Since the question was "What makes a great bowhunter" and not "what makes a bowhunter successful" I would say that the taking of animals has to be in the equation somewhere. I think a bowhunter can be successful without being great.

To be great, one would have to have intimate knowledge of the prey, and be able to apply that knowledge to overcome the games superior senses with the end result being the taking of the animal. One can be a great hunter without a record book animal, but I think they have to routinely take animals where others fail. The kind of hunter that makes others think they must be cheating to get the results they do... those are great bowhunters.

To be a successful bowhunter...well, those are the intangibles.

Let me ask you though, huntingson......is Stan Potts great? Or....would you be equally as "great" if you were placed in the stands he is?He takes a lot of great animals.

Just a thought.

I dont know if "fun" goes into the equation of being "great." Ihave lots of fun playing golf but, I am a far cry from being great.

That person's ability to pass on his/her love of the art as well as the heritage of hunting.

Golf and Bowhunting are two different beast IMO.

Some of my greatest hunts are the ones where I did not take an animal.

Golf has a defined standard rules and goal, bowhunting has standard set of rules, but one's goal will differ from another.

All of the above; different strokes for different folks.

I think the defined goal/obect of hunting would be to kill an animal. Why else would we bring a weapon and buy a permit to kill that animal. We can, as hunters, also set other goals during our hunts; such as seeing more deer, killing a big buck, making a clean kill, etc. These personal goals/objectives would be the intangibles that change from one to another.

You know I guess that is why Bowhunting is so great, it does not have to be about the "kill" to me.

In 2002 I did not kill a buck, but I got close to the biggest one in our woods 3 times(I seen). I had my bow back once he just did not stop. I had a great season, and I hunted hard. Was I any less of hunter thanthis year in 2006? Because I shot the biggest deer in the woods(that I know), luck was on my side. If the tree would have not fallen over two days before who knows what I would have got him.

We put so much pressure on "killing a deer" we loose focus in really what make bowhunting great, and what makes a great bowhunter.

Respect for the woods
Respect for animal
Respect for his fellow Bowhunters.

This comes up time and time again..and not to be rude, but Honestly, who cares!!

Do you guys sit up at night and wonder how I or Shed33 or Germ or HCH (sorry guys just grabbed a few names)view your hunting prowess?? It's a self gratifying sport. You are not being judged! Lax (for example) do you want us to tell you your great cuz you hiked back in some mountains??

I don't give a hoot..does that bother you??? It shouldn't! I'm no-one to you!

Get out of it what pleases you..pass on the important stuff to your kids or "student", companions etc.. The ones you teach and associate with,are the only ones you should care about. If you are taking the time to educate them..they'll think you are great no matter whats on the wall!

I think the most imortant aspect of the question is being overlooked.

When you ask "What defines a great bowhunter?", who are you suggestion would be doing the judging?

If you are setting your standards, based on the "collective opinion" of others, are you really getting the most enjoyment out of your hunting?

When you apply your standards to judge someone else, you may decide YOUR opinon of that person based on those standards, but you cannot change their standards, or make them any better or worse of a hunter unless they agree to your standards and adopt them for their own.

I decide what the criteria is for making a good hunt for me.I decide if I want to shoot a doe, or an inmature buck, and only I can decide if is a good thing for me or not.

Your standards of judgement may or may not include such things as "Maturity of the animal harvested", "Effort level required to complete the hunt", Time spent hunting", "Time spent preparing for the hunt", "Accuracy of the shot", "Making good decisions, to ensure clean shots and quickkills"or many other things.

For me, (and this is my personal standards), the greatest bowhunters are the ones that know what they want to hunt, spend the time to undertand their prey so they can effectively hunt that prey in the environment whereit lives, and don't get overly concerned about what others might think.