I've been around guns my whole life and i'll probably never quit hunting with them... fortunately i have land in different states where I can go bow or gun hunting... if i fill my tag in one i can go to the other get another easily enough...

i used to shoot bows a LOT when i was a kid... I lived in a city and we had a big enough back yard (not to mention our lot backing up to a swamp/forest preserve) that we could do it in the city without alerting any LEO's... so that was at least a 2-3 day per week activity during the summer... but i've always gun hunted mostly cuz no-one else in my fam was into bows so i was kind of a loner in that respect and the only hunting partners i could find were gun only guys... i've become mroe interested in bow hunting as the years have gone by but my sons interest in bows has kinda brought me back to the fold and one of my co-workers is wanting to get into bowhunting as well... but he's never gun hunted before and has no interest in it as he's more of a traditional outdoorsman (camping, hiking and etc.), kinda strange for someone his age - 29 - who was raised in the big city for the most part... so of course when i go to get mine he's gonna come with and check out some of his options... he's kind of excited about it cuz he says its always been something he believed was "more fair" hunting that guns and has a deep respect for the animals... so of course i'm going to help him on his way...

I love firearms, shooting and hunting with firearms as much as archery. With that said, I rarely shoot my rifles any longer and use my ML for firearms and ML season. I still very much enjoy firearms opening weekend and the community that I get to enjoy every year.

I am into guns and archery. Would probably not go back to hunting big game with a gun(rifle or slug) it is over to quick. Enjoy the extra time taken to archery hunt. I do a lot of upland bird hunting and varmant hunting. Archery, Rifles, Shotguns, Muzzle loaders love them all.

Growing up in Colorado guns and gun hunting was the way of life. Then I met a guy from Indiana that grew up hunting almost exclusively with a bow and I was hooked on bow hunting. I still have and love my many guns and as mentioned in other posts use them quite frequently. Everything from shotguns, handguns and rifles for whatever critter or occasion.

I love shooting guns just as much as shooting my bow, but I do hunt more with a bow than with rifles anymore.

They could cancel gun season tomorrow, and I'd probably be the happiest guy in the state.

I still do keep a good big game rifle, a high-end varmint rig, and a reliable turkey gun, but that's the extent of it. When I was younger, I used to really enjoy shooting/guns, but I just kinda outgrew it...or something... Just no desire anymore.

To be totally honest - there are so many slob hunters, gun nuts and lunatics around my area, I really believe that they have caused me to evolve a little bit, the other way... I would much rather be tagged out long before the orange army invades, and they start shooting up the place -even if that means settling for a scrubby 4x4 on the last day of archery season... I'm just so much more isolatedthan I used to be, always looking for an area where nobody can interfere with my archery hunting.

Don't get me wrong, I do very much enjoy a day ofstill hunting with the rifle, but the number of places is dwindlingwhere youcan do that, without beinginterfered with by 5,000 people, shooting everything in sight. Used to small game hunt a lot, too -but now I just focus on whitetails and spring birds.

I hunt with both and look at them as tools. When I was younger, I guess I could have been categorized as a "gun nut", but I'm more pragmatic as I get older. But, I also own a lot more firearms than bows, a lot of them inherited, with sentimental value.

I'm just getting into hunting. A friend of mine got me interested in it last year (the same one who told me about this forum) and this will be my first season hunting. He has a crossbow, and after shooting it, I'm going to have to try it. I have been shooting for about 20 years, so my first love will always be guns. I have already leaned a lot about deer hunting from reading old posts. It is apparently not as easy as I thought, so wish me luck!


BigTiny, check your email.

I like hunting with a gun once in a while but near as much as bow. I'd rather hunt with a bow anytime.

Got it. Good to see you finally post.

I like archery now that I heve tried it, but guns are still my favorite. I'll hunt with the bow until gun season starts, then switch back to the bow for the late bow season in February.

I much prefer to hunt with a bow over a gun, especially back here in PA where the woods are crawling with people. I'm always a little disappointed if I haven't tagged out by the end of archery season.

On the other hand, next month at age 44 I'm finallygoing fulfill a lifelong dream of going ona mule deer hunt for the first time in my life.I'm taking the gun.If I'm fortunate enough to score, I won't feel any less the hunter about it just because I did it with my gun. I figure, why limit myself on the hunt of a lifetime? Doesn't make any sense. I'm going there to have a great experience and take it all in, but the focus is on killing a mule deer plain and simple and the gun gives me the best chance to do that. I'm notinterested ina 300 yard shot, but would be more than happy to do some stalks that can get me within 75 yards then finish the deal with the gun.