[JohnKSa]

As for the lag time between the brain and the trigger finger, wow that is a while.

Well, the lag between brain and trigger finger is probably only about a fifth of a second (0.20 seconds) but the lag between perceiving certain types of motion and then consciously acting on it can be much longer--up to 1.2 seconds.

Yes, we have a responsibility to make our best shot but we're killing this thing on purpose. We do our best, we make reasonable choices, we regret mistakes, but it's not earth-shattering if the shot goes bad. It happens to every hunter. It happens to every hunter. Yes it does. Sooner or later.

The fact that accidents are inevitable isn't sufficient rationale for failing to take reasonable precautions. It's one thing to acknowledge that they happen and that in some ways they may be unavoidable, but it's another to say that since they happen and are unavoidable it doesn't matter if we do things that we know will significantly increase the chances of an accident.

That being the case, how do we arbitrarily draw a line and say "This percentage is ok, but this percentage isn't."?

It's a judgement call, and every shooter will have to make it for himself/herself and then live with the consequences.

The deer in the story was hit fatally and was recovered in spite of the fact that the bullet hit 6-8" off the aiming point. Had the range been longer and the other circumstances the same, the shot would likely have not been fatal and the animal would have escaped wounded.

How much longer? It's very hard to say. It's clear that there is a limit, beyond which shooting at an unwounded game animal is unethical, but the specific threshold isn't the point, the point is that it's a factor that needs to be considered with gravity.

Without getting into specific numbers (which will vary based on a number of things) I think it's safe to say that anyone shooting at an animal so far away that they know that they can't react in time to keep a well-aimed shot in the killzone due to TOF delay needs to rethink the decision to take the shot.

Is the ethical limit for a recurve 15 or 20 regardless of the shooters ability?

TOF can be surprisingly long for arrows due to their much slower velocity. The same general principles apply, but the numbers will be different and the ranges shorter.