understand more than you know and ill be the first to congrat someone that hunts different, and i know your the same

absolutely... I kill em with bow/gun every year....

Help me understand, Landon. What goes through your mind when you're sitting in the woods with a shotgun.....wishing you were bowhunting? Why do you hunt with the shotgun?

My bow shop owner.....he switches to ML as soon as the season comes in. Rifle....same thing. But the'll be the first one to tell you that he gets frustrated when he knows he "could have" killed a good deer ....if he didn't have the bow in hand. No issues with that! That's being honest.

You say you like Shotgun hunting.....but LOVE bowhunting. Why don't you just bowhunt?

It's good to reflect.

If reflecting always brings you back to the bow, why ever put it down? I've felt the same way as you rifle in hand. Iwas once beside myself because of nobody but myselfwhen I put down the bow and drove 200mi to be dissatisfied with the small buck I snipered. Since then, the chambers in all my guns have remained empty.

I have said on here many times before, we have hounds running all over the place here... if you have never been around this area (SE Va) then you can't understand... once the hounds hit the woods, it's over...try to bowhunt after pack after pack after pack of hounds have been through a peice of woods..they quit moving after the first time....I have two small parcels of land that I can bow hunt where dogs don't come, but they are just ok spots, not a lot of deer, not a lot food...I love bowhunting, I like shotgunning, but i would rather bowhunt, but it's damn near impossible here in this part of the state...I don't thinkyou guys understand how many dog hunting clubs are here....in Sussex county alone there are 250 dog hunting clubs!!!! that is just one county... it's a dynamic that I have to deal with , and I do hunt that way as well, but it's at the point where I can either join in, or sit at home.....it's no brainer...

i understand. you play with the cards you are dealt. i had some of the same thoughts this year. this was the first year i didn't pick up my gun during rifle season. walked right past it and grabbed my bow threw my orange on and went to the stand.
Then the whole time i'm on the stand i'm thinking. what if that big one we've been waiting for comes in at 60 yards and stops?
Then i began to wonder if i was just worried about the kill and not the hunt. its very possible with that last thought. Its at that point i'm forced back to why i do what I do. There is no place in the world i'd rather be at that point in time. I love it. and just having an encounter with a deer is a good note.
I can honestly say that since I started letting deer walk and not shooting everything that came by I have learned loads more than before. If i dont even think about grabbing my bow i watch the mannerisms more. body language, the way they entered, the time.

Then I'll ask again.....why don't you just bowhunt?

I told you why my shop owner gun hunts. He's results-driven, period. Are you?

Jeff what don't you understand here?? If you come here in Nov, Dec, Jan and see what is going on with dogs you will see why I don't get to bowhunt like you do this time of year... Im a member of 2 clubs so I can bowhunt there during bow season, and come Nov, they release the hounds, it's over as far as deer movement is concerned..sitting in the woods with a bow is useless....the deer are not going to walk by me on their own, they have to be pushed, secondly, I couldn't hit a deer with an arrow if it were being run by dogs...I have two small parcels that I hunt about twice a week, anymore than that is over hunting them..I bow hunt during the week....shotgun on Sat..ok. and yes, at times Im resluts motivated, but I never sit in the woods with a bow and say I wish I had a gun....that is why I don't own a ML Jeff...I bow hunt instead...

It's the last day of gun season here. After 40 years of trying to get my buddy into bowhunting I managed to do it this year. You know the story, set up my old bow for him, changed the draw length and weight,cams and all. Had him over for a few nights and taught him how to shoot. Found a bowhunter ed class for him to attend. Well, he's got a piece of property right behind his new house he's building. I stopped by to see him yesterday as I was in the Ithaca area. We did lunch and he went hunting, I went to a family thing. He called me last night with yet another bowhunting adventure. He's shot 3 deer with my old bow this year. He's out there today trying to fill his gun tag with the bow. He says he may never gun hunt again. LOL I gave him an NRA membership for Christmas and he's ready to get rid of all his guns. LOL He's been seeing this nice big 8 point he wants a crack at with the old Darton. Bowhunting just sort of does that to you. Your mind will wander off on angles of strings and arrows.

I'd just ask again....are you results driven? If not....why not hunt the way (you say) you love? That is hard to understand (why you don't).

It seems pretty simple, to me (not at all hard to understand). If you love bowhunting.....bowhunt. If you're afraid you're gonna miss out on killing something......choose another weapon.