What got you into bowhunting?
 

Im curios what got everyone into bowhunting? When I was a kid my dad and his friends were the type of hunters that rode the roads, drank, and would kill almost anything that crossed their paths. there were no real hunting skills involved.They would think nothing of shooting at a running deer at 800 yards. They also shot a lot of game out of season. These were normally law abiding, hard working people, but when it came to hunting the philosophy was "anything goes".
I know that this behavior still goes on today by other hunters also because I use to see it all of the time when I was running the county check-in station. As I got older this behavior began to horrify me when I saw it and still does, but that is a whole other topic.
Anyway, I now bowhunt almost exclusively and really only use to a rifle when my kids are involved. They want to get into archery but I dont have the money for the equipment for them yet. I have no desire to do things like my dad and his friends did.
This post is long enough so I will stop now. Please respond

P.S.- I know that some of the things I said here may offend some peoples morals. Please remember that I do not condone that kind of behavior!

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

my dad was a really big archer/bowhunter and i got my first bo when i was two and shot archery ever since then. Hopefully this will be my first season!

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My dad and grandfather both got me started in archery and hunting. But neither of them were bowhunters they just liked shooting spots. Ireally took an interest in my fathers recurve and could shoot it pretty good out to 20 yards.That Christmas my parents bought me my first compound bow. With some help from a family friendI got the bowproperly fitand tuned. That summer I was reading my grandfathers outdoor magazines and read a few articles on bowhunting. That fall I decided to give it a try and I have been hooked ever since.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My father.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Well its not really a what , its who got me into bowhunting.
Two friends of mine talked me into trying it about 12 years ago and then I pick up a bow at yard sale andI started shooting at a 3D range .
Then I started going in the woods with them and they taught me everything about hunting deer and turkey.
Been hooked on hunting ever since , I learned alot from my friends and I'm very thankful for thier time and efforts.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I've hunted for many years. My parents first took me out when I was about 4 or 5. My family hunted to survive, not for trophies, so the racks were either left or tossed into the barn, where they still sit today.

I had always wanted a bow, but like Ralphie, in the movie A Christmas Story, I was always told, "You''ll put your eye out!". I finally bought a bow in sept. of 2002. My decision, was based on: 1. I had always wanted one. 2. I was recovering from a rotator cuff injury and didn't think a gun would be a good idea. 3. I can hunt ALL season long, from october to january. On nov. 22, 2002, at 8 am, I shot my first deer! It wasa 6 pt.

I'm sorry you grew up seeing your dad and his friends do that sort of thing. My early hunting years were just the oposite. I come from a family that shoots only during season. Growing up, I was always told, "If you're not going to eat it, don't shoot it." and " You better not shoot anything out of season or the game warden will get you, and throw you in jail...and I won't come get you." lol... here I am all of 13 years old, freaking out and obsessing over what season was in at the time....lol.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My mother and father were both competition recurve shooters in the mid 60's. My father got me started.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Extended season , I always hated sitting out 3 months of hunting because I didn't have the appropriate weapon .

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

i actually got into it because i wanted to. just like flintlocking and flyfishing. i took into both of them alone as well. dad used to be a BIG time bowhunter. i had people i dont even know tell me stories about how great my dad was..then i told them who i was. when i was very very young i had a little longbow style compound bow id shoot with dad. right before i would be ready for a real youth bow dad got out of archery. he says he just didnt/doesnt really have the time. it was alot of other things as well that got him to hang it up. but i love to hunt..always went to bowhunt...now in less then 2 weeks i finally get to! took alot of hard work and practice but im ready

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My father started bow hunting early 80's, but I took it up about 3 years ago, so still a newby. I like the extra challenge of it, and I like being able to hunt for 3 and a half months and practically any where in the state.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I just started bowhunting, this will be my first season. Why did I get into it? Blame those hunting TV shows first of all. I think hunting with a bow is more of a challenge, therefore more rewarding. Secondly is the fact that the weather is more pleasant during the early archery season here in VA. Nothing I hate more than freezing my feet and hands[:'(] while sitting in a stand, unable to move around and generate heat.

I bought my first bow off of Ebay last December. A Hoyt Raider Powerflex, this is the bow that will go into the stand with me on Oct 7. I also have a Hoyt ViperTec. Also I like archery because I can practice in my basement up to 11 yards anytime of the year.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My uncle did some bow hunting. I watched him practice one time and thought it would be a fantastic way to get more time in the stand. When my birthday and Christmas rolled around I asked for cash to buy my first setup. I went to Bass Pro in Springfield Mo on New Years day and bought my first bow. PSE Pulsar and all the toys to go with it.

