hardluck71

Today I shot my bow again in preparation for my planned hunt to Texas for Whitetails next week. As I was retrieving my arrows out of my target I couldn't help but wonder why I do this? Is it for the exactness required to be successful? Is it for bragging rights? Is it to fulfill some missing reservation that I have within my own being? Is it because I want precision and perfection? A good challenge? Maybe some of it, maybe all of it. Maybe I just love doing it. I know this one thing and that is with bowhunting things have to be in place a little better than while hunting with a rifle. How do I know this? Because I have already killed two deer with my rifle this year and a grand total of 0 with my bow. No doubt, when hunting with a rifle, one has to have great skill and confidence (or should have it before they attempt to hunt). However with archery there is a bit more depth needed to make things happen. I know that I can reach into my Gun cabinet, pull out my 7 mm mag or my .300 WSM and legally kill a deer if I see one and he/she is with in 500 yrds. I have done it before and I will do it again. But as I drew my bow back one more time and slowly released, I felt a flow of quiteness inside of me. A solitude. The preservation of me. Sounds silly to some, but who cares. I don't. I know the feeling that it gives me and I also know that no matter how troubling things are in my life, I can always pull out my bow or one of my rifles and just shoot. I focus so much on what I am doing at that time that I forget about what the rest of the world is doing. I may suck that day, but tomorrow I won't. I may miss the x-ring by an inch or two but so what. Who cares. I don't. Today was my day. Yes, I was shooting to get ready for the hunt, but I was also shooting to get ready for what ever tomorrow may bring. Just a few thoughts I wanted to share.

Good Hunting.

badshotbob

And only a bowhunter might understand that. Good thoughts. God Bless and good luck in TX! Hope you bag the big boy.

buckeye

Great thoughts there. Good luck with your late season.

Legacy357

i know exactly what you mean, i live to bowhunt. I need to get out and away from it all. It relaxs me and puts my mind to work and asleep at the same time. i am always ready for whatever comes. I feel tradition and a past time that will live with me til i can no longer pull back my bow. I am getting to the point where i hate gun hunting cause it is no challenge to me. The deer here in pa are not running around freely during gun season, they are running for their lives and all you have to be is in the right place at the right time. Scouting the deer, knowing where they are and where they are going to be at any given time and waiting is all part of the game that i love.....i too am a bowhunter!

jimpok61

Nice post hardluck. To each his own, but to us bow hunters we have all learned one thing. I think we can all agree that the whitetail offers us a tremendous challenge and we have all learned to respect that challenge. THEY ARE VERY SMART CRITTERS!!!!!!!

PABowhntr

Excellent post and a great attempt to articulate the feelings that many of us share. For a second there you had me thinking, and feeling, of some of the better times I have been out bowhunting. I miss that now that we are in gun season.

ampahunter

For me, bowhunting is, if I can't do it with a bow then I don't care to do it!
It's that tranquil rush while sitting in solitude, catching movement in a distance, and instead of a squirrel, a chipmunk, a rabbit--yes it's the deer, bear or moose, caribou, you've been waiting on. Thinking that you've got their roads covered, they cautiously approach, stop, look, scent to wind and a few steps ahead, does the same thing all over again. It then becomes, what happens next. Your bow is now in hand, your release now locked, you're standing fixed against the tree, where ever you are, twitching your eyes and following their path. Oops, the animal stops again, doesn't move an inch for what seems like hours, obviously no comfortable and then changes course, now travelling in the opposite direction away from your stand. Another star for the animal another x for the bow---and yes that's what I love. He walks to live another day and I smile with myself and accept he has won this round!!!
Tomorrow brings a new day, tomorrow I'll take my bow and start all over again!!!

NY Bowhunter

Great post. I found myself reflecting on bowseason quite a bit while I was out gunhunting. Trying to figure out the never ending question of how can it be so different. The reasons are obvious.
Some things that crossed my mind:
The peacefulness and solitude is unmatched. You can get away with a little more during gunseason than you can with bow. Maybe you can get away with stepping on a twig or knicking a branch because the deer are 100 yards away when you're preparing to shoot. You have to be one in their kingdom. Know their habbits and routines. There is NOTHING that can match the rush of a buck slowly walking to you and being aware of his surroundings. You have to be perfect. Everything has to be alligned perfectly to execute. It's so quiet and up close and personal. It's in one word AWESOME!!
The other thing I figured out with my endless hours of squirel watching during gun season. I've been in athletics all my life and have been blessed to excell beyond what most people are able to do. I played semi pro hockey for 3 years and ended up that my abilities weren't going to take me any further. I then became a professional golfer and played on mini tours for a few years. I'm now a GM of a club in NY and a teaching pro.
Anyway, I've played every sport known to man throughout my life. I kept looking for more and more of a challenge. I thought I finally found the ultimate challenge in golf. If any of you play the sport, you know what I mean. Very humbling and difficult perhaps impossible to conquer.
Well throw all of them out the window. Bowhunting is the ABSOLUTE ULTIMATE sport. Unmatched by anything. The work involved, the preperation, the dedication, the marksmanship, the need for perfection, etc........... It is the ultimate game.I needed a challenging sport and I certainly found it in bowhunting. The best thing about it is you can do it the rest of your life God willing and pass it along to your kids!!! Thanks for the post reminds me of why I love it so much

StealthyOne

[/quote]


Here Here!

rangerstud620

Great post! Like many of you, bowhunting is my absolute favorite thing to do. My family and friends that don't bowhunt ask me how I can sit in a tree all day. All I can say is you have to experience it in order to know. Like NY Bowhunter said, there's something about the peacefulness and solitude. There's a rush that comes with seeing a deer in it's natural surroundings. And nothing beats the thrill of making a great shot on a deer. If only everyone could experience what we bowhunters get to experience.