Expectations when hunting with bows.

[Tartar Horde]

(16 February 2012, 01:27)Preacher Wrote: My points weren't aimed at people already highly skilled and experienced in archery, or bow hunting techniques and field craft, who are capable of using Mongolian, or other short limbed, composite bows which because of their construction have a greater cast than standard recurve bows, but require more skill to use accurately, or with the knowledge to set up string silencers well enough to make them silent below 50 yards...

They were aimed at the vast majority of people who throughout their lives have seen characters like Robin Hood and Rambo in films and television performing feats that even world class archers wont attempt, without realising just how rediculous they are, giving the impression that bow hunting without years of practice and some natural skill can be picked up by anyone and will be anything but a waste of arrows...

Most archery club members with a couple of years experience (200-300 hours at 100 shots per hour) would have a little more than a 50/50 chance at a pigeon at 15-20 yards and those same people would have little, or no chance of hitting a muntjac, or small roe in the chest with a broadhead before it sensed them and legged it, leading them to shoot at greater range, lose 1 out of every three arrows and end up with a very expensive ornament.... When for the same money they could have bought a good Pre-charged air rifle, with suppressor that a child could kill pigeons and pheasants with all day long for 1p per shot..

I agree with your point about Hollywood and Archery, they are in the bussiness of entertainment, and as such accuracy in its reproduction is not high on their list. The chances of anyone just picking up a bow after a SHTF scenario, and thinking they can hunt effectively without any practice or understanding is dellusional and I also agree with this point.

Regarding the noise a bow makes when shot I can only give my experience. I have never used String silencers on any of my Hunting recurves, longbows or composite bows as I honestly believe they are a waste of money. I also know that if you do fit string silencers the speed of your bow will drop because of the drag and weight on the string. If you set the bow up with the correct number of turns on the string, make sure your bracing height is correct, and most importantly shoot the correct weight arrows, any traditional bow will be very quiet and undetectable at thirty yards, I tested this a few years ago with an Archery friend. At 15-20yds you hear a slight "thum" but the arrow is so fast at this distance there is no reaction time.
Accuracy regarding Archery club members raises some interesting points. There should be a distinction between "target" archery and "Field" archery. Target archers shoot at known distances and use targets of the same size, and as such do not have to develop a good judgement of "range", in relation to target size. Field archery involves shooting a variety of different sized targets at unknown distance, this is perfect practise for hunting and was developed as such. Anyone considering using archery in a post SHTF scenario would be well recommended to join a field archery club.
If our archery club member in our scenario was in a target archery club, without any training in bowhunting, I would also suggest he buy any good air rifle. If the archer was a well trained Field archer, of which there are many in the UK, it would be a different matter.
Any weapon takes a bit of getting used to before you can realise its true potential, and this is true for any rifle. Although PCP rifles have the potential to be very accurate I don't believe you can just pick one up and be accurate, let alone a child, you have to learn to shoot them. How many hours and countless pelletts have we all spent "plinking" to get accurate with our air rifles? In a SHTF could someone afford to spend the time and ammo to get good enough to hunt effectively with their new rifle?