I grew up in Missouri where there was nearly 3 months of archery season and 2 weeks of gun. That was 18 years ago.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I was working at a Outfitting shop. A guy that I worked with wanted to buy my .243 Sako, He came up w/$400 and offered his old bow as the rest of the payment. At the time I didn't want to but I did it anyways. Shot at the indoor range for fun for 5yrs w/friends. Last yr a good friend of mine drew an elk tag and nobody to hunt w/, so I bought my first archery tag (whitetail) and went w/him. He just wanted someone who could help with the elk if he bagged one. Never saw any elk but lots of deer just out of my range, went out again to the woods I normally hunted and took a little buck....... what a rush! I'm hooked!
My father taught me how to shoot (firearms)and got me into the outdoors, he has never even picked up a bow. I thought I was the only one in my family to hunt w/bow but my uncle does and we talk on the ph all the time. Actually my uncle and I are the only ones in the family to have a hunting addiction. Long sequance of events but thats the story...... now Ineed to buy a bow for my wife and my som is only 9months old but I'm looking for a small bow for him L8R on.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Self taught and self passioned. I started messing around with an old fiberglass recurve as a child on our family farm. I even went hunting with it at the age of 12 with a field point. Ignorance scares me. LOL Anyway, at 15 I received a Bear Black Bear II for my birthday. That set the "wheels" in motion for a passion that is part of who I am. I took archery season as a come and go thing. When I turned 16 I could beg for the car (single mom) and go out on my own instead of riding my bike to a local woods. When I started working at 18, I bought my first vehicle, a 77 Land Cruiser, some coworkers shot and we started to shoot at work and I made a home made climbing stand. 4 years later I took the job I have today and the last 17 years. Rifle season has never been open for me as far as vacation and the bowhunting passion inside me took over and I pretty much abandoned the guns for deer. I always take the 2 weeks off in Nov when our season is winding down. I've never looked back.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

ESPN saturday morning hunting/fishing shows. My family has always fished. When we were old enough to bow hunt, we had some friends to bow hunted as well. I have a uncle that hunts, but I've only been out hunting with him one time. I invited him to go along on a spring turkey hunt one morning.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Alabama law says bow hunters get an extra month of hunting. That is all it took.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My dad always wanted me to shoot with him, then one day i decided "ok i'll go shoot with him" and from that day on i was hooked. Now i shoot competition and ihunt also.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I've always hunted with the rifle. I guess about 12 years ago they were going to put into law that you had to take a bowhunter education course in order to bow hunt unless you had a previous archery license. I bought the license and figured if I'm gonna get the license I might as well get into it. First night bowhunting ever, I arrowed a nice little six pointer...figured this is easy and have been addicted ever since.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Hunting to me is about my family, and thats how I got involved, Family time spent together is how it started, and it has grown to an absolute obsession

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

i was completly magazine and tv and huntingnet taught me everything i know. Which isalot. Just looked like some thing i would like.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

When I was younger, I really admired my youth pastor. He shot a bow, therefore I wanted to shoot one as well. I bought my first bear compound bow and I went from there. I didn't hunt with it, I just shot targets in the backyard. Years later, my father-in-law got me into hunting and I just sorta combined the two. My father-in-law doesn't bow hunt, but he is getting a little more interested in bow / crossbow hunting.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I had a hunting dad and older brothers. I started shooting a recurve bow back with I was 9. I saved up and bought it on my own. No one bow hunted in my family up to that point. I learned to shot on my own and started hunting rabbits and squirrles. Eventually, one of my older brothers started into bow hunting and between the both of use, we figured it out.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I like hunting just be out there with nature. There ore only a couple of days worth of gun seasons and most propertie around here are small and dont allow firearms anyway. I wanted to spend more time hunting, so I looked into archery. I then realized the challenges involved and it made me want to hunt with a bow even more.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Extended season.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I taught my self about gun hunting in college, and after a couple of years I had fallen so in love with the outdoor experience, the challenge, the deers intelligence, and yes, their taste, I had to find a wayt to hunt more. My next step was into bowhunting. I began asking questons, reading , and studying, I bought a PSE Polaris Express, rigged it out, and that year took my first BOW BUCK. It was a long spike. It was the only buck I saw that bow season, and I made the shot. I was hooked for life. Since then I have also gotten into muzzleloading. I can now hunt deer from Oct.1 - Feb 28. Ahhhh... life is so good. Cool, crisp morning air, no sounds of traffic or other people invading my senses, when suddenly the leaves crunch under a foot fall. I can clearly see the steam rising off of his still warm body.

