RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

NO!

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

yea but only with my muzzleloader normaly its to maximize my deer to give to the food bank and to thin the overcrowding on our farms

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

Well, I used to do it all. I would start the season out bowhunting. Then muzzleloading would come in; followed by rifle season.

Last year, I bowhunted all bow season and through muzzleloading. However, I still took out the 30-30 and got a wallhanger (w/in bow range) with my rifle.

This year I bowhunted on up until rifle season. Even took the bow out the first day of rifle. I've had the gun out about 3 times this year since I change locations sometimesand hunt with my dad.

I'm definitely using my bow more and more each year.

BTW: All the deer I have killed with a rifle have been on the ground and w/in bow range. So that is why I decided to mainly just hunt w/ a bow during gun season. Why not???:)

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

Yes but I've taken to hunting with handguns. It throws a lot more challenge into it and is probably the only reason I head out with a gun at all.

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

Ryan that is the next thing I want to try to. A friend of mine is getting me interested in it.

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

First of all, gun hunting is tradition for me. I use rifle, shotgun and pistol. I mainly go to be with family and friends. It is also my main way of taking does. When I'm bowhunting, its just me, I'm a hermit!

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

That's an awesome quote.

I hardly gun hunt. Here and there just to be social with family and friends. Other than that I'm toting my bow :D. I dont' like things that go bang.

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

Elsewhere on the forum I wrote:

But of course to each his own. This is just a personal standard I set for myself. It's not intended to knock anyone else's passions. Way I see it,I workmy butt off to buy all this equipment waiting for a chance to get outin the woods after arranging childcare and clearing schedules with the wife, all the while hoping theweather cooperates,I want the most out of my hunt. And I aint gettin the most out of it unless I get out my bow, even during the gun season.

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

Only on private land, and only if I haven't filled my freezer by the last week of deer season. I don't have anything against gunhunting, but when I arrow a deer, I still get those "adrenaline shivers" right after...I don't get that with a gun!

RE: Do you still hunt with guns
 

Here we go again...

I'm going to try not to get confrontational this time, but, I can't take the narrowed view of some bow hunters who make statements like "gun hunting just isn't a challenge anymore" or "with a gun it is just shooting", "with a gun it is just killing" and so on.

If you are one of the people making these statements, it is my OPINION that you are not a very creative hunter. If your only method is to be in a stand trail watching, then yes, if you see the deer before it is spooked and you are going to take it. The hunt is pretty much over unless something goes wrong when you are carrying a gun.

But, if you really wanted to be "challenged" (which is a word I keep hearing), and really put your hunting skills to the test, you should try "active hunting" in stead of "passive hunting". That is the difference that I associate to gun hunting. Sitting in a stand is hunting like a passive spider, the black widow for example. Once the quarry has entered the web the surprise attack takes place. Active hunting, would be to pursue your quarry with no web, like the brown recluse spider. You take your most educated guess as to where your quarry may be, and you go get it. Like I've explained many times before (and will spare you guys with it this time, since the last time I was actually asked to "enlighten" and then told "uninterested")
My first ever bow kill was last year, and I was unimpressed to say the least. It was one of the easiest kills I've ever experienced. I do understand how tough it can be, and have been skunked, busted and so on.But I killed an eight point buck, on the first day, at first light, shooting a borrowed left handed bow, right handed. Since that time I've killed a number of deer this way, and Passive hunting (which is what most of you are doing) is "easy" by nature, when compared to "active" hunting. Sure passive hunting would be easier to succeed with a gun than with a bow, but from my experience, active hunting with a gun, is much more challenging. In all aspects, whether it be mentally, physically or both. That said, active hunting would also be much more challenging with a bow, but in most cases, it would be impossible.

When you stalk hunt a deer, you are usually going to its bed. The bedding areas are so thick you can not see into them very well and must get really close in. Like within bow range, but walking on the ground. Now your scent is on the ground and walking up to them, and oh yeah, don't forget to be quiet and still.
Someone please explain to me how sitting in a tree stand, shooting at the same distance with a bow, which is a consistent shooter, is more challenging? And I didn't say that it wasn't challenging, tell me how it is MORE of a challenge?
I am totally aware that hunting with a gun just may not be appealing to some. And I'm not going to try to talk you into it. But at the same time, I'm not going to sit back and listen to inaccurate statements. So, before you use terms like "easy" and "not challenging" when speaking about gun hunting, ask yourself what kind of hunting you're talking about.