Hunting with a bow

[bent-stick]

The bowhunting scotland thread has thrown up a wide range of opinions. Just out of interest I'd like to how people stack up on this one.

So the question is IF bowhunting were made legal in the UK tomorrow where would yo stand...

 

[gregorach]

Do you mean "would you be for it or against it" or "would you engage in it"?

I'm very much on the fence when it comes to "for it or against it", but I'm certainly nowhere near a good enough shot to participate...

 

[bent-stick]

you beat me to adding the poll

 

[C_Claycomb]

I rather drifted away from regular archery, in part, because I got bored with shooting paper targets, and because while field archery was fun, I didn't feel that it was representative or useful.

If hunting with a bow were made legal tomorrow, I would not be racing out to hunt because while my equipment is certainly capable, my skill has lapsed through lack of practice. I would however have an incentive to get out and practice until I was accurate enough.

There is another issue. I used to hunt small game, rabbits etc, with air-rifles. I would be hunting still if I had been able to find anywhere to do so, but down in this part of the country there are a lot more shooters than there are places to shoot, or landowners willing to let them. There are large deer herds around, but getting permision to hunt with a bow, from land owners who don't think much of air rifles, would take quite a lot of working at :yelrotflm

I voted for the middle option, but given somewhere to hunt, and a while to get practiced...I would be very keen to go.

As for numpties running out and trying it...well, I would expect that the laws for takeing game withough license or permission would still hold, and those that had permission, and merely lacked skill, would quickly return to easier methods, or go away to aquire the skill needed.

 

[Tony]

I’ve edited the poll as there’s no point having options on there that are illegal and will always be so, in fact it it’s irritating that they would be included in the first place.

There’s no point this thread turning into a duplicate of the last bow thread either so it would be good if people could keep their comments short, or contribute to the bow thread.

Thanks

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

Woud like to have the option, but woud need LOTS of training 1st, so to get the clean kill.

 

[sploing]

If bowhunting became legal I would definitely dust off my gear and have a go, I still think I could resist the temptation to move over to the dari side (compound). The boredom of field archery was the reason I stopped in the first place.

 

[Wayland]

I would have to practice a bit to get back on form but that would be good to do anyway.

It would make a change from shooting men in mail shirts.......

 

[Snufkin]

If I could get good enough, then yes, I'd be out after muntjacs.

 

[Wayne]

i voted against the right to bow hunt.

I practice archery regularly. I'm not a bad shoot when I put the effort in. However I think making bow hunting legal would give cart blanche to every tom dick and harry to take pop shots at deer etc with bow and arrows.

Also I just dont see the need to shoot animals using a bow. I want the most efficent repeatable kill. For me that comes from a rifle.

 

[swagman]

I shoot with a compound wich has a peep site if your bow is set up right
you cant miss .

Mosed bowhunters only take game at around 10 to 15 meters.
Im all for it.

 

[Greywolf]

I voted yes, (hunt for the pot)

IF they allowed hunting with bows I would be happy, but only acceptable if a level of competence in shooting is acheived ( a licencing scheme) renewed every few years.

I'm not too bad a shot with a bow, but would want the level of shooting to be high as to not cause unneccesary pain to an animal wounded in an attempt to 'bag for tea'

Greywolf

 

[Labrador]

I've been waiting for this to appear again.
I for one would would love the opportunity to take quarry with a bow. I have read all of the posts with interest (from both sides of the fence) & I still come back to the same conclusion I came to in my previous thread on the subject i.e. someone with a demonstrated level of competency & using suitable equipment who wishes to bowhunt ethically should not be precluded from doing so because of the possibility that some idiot may use a bow to take "pot-shots" at anything that moves.
Perhaps the British Bowhunting Association could draw up a training & qualification prospectus that we could all aspire to, something that may also demonstrate to those in government our commitment to ethical & humane bowhunting?

 

[dtalbot]

Got 3 or 4 bows round the house capable of taking any game, but no archers goood enough so end of story!

 

[chrisanson]

When I was a kid I used to take rabbits with a bow (didn’t know it was against the law!!!). Used to make the cock feather a bit longer so I could find it in the dark. don’t seem to remember missing many
chris

 

[Woods Wanderer]

i would hunt personally i would rather have a razoer go through my chest snipin arterys than a bullet ripping my vital organs out my back
and i very much doubt that 'every tom dick or harry' could get to 20 meters of a deer and do anyone think that our government would allow any tom dick or harry to hunt with a bow noway imagine all the tax and lisensing they could put on bowhunters. Interestingly though i dont practice much with the bow (dad wont let me shoot in the garden) but i can hit a brick consistantly at 15 meters probly all the shooting with my caterpult

 

[tomtom]

I would probably partake if I felt I was capable of doing it proficiently.

 

[Wayland]

I generally practice with a small air gun target pinned to the archery boss.

It's about the size of a deers heart and when I'm on form I'm in the inner 5 rings.

At Loch Achray when I last shot I was still on the card mostly but that was the first time I had shot that good bow for nearly ten years.

I'm seriously in need of practice....

 

[torjusg]

My experience is that all aiming practise increases your skills in the other weapons as long as you have the basic skills. I used to be a pretty good archer, but left the bow on the shelf for a while, when I picked it up again I could still shoot very well. Much better than I had expected. In the meantime I have continually been using slings, throwing sticks and stones.

I think it mainly applies to ordinary hand to eye cordination weapons though. Not so much firearms.

 

[Xunil]

As far as I was aware bowhunting is still legal in the UK.

But only for rabbits (vermin).

At least it used to be until a couple or so years ago, which is about the last time I checked.

I've bowhunted and bowfished overseas and it's an indescribable experience.

Some archers go longer range than they should, which is where things come unravelled pretty quick.

Everyone is different in their skill level.

Assuming you can accurately judge range, to allow you to accurately shoot at that range, there’s no reason why you can’t humanely dispatch quarry.

Those two skills are the heart of bowhunting.

High draw weight means nothing if your broadhead isn’t sharp, or if your aim is not precise.

Oddly I found shooting ducks on the wing with flu-flu blunt-tipped arrows far more exhilarating than stalking bigger game, but there we are.

The problem is if it was made legal you’d have a bunch of people wandering around who are ill equipped to do it properly which would end up in every bowhunter being tarred with the same brush.

We get a lot of that now with the pondlife who shoot at each other with airguns, or those who shoot swans et al with crossbow bolts.

As much as I’d like the opportunity I have to admit that disallowing it keeps the peace to a very large extent.