Caribou Gear

Poisonous Pods to Hunt With? Seriously?

JimQ

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Montana
I had never heard of this before but it looks like it has been around the 60's and the Fred Bear was even a proponent of it...I'm stunned
 
I had never heard of this before but it looks like it has been around the 60's and the Fred Bear was even a proponent of it...I'm stunned
There is a guy on HT that I can't remember who posted and talked about his hunts and using pods. It opened my eyes a little bit that maybe it isn't such a bad thing to allow them even though most states ban it.
 
It’s in the KY hunting regs that you can’t use poisonous or chemically treated for hunting. Somebody must have been doing it.
 
I remember the idea of poison arrows being tossed around when I first started bow hunting, 1966. My dad read some articles about it and felt it might be a good idea. The state jumped in and put a halt to the idea pretty quick.
 
The thing with poison pods is its more about wound loss than it is about giving a hunter an advantage over the animal. How many things about modern archery today fit that mold?
 
Fred Bear's legacy of ethics and fair chase is in tatters. He deliberately shot a deer in the hindquarter w poison to see how long it would take to die. His reasoning was that responsible archers had no defense for the high wounding and low recovery statistics in archery hunting, and needed a cheater. Modern poachers take advantage of poison arrows.
 
Fred Bear's legacy of ethics and fair chase is in tatters. He deliberately shot a deer in the hindquarter w poison to see how long it would take to die. His reasoning was that responsible archers had no defense for the high wounding and low recovery statistics in archery hunting, and needed a cheater. Modern poachers take advantage of poison arrows.
Think about Fred bear era though, start of the compound bow with shots mostly under 30 yards. Idk what the lethality rate actually was but I'm guessing it wasn't exactly what it is today for shots at 30 or under. If you take that archery gear and add simply the modification of poison, wouldn't the lethality rates be greatly improved and more animals spared for the future without changing the lethality range a whole lot?
 
I think my biggest issue with the idea is that there are too many who would use it as a defense for poor shooting skills. "Why should I practice if the poison will do the job for me?"
 
At least it would cut down or eliminate on all the “I hit him a little high or far back and he was fine the next day so I stuck another one 2 days later” stories I have to hear every year from bow hunters before I “cheat” with my rifle.
I've heard the same things from rifle hunters blaming their scopes being out of true or the animal jumped at the last minute. When taking the life of an animal unless you are standing right next to it there are a hundred different reasons for a bad shot on both sides...not the least being lack of skill with said weapon.
 
If it increases hunter success/effective range in a structure designed to limit those in favor of opportunity, why would anyone support it?
 
If it increases hunter success/effective range in a structure designed to limit those in favor of opportunity, why would anyone support it?
That's what I asked when the compound bow first came out. Seems like quite a few people are in favor of increasing success/effective range in a structurer designed to limit those in favor of opportunity.
 
I've heard the same things from rifle hunters blaming their scopes being out of true or the animal jumped at the last minute. When taking the life of an animal unless you are standing right next to it there are a hundred different reasons for a bad shot on both sides...not the least being lack of skill with said weapon.
Except archery is wayyy higher. I’m not saying archery is bad, I’m just saying the number of archery elk hit and not killed or retrieved is substantially higher than with a rifle.
 
oh boy...... gotta think back to times when fred bear was hunting. It was far harder, and going back farther then that it was harder yet ill bet.

Anybody that gives folks from the 70s and further back for using poison on their arrow tips can go kick rocks as far as im concerned. Its a different time, tech wasent as far along. Also frankly, humans were a little different too. even the kids growing up in the 60s and 70s. Many were raised by parents that lived thru world wars. Some may have even immigrated from war torn areas. These are a different breed of people. even in the 20th century.

Lets go back even further.... Gas Engine? wtf is that! Natives in the west and everywhere else were probably using poison on their arrows if they had access to it. Whats in the past can stay there. We dont need it now cause tech as advanced so far. I for one find it fascinating at what our ancestors had to do to kill game. Frankly its impressive and I dont envy the work it took.

So if anyone is gonna judge Fred Bear on his hunting ethics. Make sure you understand the time he came from. A ton of things they did back then that was considered "normal" would be considered "muleyfreak" bad these days. Fairly confident fred didnt give a flying F$#@ about corning crossing in the 50s and 60s lol.
 
That's what I asked when the compound bow first came out. Seems like quite a few people are in favor of increasing success/effective range in a structurer designed to limit those in favor of opportunity.
Yep. I know they exist. I don't think they've genuinely considered the "why".
 
Except archery is wayyy higher. I’m not saying archery is bad, I’m just saying the number of archery elk hit and not killed or retrieved is substantially higher than with a rifle.
I don’t disagree with you on that point and I still say that the in my experience it’s lack of skill
 
Pods are only legal in Mississippi, and it's a gray area here. I have, in the past, shot pods. If the right situation presents itself I'll do it again too. I feel a lot more comfortable on urban hunts shooting pods. Bad shots happen, and a bad shot in the wrong area leaves a deer dying on a golf course or in someone's yard. If there's something I can do to help avoid it, I'm doing it.
 
The more I think about it the more I am in favor of the pods. They would mean less wounded and lost animals. That's a good thing. There are two types of bow hunters out there. The guys who practice with their bow and make ethical decisions with their shots, and the dick heads that are out there just flinging arrow. For the people who are proficient with their equipment and conscientious with their shots, it won't make much difference. Maybe a few less lost animals. For the people who are out there just flinging arrows at any animal they see, it will mean more undeserved pictures on social media but a lot fewer wasted animals. That's a tradeoff I can live with. One reason I hear for using large magnum rifles loads is that if, for whatever reason the shot is off a little, you can still get a clean kill. Why not use that same reasoning with bow hunting. One argument is that the pods would encourage more bad shots, but I think that ship sailed a long time ago. Pods would at least mitigate some of the damage.
 
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