Bowhunters of Utah

I was out at the range this morning and delighted to see that I can draw my bow again after a recent shoulder injury. The challenge now is to regain the accuracy I had a couple weeks ago. If I can't make some serious improvement from what I was doing this morning, I won't be hunting - at least not in the opening weeks.

Meanwhile, there was another guy at the range who not only missed the bulls eye but also repeatedly missed the entire target at 20 yards. That's a 3 foot group!

Then I read a post on an Internet forum today from a guy who's asking for help finding his first compound bow. I politely asked him about it and reminded him that the hunt is almost here. He responded, "Being that I'm in the dedicated hunter program, purchasing a bow allows me to be out hunting earlier and enjoying the outdoors." Hmmm... how many "dedicated" hunters like him are going to be out there on Aug. 15?

On the one hand, I suppose I should mind my own damn business. On the other, it is my business, isn't it? Isn't it our business? Knowing how common this sort of thing is, how can we honestly respond to public statements like, "All bowhunters do is run around the mountain wounding animals."?

As bowhunters, if we cannot agree on anything else, it seems to me that we should at least be able to agree on the importance of weapon proficiency and as an organization, make a very clear public statement to that effect. What do you think?

I agree, but where is the benchmark?

Do we police? Encourage them to do differently? I can't think of a scenario where approaching someone at the archery shop who is purchasing a bow 2 weeks before the hunt being detoured by my sense of right and wrong. Do you?

Honestly, I think it's a matter of teaching. Most people get into bowhunting because of a friend or family member, Santa forbid they pick up a bow after being inspired to do so by one of them long range bow"hunting" videos. So why is it that this happens frequently? My train of thought when I introduce someone to bowhunting and archery, is to teach them what I know and frame things similar to my ethical train of thought, explaining to them what I deem acceptable. I have to assume that there are people who do not take the time to do this, or that have not been taught the negative implications of this type of thing.

Secondly, bow shops need to bear some responsibility in teaching their constituency, or at least steering them in an ethical direction. If someone comes into their shop and says 'I need me a new bow, the seasons almost here' it needs to be frowned upon, but are they going to pass up a sell in lieu of setting someone straight? (It's a fairly rhetorical question )

Archery shop ed.? I'll head it up.

Tye wrote:
I agree, but where is the benchmark?

Every hunter must decide that for himself.

But the first step is to recognize that there is such a thing and I think that's as far as BOU needs to go. "BOU supports the ethical and honorable harvest of game animals through proficiency with a bow." That's what we should be saying to our fellow archers and that's something we can honestly say to our critics.

If someone asks what "proficiency" means, fine. Fact is, a lot of today's archers can't even fletch their own arrows or serve their own bowstrings. And if they don't know, that's their loss. But effective range, the distance at which you can consistently place arrows into a circle the size of a paper plate, is about the animals we hunt AND our ability to continue hunting them without somebody on the wildlife board seeing a need for further regulation on us all. So when asked what proficiency means, can't we say, as an organization, that proficiency means knowing and shooting within your effective range?

As for archery shops, we can't ask them to refuse to sell bows to novices. But while they're talking about speed and price and brace height, making mention of effective range isn't going to cost them a sale. In fact, I'm sure some already do it.

Over the years that I have bowhunted, I have seen it many times where guys leave Sportamans dressed in camo with a new bow in hand. Then get into a truck loaded with hunting gear and head for the hills. I guess if a guy already knows how to shoot good and tune his stuff setting up a new bow in two or three days isn't a huge deal and hopefully he still has his old bow set up as a back up bow just in case. But the ugly reality is that people decide last minute to go bowhunting and think they can just use a freinds bow or go pick one up at a pawn shop and be able to shoot animals in two days. Alot of those guys have two or three different kinds of arrows in their quivers, brand new just out of the package broadheads, etc.

I don't know what there is that can be done to deter this action, but like you said if it keeps up we are going to get more regulations on bowhunting, and a worse reputation.

Maybe BOU should push for bowhunter education classes as being a prerequisite to getting an archery tag with a lot of ethics education. I think it should be mandatory for beginners.

Bow hunter Ed. classes are a good idea and it could even be fun. Most people who already hunt think they know it all(which upsets those of us who actually do),but a rookie season with a bow can be mighty frustrating without a proper mentor. The best way to learn is first hand. I wish we could all take someone who's new to the sport with us and show them the do's and don'ts.


As for the guy that runs out and buys his first bow two weeks before the hunt, that's just poor thinking to begin with. We can only hope his hunting buddies are some of our outstanding members who will start him off right.


Bow hunting is a year round commitment!

I think Bowhunter ed is great idea and I think it should be incorporated as part of the Hunter Education course. After all, taken directly from the DWR site:

"The mission of the Hunter Education Program is to form a partnership between the Division of Wildlife Resources and volunteers to educate hunters to be: Safe, Knowledgeable, Responsible and Involved."

I agree Tye, the Pro Shops are also a part of the 'front lines' where the initial information about the bow and it's intended use is passed on to the "new bowhunter". Part of that information should be about exercising good bowhunting ethics. I don't think it would hurt to ask them to post something on their walls about it. Im sure some BOU members are customers they might just listen to.

Finn,

You are right on, these are tough calls. Obviously in a capitalist society the point-of-sale is not a place we need regulation. This issue has been my exact point in other instances. I have no problem sharing the woods with ethical hunters, who decide to become bowhunters and take that progression seriously, and maybe slowly.

What I can't live with is the technology available that makes people "think" they are a "bowhunter", and shoot at game at 40yds, or whatever, because they saw it on a show and they shot a few times at the range. I guess, education is the only hope here. You maybe shouldn't be shooting "long" distances the first year. It may take you a few years to kill an animal...BUT bowhunting is about the journey and the experiences. When that is at the core, the rest can fall into place. From what I have seen Bowhunter ED is where this can happen. I would support 100% a mandatory Bowhunter ED for all archery licenses being sold. If that is too much of an inconvenience, then you aren't ready to be committed to bowhunting.

Nathan

I think maybe the archery clubs could discuss ways that they can become actively involved. Our club would have had the perfect opportunity next weekend. We have 2 counties that have asked us to put on a 3D shoot for their fairs. If my pea brain worked a little faster, we could've found someone to teach a seminar for safety & ethics.
Maybe this is something we can discuss in our club & offer a couple of seminars during our league & at our 3D shoot in the spring.
How do you become certified to teach such a class?

When I saw this thread, I just had to chime in. This issue of buying bows right before the hunt has been going on in Southern Utah every year for the last several years. I'll go into a bow shop or Sportsmans to pickup some last minute broadheads or scent and I'll look at the empty shelves that less than two weeks before, were full of bows. I don't think we can cure everyone from doing this, and I liked the suggestions about an archery training course. What I think could possibly help would be to make the dedicated hunters go through a course and count it as a part of their hours of service. Set these up under the direction of archery instructors across the state on maybe a quarterly basis. I'm not trying to single out the dedicated hunters, but this is a group we could at least start with and then grow the program into the hunter ed program.