Does anything else compare??
 

Last Sept. at my last bass tourny of the year a guy asked me if I was going to fish any tournys in Oct. I told him nope, and he said "why", I said, "you really need to ask me". He said "what are you a bowhunter?" I said yep. He said, "you really give up catching a bass to kill a deer?' I said "Gladly" "nothing compares to bowhunting in my book"...he just shook his head and said, " you guys are a different breed" I said "yes we are" ...does anything else even come close to bowhunting in your book??

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Unless it's somehting with my family.....I haven't found it.

I had more fun bowhunting deer in '06.....than I had in all my previous years of hunting....combined. That's the truth.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Concur

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Huh maybe thats why I get funny looks when I say bowhunting is my form of relaxation? LOL! People ask me how can it be relaxing sitting out there all day in the elements being cold wet and rainy, and then stressing over scent control and everything to walk away at the end of the day with nothing and enjoy it. Because no matter if I see anything or not there is always something I take from every hunt as a memory. I can't fully explain it but just being out there in GOD's woods enjoying his creation, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, just focusing on hunting and hunting alone, wipes all those daily stresses away. Like I told my ex-wife. I will always have hunting, you will not always be here. LOL Huh maybe thats why she's my EX-WIFE. LMAO!!![8D]

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

To be honest I’m REALLY glad that prime smallmouth fishing and bowhunting don’t conflict. I’d be a bit torn. I love it when a big old hawg slams my lure, breaks water and the battle begins. I know a lot of guys talk about fall bass fishing & that it can be pretty good. I never really gave it a shot. Couple trips on Sundays since our state still has dumb laws, but those days are gone now that I go to ohio.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

In Texas, about the best largemouth fishing of the year is October, and that's the same time as our bow season. Hunt in the morning, fish all day, hunt in the evening. Don't git no better'n that. :)

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Vabowman, I have been obsessed with bowhunting ever since I was in grade school. For years if the season was in I would not miss a single day for anything. The weather couldn't stop me nor could anything else. I have chilled some althoughI am still pretty hardcore, but if its not going to be fun I won't go. I asked my sister this past Dec. if her Husband was doing any Bowhunting and she replied he had been too busy.

I said: Yep, some people take responsibilities way too serious;)

Dan

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

For me it's a no-brainer, bowhunting all the way. I can't figure out why my hunting partner (who's father owns the property we hunt) won't get out of his boat come October and hunt with me. Oh well, now I'm going Turkey hunting with his dad come spring while he sits in his bass boat.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

I hear ya Mean, outside of my faith and family, nothing takes priority over bowhunting. Well, I guess my job maybe. :DMy dad asked me the other day when I was going to grow out of it, Im 32 yrs old and I told him when hell freezes over. He said at some point you gotta give it up and grow tired of it, I quoted an unknown author to him,
"When we can no longer draw bows,
when sinew has shrunk and bone gone
brittle,
we will hunt in our dreams because
hunting is part of our souls"

Author Unknown

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

I'm as ate up with DEERhunting as anyone..Dare I say, probably more than most.

That being said, I can turn it down to a simmer and enjoy April-Mid August and get aspassionatelyinvolved in Golf. I Also countinue to golf into the late summer and fall but my thoughts are often afield.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

I couldn't agree more, although snow skiing comes in a close second.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

I hear ya Vab! I gotta say though if I couldn't bow hunt my family wouldn't be what it is today! The woman in my life knows that if I can't go out and bow hunt deer, bear, or whatever it is that I'm hunting our relationship would suffer and probably not exist. Bow hunting is my out and release, without It I wouldn't amount to much. It may sound bad from what I just wrote but when your raised by a family of bow hunters this is what you become and what you are.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

I think it would be a tough choice between bowhunting deer and turkey hunting.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

outdoors wise.....there is nothing that compares......yeah i love to bass fish, but they all look the same to me

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

When the weather warms up......Lisa and I can ususally be found around some water. I don't miss bowhunting one bit during this time. I honestly think about it.....but that's about it. I will be shooting a lot of 3D this year for the first time....so maybe that will curb the appetite, some.

30 minutes on a Saturday morning to check the trail cams (summer)....and 30 minutes to look over what's out there......that usually fuels the flame, again. But we have WAY too much fun together for me to think too much about hunting when it's 90, outside.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

It's hard to think about hunting when it's hot, but it is always somewhere in the back of my mind, even in June and July.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Vabowman I hear you. I use to fish 40+ hours a week including running the beaches at Cape Hatteras three weeks a year. We even spent our honeymoon there so as not to missone of the best times to fish, October/November. Then I discovered bow hunting. We have a family house in Brigantine, NJ. and every yearI tellmy wifeI'll get a permit for the truck so we can run the beaches in the fall for stripers and every year I don't do it. Stripers or bowhunting ? No contest!

