At the end of the day, I can sit by the fire with you, pour a cup of coffee for you and sincerely and completely agree.

However........you are talking about just killing A deer. Immature animals are not what most bowhunters seek, are they?

So just for fun and for the sake of argument, lets examine the game itself from a slightly closer perpective:

What about mature whitetail hunting? Surely you will agree that killing a mature whitetail with a long gun requires a far greater leap of fortune and luck and far, far less "hunting" skill than getting within 60 feet or so of the same animal with a bow in your hand.

In the former game, you simply post yourself by a comfortable tree and cross your fingers and hope upon hope. If it happens and you shoot straight at the animal, which is most likely running toward you or past you by pure chance alone (after having been simply scared toward your general direction), even a mediocre shot with a modern high-powered long gun at distances up to 600 feet with your probably scoped weapon, and viola!...you're the check station hero.

In the latter game, you must invade his turf on his terms without your movement, sound, or scent being detected...no easy task regardless of how modern your gear is. Then you must pick the exact spot where you think he may appear and get in that spot in a most stealthy fashion (sounds like we're talking about an honest-to-God hunt, doesn't it?). But don't forget, you can't invade that turf too many times or make any mistakes because the mature whitetail is surely one of the smartest creatures that has ever drawn breath. No sir, you'll only get a very, very few chances to get a mature whitetail within 60 feet or so in a given year, and odds are you will get only one shot...during the entire bow season...before the gun hunters come along, often cruising in loud, obnoxious four-wheelers, and spraying copius amounts of human scent and lead all over the habitat causing the mature animals to go to ground until some unknowing gun hunter accidentally "jumps" one of them and sends him by pure chance, past a member of the orange-clad, heavily-armed, one-day warriors. Now if you manage to figure out all of those nearly infinite bow hunting variables, you might one day score a mature whitetail.

Is it any wonder most guys choose the long gun, which is obviously the easier of the two methods?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sight in my muzzleloader.