The answer, of course, depends on the ability and ethics of the person shooting the bow. I do know archers who can consistently shoot arrows into a 4-inch circle at 50 yards. Many I've spoken with have a self-imposed range limit of 40 yards. Most wouldn't take a shot at a deer more than 30 yards away. Imagine my surprise when a man asked where the 100-yard target was at our local archery range.

He then told us of hunts long ago, for antelope in Wyoming, with friends who could kill one of the wild goats at 100 yards with a bow. Remember, we're not talking about an elf in "Lord of the Rings" here, but guys hunting with early compound bows. During the period the man described, compound bows were a bit different than those made today. Let-off was less and there were still many hunters who preferred recurve bows. Nonetheless, a 100-yard kill shot on an antelope was an interesting thing for me to ponder, so I devised an experiment.

During a 3-D archery tournament in Sidney, Neb., I set up a long-range contest by slapping a stick-on, 6-inch-diameter, fluorescent rifle target in the middle of a 30-inch archery cube target, and setting it 95 yards from the shooting line. I told every archer who came that I would give a brand new $60 hunting knife to the first person who hit that 6-inch target with an arrow at 95 yards. All they had to do was pay me a dollar per arrow to try. I raised a lot of money for the shooting park that day and got to keep the knife.

Not one person could resist taking at least one shot at the distant dot, and most shot five or six times. Of all the arrows that flew downrange that day, only a handful even managed to connect with the 30-inch cube, and none was within a foot of touching the 6-inch target. Granted, none of these archers had or ever would take a shot like that at an animal, but all had to try to see if they had that shot in them.

An arrow will travel quite a ways. Medieval legends speak of archers making shots on targets hundreds of yards away. Two friends and I wanted to see how far our arrows could travel at optimal trajectory, so we decided to find out. In a closed field, a mile long, we stood beside one another with a 20-mph wind at our backs. We took turns holding at what we thought was close to a 45-degree angle relative to the ground and let fly. They shot, drawing about 60 pounds, and I shot my bow pulling about 55. After several shots each, the shortest arrow flight was 297 yards and the longest was 342 yards. The world record of more than 1,000 yards wasn't in any danger. Still, the thought of that 100-yard antelope shot lingered in our minds. So we decided to do it.

Don't freak out. I set out a full-size McKenzie 3-D antelope target and laser-ranged it to be exactly 100 yards from an improvised shooting station. At first, arrows missed, but once we figured out the right position for holding and aiming, arrows started smacking into the foam goat. I had a good day with four of my eight shots hitting the life-sized target, including three in a row. Unfortunately, only one of those four shots would have been fatal on a real antelope. The others would have wounded it badly.

Is it possible to kill an antelope with a bow and arrow at 100 yards? Sure it is. Would I personally try it? Nope. Not until I can hit a pie plate at that range each and every time, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. For now, I'm content at having increased my sure-kill range from 25 to 40 yards after a summer of practice. Eventually I may get to 50 yards, but not until I've practiced a whole lot more.

Ability and ethics should go hand in hand. Even when you are confident of your ability at a given range, extenuating circumstances should always take priority. When cross winds, an animal quartering away too much, or branches in the flight path cause concern, the ethical bowhunter will let down unless a quick, clean kill is certain.

For those who are considering practicing long-range shots with a bow and arrow, please use extreme caution. Our test was done on a closed shooting range aiming away from anything resembling civilization. Modern bows will shoot several hundred yards under the right conditions, and it is every archer's responsibility to know where the arrow could go before it is released.