Excellent and thought-provoking thread, silentassassin.

In the mind of any thinking person, the bow kill is more difficult than the shotgun or rifle kill. (And yes, for the board hair-splitters, the longbow is more difficult than the compound)

Also the idea that if you gun hunt you are somehow no longer entitled to a "lesser" opinion of gun hunting is nonsense.

I gun hunt for whitetails, but very little. It is almost strictly a social thing. I go because about 16 or 18 of my friends go and we have a ball. Does that somehow mean that I cannot hold bow hunting (for whitetails) in higher esteem?

I dream of drawing the bow on a fine whitetail. I do not dream about firing a volley of three slugs at an animal that some other hunter has spooked my way. It is hunting, yes, but to me it is somehow less "pure."

Thank God this is America and we can do both if we wish. Both are fun, both are fine.

(But real men bow hunt)