Trail kreitzer: All right, guys, welcome back to the Game Trail Podcast. man, I can't believe it. I I made it. I almost made it. ⁓ two days from now, opening day of archery deer season, ⁓ for which I've got a tag here in Utah. And ⁓ it's been an eventful summer. I was able to get out, do a bunch of scouting. ⁓ I I do have some animals that I'm pretty excited about. ⁓ man, but I I can't believe it's finally here. It ⁓ You know, every year I've got this goal of like being more prepared than last year. I feel like maybe I am a little bit in some regards. In a lot of ways I'm not. ⁓ I was definitely scrambling the last couple of nights trying to get all my gear put together. ⁓ but I do have my my truck loaded up. I got all my gear. I think I'm what I'm gonna do is is probably jump in bed tonight, sleep two or three hours and get up maybe two o'clock in the morning and and hit the road, ⁓ do some hiking and then Hopefully do some scouting on Friday and then Saturday morning. it's it's ready to rip. So ⁓ yeah, looking forward to it. ⁓ I did want to do a podcast before I left. ⁓ I think it's an interesting topic. It's certainly interesting. And to me, it was a good reminder, like it was a good reflection to go through and kind of put my thoughts down on paper. And then inevitably I thought it would be good to to kind of jump on a microphone and talk about it. you know, if if it helps somebody that's awesome, it definitely helped me. kind of help my my frame of mind going into what will be a pretty long archery season for me. So I've got this archery deer tag. I've also got some ⁓ archery elk tag. So, you know, the rest of August and September, like I'm out bow hunting. it's it's gonna be a lot of hunting. Should be really good. ⁓ I'm looking forward to kind of disconnecting, if you will. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing to say, but ⁓ I love that feeling when I leave on a hunt. ⁓ it usually takes me two or three days to kind of forget about, you know, the emails and social media and just the day-to-day ⁓ kind of pressures of the job and family and all the things that are going on, ⁓ and really kind of focus and sharpen in on, you know, the task at hand, which is trying to to kill a a nice buck with my bow or a bull elk with my bow. I I look forward to that feeling, but it is a bit stressful getting into that mode. ⁓ but I made it. I'm I'm here and I hope you guys are too. ⁓ I guess before I dive into ⁓ my actual topic that I want to talk about today, I should hit you with the promo. So we do have a promo going on right now, which is refer a friend. So if you guys are a Gohan insider already, you can refer your friends to sign up. ⁓ what you would do is give them your email address that you use for your account. They would use that as the promo code when they sign up. And for every friend that you refer that signs up, you're gonna get 75%. Points, which is $75 back in the Go Hunt Gear Shop. ⁓ if you were for four friends, four people, they sign up with your email. ⁓ we're actually gonna level up with you at a thousand bucks flat. So that's a thousand dollars that you can use towards the purchase of any gear that you want in the gear shop. So it's a pretty killer deal deal if you can round up four buddies that are not members and ⁓ get them to sign up. ⁓ I do think it is a great platform for research. You know, the gear shop is awesome. ⁓ It's it's a really nice product. So I think they would enjoy it ⁓ if they signed up. ⁓ so yeah, refer a friend. You guys can can use that right now. ⁓ also shout out to Matthews Archery. ⁓ I was up shooting my Arc 34 today. I've got it shooting as good as I can possibly shoot a bow. And ⁓ I'm feeling really good in it, feeling confident in that bow. ⁓ I really like that Arc 34, that platform. Super stable bow. And ⁓ I definitely appreciate Matthews for being a sponsor of my podcast. ⁓ and I'm excited. I'm excited about ⁓ what Matthews has is kind of got in store for the next year, ⁓ which hopefully ⁓ you guys will get to know more about in November, but it should be good. ⁓ with that, let's ⁓ let's dive into the meat and potatoes. So ⁓ a few years ago, I had a pretty terrible archery season ⁓ in regards to Experiences where I shot and hit animals and I did not recover them. ⁓ we did a film in New Zealand. I hit a tar and didn't find it. ⁓ I do think that that animal was probably fatally hit. I just didn't find it. ⁓ terrible feeling, one of the worst feelings I think you can have. you know, I also hit a black bear in Alaska. ⁓ that was a 55 yard shot. ⁓ a a bit of rain. ⁓ I definitely felt good about that shot. I shot it from my knees. I hit that that bear low. ⁓ did not find that bear. I don't think that that bear was fatally wounded. ⁓ a few years ago I hit ⁓ an elk and didn't find it. ⁓ it was about a 55 yard uphill shot. And ⁓ you know that bull lived I'm sure of it. It was a high high shot kind of up in that ⁓ back strap kind of the the those Vertebrae that run up from ⁓ the spine. ⁓ but overall, not a good experience. Not a good feeling. it left me really questioning my own abilities, my questioning my confidence. I really started thinking a lot about you know the ethics of bow hunting. there was just a lot going on in my mind. ⁓ and and to be honest. ⁓ it was it was probably it's probably been a really good thing for me, even though those experiences were really negative. And I look back on them ⁓ with a pit in my stomach. I don't really love the way I feel about those. ⁓ but I thought it would be interesting to talk about. So today, ⁓ kind of to kick off the season, ⁓ which like I already said, this it's coming this coming Saturday, I thought I would talk about shots in the field, shots on an animal ⁓ that I would take and would not take. And kind of what I've learned over the years. one of the questions is distance. ⁓ I recently had a guy reach out via ⁓ DM on Instagram, shot me a message. And usually I get DMs from folks, and you know, they're asking me a gear question, whether it's arrows or broadheads or packs or boots. You know, I get people that that DM me about ⁓ spots to hunt, which is all great. I enjoy those interactions for sure. ⁓ but this DM that I got from this individual, he reached out and just said, Hey, what is your ethical shooting distance? And I didn't immediately reply. It took me kind of a minute. I want to sit and think about it. But I think it's an interesting question. And I really, like I said, I had to think about it before I re I ⁓ you know, I I answered him. ⁓ when it comes to distance, so I'm not going to project and I'm not going to say that my distance is or should be somebody else's ethical distance. ⁓ there are many people out there who could take a shot on an animal at a hundred yards that would be ⁓ as ethical or perhaps even more ethical than my own personal shot at 60 or 70 yards. There are people that can flat out shoot a bow. ⁓ and I don't think it's fair of me to say that my, you know, any given distance. So this distance, say it's 60 yards or 70 yards or 80 yards, is the distance that nobody should shoot at an animal over that distance. ⁓ You know, if you look at Kyle or Bodie, ⁓ a lot of a lot of those lot of those top tier pros, ⁓ they can flat out shoot a bow and they can ethically take an animal at a distance that's as ethical in my opinion as ⁓ you know, most of us at a much shorter distance. So I don't want to project, ⁓ which was in part my response to this individual about ⁓ my my own personal ethical distance. ⁓ so the answer I I I kind of further went on and that I came up with after thinking about it. at my local range, so I can go to my local range here, which is up the canyon, and the lower portion of that range, there's 14 3D targets on on the lower portion. There's there's 14 on the upper portion. I shoot the lower quite a bit. ⁓ it's a little bit quicker to work through, I feel like. and I shoot it almost every single morning. ⁓ I would say it's pretty rare. that I am not up there shooting. ⁓ if I'm out of town, I might not get, you know, get get that day, but I would say almost every single day I'm up there shooting. ⁓ they each have a 3D target on each one of those 14 targets, the lower ones, like I said. And the distances range anywhere from about twenty to eighty yards. And I can walk that course and I can typically shoot two arrows. I would say almost every day. I can shoot two arrows at every single one of those 3D targets on that, you know, 14 target range. And I can put both of those arrows in the 10 ring. Now, after I'm done shooting, ⁓ I can walk out to the main range, which you can shoot out to about, you know, 110 yards, and there's a caribou there. They've got a big, you know, Reinhardt caribou. And I'll often shoot, you know, 80, 90, 100, maybe even 110 yards, and I'll shoot, you know. couple arrows at each one of those distances. And in most cases, I can, you know, I can put two arrows, I would say out to 90. A lot of days I can put a couple in the 10 ring, which is that bigger 10 ring on the caribou, ⁓ in in that ⁓ target at a hundred yards. and saying that, there's not a lot of angle in most of those shots. ⁓ there is some slight downhill, there's some slight uphill, maybe five degrees I would say. It's relatively flat though. ⁓ but like I said, most days I can put a couple arrows at each one of those 3D targets in the 10 ring, you know, from 20 to you know 80, 90 yards. So should that be my ethical hunting distance? Like if I'm