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Yes sir, I love bass fishing, bass tournaments, but the cost every year is getting mefarther away from it, bowhunting has always been my first love, and now that gas $is out of wack, I can't see me fishing anymore than 6-8 tourneys this year. I got to have money for leases and dues, I will not let fishing cut into that.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Suck up.

Just kidding. I am also blessed to have a spouse that is definitely the "better half" that loves to snow ski which I why I listed it as a close second to bowhunting.

I even have a 14 year old son that will still actually do things with his ole man from time to time so long as none of his friends find out about it.:D

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

I started bowhunting in the 60's. People asked back then "what are you doing with that bow in the woods"? After all these years the answer is the same. " enjoying the time of my life"! There is no activity that can compare to my time in the whitetail woods. I have a boat and there is much to be said for fishing but It just doesn't compare with opening day of bow season. Even now we are getting ready to go ice fishing but while I am there I will be watching out the shanty window to see if the deer are up and about.

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

its hard to say....

i REALLY enjoy spring gobbler hunting with my "critter gitter" 12ga...thats always been my favorite hunting till i started bowhunting..

just got into predator hunting this year....its pretty addicting...you know your addicted when its 9pm and -10--- -20 degrees with windchill and your out there in the snow with a light and caller...pretty fun stuff...

summer time, i enjoy sitting high up on a hill top watching the fields and pastures with my groundhog gun...long range shooting is a blast and a challenge..i love it..

fall and winter i love small game hunting...exspecially ruffed grouse when the action is hot...

all year long i absolutely love running coon hounds. i started running hounds soon after learning to walk...something about hunting with dogs just doesnt compare to anything else...

i love making smoke with my flintlock in the winter deer hunting...

then, theres bow hunting for deer in the fall...i love it..sitting up in the treestand waiting...getting that deer within 30yds and getting that perfect shot and watching that perfect arrow flight and watching that arrow slice open the chest cavity and disappear...


really cant pick a favorite....i DO give up small game and fall turkey hunting to bow hunt. everything else happens at different times of the year so i cant say if i love one more than the other...i love it all.

im a hunter...im a fishermen....in the end i am outdoorsman...plain and simple...

different strokes for different folks....some of you might think im nuts for sitting in the dark with negative wind chills trying to call in predators....you might think im nuts for sitting in a hay field at 4pm at the end of july when its 90+ degrees out there...bugs crawling on you...you either cover up your skin and sweat or get sun burnt....and for what? to make a 350yd shot on a groundhog...some of you would really think im nuts for chasing coon hounds a mile or 2 up and over the hills and through the brush in the dark to get to the tree and not even shoot the coon because its "in your training woods"

but theres people out there that look at us bowhunters and say "Boy them guys are idiots...its raining and 30 degrees out and they are sitting up there in that treestand getting soaked..."

i havent found a form of hunting i did not enjoy as of yet...getting into new forms of huntng is actually a killer...flintlock consumed me and emptied my wallet...then it was bowhunting and same story..then it was the groundhog rifle..that really emptied the wallet and took up every evening this summer...now its predator hunting im sitting here half sick because i sat out in the freezing cold and got sweaty walking to stands and stayed out way to late and came home exhausted...the light, caller, hand calls etc all take cash out of my wallet...

but, i love it...nothing else i rather do....beats spending my time and money on anything else...i dont wanna know what id be doing if i wasnt an outdoorsmen

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

-compare? nope, not for me personally. Nothing really does outside of my faith, wife and kids time.

-I enjoy being in the mountains year around, hunting, scouting, shed hunting, glassing etc. Hunting season for me is game time.. the rest of the year; scouting, strategy, prep work, practice is what ups the odds come game days.

-Those 100 degree days in the summers when everyone is hitting the lake, the local watering hole, softball tournamentsyou name it, you'll find me perched in the eveningson some mountain clearcut or ridge glassing until dark. Often by myself or occasionally with a family member. I really enjoyit when no one else is in the woodsand the most careful animals show themselvesin the daylights last hour or half of hour. Often hunters I talk to here at homehave no idea what is really out there.

-I fish a little bit (used to a ton growing up) and will more with the boys getting older but there is plenty of time in the summer days for that.. being a teacher is nice when it comes to free time with the family and still allowing me to get out and scout in the evenings..

RE: Does anything else compare??
 

Cape Hatteras huh? Do you know of Oden's Dock? There's a restaraunt/commercial fishing dock there by that name.