Me, I love the bowhunt which is how I started as a kid but it wasn't until I embraced what rifle hunting truly is that I could appreciate both.
Bow- how close can I get?
Rifle- how far can I get?
The idea of a rifle is to reach out and touch your target; when I finally understood that and began to hunt at 200 yds ( which isn't all that far) it changed my entire approach, but that was in fields.
It occurs to me that many areas here in the east may be better suited to a shotgun or "brush" gun than a rifle simply due to the terrain & heavy trees/vegetation; a 30.06 can be thrown off trajectory pretty easily by even a small branch.
Your habit of ensuring a clear path to your target may not be one you want to break.
Last edited by ModernPrimitive; 11-17-2014 at 06:06 AM.