This is a very interesting comment. I learned to shoot traditional, and when I switched to compound I felt like I was cheating. It is almost like shooting a gun inside of 40-50 yards with iron sights. For pure shooting joy, I still prefer my recurve as it is still much more difficult to hit the bull with. However because of this same reason and my fear of wounding a deer and being unable to recover him, I prefer compound. Compound is still enough of a challenge though that I doubt that I will ever try to take a deer with a gun. Maybe that is elitist, but there has to be a reward in the hunt and deer hunting with a gun just isn't a reward for me personally.

More flip flopping than John Kerry. Last week when you were so against gun hunting, in the same posts you said that you gun hunt. It's one thing to like bowhunting more than gun hunting but still go gun hunting sometimes....it is something else entirely to say how against gun hunting you are and still go gun hunting.

I don't think you comprehended my posts very well. I didn't say I was against gun hunting in anyway. Your welcome to dig up some quotes to back up your claim that I did. I just said that a big deer killed with a gun doesn't deserve as much respect as a big deer killed with a bow. The two accomplishments aren't even close to being equal. There is a huge difference. Also, when I say I "gun hunt" that means I carried a gun into the woods on 2 different occaisions in the last five years (which I also pointed out). I don't think that qualifies me as being a "gun hunter" but it also excludes me as being a "bow only" hunter. So again I gun hunt but it is very very rare and the reason for that is that I don't find it to be nearly as challenging nor as rewarding personally. I really don't see where the above question you have quoted figures into this conversation though since I was merely asking a question to other guys that said they did both[>:]

You guys can shoot them with what ever you want. I really don't care. But, you should use the correct forum when posting your results. In otherwords: I really don't want to read about your rifle kills on a bowhunting forum. Let me make it clear to all.

Clear enough yet. take your rifles to the gun section. [:@]

dang talk about harsh words, is this your forum,i think peole can post deer kills where ever they want, there are some real jackasses around here, OH and please quote me if you want and yes im a gun hunter and bowhunter, sorry bees but your attitude is pure IGNORANT, go back to flowery branch

We cant here. I continue to hunt with a gun during gun seasons for two reasons. First , the Wi gun season is bigger than x-mas (tradition) and secondly I simply love to hunt and I'm not going to cheat myself out of doing something I absolutely love to do because one is more challenging than the other. I dont hunt for a challenge!

WELL SAID, Eceryone shold feel this way, hunt what ever way you enjoy and dont worry about others

That's an intresting perspectivee. So the challenge of the hunt plays absolutely no role in why you hunt? I would think that would put you in a rather small minority of hunters but I could be wrong. However, that does bring up the question of what reasons do you hunt?

First and foremost , I was raised on venison , as were my parents and their parents , and I absolutely love venison over any other meat!
I guess you could also say my love of hunting and being in the woods is in my family genes , as my parents and grand parents all grew up in remote areas where 100% of their time was spent in the woods either working (logging) or hunting for food.
The gratification we get from putting meat on the table is a primal instinct that runs strong in alot of hunters to this day. Others may get the same gratification (and you should) from working everyday and putting groceries in the house.
Our primitive ancestors didn't hunt for the challenge.
I understand the difference between then and now , if they failed in their hunt they would go hungry. If I fail today my family will still eat. But for those who have that strong primal instinct , putting food on the table from a grocery store just isn't the same.
I think the feeling we all get when we're sitting in the woods away from the concrete jungles of modern civilization is reason enough for anyone to hunt wether it be with bow , gun , or camera.

I too have a strong primal urge to be in the woods and to be hunting. However, if meat was my only or even my primary criteria then I would shoot every deer that came by me cause afterall that's what I am there for. But, I wouldn't be hunting very much until I was limited out or there would be no point because I would have more meat in the freezer than 6 families could eat. Therefore I pass a lot of deer waiting on a bigger buck etc. I am assuming from your post that you do not do this. Most of us, I would assume, have the primal urge to hunt or we wouldn't do it with the vigor that do it. However, since we are no longer hunting for survival but rather because we like venison then we tend to pass on animals giving ourselves a chance to kill a bigger (more challenging animal) or we pass on them to spend more days in the woods. Different people have differents interpretations and aspirations for what makes hunting enjoyable for them. For everyone that has aspirations of killing a big buck then part of the reason that we hunt is for the challenge becasue if not we again would be shooting everything that walked by rather than waiting for a big one because if it wasn't more challenging or more rewarding, on a personal level, for us to kill a big buck, then there wouldn't be any more significance in killing a big buck then there would be in killing a fork horn. I have merely taken that a step farther and decided to spend the majority of my time pursuing my quarry with a bow. Since killing enough meat for the table hasn't really been a problem and bowhunting offers me more time in the woods I have gravitated toward that method. I personally relish the challenge of matching wits with a wary old buck. If you had a 150 class buck and a fork horn standing there, which would you shoot and why?