Agreed, I hunt gun and bow. I am just as scent anal, crazy obessive about scent and such as I am during bow season. I prefer them at 40 yards be it bow or gun season.

So many responses yet one theme, get a gun. bull****! (if filtered, BS). Hunt thickets. The big boy you're after moves into thickets during hunting season and stays there. He moves at most about a 20' circle during the day. He's not stupid. So you need to get into those thickets early in the morning and I mean early. I jump into these places 60 mins before legal shooting and it goes without saying, opposite from where he is hanging out at night.

People think, especially because your bow hunting that you need all these clear lanes. You don't. You need the one shooting hole to drop that one big buck. Sure, having a couple of good holes to shoot into is ideal, so choose wisely. However, hunt the wind and find the good spot and you will see a lot of deer. Will you see a nice one and not get the shot? Sure. However, what's more exciting, seeing him without that shot or hearing guns go off all around you and not seeing a deer?

I love bringing a bow around people using guns. Nothing better than showing them a kill after the hunt. It's like bringing a fly rod to saltwater fishing.

relax fellas, im not bitchin. im justb sayin its a little dissapointing for lack of better words. i know these guys are not scouting or doing any of the other work because I know most of them through friends. just wanted to see if anyone else felt the same did not want to get butchered

Turn your experience into a positive reaction. You have one full year to get a couple of private spots. They are there, you just have to get out there and find them. Some you have to pay for, some you may have to do work for and others you may have to show your respect to gain admission. One thing with private land though, unless you own it, at some point you will loose it. Always be working to get more.

Yes, you are wrong to be mad. The gun hunters are doing what they enjoy and have every right. Yes, it is easier. So.

Not to steal your thread, it may go along. How about hunting in archery only areas that are surrounded by regular hunting only to have a- holes push the archery woods out. Then they have the nerve to say "Why are you hunting with that when you can use a gun anyway"

well here fer instance....we have 1000 public acres for gun or bow..but just an hour or two down the road, is a bow only public hunting lands that is 3000 acres..do yall not have these bow only areas?

You say you scout well in advance of the season. That may be part of your problem if the deer are now on a food source that was not present during your scouting, like acorns. When the acorns are falling around here, deer hit them hard and seem to avoid the fields where you see them all summer. Just a thought.

Also on public land that gets pressure, you can find good spots without scouting. Just get yourself into the thickest cover you can find. The deer will show up at first light when guys are going to stands, or around 9-11 AM when guys are leaving stands. Most of the deer you will see in the thick stuff will be in bow range.

Adapt and overcome.

uncle norby i am seeing deer just not in range. heck i had one night where i saw three does come into a corn field at about 5. the deer have been moving late so i thought, well ill set up on them tomorrow. that night i had two deer come in to the field i was on but i needed them to have been about 15 minutes earlier. so the next day i got in real early to set up on those 3 does. they never came but guess who came early in the other field, thats right those two from the night before, or at least i assume it was them. thanj you for the tip about hunting the thick stuff. i will have to try that on my next weekend. i work night so i miss most of my morning hunts. we do have one bow only land but its an hour and a half away so with my schedule its ruled out

I know how you feel sussex. I hunt private land basically by myself during bow season but come gun season i get ran out of every spot i have to hunt and the deer i pass up to let them grow another year or two, get shot during gun season buts there nothing i can do about it though because its not my land and have come to accept that over the years. I have always got gun permits in the past but its not worth hunting in a war zone so i didnt even buy gun permits this year. I just hunt as hard as i can with my bow before gun season and thats all i can do. Just my 2 cents