presented with a shot on Saturday morning at 90 yards, is that a guaranteed yes shot that I should take? ⁓ my answer is not yes, but it's also not no. Because I think there's so many factors that are involved in. Ethical distance. For one, is how hard is my heart going to be beating in that moment when I take that shot? ⁓ I can surmise that if I get a crack at you know one of the bucks that I'm really interested in, my heart's gonna be pounding pretty good. I know that I get buck fever. ⁓ I don't know right now what the angle's gonna be. I don't know whether it's gonna be shooting uphill or downhill, how steep that angle might be. ⁓ I don't know what the angle of the animal is going to be. To me? Is it going to be broadside? Is it going to be quartering away? could it be frontal? And if so, how far? ⁓ you know, is the wind gonna be blowing and how hard? ⁓ what's my shooting position? Am I gonna be, you know, standing on uneven ground, maybe, you know, shooting down a hill where it's it's kind of wonky? ⁓ you know, is there gonna be a a rock under one of my feet? ⁓ you know, I'm am I gonna be on my knees? ⁓ there's just so many different variables. ⁓ you know, I shot a I shot an elk a few years ago. I remember ⁓ it's kind of midday having lunch, sitting down, had my lunch sitting next to me, had my my feet pointing straight down the hill, and ⁓ had my bow laying there on the the ground next to me and bullpiped off. You know, I gave it some calls and you know it came trotting in and I I shot that in that position, sitting on my butt, feet facing directly at him. I had to rotate. you know, my torso to get to full draw and kind of anchor in. And he was less than 15 yards. But honey will put you in some weird shooting positions. That's definitely not a shot that I could have made if the distance would have been, you know, 50 or 60 yards. It just wouldn't have. The position was way too difficult and and strange. But you definitely have some ⁓ you know, complicated situations that are that are happening in the field. ⁓ you know, another one is like how alert is the animal? Is there a high likelihood that he's gonna, you know, duck the arrow? There's all these different vari variations and all these different situations. And it can get complicated in a hurry. and I think all of them have to be taken into considerations before I actually decide to release an arrow. and while I feel pretty confident. I would say out to 70, 80 yards at my local range. I don't think that those yarges, like I said, are going to be automatic yeses for me. It's really going to be independent. ⁓ I do think there is value in establishing a baseline for what you might even consider. And I don't know that there is like one way to do it, but I do have some ideas as I was thinking my way through this. ⁓ First of all, I do think that you should be shooting your actual hunting setup, and I think that should include your broadheads. So I think you should have broadheads on the end of your arrows when you're trying to decide kind of what is my baseline for my ethical distance. ⁓ I think we often assume that our field tips and our broadheads are going to shoot together. We might put a broadhead on an arrow and we might shoot it with a group of field tips. We might shoot twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, you know, maybe even stretch it back to eighty, ninety, a hundred. And, you know, if it hits relatively close with our ⁓ field tips, we're like, yep, good to go. The rest of them are all awesome. ⁓ you know, letter letter buck. And ⁓ I don't think that that should be the case. I definitely think you should shoot each one of your arrows with a broadhead on it to kind of confirm that it's gonna group and hit with your field tips before you can make that ⁓ assumption that your field tips and your broadheads are flying. you know, well, they're grouping together, if you will. ⁓ I think you do need to have a better understanding of of how our broadheads are actually hitting. ⁓ I think that goes into kind of determining what is our baseline for our ethical ⁓ shot distance. ⁓ another kind of thought or method ⁓ that I like I've used in the past, and some of this is just gut, but I do think it it's it's worth it to shoot groups. So maybe three to five arrows at each distance and be very keenly aware of how big the group size is. And ideally you would track that so that you would you would understand, you know, my group average group size at 40 yards is three inches or four inches or whatever it might be. I think it's good to to have a baseline to know that. I think it's it's worth shooting multiple groups. And looking for repeatability and not just like, ⁓ I'm gonna take my hunch on my very best group overall, because