BRUSE

I hunt with both but prefer to rifle. One of the biggest reasons is it just seems harder to find a rifle season. Bow season is several months then rifle season is little over a week. Back when I'd hunt WV you had two weeks to rifle hunt.

salukipv1

I enjoy it, but if I could draw tags as easy as I could with a gun.... hunt the same earlier warmer more rut type seasons...

IF I could do all that then I'd probably never bowhunt.

I do however enjoy the fact that I supply the energy to take a given animal vs. man's technology ie gun powder, bullets, rifles, etc... granted there's plenty of tech in a bow, but you still pull it back and let it go...

plus seeing animals and taking them with a bow is vastly different from seeing and taking an animal with a gun.

BarnesX.308

Unless your limb snaps and the bow blows up on you.

mrbb

I got into bow hunting just so I could spend more time in the woods,(opened up more states for me to hunt as well) I loved hunting, and tried my best to hunt every day I could and that meant using all types of weapons, My first buck kill came the first yr I bow hunted, at the age of 16, my second deer(first yr hunting was at age 15, and a doe(rifle kill)
I am a 100% self taught hunter, NO family or friends hunted, SO, I took to archery, as I found learning the skills to be challenging, started off with recurve NO sights, and learned HOW form is SO important, then as compounds became more common place, changed over as money allowed, which meant working more odd jobs as a kid could do!

for many yrs I loved bow hunting, I loved the added effort to get closer to game, having less people (hunters) in the woods, and less spooky and smart game.

BUT Over the last 20 yrs or so, I started to like bow hunting less and less, for many reasons,
one being SO many guys NOW Bow hunt, as to those that did in the 80's and even 90's,
so, pressured game is more common, and having guys walk in on me, took fun factor away on that!
then I had a bunch of back injuries, which made using a bow, rather painful, couldn;t practice like I wanted to, and I gave it up!
switched to a X bow, and liked being able to be back out in the woods more, but never really found it as enjoyable as I once found bow season to be!
I always liked GUN hunting better, less likely to loose a deer or?? than with a bow, and don't care WHO you are, with archery tackle, it can happen(can with guns too, but a gun has more SHOCK power, than just cutting to rely on)

I have NO clue how many deer I have killed over the yrs , maybe a few hundred, used to hunt, 3-7 states a yr and did a lot of crop damage kills for yrs, I killed 50+ deer with the bow for sure, I'm glad I hunted with the bow, NO regrets
but I agree, gun hunting was always the more preferred tool for hunting for me as well.

if seasons were longer and easier to get tags and such, in all the places I hunted I doubt I would have got into bow hunting LOL

BUT again, it opens up a LOT more days a yr to hunt, and I DO think, if you get GOOD at bow hunting(getting in close to game) you will become a better rifle deer hunter, and vise versa.
IF< you take the time to learn how to get close that is, and can actually do it!

flags

Why is it sad and what makes you think I have no emotion towards hunting? When did hunting for meat become a bad thing? That is hunting in its purest form. Why do you think a mountain lion hunts? Why did the Native Americans hunt? They hunted to eat, which is exactly what I do.

When I am hunting my entire purpose is putting meat on the ground. I am focused like a laser to make that happen. I pay attention to all that is around me: the wind, the sounds, the other animals etc... in order to find my sought quarry. Filling the freezer is how my wife and I eat. An empty tag does me no good and I don't waste a single scrap of edible meat. When I go deer hunting I am after food, hence it is basically grocery shopping. I base the success on steaks, roasts and burger. Antlers and skins no longer have any appeal to me. My bloodline is Arapaho and I have returned to hunting for the same purpose my ancestors did, to eat.

You call it sad, I call it honest.

MudderChuck

I'm also a meat hunter, though I do have a few trophies, not for boasting but as a reminder of a memorable hunt.

I get my good feeling when I make a good shot and whatever animal I'm hunting goes down in a pile, is dead quickly and as painlessly as possible. I have some sort of empathy with the animals I hunt.

I can also appreciate the skill sets needed to get close enough for a bow shot.

You can break hunting skills down into a set of tasks. Not everybody is the master of all the tasks, most people are better at some than others. I think many of the tasks are part of an individuals genetic propensities and the satisfaction comes from following your genetic tendencies. I enjoy the chase, I also enjoy a good ambush. I seem to have a knack for tracking wounded game, not so much a really keen eye, bent twigs and whatnot, I think like what I'm tracking, anticipate what they will do.

I really enjoy bow fishing for some reason. Most Mammals I hunt with a firearm.

I also really enjoy dogging Rabbit, Hair, Fox and Yotes. I seem to share the joy of the chase with the Dogs.

On one side I guess I'm a hypocrite dogging game isn't a quick and painless death, but it feels right to me. I guess it is in my genes.

Hatfield Hunter

Flags as I expected you took my comments personally, What you do and why is your choice ! If the only reason I hunted was for meat I would buy up all of the porter house and prime rib I could when on sale . I did not mean to demean you and your choices as I tried to express, I was adding mine

JagMagMan

I killed my very first deer with a bow, many years ago. I practiced just about every day and could make a 50 yard shot with ease. The shot was a 40 yard, heart shot with a Bear Whitetail II, that only had about 215 FPS speed. I hunted a few more years with better bows and killed a few deer.
But I probably never will get another bow! Some of the main reasons are that it is usually unbearably hot during our East Texas bow season. Also, I can't stand having to pass on a 10-15 yard shot, that I could make at 200 yards easy with a rifle! But mostly it's my old eyes! What I could do at 50 yards with a 215 FPS bow 30 years ago, I cannot do now at 35 yards with bows that shoot 225 FPS!
That, and watching/hearing a deer scream after a perfectly good shot, while I get another arrow out of the quiver to finish the job!

flags

Why wouldn't I when you called me out by name. If that isn't a time to take comments personally, then what is. You know nothing about me and jumped to assumptions and assumptions are the mother of all screw ups.

Champlain Islander

I too am a meat hunter. About the only thing my pile of bone in the cellar accomplishes is something for the grand kids to play with. I do like to bow hunt since the Vermont weather is normally nice here in October. Still climbing trees at 68.