Well I didn't answer the poll because nothing is ever that simple. If it were a poll specifically onjust taking a shotwith either a bow or a gun that would be different. There are far too many details to take into consideration to look at actuallyhunting with those weaponsthat simply. For example I think we all can agree that both seasons have advantages and disadvantages.

Where I hunt bow season comes in 6 weeks before general firearms. So cleary there are some advantages such as more daylight, more food sources, many deer still in summer feeding patterns, far less hunters in the woods, highly predictable deer movement. Not only those things but take into consideration that the deer are often startingheavy pre rut activity a couple of weeks into bow season which meansbuck sightings are fairly high. Some disadvantages usually inlude higher temps, scent control is more of a factor, and of course a limited shoooting range. IMO the advantages of the early season far outweigh the disadvantages unless you are a person thatconsiders the limited shooting range of your equipment to be an overwhelming disadvantage. I don't, it's something you know about going into the seasonand youshould choose your stands withit in mind(along with many other things). Last year on opening week myself and my hunting buddies saw nearly 50 deer and killed three and had shot oppurtunitiesat several over the course of that week andthe rest ofbow season.

Then gun season rolls aroundand it has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of course being the ease of shooting a firearm and increased range/accuracy. Another advantage is stand set up, the standsdon't have to crowd the deer and you can set a little further away to give a little more cushion between you andwhere you anticipate the deer. Also the first couple of weeks of gun season have some phase of rutting activity going and you can catch deer moving often especiallythat first week or so. Food sources are getting slimmer so that is good and bad, good because you know where most of the deer will be feeding(advantage) but bad because after the guns start going off the deer become night time diners and become wary about being in the open during shooting light(disadvantage). Also you now have less shooting light as well because of thetime of year. Now fast forward a couplemore weeks, hunters have now been in the woods since bow season, guns are going off, more humanintrusion in the woods, deer getting killed,and all of this equals skittish deer who become harder to hunt, probably the biggest disadvantage. Yeah of course if you see one within 100-200 yds. with your rifle you can probably kill it, but you need to see one first. Opening week of gun season we saw 7 deer and managed to kill 3 then as well.

This is the area I hunt that I'm describingand I'm sure other areasare different just like in that other thread just because something works in Iowa or Wisconsin does not mean it will work or even applies to another herd in a different state.

Hunting deer is as easy or as hard as the hunter makes it IMO. If you are bow hunting set up bow stands if you are gun huntingyou can set up a little differently. It's funny to me thatstuff like this is brought up because the only difference between the two weapons are methods of discharge, effective ranges, trajectory,the way the projectilecausesdeath(i.e hemoraging, shock)etc. Basically the actualSHOT and how you shoot itis the difference, and I don't know many hunters who when telling a hunting story simplify the whole thing down to just that 1tiny aspect at the endof a hunt (before the trailing begins of course).

Quite the contrary, most will tell you everylittle detail fom last years sheds, to this years summer sightings, to trail cam pics, to the stand location, to the food, tothe weather, to the wind, everything.

But let's focus on what weapon is easier or harder to shoot because that is what makes a hunt hard or easy or "more challenging", isn't it?? I don't think so, here is a suggestion, if you are not killing deer, stand facing a mirror with a bow inyour righthand and a gun in your left, the real answerto the question "Why am I not killing deer?" can be found somewhere in the middle of that mirror looking right back at you. Again JMO and not directed at anyonepersonally, directed more towards the mindset that one is more challenging that the other.