that's just not realistic. ⁓ I do think it's important to think about the shots that are not hitting where you're aiming. So for example, I might go and shoot a group of five arrows at 60 yards, and four of them are in a four-inch circle, but maybe two of those are not. You know, maybe they're out there and I would like to know how far out there arrow out there they are. ⁓ you know, maybe that's an arrow issue and I can try to knock tune that out, see if I can get that to group back up with the rest of them. But maybe those are just shots, you know, out of five that I don't execute well and I just don't hit where I'm aiming. ⁓ those are just not in the kill zone. And I think if that is the case, it's probably a good indication to myself and maybe, you know, yourself that That distance is perhaps beyond what I would consider your ethical range or your effective range. ⁓ I do think it's worth shooting groups at a variety of ranges, keeping tabs of those results as you move back. And I think it's going to help you have a much more ⁓ comfortable and confident understanding of where you really are. And, you know, knowing at what distances do I really start to open my groups up? ⁓ another idea. That I had is kind of this idea of a the the cold bore shot, the cold boar baseline, if you will. ⁓ I know that ⁓ it's it's popular on social media. There's people that'll say, ⁓ we're doing the cold boar challenge, we're gonna go out, we're gonna shoot one arrow, you know, and they might start at 20 yards and work their bait their way back to, you know, 70, 80 or 100 100, whatever it might be. So the idea behind that is that there is no warm-up. So you're not going to get a chance to warm up in the field on an animal. ⁓ in a lot of cases, those stretches during the bow hunts are it's probably the longest stretch that I don't shoot consistently. Shouldn't be the case. ⁓ I have a target loaded up and I plan on ⁓ shooting when I can, but there's a lot of days when I'm backpack hunting and I'm not going to be have the opportunity to to shoot shots at a target. ⁓ I do generally pack a judo tip and I try to shoot ⁓ an arrow or two every day just to confirm at different distances that ⁓ I'm still hitting that the bow's good to go. ⁓ the other thing that I'll do quite a bit is I try to draw my bow back throughout the day. You know, I've got some downtime throughout every day, especially if I've hunt I'm hunting mule deers. There's those those hours good the day when they're just not doing much. ⁓ I will try to you know draw my bow back and do some aiming drills. I think that helps kind of warm that warm you up and kind of keep that muscle memory ⁓ tight. But there's a lot of a lot of days when you're just not shooting arrows. You're not executing. So and you're not gonna get a you're not gonna get a warm-up on an animal. So I do think this Cold War challenge is interesting. In essence, what you do is just pick a distance, ⁓ range it, draw and execute a shot. So no warm-up whatsoever. ⁓ I would say pick a new distance every single day, kind of move back and track your results. And I think ultimately the answer that you're looking for is like, how likely am I to hit my intended target and at what distance is it? Pretty realistic. ⁓ in a hunting situation, I'm actually going to execute a good shot in the vitals of an animal and kill it. I think this method, it can humble most of us pretty quick, myself included. ⁓ it does not take me long to see that ⁓ cold bore at 80 yards doesn't nearly have the accuracy of a shot at 80 yards after I've already fired 10 or 15 arrows. I've already got that warm-up. That's it's not the same arrow. So ⁓ I I think this cold board challenge, I think there's ⁓ I think there's something to it. ⁓ I definitely think you should you should pick a distance every single day. You should treat it like a shot in the field, like hey, this is a a shot that I might get on an animal. ⁓ I'm not gonna warm up. I'm just gonna execute the best shot. I'm gonna take it seriously. I'm gonna really focus in. I'm gonna work through my process. I'm gonna execute the best shot that I can, first arrow of the day, and move back in distance. And I will think I do think it will tell you a lot about what your ⁓ ⁓ effective range should be. ⁓ another method that I think is worth exploring is getting your heart rate elevated, getting your heart rate going, and then executing shots at a variety of distances. ⁓ so go for a hike, do some sprints, ⁓ put your fully kitted out backpack on your back and shoot from different ranges. And when your heart rate is elevated, and that's kind of what this is is mimicking, is when that heart rate is elevated, it's a hell of a lot harder to maintain good pin float and