Is it really Bows or Guns??

[UncleFester]

(1 December 2012, 12:19)bigpaul Wrote: the thing with a bow and arrow is that its quiet unlike a gun, by the time anyone realises it they've already got an arrow sticking out of them. also there are times when you want to be quiet(people about) but you still HAVE to go hunting so this is when i will be using my bow and arrow.

Granted bows are quieter than a large center fire rifle but my .22lr is quieter than most air rifles and I can sit head shooting rabbits at 50-90yrds all day long using eley subsonic ammo. How many could hit a rabbit at them ranges let alone kill it outright? Anyone heard a rabbit or hare scream, it's loud and not nice.

Bows are perfect for larger quarry at short ranges but again shot placement needs to be perfect, you need a heart or lung shot for a deer which means your trying to get your 8mm wide arrow into a 4" killzone for the heart or slightly larger for the lungs, you need to be able to do it whilst tired, hungry and buzzing with adrenaline. Arrows don't disperse there energy in the same way as a bullet, a bullet you can miss the heart but the energy/shock wave created by the bullet is still devastating, you miss by even a fraction with an arrow and you won't see that deer again and it will most likely died of infection. Most deer taken in the USA with bows are taken very close ranges usually less than 30yrds and takes a great deal of patients and good bushcraft to get that close.

As for defence purposes I've owned 3 compound bows and was an ok shot but I know I could get through a 10 round mag on my .22 a hell of a lot quicker than I could get off 5 shots with my bow and to a far greater degree of accuracy out to 100yrds.

Don't get me wrong though bows are worth there weight in gold and everyone should have one in there kit, but let's not make silly claims about them been superior to guns for hunting or defence as its just not true. What's a bow send an arrow down range at less than 400fps? A .22lr using subsonic ammo your looking a 1065fps for a .22hornet your looking at 3 times that and that's the lowest power center fire rifle. most center fire rifle shooters consider 1/2-1" groups at 100yds the minimum desired accuracy, who the hell can pull a 1/2" grouping with a bow at them ranges?