Suprisingly, I grew up in an anti-bowhunting household. The only reason I picked up a bow was to compete. I tinkered with archery back in high school, but only hunted with guns. My father had the preconceived notion that bow hunters were bad people.

It wasn't until I married that I took another look at archery. A hunting friend asked me why I never bowhunted. I told him what most other "gun only" hunters would say... it wasn't ethical. He and I shot target archery together in the early 1980's and asked that if he proved me wrong, would I hunt with the bow. I skeptically said sure.

He placed two stands and I met him for a morning bow hunt. I didn't expect to see what I was about to see 30 minutes later. He had patterned deer movement on that ridge and arrowed a mature doe that walked only 15 yards before she expired. She didn't even act as if she'd been shot. Imagine what a gun only hunter thought seeing that!

I've been hunting with the bow since and have harvested a good number of whitetails, both bucks and does with archery gear. I've smoked countless with the gun, but none of them equal the satisfaction of the arrow. My best buck is a bow buck and I've never felt bad filling both PA tags this way. Personally, my guns stay in the cabinet unless I feel the need to make noise at the range. Good hunting.