execute a good shot. ⁓ that's another method that's just really opened my eyes. you know, there's there's definitely shots I know at distances I should not take when my heart rate is really elevated, or if I've got a pack on my back, if I haven't practiced those and I haven't really determined that ethical ⁓ effective range. ⁓ it's not always the case in the field that you're going to be breathing hard and you'll have a full back, you know, or pack on your back. ⁓ but it's good to know kind of how you react, how your body ⁓ handles ⁓ that elevated heart rate or having a pack on your back at a variety of ranges in the field. And I think most of us will find that. You know, like myself, I can put two arrows in a ten ring at eighty yards after I've already warmed up and it's relatively flat. But if you put a pack on my back or if I just did a sprint, it's not gonna hold the same. I'm not gonna ethic I'm not gonna execute the same shot. So I think that's worth worth knowing. ⁓ and I could go on. There's other ways. I think shooting in the wind i is worth testing out. You're definitely gonna find out that there's a a loss or a downgrade in your accuracy as that wind's blowing as you move back in distance. ⁓ but I I do think that there is validity in finding kind of what your baseline is for your own effective range and your own abilities. I think it's worth understanding that. I think it's worth understanding what our our personal limitations are. ⁓ And I'll I'll dive into why I think you should do this at the end of this. ⁓ the other part of this podcast I wanted to talk about is shots on an animal that I like and that I don't like. So ideally, I like a buck or a bull to be broadside. You know, you get that front leg forward, the vitals are exposed, ⁓ you've got the ribs kind of spread, so you've got that bigger distance between the individual ribs. I like that shot a lot. ⁓ secondly, arguably, maybe even as good or better. is that quartering away shot, maybe slightly quartering away. I like that shot because you open up that animal, your kill zone is even longer horizontally there because he's kind of, you know, spread out, if you will, you got more with that angle. And you've got a great aiming reference point. So you get that ⁓ opposite front leg is a reference to aim for. And you know, if you execute that shot on a slightly quarter away ⁓ animal, you've got both lungs, ⁓ you know, the heart. If you get that animal quartering too tight, then you know you start to open that up and that can get get get tricky. ⁓ and they can get yeah, it can get a little dicey on a strongly quartering away shot because then you increase the likelihood of missing the the closer lung and maybe only getting the offside lung. ⁓ you know, in that situation you're certainly gonna drive that arrow likely through the guts. And then you liver and maybe one lung if you get the amount of penetration. You do open yourself up maybe to some issues if if that stomach's full of ⁓ you know grass or feed. There's some density to that. So it's hard to say like how much penetration you're gonna get. ideally, I don't really love a steeply quartering away shot where that arrow is gonna enter, you know, behind the last rib. I don't like that. I really ideally I want to. I want to get an opportunity to get both lungs. And if you get both lungs, that's an animal that's going to expire really, really quick. ⁓ so I do like, I do like the quartering away shot, slightly quartering away, awesome shot. ⁓ I love that broadside shot. Those are definitely both shots that I will I will take and that I'm ultimately looking for. I'm I'm much less interested in in that ⁓ more steeply quartering away shot, and I'm not saying no. Because it depends on the situation. You know, if you get a a decently quartering away animal, you know, mule deer buck and he's twenty-five yards, that's probably a shot that would be lethal. You know, it it's close. The likelihood that I'm going to miss ⁓ either to the left or to the right is much less. But ⁓ it's something to be ⁓ aware of, right? ⁓ a few shots that I will avoid. So I think this is is worth noting. ⁓ I'm not going to take a quartering two shot. ⁓ I'm not going to take a shot from an at an animal from straight behind the old Texas heart shot. you know, I had a situation on a buck that was feeding in some oak. This has been probably 20 years ago, I would say. He was feeding in some oak, and I made a stalk down down the hill, out through a big flat, and ⁓ I worked right up behind this buck. And the only shot that this buck gave me was would have been right up the tailpipe. ⁓ I chose not to take it, ⁓ even though he was under twenty yards. I just figured he was going to turn either left or right, and