Bowhunting a sport or life style ?
 

Okay I'm not trying to get anything started just interested in seeing how many think of bowhunting as a sport or life style.
I think of it as a life style, Good Hunting.

Defs lifestyle for me. Addiction even LOL Can't live without it , thats for sure!!

Lifestyle! Maybe more of an obsession!

To me it's a way of life. I can't imagine hunting any other way.

a state of mind

I started shooting a real Bow in 1956. I arrowed my 1st deer in 1958 & have Bowhunted Biggame ever since. I've been in nearly every aspect of Archeery/Bowhunting you can think of from Competition shooter, Bowhunter, State & local archery/bowhunting official, Archery columnist, story writer, bowhunting deer Guide & a Archery lane Pro shop owner nearly 20 years. Now, I just enjoy Bowhunting (the start of my 54th year) & going with my Adult Bowhunting children & now my G-son.

I have never gun hunted any biggame though I see nothing wrong with those who do.

So, is mine a lifestyle or a sport? hmmmm, I think both...

Some photos of those many years.

its pretty much an addiction for me!!!!!

It's what makes me tick. If I didn't have it, I'm sure there'd be something else, just not sure what. There is no point in the year that I am not thinking or doing something towards bow season.

For me it's both.

It's a lifestyle for obvious reasons but if it wasn't also a sport I don't think it would be worth pursuing. If you could go out knowing that you would bag Mr. Big or put meat in the freezer with little to no effort then what would be the point? I'd just buy a steer to kill for food.

Definitely a life style!

I gotta agree with Ben here too.

I think at first its just a sport,but after you do it for a while you love it so it is a lifestyle. Its a lifestyle for me.

It's definitely a lifestyle, and I don't think alot of people realize how much some of us put in.

For at least a couple days every month of the year, I'm in the woods doing something that has to do with whitetails. Whether it's scouting and snooping around bedding areas in February, trimming trees before Spring turkey season, running cameras when it's boiling hot in mid-Summer, hunting every available day in November or making one last attempt at a late-season doe. It takes hard work to be regularly successful, there's no way around it. And for alot of us it's a labor of love.

It is not a competition (sport) it's a way of life. If you want to call it anything else try...."pastime" but never a sport!!!

If you didn't have the thrill of the chase, the years of practice it takes to become great, the growing as a hunter, etc... etc... Would you still do it?

If you knew that you could go out into the woods and that big ole buck was just waiting for you to shoot him would you still do it?

No matter how you look at it hunting is a sport. It can also be a lifestyle, a way of life, a passion, a obsession, etc... but it is definitely a sport.

lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its pretty much all I think about! haha Probably not healthy:s3: Deer and deer hunting had a great article about this topic.

To me bow hunting is a sport (competition between you and the prey). I pretty much only bow hunt now days, because it feels like more of a challenge to me. Some could also say it is a lifestyle because it takes so much time and preperation to seek the rewards that we all want. I think I spend more time in the woods during the fall then with my wife, so I guess it would be considered a lifestyle after all :s4:

You obviously missed the point of the entire post.

Definatly a life style as I have hunted 44 years with a bow and harvested just about everything in north america. Major addiction.

It's my only pass time, so it invariably has changed my lifestyle. I believe as far as hunting sports go, bowhunting is the closest to an art. Which is why it's my only pass time.

When a person takes up bowhunting; there life changes in many ways. The way you think and appreciate things would be one example. There for its defenetly a life style.

I see it as a sport.... Although we love to eat deer it's not needed to survive. We do it for fun and the challenge. I'm not sure if it makes someone sound more dedicated if you say lifestyle or what. I'm pretty dedicated I think. I'm off the entire month of November to deer hunt and will be in the woods much of that time and many hours in Sept, Oct, and Dec if need be. Still a sport in my book but really doesn't matter what you label it as.

I know sports athletes that spend untold hours practicing and playing their sport....so would that be a lifestyle or sport ?

Instinctive

I've been fortunate enough to participate in many sports in my life. In every one of them, my fellow competitor knew he was in the game.

Hunting is a very important activity I participate in. But, not calling it a sport isn't a cut on the passtime/way of life. Calling it a sport IS a cut on REAL sports.

I also look at it as another hobby I'm into.

Besides, Some people think Golf is a sport, LOL

I went to Oklahoma hog hunting in May, shot 3-D tourny in June & another coming up in July & headed for a DIY Antelope in bout 5 weeks & then get ready for maybe another Hog hunt with kids b/4 deer Season..
Daughters Buffalo story just printed in National Bowhunter Magazine too.