ORIGINAL: Killer_Primate

"Let's be honest" Those are your words right? Or are they Greg and Robs too?

What exactly does "let's be honest" mean? I think we'll get to that in a few...

I don't care who said it. I take offense to it. And it doesn't so much bother me that you think it. It is that you say it. And you say it in a place where there are young, impressionable hunters, ones like you. Ones who believe something simply because someone else said it. They read it, and it sounds good, so they start saying it too. And I don't think that it is fair to them, for you to make such statements. You’re almost passing on the torch… of close-mindedness!

Hey,guess what, there is a new guy that just posted about getting to his stand in themorning quietly. He’s a “passive” bow hunter. How about since you'reobviously such an expert at "the mostchallenging" way to hunt, go give him some advise? He coulduse your help, or could he?

I'll say it again. You practice the easiest form of hunting that there is. I'm not saying that you don't have to prepare, and pay attention to scent.Or practice.Or scout. But lets not confuse the preparation, with the hunt, and when it comes tothe actual hunt, you sit on your butt and sometimes all day. All forms of hunting take preparation. I've never ran dogs but I'm pretty sure there is some prep workthere. I'm going to guess (by the way I am being ignorant now,like some others, but Irealize this)you have to know what equipment to buy, like radios and dog collars. You have to know where you can and can't drop your dogs off and where you can and can't pick them up, legally. You have to know how to train the dogs, you have to make sure the dogs are healthy, you have to be able to shoot at a moving target, which takes practice. You have to know what the receiver is telling you and get to where the deer are running.
That sounds pretty challenging to me, but it gets torn to pieces here in this forum. I don't think that I would enjoy hunting that way, but I'm not going to say it isn't a challenge, since I haven't done it!

Just like you haven't stalked an animal before. I said it wrong before, or at least I didn't say it correctly, you know, grammar and all. So I'll say it like this;
Take any form of hunting, remove the firearm, and replace it with a bow, and you will make it more challenging. I think that is pretty fair, don't you?
But the problem is, you get a bunch of "passive" bow hunters making ignorant open-ended statements about hunting with guns. But most of these passive hunters experience is only with passive hunting. So sure, while you're sitting in the stand replacing your bow with a gun would in fact make it easier in most cases.

But how about "active" hunting? I'll be honest just as you said you were, but I'll use the word properly as stating a fact, instead of on opinion. You know, when the phrase “lets be honest” doesn’t mean, either agree with my OPINION or be WRONG. I have not been able to stalk hunt a deer with a bow. There have been times where I've been stalk hunting with a gun and I could have shot a deer with a bow, but those are few and far between. Never the less, each time I've had the bow on a stalk, it never worked out for me. So, should’a, could’a, would’a… I guess you could say that my skill level as a hunter is stuck, at least for now between "actively" pursuing deer with a shotgun and a bow. I haven’t made it to the next step. But you are like three steps behind me! “lets be honest”
I've killed a couple of nice bucks from a stand with a bow. In fact the first one I ever shot, was the easiest deer I've ever killed, no matter what method or weapon was used. And here goes the real deal…. Ready? Every time I’ve sat in the stand and hunted “passively” it hasn’t been hard! What is so hard about sitting and waiting? Oh yeah, I remember, you’ve got to sit very still, and be very quiet (For some reason I’m getting a vision of Elmer Fud right now, and yes, I do realize he carried a double barrel shotgun), and lastly be able to make the shot. I’d say that the hunt begins when you enter the woods, no matter how you’re hunting. So please explain how the hunt is over with a gun, and just starting with a bow, when you see a deer? I mean I realize that this statement sounds cool and all, well at least if you haven’t really thought about what you’re saying, or all the different ways to hunt.

Until you have taken your personal skill level to the point of stalking a particular mature buck with your bow, you’ll sound like a fool to say that hunting with at gun isn’t challenging, because you haven’t made it there.

You could say it some other ways and not sound foolish. For instance you could say;
“there is just something about hunting with a bow that intrigues me, that I don’t get from a gun” or “I’m not able/willing to stalk so I choose the most challenging way to hunt from up in a tree” or “I just don’t like guns” all of these are fine statements. But ones like “guns just don’t challenge me anymore” or “with guns, it’s just killing” aren’t.

Now I admit, as others have pointed out, it doesn’t take a great deal of skill or preparation to hunt the way that a lot of gun hunters do hunt with their guns. Like sitting on the edge of a valley and shooting a deer 300 yards away, when pressured by other hunters or ran with dogs, but when you make your statements, please be specific.

At this point in my life I am more challenged by actively pursuing my quarry on the ground with my shotgun, than I am sitting in a tree with a bow. I’m pretty sure you would be too. Simply because the disadvantages of walking on the ground far out weigh the advantages of replacing the bow with the gun. That guy I mentioned earlier with the question about being quiet while getting to his stand, he represents most of the hunters in this forum, and he has a question about how to not scare off the deer for the one short walk he’ll do the entire day. Now you go answer his question. I can’t wait to read what you come up with.

ORIGINAL: shed33

1. Dad told me as a little one, "soon as your big enough to not chit your britches you can go archery elk hunting with me." I was pumped!I took him up on it, I remember hiking with him at 5 years old after elk. We bugled in bulls and I watched my dad kill them right in front of me, spikes, rags, 5x5's 6x6's you name he killed them, he cared nothing about the antlers, but he loved the hunt and having me there with him. We ate elk meat or deer meat 7 days a week growing up. Good stuff! Words can't explain what those days mean to me now and back thento an elementary school kid.

2. Fell in love with the whitetails when we moved to Northern Idaho when I was 11from Central Idaho. I started gun hunting and dabbling with a bow. I started killing whitetails with the rifle and after about 10 years really wanted to bowhunt since the shots were often very close anyway. I also wanted to hunt the elk in the rut.

3. Wanted more hunting away from all the rifle shots.

4. Today, I just like being close. I bowhunt during rifle season here for two months every year. It's loud and isonly getting worse, but I have learned to deal with it, but for the most part my favorite seasons are the early and latearchery seasons...when the only thing thats loud on the mountain is a screaming bull elk or athunderstorm.Took me three years to kill a bigforest landbuck with my bow back when I started,Humbling..but all that work after finally paying off..after making so many mistakes..felt better than any other hunt I had been on. Still does.


All Right I need to get off this PC... and go bowhunting. Its pouring the rain now, what other thing in life would I go sit in the rain for hours for! Had aclose callagain this morning on a dandy 4x4...but still havent killed a thing this year and have been loving every minute of this season! Maybe this evening will be the night, gonna keep chopping wood here...Play nice folks! And to those still bowhunting! be safe, god bless.

Troy