I would get an opportunity and I would still make this the same decision looking back. ⁓ he didn't. He ultimately ended up hearing or smelling me somehow, and he bolted. Like he went from being directly away from me to Gone and out of my life forever. ⁓ it was a really solid buck, probably upper 70s ⁓ type of buck. ⁓ but I didn't get him. But I d also don't regret not taking ⁓ that shot. ⁓ I think it was the right decision. And you know, as I fought through this, I'm I'm not interested in taking a Texas hard shot. The margins of error are way too large. I just I just don't think it's a good opportunity. So I'm not gonna take that shot. ⁓ and then lastly, a couple, you know, maybe some some things that are are interesting to talk about is the the frontal shot, which is probably one of the most hotly debated shots. You know, there's people online that go back and forth on this. You have people that are advocates of of it, you have people that are, you know, adamant that you never take a frontal shot. the frontal shot can be extremely deadly and it can yield a very quick Dying animal and a quick recovery. ⁓ there is an opening with animals, ⁓ with an elk. It's roughly the size of a football. It's about six inches wide, it's about maybe ten inches, ten to twelve inches tall. ⁓ it is protected on either side by those heavy shoulder bones. You also have the sternum right there. ⁓ it's much smaller on a mule deer buck. So mule der buck, you're talking about maybe four to five inches squared. Not a very big opening. ⁓ And yeah, in order to execute a frontal shot, in essence, you've got to kind of have that animal in a head up position, which will kind of give you that ⁓ window into into that thoracic cavity. you know, on an elk, you have a little bit more of a a better aiming point. You're kind of mid body, you're you're right there almost where the beard starts to change, change colors down to the ⁓ lighter tan hide of their body. So you have a little bit better aiming point. ⁓ you know, mule deer. d depending on the throat patch. Some of these bucks have got, you know, a double throat patch, which that double throat patch, that little bit lower one would put it right about the right spot. ⁓ so you might have that for an aiming point, but it's not a very big area on a mule deer. So you're talking four to five inches squared elk, you're talking maybe six inches wide, maybe ten inches tall ⁓ on the upper end of things. It's just not a very ⁓ you know, very big opening. And the other thing, like I said, with if they've got their head up, I mean Normally, if they've got their head up, they're looking at you and they're alert, right? So because an animal is is on full alert, that's definitely something you want to take into c consideration and factor that into determining whether or not you're going to take that shot. So as you can see, given the fact that you're probably looking at an alert animal and the size of that entrance into that thoracic cavity on a frontal shot is pretty tight, you can see why people debate it, right? ⁓ as I see it. I'm not gonna say no. I have killed elks. So I've killed three bulls and I've shot an antelope and I shot them frontal, and all of them died very quickly. So I'm not going to offer advice on frontal shots. I'm not going to say you should not take a frontal shot. And I'm not even going to offer the distance that I think that someone should take a frontal shot. Because at the end of the day, I think. If you decide to take that shot, each one of us has to live with the results. And I'll just say that. And I know, I know what my capabilities are. ⁓ I know that I have the ability to assess the situation, and I know that I have to exercise self-control. ⁓ I have to make a good decision in those encounters. ⁓ I would just close this out talking about frontals is that close is a good thing. ⁓ the further back you get, the higher the likelihood that something will go wrong. And I don't know if I mentioned it. I should say if you do decide to take a frontal shot, you want to make sure that animal is like front on. Like he's pretty well frontal. Because if they get too quartered, that gap, that opening, it gets even more tight, more narrow, it's even smaller. And you increase that likelihood of you know hitting the the shoulder bone or the the sternum. So ⁓ it it can be stressful. And I would say, you know, be be cautious when you're thinking about a frontal. ⁓ close is good when it comes to a frontal, ⁓ full on is good, and ⁓ you know, you want to try to minimize the potential impact of That animal ducking or moving because they are very likely to be alert if they are in that position. So just things to think about, things to consider. A few other things that I wanted