sorry Dan [&o]... Lots of us have done the same ... no biggie .... look at all of the responses you got!

LOL I do that occasionally but, now, more often than not, I just respond in my head and move on.

It seems like everyone wants to belong to that "special club". Take your pick, there's the bowhunters club, mature buck hunters club, the let em' go.... grow club, the QDMA club, the P&Y club, the 60/70# DW club, the light/heavy arrow club and so on. Then they want to make sure thatyou know that if you are not in THEIR club then you are an inferior hunter . It seems to me that all of us would be much better served if remembered that we are in the HUNTING CLUB and that our numbers are shrinking everyday. We should try to be a little less elitist and a little more welcoming. Perhaps then more people would be encouraged to join the HUNTING CLUB.

Don't get me wrong. I think one of the best things for the HUNTING CLUB is the variety of interests and methods. I just think one of the worst things is that someone thinks that if hunters don't do it THEIR way then they are inferior or some lesser being.

Dan,
A can of worms, once opened, can never be closed again. To answer your NEW question in post 42..... I'd say that the rifle shot at 200 yards would be much harder for me than a 35 yard shot at a deer with a bow. I'm a sorry excuse for a long range rifle shooter, and my 30-06 is sighted in at 100 yards. I won't go much past that. Besides, where I gun hunt, you'd never see a deer that's 200 yards away.
A deer, however, that's standing still 35 yards away presenting me with an unobstructed shot on a day with no strong wind and lets me get to full draw without busting me is as good as dead.
In short, all conditions being perfect for both shots, the bow shot would be easier for me.... no kidding.

I always find this particular topic interesting...

as far as success rates go here .... Rifle hunters run right around 30% on whitetails in my county. Bowhunters 2-3% annually.. (on whitetails)

Rifle season encompasses the entire whitetailrut... and this is a bigwoods/forest land environment.. I believe these two factorshas a lot to do with the rifle hunters much higher success rates.. Its a lot easier here and I am only saying here....to get in rifle range of a whitetail than to get in bow range..

Bowhunting actually takes a little talent.......

Are you kidding me some body voted for gun hunting, bowhunting will always be more challenging.

i say bow is more challenging due to all the factors previouisly stated. drawing, scent, concealment, range, etc.

I'm glad to see some people used thier heads on this question. There is no automatic answer.

I can all but guarantee that if I ONLY rifle hunted, I'd have killeda lot LESS bucks, and have FEWER (if any) of them hanging on my walls.

Depending on time of the seasons, terrain, deer numbers, other hunter numbers, etc. one form or the other could be more or less difficult. Just depends on the circumstances surrounding it.

Amen Ryan. In our area, the sheer pressure during rifle season far outweighs the benefits of having a longer range weapon! Granted, the act of shooting a target with a bow at 50 yards will be more challenging than shooting a target at 50 yards with a scoped rifle, but we aren't hunting targets, we are hunting deer, and other factors come in to play. Pressure, deer movements, deer behavior, terrain, ect.. Most of it stacks in favor of the bowhunter who is hunting during archery season.

Exactly.I see way more deer while I am Bow hunting........that's why I started bowhunting.....to get to hunt more. The season is way longer andin the early season it's pretty easy to pattern bucks around food and water sources. There is more cover in the woods and not as many hunters. All these reasons help us kill deer bucks or does with a bow.

Gun hunting increases your effective range and it's easier to aim and squeeze the trigger vs the motion of drawing your bow with the deer that close. You can shoot longer shots....pay less attention to the wind and move a little more while gun hunting. BUT, there are way more hunters in the woods, the deer are running scared......most bigguns go nocternal and the deer are less predictable.

Both are challenging in different ways and I love doing both! Opening day of Gun season is like a Holiday. If you have never tried it you don't know what you are missing!