Born and raised utah. Been hunting here my whole life. It’s better than it was, and not worse than it has been in the past.
and what’s your point? Do you hit everything you shoot at? You ever missed before. We all start somewhere. Yeah most guys would fail the archery test probably. But there’s a lot of rifle guys out there who think they are hawt chit that can’t hit the broadside of a barn. Doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to go hunting.
apparently you think you have all the answers. But none of your suggestions fix the bigger issue, which is wildlife management. Utah needs to quit social management and worry about wildlife management. That’s where we went wrong to begin with.
Not even trying to fix all the issues, nor am I making any claim too, just the small ones that I personally see. You are damn straight I hit everything I shoot at. I haven't had anything but a one shot one kill situation in the last 30 years, for both elk and deer.
Why? Because in the late 80s I shot poorly and wounded a deer, I never did find it, and I spent days looking. It bothered me greatly and still does. I vowed that year that it would never happen again. It has not.
Guess what I did...I started shooting for an hour or two at a time, with broadhead tipped arrows, each and every day year-round. I continued this for years (decades). Now days I don't shoot so much. I still shoot on all but the worst winter days, but now I have far more experience and I do it much differently.
I mostly practice only 80-100 yard shots. I have a small target set-up at that distance. If you can consistently make those shots everything else is easy. I do it near daily but I only shoot a shot or three. This keeps my form in perfect shape, without wearing out my shoulders any faster than they already are. At that distance with broadhead tipped arrows, you will see the most minute of mistakes instantly. No guessing needed.
The only darn thing I am advocating at all, is more responsibility and accountability. I think more deer get wounded than killed on the archery hunt. There is absolutely no excuse in the world for this. Fixing this is easy, and it darn sure couldn't hurt with our herds at all, it may even indeed help.
My own 23 year old son owns a bow and has for a long while. I have long since told him he is welcome to hunt with it, at any distance that he can keep ALL of his broadhead tipped arrows in a 5 inch circle at. He has practiced a hand full of times...just enough to realize how much work it would take for him to be able to hunt past 15-20 yards.
He has come to the conclusion that it is not worth the effort to him, so he sticks with his muzzle-loader. He still practices with the muzzle-loader and has yet to wound any deer, he understands his limitations and is realistic, and above all else, ETHICAL.
Ethics seem to be a dying concept. That is the only thing at all that I am advocating for, the rest of the drivel you are spewing you made up in your own head, it sure didn't come from me.
Ethics... Learn them and practice them, it will help us all with public perception, and it may save a few animals as well.