to note on shots, whether I would take them or not. ⁓ is their brush in the way? I've seen on videos, I've heard people say, like, ⁓ I carry, I, you know, maybe they're there are somebody that shoots a mechanical and they shoot a mechanical ⁓ because it's more accurate at distance. They might have an arrow. Or a quiver full of arrows that are are mechanicals because they fly a little bit better at distance. Or, you know, guys will pack a fixed blade broadhead. And I've heard people say, like, ⁓ I got that one just in case I have to shoot through some brush. You know, I gotta bust some brush. ⁓ I don't think that's a good idea. I've not had good results of shooting at animals. ⁓ you know, where you had to to bust brush, if you will. ⁓ you know, there might be a situation where it's You know, light brush, there's not a lot of it, and maybe that animal's at 10 yards, and you might be able to run that arrow through. It's just so situational. It's really hard to say. But but generally, my take, I'm not shooting through brush. I want an opening to the animal. I don't want to have the possibility of an arrow deflecting and wounding the animal. I'm okay if I missed it. I just don't want to wound animals. I hate it. It's the worst feeling. So I'm not taking shots through animals. Brush. ⁓ another couple things to think about. ⁓ is an animal bedded? Is it bedded in a position that I might not have a good angle into the heart and the lungs? ⁓ I've heard people say, like, yeah, if you got a bedded animal, run that thing right down through the spine. ⁓ that's not, I'm and I I'm not gonna judge somebody if they take that shot. I just personally am not interested in that shot. I would like to. in that animal's life as quickly as I possibly can. ⁓ I would rather wait. I would rather exercise some patience and see what happens. And in some cases that might mean I don't get that animal. I've kind of decided I'm I'm I'm okay with that outcome. And again, it's just personal. That's me. Not an ish not a not a shot that I'm wanting to take. And that goes along with those shots that are at such a steep angle that you might be, you know, your only opportunity to shoot down directly on them. ⁓ you know, my biggest buck that I killed, I've told the story. He was bedded underneath me, when I stalked in underneath some ledges, and I ranged down on him. He was bedded at the time. When I looked at him and I assessed the situation, I thought, you know what? I do not have much space. ⁓ on the right side of his vertebrae, like his backbone, where I can snake that arrow through him and have the, you know, the possibility of getting a l two lungs or, you know, driving it down into his heart. I just didn't know that I could make that shot. The margin of error was just ooh, just wasn't there. So I sat back, I leaned there against the ledge, and what I decided is like if that buck stands up, it's gonna open up like probably another three or four inches there where I've got the opportunity to to get that arrow through on, you know, this side of the spine. And I made that decision to wait. I waited for him to stand up and I was able to to to kill him. And that was a perfect situation. It worked out great. ⁓ you know, my my best buck. ⁓ you know, there's also the likelihood that if I'd have sat there for four or five hours, the wind could have switched. He would have just boiled out of his bed and disappeared out of my life forever. ⁓ I think I'm okay with that. Like I'm I'm kind of okay with it. ⁓ And again, it's just personal. So ⁓ but think about it. It's it's worth these kind of things are worth thinking about. The reason I decided to do this podcast today is because I think these are internal dialogues that we need to have with ourselves so that when we get ourselves out into the field, we aren't we we have a baseline. We're not talking ourselves into situations. I don't think talking yourself into a situation is is the right way to go. ⁓ so Kinda wrap it up. This is gonna be a shorter one. Going into this archery season. And and this is based on, like I said, I started out this podcast talking about some situations that didn't go well, didn't go my my way. And I I know what that feeling was, and I don't like it. I don't want it. So going into this archery season, my goal is to assess the situation, assess the distance, the angle, my personal frame of mind and body, and how I feel at the time, the angle of the animal, the alertness of the animal. And my goal is to exercise self-control and take shots that I know I will make. ⁓ I am going to look for animals or wait for animals to be broadside or quartering away or frontal if they are very close. And it's a shot I feel very confident, a shot that I know I will make. I'm