No man can ever convince methere is no GOD. I can prove it every day in the woods.

God Bless and good hunting.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I got bored of sitting in a boxstand overlooking a field with a high powed rifle...wanted more of a challange.......and chicks dig it!;)

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

The challenge
The extended season
The challenge
Can hunt sooner in the year
The challenge

Did I mention, the challenge?:D

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I originally got into archery just because I wanted to learn to shoot a bow. I had absolutely no desire to hunt large game. I had nothing against it, I just didn't have a desire to go and do it. I had just started a new job and was working next to a guy that is an avid hunter. He lives to hunt, period.

It's funny, one day he was griping about how he taught a guy to hunt a few years ago and he really screwed him over. He said he wouldn't make that mistake twice. Well we were talking about bows one day and I said I thought about getting one for the heck of it. Just some cheap POS from walmart or something. But I wasn't sure I wanted to spend 80 bucks on a toy and suck at it.

He begged me not to do that. He told me to go to a pro shop, he would even take me. He said if I got some cheapy bow from walmart I probably would suck and wouldn't stick with it very long. So I went and looked at a few better bows at a gander mountain and shot one. I bounced the arrow off a wall and into the target. I told him this at work the next day and he laughed. He told me the guy helping me probably didn't show me how to the hold the bow, and he was right, I was holding it away from my face because I was afraid of the string. He asked if I was going to use a release or not and I asked what that was? He said it's basically a trigger for a bow. I said HE** ya, I didn't know there was such a thing.

So I ended up dropping about 600 bucks at a pro shop for a midline Darton package, arrows, release and target. I was addicted, I was shooting every day after work and most of the days on weekends. I shot so much I injured my back! I was a bit weary of spending that kind of cash and not being any good at it. However the shop owner told me if I purchased the bow from him he would teach me how to shoot and not give up until I could hit something the size of a door knob from 20 yards or so. He held to that and spent two sunday afternoons helping me out and I was drilling a 3 inch dot at 30 yards after that.

Now I'm really hooked, I'm reading magazines, hanging out in pro shops and joining forums on the internet. In about half a year I now shoot better and know more about archery then the guy at work that got me into it;). He ends up being one of my best friends and we are both named Paul. So everyone at work calls us Big Paul and Little Paul ( I'm little) After that he is asking me if I want to go hunting with him. To begin with just taking pictures and stuff because I'm not sure I want to hunt. But he says if i want to try it he will help me out a little bit.

Turkey season is a few weeks away and he says I'm welcome to tag along, he has a camo jumper that should fit me. Well after turkey hunting for 3 days I am looking at shotguns:D. I said I'm not sure about deer hunting, maybe I will wait a year. Just so I know I am good enough with a bow, and I know nothing about hunting. He is impressed with that and gave me a list of simple things I will need next year if I want to do it.

So I go with him a few times that season and help him butcher a deer in his shed and we take the backstraps right in the house and he slices them up and fries them in butter. I said "Holy crap! this doesn't taste like any deer I have had before, this is almost like beef.". I had some deer when I lived out west, and from the sounds of it they taste different here because they eat different things. Basically they eat the same thing beef eat here since we raise alot of beef in this area.

So next year rolls around and I have some hunting stuff, more than I needed really but I was getting excited. We made some ladder stands to put up. Mine was extra sturdy with a larger platform. I have a fear of heights which I still have trouble with. I can not use pegs and a hang on stand, to scary for me. I have a ladder stand and a climber now. Any way I practice all summer with a 3-D target and study deer anotomy so I know where to put the arrow at what angles and everything. Opening day comes and I have to hunt alone after work because I couldn't get the day off. I'm a bit worried if I can actually shoot a deer, and what I will feel like afterwards. I told my buddy this and he said there is only way to find out.

