake smeared with jam some 30yds away to hone my shooting and would regularly head shoot rabbits out to 45yds with it and drop them on the spot. When it was chrono'd it was pushing out 7ftlb!! Accuracy is everything.