ORIGINAL: Jimmy S
ORIGINAL: nchawkeye
....I can't imagine only seeing a few deer each year having a 3-4 week season and only being able to harvest 2-3, our population is very healthy and our season starts in September and runs until the end of December...
That's part of my point, nc. Imagine you do hunt in area where you only see deer 2-3 times a week. The rifle season is 3 weeks long and you are allowed one deer.
Now you go to a state/province where the deer population is 40 deer per square mile, you see many deer every single time out and you are allowed multiple deer...
It sure would seem that there is little or no challenge in filling your tag.
If you don't care what you fill your tag with (i.e., purely "meat" hunting) then I see your point. Where I hunt, I would have no problem harvesting a doe within 30 minutes of opener with a rifle. But, I love to hunt, so I go after big bucks.
For my area, my opinion of a big buck taken with afirearmis 140"+, usually a 5x5 minimum, with good mass (occasionally, a very large 4x4 fits the bill). For me, a novice bowhunter, a good archery buck is a 2.5 year old 4x4 or better. For some, it's a 150" deer, for others it's anything with antlers, for others it's a doe. The point is, challenge yourself within reason and enjoy it.
I had similar feelings a few years ago, when I began hunting this new area (coming from an area with less than 10% of the deer I now hunt). I went from shooting anything with antlers (or sometimes just does) to my current goals. I also took up bowhunting for the added challenge (had done a bit before, but not seriously).
In the past 2 years, I've seen myself become more of a bowhunter than a firearms hunter, even though it is very likely I will shoot a bigger buck each year with a gun than with my bow, the bow buck is more of a trophy to me. My most prized trophy is my first Pope & Young,which wasn't my biggest buck ever, but I took it with a bow, after spending 16 days in treestands with tons of scouting, and had game cam pics and sheds of this particular deer I was hunting. I also took it during the firearms season, foregoing some time to hunt monster bucks during our short 17-day season, for the opportunity to bowhunt the rut.
That's my story, and I can directly relate to what you suggest. I grew up ona farm with some deer, and married a girl whose father has a deer mecca, and this has been my progression. I will add, however, that when I was young, I was pretty excited to shoot a doe with a rifle. I now try to take all of my does via bow and only take 1 buck with a rifle. If it's crunch time, and I hunt does with a rifle, Ido admit to gettingvery little excitement out of it (just being honest) because it is easy (again, that's why I try to take them via archery).