ORIGINAL: NEW61375

Sure there are different challenges(mainly in taking the shot and max range) but you know that ahead of time and should be setting up your bow hunts taking those things into consideration. Hunting difficulty is measured by more than just the range of your weapon. Along with the challenges there are many advantages to hunting during archery season which more than balance the playing field in the hunters favor. It is deer hunting, not rocket science no matter what weapon. Deer for the most part arehighly predictable creatures of habit. Their lives are based on food, cover, avoiding predators and breeding( like I said, for the most part). Now deer are very cagey and skilled in the art of survival but they are not capable of a whole lot of complex thought and I would argue that we as humans pretty much have the corner on that market and an extreme advantage because of it, we are not average predators. Lots of people seem to think that bowhunting is more difficult, why? Because you have to get closer to the deer. That is pretty thin, it only takes into consideration the disadvantages of archery equipment andnever considers the advatages of archery season. But IMO if you are a good(or even average hunter) you should be able to put yourself in a position to kill deer with any weapon you want at any time of the season. Again, just my opinion but for the record I too hunt onthe Eastern Shore and if a hunterhas trouble killing deer on the Shore(with any weapon)they are doing something wrong.

ORIGINAL: davepjr71
Your range is vastly increased with all other weapons than a bow, period.

The only reason I was "spouting off" was to let people know that these types of threads only serve to further divide hunters.

ORIGINAL: BigJ12

davepjr71,

If you have hunted with a pistol like you said, you would have known that's not true.

I sometimes like to use my 4 5/8inRuger single action 45 Long Colt to hunt deer. It has the same effective range as my compound bow. Shots from this pistol should be kept under 40 yards.

In fact I would be more comfortable and I'm more accurate taking a 40yd shot with my bow than a 40yd off hand shot with my pistol. With that short a sight radius and iron sights anything out at that distance is tricky. Not to mention the killing power of the .45LC or even .44Mag out past 40yds is greatly reduced.

ORIGINAL: davepjr71

Each to their own on this one. The effective range of a 44 mag on deer sized game is greater than 40 yds though. I'm comfortable at 80 yds with my 44. However, my 929 Powerport Classic has a 8.5 inch target barrel on it. Not a 4 5/8 stubby. That's where the equipment's affective range isan interesting discussion in itself and a good comparison.

I probably would not shoot past 40 yds with the barrel on your Ruger either. Short site radius adds to error. So, maybe not vastly increased. but still increased the same in my case. For your weapon of choicethat is not the case. Revolver hunting for deer is very challenging though. I have a tough time making myself keep the rifle home and just going revolver. I've even thought about just using the bow during rifle also.

In Western PA where I grew-up I didn't take a single shot past about 80 yds for 18 yrs. Then moved to MD and have shot past that distance every year.

It just turns my stomach when I hear or read how bow hunting is the ultimate in hunting and how it's so much harder than gun hunting and how bow hunting is this and it's that and bla...bla...bla...freakin..bla.