I love to see young ethical hunters like Luke get involved in bow hunting. They're the future of the sport.
ribka - I've enjoyed your posts on this forum but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. My post was not meant to take anything away from Luke's hunt with the exception of using an electronic device to direct and locate his animal. He made a great post documenting the hunt.
I too encourage young hunters to take up the sport of bow hunting. Just finished constructing two tree stands; three young hunters (one will use a blind) coming in this week to try their luck with whitetails. Odds are high that they will be successful. Last year an eighteen year old young lady killed her first deer, a nice four point whitetail.
Washington state hunting regulations need to change along with electronic technologies. Because it's legal doesn't mean it's ethical. A person who takes and enters animals with P & Y or B & C should be familiar with their rules of fair chase. This type of unfair advantage is what feeds into anti-hunting sentiment.
Pope and Young website:
http://www.pope-young.org/fairchase/default.asp
The term "Fair Chase" shall not include the taking of animals under the following conditions:
By the use of electronic devices for attracting, locating or pursuing game or guiding the hunter to such game, or by the use of a bow or arrow to which any electronic device is attached with the exception of lighted nocks and recording devices that cast no light towards the target and do not aid in rangefinding, sighting or shooting the bow.
Boone and Crockett website:
https://www.boone-crockett.org/pdf/On_Fair_Chase.pdf
Even where legal, hunters must consider the ethics of using technologies that allow them to shoot at substantially increased distances far beyond an animal’s ability to sense danger; game scouting cameras that transmit live, real time images to the hunter; on call hunting (using cell phones to call in a hunter when game has been located by others), and using two-way radios to guide a hunter to game in the field.