I get in my stand and get settled. Half an hour after getting in my stand two nice deer get up out of the meadow next to me and start working their way towards me. Not trophy deer or anything, but heck it's my first year I'm not being too picky. One was a nice 10 point, the other was a decent 7. I'm new I have no idea how old they are and honestly don't care;). I told him I was shooting the first thing that got within 20 yards of my stand, just to see if I could do it. As it happens the deer come right to me and walk under my stand, then out in front of me right around 20 yards away. I draw on the 10 point then he turns, quarting away from me. I held as long as I could but had to let down. I thought sure they would run away. Nope, just stared at me for awhile then went back to browsing.

Then the 7 point turns perfectly broadside and sticks his head in some weeds. This is like a sign from a God or something, right? So I draw and put an arrow right behind his leg and they both take off like a bat out of hell. I was so nervous I about fell out of the tree.

I got a hold of my buddy later that evening and told him I shot one, but needed help getting it out, since I don't own a truck and can't lift a 150 lb deer anyway. He thinks I am joking until we get there. I think he was more excited than I was. He was bragging me up at work the whole week telling everyone how I got one my first year out, opening day at that. And how I made perfect shot, which didn't suprise him since I shoot so much. I was a little embarrased, but hey after the last guy he tried to help left a sour taste in his mouth I figured I would let him gloat a little for me. After all my success was his doing pretty much. He picked my stand location and let me have a really low pressure remote spot he could have easily hunted instead. I pulled the trigger, but he did the homework. I just tagged along.

He asked me how I felt while we were dragging the deer out of the woods. I said what do you mean? And he reminded me about saying I wasn't sure how I would feel after killing a deer earlier. I looked at him and said "I'm not going to cry if that's what you are wondering.":D.

That was in 2000, I now own six bows, two rifles, 3 shotguns and have taught about 6 people archery. I think I'm hooked. Unfortunately I don't think I will be hunting this year though because I am about to move in a few weeks and it will be right at the opener of archery season.

And still no turkey yet![:@]

Sorry for the long post, I got excited.

Paul

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

A guy from my church brought me out when I was 10. I was hooked from then on. I did not get into bow hunting until this year and the reason was the extended season. But I now have different reasons for doing it.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

i was telling my ex-finace that i needed to get into it because i just wasnt getting enough time in the woods and he said "well , i have a bow for ya", so i took it and i went from there....then my sister got a bow and it's been awesome.....if there was a spear only season, i would take that up too just to be hunting....

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My dad got me started. It wasn't cause he was bowhunting atthe time but he did for years before. He would talk about it all the time when we were out hunting other stuff and I wanted to experience what went on. Needless to say I've been bow hunting ever since and got my dad into it again.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Simply put without archery equipment I would only be hunting deer for a few weeks of the year with a shotgun and muzzle loader. Before this year I would not be hunting on sundays without archery. Thank gawwd for archery!

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I started bowhunting because I love to deer hunt and it extends my season and puts more venison in my freezer. I muzzleload hunt for the same reason.

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

the challenge

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

as a kid i spent a lot of time in the woods and at the river i made a couple bows to just fling arrows when i was in grade school then in high school they offered archery so i took it the started to hunt on my own using what i had learned and seen when i was playing in the woods next thing you know i had a doe for dinner then went into the army and after i turned 30 i went back to hunting showing my step kids how i never stoped learning always reading about hunting then got another bow started practacing and tore the tendons in my arm at work gave the bow to a friend 4 years later i tried shooting another bow the scar tissue has healed 4 deer later and3 seasonsi hunt every chance i get

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My dad taught us and took us out hunting and I grew up living for deer season. Guns were the thing with us and I still have a passion for them....but they will never be the same. I'm retired now butI worked with a bunch that were avid hunters for the most part, some were bow hunters. I quietly admired the bowhunters and always had an idea of getting into archery.....matter of fact I was invited to join in on some hunts....never did and blamed it on the expense of getting started. About the time I retired, I was also gun hunting mule deer in New Mexico on private land.....wife's relatives. I started noticing that many times I could get very close to the deer....stalking or sitting or whatever. (Even during the offseason I spend a lot of time just watching the deer) Anyway, it occured to me that I was in an ideal situation to bowhunt mule deer on this place and the New Mexico deer seasons greatly favor the bow hunter....so I built a couple ofpermanent tree stands (also use apop-up ground blind) andbought some entry level equipment at first thenupgraded to what I have now.

