IOWABUCKHUNTR

I guess I never looked at it at as a "numbers" game as someone posted up the thread, I thought it always had to go with the "closing the distance". I mean after all, most people can shoot a scoped rifle 150 yards no problem. I can routinely walk within that distance of free ranging deer in the ag fields here in Iowa, to me that alone would make the difference. But, flipside is Iowa doesn't have a rifle season except bottom 2 tier counties late January.

I tend to stay out of the woods when the orange army invades...

warbirdlover

Thanks for all the comments. In Wisconsin the gun season is the week of Thanksgiving so the rut is pretty much over. The bow hunters get the best part of the rut but have to take a week off before the gun season.

I realize most bowhunters need to get the deer within 20-35 yards or so but I've been around some pretty good archers that were capable of putting five arrows into a six inch circle at 80 yards. I could do this also. And most were bow hunters (except me). (This is assuming no strong wind is blowing btw)....

I'm also glad everyone is just putting out their opinions on the subject without getting PO'd. I just wanted to get the general feeling so that I could judge if I'm being out of line on my thinking. Thanks.

tight360

I RARELY get the chance to pull out the cannon (.444 Marlin), I'm usually tagged out by 15 NOV. But that said, I've been called a meat hunter by most.

s. il. hntr

Heck no yer not out of line, I wish Il. had a rifle season, I'd hunt that too. Maybe some day we'll at least get to use rifle in handgun cal. like Indiana. Good hunting to you all.

dpv

I like hunting with rifle. But I also like bow and Muzzle loader. The thing I always liked about bow was how few people there were. 18 years ago when I was part of a hunt club I would be the only person in the cabin during bow season. The woods get crowded during gun, and since I hunt mostly public land, I always have gun hunters stepping on my hunt. It's near impossible to find a spot that doesn't have other hunters on it. I also feel safer during bow season because of the limited range of a bow and the fact that bowhunters are more patient and cautious by necessity.

Valentine

It's a number game. How many deer are to be harvested? How many deer hunters available to hunt? Every state is different and has their own unique problems.
Individuality doesn't enter into it. Some may benefit; some may not. It comes down to the number of deer, that is necessary for the state to harvest.

States with large number of gun deer hunters, like Pennsylvania, have shorter seasons. States with numerous gun hunters and few deer to harvest have even shorter seasons.

Statistics have proved that it is more difficult to harvest a deer with a bow than a rifle. To differ is just tilting at wind mills, and that argument is just ignored.

When I hunted in a state that had one buck for the entire season, I avoided archery season. When I moved to a state with multiple harvests available, I took up hunting archery, even though I had been shooting as a teen.

Archery is always a part of deer hunting. States can tweek the harvest numbers better with archery harvests. Something the gun only hunter has to live. Some things will never change.

Gunplummer

You are absolutely correct in thinking that bow hunters have an advantage. I am the "Real Deal". I started with a recurve and still shoot either recurve or long bow. My hand is starting to go so I may not do it much longer, but I rifle hunt anyway. Here in the great state of Pennsylvania, you can actually see the way things changed over the years. Back in the early 80's, when I came back to the states, I can remember only running into one other hunter with a recurve bow. The woods was crowded but not really bad yet. Pa. used to have a 1 month season that ended right about when the rut started. Then one year they extended the season for a week for doe only. The hunting pressure increased. After that the season was extended 2 weeks and buck and doe were legal. Everybody and his brother ran out and bought a bow. I hunt from the ground and move around a lot. I started to find dead arrow hit deer all over the place. I know guys that almost never get a deer with a rifle start to kill wopper bucks in their backyards. You always hear them say " I want to challenge myself". What a bunch of crap! If you want to challenge yourself use a stick bow. All they did was find an easy way to kill a deer. The same thing applies to guys that ran out and bought in-line muzzle loaders. If you want to "Challenge yourself" use a flint lock, Pa. has had a special season for that for a long time. Pa. has gotten so ridicules with their seasons and weapons laws that the only "Challenge" left is high power rifle hunting.

nodog

No, except government can't do anything unless we give it cause, we gave it cause. If we would've been conciderate of others in the first place there would've never been an opportunity for government to regulate. Government is supposed to leave a bad taste in our mouths to give us reason not to make poor choices. Few understand this.

Are you concidering others with your question? Maybe you are and maybe your not, if your not your giving government another opportunity to regulate, the bow hunter.

I'd love to be able to hunt anytime I want like it used to be. I could come and go as I please with my rifle in and out of town. Maybe when I pass over that land will let me but I don't ever see it happening in this life again.

Your not full of crap, just dreaming a dream many of us dream.

huntingkidPA

most bowhunters 40 years and older DID start with a recurve, then they moved to compounds. it like when 200 years ago all there was is muskets, then they moved to centerfire rifle. so both have gotten easier and bowhunting is still harder than rifle because you have to close the distance. idc if people say " i can hit an apple at 60 yards" you know how many chances they will get to shoot that far in the woods? with the wind and trees, a deer can jump an arrow going 300 fps at 30 yards. You think compound bow hunting is easy? i shoot recurve too and they both take PRACTICE! no novice bow hunter can walk out in the woods and first time shooting a compound and kill a deer, there are just different standards basically for groupings and ranges. Most comp. bow hunters wont shoot over 30, most recurve bow hunters wont shoot over 20. While recurve bow hunters are try to get there grouping down to a softball size circle, comp. hunters are trying to reduce it to an inche. All it is, is a more efficient way to hunt deer, and kill them ethically while still having a challenging hunt.

ButchA

I have bow hunted, shotgun and rifle hunted. I prefer my .308 rifle over anything. I missed a beautiful 8 pointer while bowhunting a number of years ago, and still see that gorgeous, tall tined, basket 8 point buck in my dreams.

I nailed a nice 6 pointer two seasons ago with my bow, and he ran off, and I never found him. The blood trail went cold after 25-30 yards. I even called my two buddies over and we searched with flashlights until 10:00pm!

I don't know... Part of my problem with bow hunting and blood trails is, I am colorblind. Long story short - I sold my Reflex compound bow and my tree stand.

I love my Savage .308 rifle with Bushnell 3-9x40 scope. You know how it is... Bang. Flop. Venison on the table!