It was the best miss I have ever experienced.

Two years ago, I watched a very mature and wary whitetail walk within a few yards of the tree where I was perched. His antlers and his way were those of an old deer.

I studied him for a few moments and attempted to calm my nerves. When the time was right, I raised my bow and drew it back, placing the string on my nose. I leveled my eye into the window of sight, exhaled and released the arrow and watched.

The deer watched, too, and when the arrow sailed over his back and into a small maple sapling, he paused for a moment and then ran.

I peeled myself from the tree that night and stood in the dark looking at the arrow wedged in the tree.

No other hunt, even those that were successful, matched the experience of that miss. The reason I write this is because hunting with bow and arrow, for any species, is the archetype of what hunting should be.

In recent weeks and really for many years, people have questioned and spoken of hunters that use bow and arrow. It seems odd that an archer would be singled out and their manner of taking game questioned.

Typically, debate about hunting revolves around the proximity of firearm hunters to people and neighborhoods. Archers, whose manner of taking game is quiet and stealth, mostly go unnoticed. And this is important, considering that the population of deer that gives most humans trouble is that which is in close proximity to people and neighborhoods.

For me, the use of archery equipment is not something that I became passionate about because I could use it. Instead, the use of archery gear allowed me to become passionate about hunting.

I write this because hunting -- not shooting, but hunting -- is important. Hunters should be conservationist and serve as stewards of the land, and hunters should hunt.

This, I believe, is why many hunters are taking to the woods with bow and arrow in hand.

As long as game laws allow, hunting with a gun will be a popular method by which to hunt. Yet when one uses a bow and becomes an extension of that bow, the need to shoot is replaced by the need to hunt responsibly and, more importantly, ethically.

I wrote of a deer that I missed. What I did not write about is that, several minutes before I shot at the deer, I had multiple opportunities to take less than ethical shots. An unethical shot is one that does not offer a lethal hit and one that increases the odds that an animal may not be found.

In saying that, every archer has had what he believed to be an ethical shot that either has missed or caused a wound that was not immediately fatal. The same can be said from those who use a gun, as well.

There is nothing about archery hunting, or hunting in general, that is guaranteed. Archers take great pride in developing the skill to shoot with tight arrow groups.

I will not question that game does escape even after being shot, and that the sight of any dying animal is disturbing. To hunt with a well-tuned bow is one of the few aspects of hunting that requires consisten physical and mental strength.

Of all reasons why I hunt, the purpose of always shooting and always harvesting game is not one of these.

Instead, I go into the woods or to the practice range with the mindset that I am part of the experience and that what I accomplish also is part of the experience. I accept that what I may launch, even with the greatest of thought and practice, may not always find its mark.

Yet I know that I have devoted every fiber of my body and moment of thought to achieving accuracy and taking the most ethical of shots.

Thankfully, I missed the deer instead of wounding it, and perhaps one day soon I'll have another chance.

The point of archery, for this writer, is that everything you pour into the pursuit of game is your best. As humans and archers, we cannot always be expected to be perfect.

However, as a hunter who uses a bow and arrow, we can only place our best effort and hope that success is found quickly and that we are humbled by our mistakes.

I am an archer, and I am a hunter. And more than that, I am a person who is not perfect.

Enjoy your time outdoors.

You may contact Jason Hawkins at hawkinsoutdoors@msn.com.