From: viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson)
Subject: Re: Response to Bob Black (long)
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 03:25:35 GMT

black@che.serum.kodak.com (Robert Black (x37236)) writes:

> achenbac@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Jeff Achenbach) writes:

>>How did he know he made lung shots if the deer was lost? 

>He knew from the initial trail of bright crimson frothy blood.

	Then how in the name of Fred Bear did he lose the deer?  Is this
man just blind or does he honestly think he can just follow a solid trail
of blood, not unlike a yellow line on the highway, to his deer?  If he
can tell from the blood that it was a lung hit and loses the deer, this
guy loses all credibility.


>Perhaps, but this includes many of his hunting cohorts, as well as others
>with whom he has discussed the problem.  For example, Fred Bear speculated
>in a letter that at least two deer were hit for every one killed and also
>stated that he (Bear) knew of many bowhunters who quit after crippling
>losses without any take.

	Fred Bear was nothing if not a great and humane bowhunter.  As
I'm sure Fred (MHRIP) would agree, those bowhunters who leave just clean
up the group and are no great loss.  I suspect he was sorry that so many
would hunt without sifficient target practice beforehand.

>>I've known both gun hunters and bow hunters to wound and lose deer. IMO, 
>>most could have been found had the hunters practiced their tracking skills.

>Perhaps in some cases.  That depends on how far the deer was able to
>move, what the conditions were, how good the trail was, ...  

>But notice that by introducing the need for better tracking skills,
>you're shifting toward the view that the wounds were not sufficient to
>induce rapid death. 

	How far can a deer run in a few seconds?  Even fifty yards, a
mere 6-second run for a human in good shape, is a long way in the woods.
That's why tracking is a skill no less important than marksmanship.

>Operator error?  Benke lists excitement and stress (buck fever, as
>you say), but then finds that, beyond this, a higher than acceptable
>wounding rate is inherently built into the activity itself.

	Then choose a different weapon.  I think an M203, while very
expensive, will work.  I do know a Force Recon Marine who claims to
have killed a charging elephant with one.  Elephant was charging part
of his column, so he pumped a 40mm HE grenade into it with the M203
grenade launcher.  His quote, "Have you ever seen the cartoons, where
the elephant jumps a foot in the air, bulges outward in all
directions, it's legs splayed strait out to the side, and then it
just falls flat on the ground in sort of a splayed-leg bellyflop?
It's true -- that's exactly what happened."  It takes *decades* to
master a bow.  Just look at your history of English longbowmen and
you'll find where skeletons show bone deformation from the constant
practice with the weapon.  Use a gun, spend the money to go through
a few thousand rounds at the range, and then you may think about
hunting.  I wonder if Benke has done this, or his friends?

<Dan Sorenson, DoD #1066 |"I see angels on Ariels in leather and>
<z1dan@exnet.iastate.edu | chrome, Swooping down from heaven to >
<viking@iastate.edu      | carry me home."   ---    R. Thompson >
<ISU thinks I need more education, which they provide for a fee.>