going to think hard. I'm going to exercise patience on animals. That are steeply uphill or downhill. Like I said, if they're alert, if they're moving, I'm going to wait or I'm going to stop them. ⁓ I know with my shot style, I shoot a hinge release. The reason I shoot a hinge release is because I think I execute better shots. I get that surprise break. I feel like I execute a better arrow. I know that ⁓ that is a potential weakness. Of that type of release is that I'm not going to be able to execute a shot on a walking animal. I don't want to execute a shot on a walking animal. I want to wait for them to stop naturally, or I want to stop them. ⁓ I'm I'm a fan, I'm a proponent of stopping a bull elk. You know, pick your window, come to full draw, let him step out into that window, stop that bull, execute a shot. that's my preference. And ⁓ It's just kind of where I've landed. I just don't want to wound animals and I know myself and I know my shot style. So those are the opportunities I'm looking for. ⁓ I am not going to take shots that I know are outside of my effective range for each situation. ⁓ I'm going to avoid shots where there's brush or where the animal's quartering to me. ⁓ if he's facing dead away from me, it's not a shot I'm going to take. And I am definitely not going to take a shot on an animal where I cannot visually draw a line of my arrow through that chest cavity into both lungs and or the heart. those are those are my convictions. That's where I've landed. overall, all of us. We all invest a lot of time, we invest a lot of money into bow hunting, and I know that we value the animal. And perhaps even more so, and this was kind of the conclusion to the ⁓ the DMs that I sent this gentleman. ⁓ I value the experience. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try my very best, the best of my ability to make sure that when I kill the animal, I also get that satisfactory feeling of knowing that I did everything that I possibly could to release a perfect arrow. I want to relish in not only an animal that I took, I want to relish in the entire experience. And I think part of that is releasing an area, an arrow that I am confident that I know it's going to hit its intended mark. I want that feeling of accomplishment that I've executed my craft perfectly. I think the older I've gotten, that has been as much a part of this experience. You know, the quote unquote the the the trophy experience, right? I've killed animals where I did not execute. I know I didn't execute. I I executed on hope that I would kill that animal. And I hit that animal well and it died. And I look back on those experiences, I don't feel as good about them as I do about others, where I know I was ⁓ I was disciplined. I picked the shot that I wanted. I waited. I was patient. ⁓ I went through my process. I got my surprise break. I watched that arrow rotate in fall in flight. And I watched it hit behind the pen in the exact spot that I wanted it to. And that's that's what I'm looking for. I'm not just looking for the animal. I'm looking for the complete experience. And for me, that's a big part of it. ⁓ I hope it is for for you guys too. ⁓ so that's gonna be the podcast for the week. ⁓ I think it's a useful exercise. I think it's good for all of us as bow hunters to go through go through this, think about it. Think about your ethical range, think about each situation, evaluate it. ⁓ I know how bad you want it, because I've been there. I've I've been in situations where I wanted it so bad that I kind of let that overtake me and I made decisions that I don't want to make. So my goal. I hope it's your goal is to exercise self control. Do the work. ⁓ I'm trying to do it. Definitely not perfect at it. ⁓ but I am more convicted. I've got more conviction in my belly this year going into this archery season than I've had in the past. 'Cause I just I don't want that pain of hitting an animal and losing it. I don't think it just doesn't doesn't do anything for, you know, the sport of bow hunting or the ⁓ It's not even how do you call it a sport? The endeavor of bow hunting, the adventure of bow hunting. I don't know what you call it, but it just it just doesn't do it. It it's such an incredible thing. It's been such a major part of my life, like really a driving force in my life. And I think I owe I owe the the craft of bow hunting more. So that's where I'm at. ⁓ good luck to you guys. ⁓ I don't think that I will have a podcast next week unless things go extremely well. And if that happens, then I would love to jump back on a mic and maybe do some reliving, some storytelling. ⁓ I wish you all good luck. I'm hoping for some good luck myself. And ⁓ yeah, we'll we'll be back at the mic maybe in a month or so.