BOWHUNTING is in a class all by it's self as far as the thrill of it. I've laid my hunting guns down for the thrill of big game hunting with a bow. Often times when first starting out it may feel like an "Exercise in Futility," but once it all comes together, you become addicted to it. IT draws you in like a drug, and as the season ends a mild depression sets in. I believe "successful" bowhunters oftentimes develop an intimate understanding of the game they hunt, and tend to become better hunters as they learn to watch the game they are hunting and observe and study it's behavior. I know that I have a much greater understanding of and repect for deer after having bowhunted them for the last 16 seasons. And I hope that I can continue to bowhunt until the end of my days on this earth. If you are not ready to have something that draws you and interrupts your thoughts during the workday, fills your dreams at night, and consumes your spirit while you are doing it, then DO NOT START BOWHUNTING!!!

If you dare venture, go to a GOOD pro-shop, and get measured, shoot some bows, figure out what draw-weight is most comfortable for you, and then research everything you can. Find a bow that feels comfortable in your hand and on the draw, don't WORRY about speed, the name on the limbs, the bow your friend shoots, etc, get what fits YOU best. Put a few thousand shots on it, and then get ready to tune BH's. Fight with the rest, tweak the pins, adjust the nock point, get everything in perfect place, and then regardless of all of that practice, totally MISS the first deer you shoot at!!!! Don't worry, MOST of us did, that's what shows our character as hunters, the ability to get back "on the horse", correct what we did wrong, and ride again. That first bowkill is like no other a moment, embossed in your mind forever. The draw of the bow as the animal's head goes behind a tree, the pounding of your heart waiting for its vitalsto clear the tree and enter the shooting lane, the excitement you feel as you settle that pin right on the pump-station, and the beauty of watching a perfectly placed arrow disappear into the hair of that hide. Watching the animals let loose in it's glorious deathrun, knowing that you just became one with nature and one of hers is now yours. A quick clean kill, an animals dashes until it's body can run no more, and falls in sight. ONCE YOU EXPERIENCETHIS, your body and mind will come to NEED it, just as it needs food and hydration. Your soul will YEARN for the changing of the leaves so it can be re-united with its maker. Then and only then can you be at your one true inner peace.

Bowhunting is my HEALTHY addiction that I live each day wishing I could be doing. Not playing baseball, or basketball, or chasing a white ball around on a golf course that some idiot can never hit where it is supposed to go in the first place. It's an addiction that makes you addicted to archery as well, yearning time and time again to feel that "Oh so sweet" feeling of and arrow hitting its mark, the bittersweet feeling of a tip hitting a nock and knowing that you've just struck your first "Robinhood."

I'll never find another "Hobby" in life that can change me, re-define whoI am and what I do, and keep me entranced in it to such an extent again.

My best advice,venture carefully, choose wisely!!!