It all depends on the situation. You fail to mention some very important details that need to be discussed. How far is the rifle shot? How far is the bow shot? For example I much rather take, and consider a 20 yard bow shot WAY easier than a 350 yard rifle shot...hands down. A 40 yard bow shot vs a 40 yard rifle, I take the rifle any day.....you see what I mean? Are you talking about rifles only or any firearm? A 50 yard shot with a scoped rifle (or slug gun) is one thing, a 30 yard shot with an iron sighted revolver is quite another.

By just putting up a simple, vanilla flavored, run of the millquestion like you did, all you're going to do is incite an argument and continue to stoke the festering problem of elitism that's already running rampant in the bow hunting community.[:'(]

In different circumstances either can be way more difficult than the other.

Where I hunt, I went with gun hunting being more of a challenge!

You are kidding, Right?

Dan

Never hunted with a rifle.Although 750,000 other gunhunters in the woods does keep it interesting to say the least. It's also really noise.

Only thing challenging about gun hunting is finding the deer. They're usually educared quickly.

How can you even compare the 2, gun hunting is a million times more easy,(and i do both) you have asight on a gun( zooms in), you can be perfectly steady,you can shoot alot alot further with it, they cant jump the string, you can use the wrong pin with a bow, with a bow they can see you pull it back and get scared, you flinch slightly with a bow, you miss alot more than with a gun, if its to windy its hard to shot with a bow, You usally have to stand to shoot with a bow, the deer has to be alot closer so the deer can smell you.
Just to name a few.

Bowhunting by far!!!!

Well I didn't answer the poll because nothing is ever that simple. If it were a poll specifically onjust taking a shotwith either a bow or a gun that would be different. There are far too many details to take into consideration to look at actuallyhunting with those weaponsthat simply. For example I think we all can agree that both seasons have advantages and disadvantages.

Where I hunt bow season comes in 6 weeks before general firearms. So cleary there are some advantages such as more daylight, more food sources, many deer still in summer feeding patterns, far less hunters in the woods, highly predictable deer movement. Not only those things but take into consideration that the deer are often startingheavy pre rut activity a couple of weeks into bow season which meansbuck sightings are fairly high. Some disadvantages usually inlude higher temps, scent control is more of a factor, and of course a limited shoooting range. IMO the advantages of the early season far outweigh the disadvantages unless you are a person thatconsiders the limited shooting range of your equipment to be an overwhelming disadvantage. I don't, it's something you know about going into the seasonand youshould choose your stands withit in mind(along with many other things). Last year on opening week myself and my hunting buddies saw nearly 50 deer and killed three and had shot oppurtunitiesat several over the course of that week andthe rest ofbow season.

Then gun season rolls aroundand it has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of course being the ease of shooting a firearm and increased range/accuracy. Another advantage is stand set up, the standsdon't have to crowd the deer and you can set a little further away to give a little more cushion between you andwhere you anticipate the deer. Also the first couple of weeks of gun season have some phase of rutting activity going and you can catch deer moving often especiallythat first week or so. Food sources are getting slimmer so that is good and bad, good because you know where most of the deer will be feeding(advantage) but bad because after the guns start going off the deer become night time diners and become wary about being in the open during shooting light(disadvantage). Also you now have less shooting light as well because of thetime of year. Now fast forward a couplemore weeks, hunters have now been in the woods since bow season, guns are going off, more humanintrusion in the woods, deer getting killed,and all of this equals skittish deer who become harder to hunt, probably the biggest disadvantage. Yeah of course if you see one within 100-200 yds. with your rifle you can probably kill it, but you need to see one first. Opening week of gun season we saw 7 deer and managed to kill 3 then as well.

This is the area I hunt that I'm describingand I'm sure other areasare different just like in that other thread just because something works in Iowa or Wisconsin does not mean it will work or even applies to another herd in a different state.

Hunting deer is as easy or as hard as the hunter makes it IMO. If you are bow hunting set up bow stands if you are gun huntingyou can set up a little differently. It's funny to me thatstuff like this is brought up because the only difference between the two weapons are methods of discharge, effective ranges, trajectory,the way the projectilecausesdeath(i.e hemoraging, shock)etc. Basically the actualSHOT and how you shoot itis the difference, and I don't know many hunters who when telling a hunting story simplify the whole thing down to just that 1tiny aspect at the endof a hunt (before the trailing begins of course).

Quite the contrary, most will tell you everylittle detail fom last years sheds, to this years summer sightings, to trail cam pics, to the stand location, to the food, tothe weather, to the wind, everything.

But let's focus on what weapon is easier or harder to shoot because that is what makes a hunt hard or easy or "more challenging", isn't it?? I don't think so, here is a suggestion, if you are not killing deer, stand facing a mirror with a bow inyour righthand and a gun in your left, the real answerto the question "Why am I not killing deer?" can be found somewhere in the middle of that mirror looking right back at you. Again JMO and not directed at anyonepersonally, directed more towards the mindset that one is more challenging that the other.

Wow, sorry so long, no one will probably even read that one.

ABarOfSoap,

If you really hunted with both, there is NO WAY you would have posted what you did. Just need to "tidy up" a few things here.

1st. If you "flinch slightly" with a rifle...say you move the muzzle 1/4 inch.....at 250-300yds (effective range) you've just successfully shot about FIVE FEET over the deer!. If you "flinch slightly" with a bow again 1/4 inch at say 25-30yds (effective range) you'd miss your mark by a few inches....you'd still hit the deer.

Why do you thinklong range rifle shooters try to control both their breathing AND heart rate? I'll tell ya, because even something as slight as the shooters HEARTBEAT can cause a complete miss at extended ranges.

2nd. If it's windy it's also extremely difficult to shoot long ranges with a rifle, the bullet will drift obviously a lot further than you think (or even knew) it would.

3rd. You don't have to "usually stand" to shoot your bow, I've killed plenty of deer over the years sitting down.

This is what I'm talking about people...Blanket statements that folks just absorb like some kinda sponge only to spew it themselves for others to absorb at a later date,never taking the time to research whether or not it's even true. It's that, or some are so hell bent on pounding their chests and showing the world in some sort of elitist right of passage that bow hunting is the pinnacle of hunting and that all other forms pale and should just get down on bended knee and tip their hat to the all mighty bow hunter who saunters into the room, that they are willing to say anything true or not in order tofortify their position.

The question posted was "What do you think is more challenging" the operative word being THINK. So the next time someone asks a question like this please put SOME THOUGHT to it before typing.

It's threads like this that absolutely without a doubt show just how elitist bow hunters are. They are so blinded by their lust to show the world just how great of hunters they are and how hard their form of hunting is, that they don't realize they are only hurting hunting as a whole withtheir elitist propaganda.

I'm at a loss.....[:'(]