I am not going to run down gun hunting or gun hunters (proud NRA member here) but bow hunting is so much more challenging AND rewarding! You don't really see or feel it until you take that first trophy....you have a pride and feeling of accomplishment that is unmatched. Thanks for asking. Ray

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

Free beer saturdays after the hunt!:D

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My story is a bit different than the others here. To start off, no one in my family hunts. My dad shot squirrels, etc. when he was a kid during the Great Depression, but that was it. The second way my story is different is that I didn’t hunt anything with any weapon until I was 38, and I’ve never hunted with a gun and don’t plan to (except maybe for coyotes and other pesky varmits).

When I was a kid in Massachusetts, I spent a lot of time in the woods behind our house and loved it, but never hunted anything, aside from shooting squirrels with a BB gun to keep them off our birdfeeder. Then, when I started high school, I moved to the Texas Panhandle, which was a completely different scenario. I loved the woods and didn’t care much for the terrain, although it did have a kind of stark beauty. So I kind of lost touch with nature somewhat, although I always longed to go back and spend time in the woods. Not to hunt, just to spend time amongst the beauty of nature.

Then, in the early ‘90’s, I moved to the Washington DC area and worked with a guy from South Africa who bow hunted…even wrote some articles about bow hunting wild boar in South Africa. He also did some research on the deer population here in VA. He also wrote poetry, windsurfed and was in general was a pretty cool guy. When I saw the research he did on the deer population in VA (which they think is about twice what it was when Jamestown was settled in 1607!), and he explained the problems this caused with cars, farmers and the ecology in general, it kind of took away from the bad feelings I had about killing a beautiful animal. I was never against hunting, it was just that I had no desire to be involved directly in it. My South African friend moved away some years ago, before we ever hunted together, and I think is now teaching windsurfing in NC.

But several years ago, I had the good fortune of making another very good friend, who is now my best friend and hunting buddy. He and his wife live in a 200+ year old farm house on the Shenandoah River here in VA, where we stay when we go to the mountains. I met them through my wife, who is from the Altai Mountains in Siberia and who loves the outdoors, who used to work with his wife. He has been hunting here in VA for about 30 years and bow hunting for 25 years. Some of the land we hunt is the same land he hunted 25 years ago, when he was a teenager. He is a good and ethical hunter, a wise man, and a good and patient teacher. I am very fortunate. Because of him and his approach, and my love for the outdoors, and the beauty of Virginia, I have become a very passionate bowhunter. I live in Arlington, which is right across the river from Wahsington, DC. It’s a two hour drive for me to reach our land in the mountains, but I go out there every chance I get, whether bowhunting or just to be out in nature. And my appreciation for nature has grown amazingly since I took up bowhunting 2 years ago.

My wife and I plan on building a house on some very remote land in the mountains we bought last year, and to make that our primary home.I'm not sure any of this would have happened if I hadn't taken up bowhunting.

This year I discovered what a resource HNI is. Because of HNI, I think this year will be a very good hunting year for me, on many different levels.

Thank you all!

(and sorry for the long post…I know I can be along-winded cuss!)

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

I grew up watching my dad and brother hunt together, I couldnt wait until I was 12, the age when my dad said I could hunt. My step-dad and mom also hunted, and they said Icould hunt if I could pass hunters safety course.....I did that at age 9, so on opening day at age 9, Ishot my first deer ever with my single shot 20g....a six point. It was the happiest day in my life, and I knew I would be hooked from then on.I got my first bow (a highcountry) that year, and it took me 3 years to arrow my first deer. My dad stopped hunting when I stated, because he was "too busy" so I could only hunt with my step-dad, and he taught me everything about deer I know. He always used to put me in the best spots that would produce the most deer. now that I am older, he lets me try to find those spots.....its alot harder then it loooks!
I too was taught not to shoot anything unless I was going to eat it, with the exceptions of them danged ground hogs in the back yard that tear the yard up and the muscrats that dig the holes under our bank in the pond......I am very thankfull for this, because it is just wrong to kill one of God's creatures for no reason at all!

RE: What got you into bowhunting?
 

My dad was really the only bowhunter that I grew up around. One day I came home from school and he came out into the front yard with a new compound bow for me. I was completely surprised and have not forgotten that day, even twenty two years later. It's because of my dad and my love of the outdoors that I still look forward to climbing into my treestands every year. There is something about being in the outdoors, watching the woods come to life, that just continues to amaze me.

My 14 y/o son has recently shown a BIG interest in bowhuntuing so we have been doing some looking for him a bow. I'm not going to let the opportunity to introduce a youngster to bowhunting slip by, so he will be set up soon.