Hello everyone,
i'm new to this forum and i think this is one of those posts that begs me to put in my two cents. Here it goes. Yes there is elitism among us bowhunters. I personally feel we should not knock other forms of hunting because we as hunters really need to stay united. Hunting is under constant attack by the anti's.

Now with that said, I think the guy that bowhunts from a comfy treestand with a compound bow that has all the latest gadgets cannot really think he has made any better accomplishment than the guy that shoots a buck with his shotgun from his comfy treestand. I give my thumbs up to the spot and stalk hunters. To me any other way is just killing not hunting. Gun or bow. My personal belief is that guns should only be used to shoot people. But that's just my opinion. Isn't America great!!! God bless you all!

Deadsmple

Still thinking, you say? Please allow me to help you out.

3) You don't need to be much of a hunter at all, just a good shooter because most of the deer are terrified and running after having been shot at multiple times.

4) See number one again.

5) See number one again.

6) See number one again.


Surely though, gun hunting is a wonderful exercise in socializing. Guys get together and have a few yucks over the fire the night before, usually drink too much, stay up too late, and then stumble into the woods at first light the next day and stand by a tree, gun ready, trigger finger itchy, and pray that Mr. Big comes a runnin'. They break for lunch and eat too much. They wander back into the woods later in the day and try again. That night, the fire, the beer, the yucks, the food...what's not to love, eh? Hey, sometimes they even kill something too![8D]

Look, I'm obviously no elitist. I completely understand how some guys are easily amused and therefore attracted to firearms. Besides, I'm a patient guy. I know that eventually the smarter ones will take up bow hunting and leave the guns behind for good.

Actually, after the first few hours of opening day, most will be hiding and on a much higher alert stage. Being able to shoot at them a little further out, hardly compensates for the fact that many are either hiding or running.

Most bowhunters just want to think they're that much "better" than other hunters. Even though on average they probably have a few more skills, it doesn't matter because bowhunting is much easier to get a shot opportunity (at least in New York where I hunt).

Getting a deer within 10 yards while bowhunting is no big deal. Find an area with some deer, climb a tree real high, be quiet and wait. Then be good at hitting what you're aiming at, 10 yards away. We can make this seem mystical, but it isn't. I know tons of beginning bowhunters who are 14 or 15 who get a deer or three every year.

It's very popular to define hunting to include the type that each of us does, and to put-down the other "easier" types. I find myself doing it sometimes, and I have to step back and realize that each type has it's own challenges. They are different, and we should find each accepatable and without the need to disparage then. I think this is important in the effort to help hunting survive.

At the end of the day, I can sit by the fire with you, pour a cup of coffee for you and sincerely and completely agree.

However........you are talking about just killing A deer. Immature animals are not what most bowhunters seek, are they?

So just for fun and for the sake of argument, lets examine the game itself from a slightly closer perpective:

What about mature whitetail hunting? Surely you will agree that killing a mature whitetail with a long gun requires a far greater leap of fortune and luck and far, far less "hunting" skill than getting within 60 feet or so of the same animal with a bow in your hand.

In the former game, you simply post yourself by a comfortable tree and cross your fingers and hope upon hope. If it happens and you shoot straight at the animal, which is most likely running toward you or past you by pure chance alone (after having been simply scared toward your general direction), even a mediocre shot with a modern high-powered long gun at distances up to 600 feet with your probably scoped weapon, and viola!...you're the check station hero.

In the latter game, you must invade his turf on his terms without your movement, sound, or scent being detected...no easy task regardless of how modern your gear is. Then you must pick the exact spot where you think he may appear and get in that spot in a most stealthy fashion (sounds like we're talking about an honest-to-God hunt, doesn't it?). But don't forget, you can't invade that turf too many times or make any mistakes because the mature whitetail is surely one of the smartest creatures that has ever drawn breath. No sir, you'll only get a very, very few chances to get a mature whitetail within 60 feet or so in a given year, and odds are you will get only one shot...during the entire bow season...before the gun hunters come along, often cruising in loud, obnoxious four-wheelers, and spraying copius amounts of human scent and lead all over the habitat causing the mature animals to go to ground until some unknowing gun hunter accidentally "jumps" one of them and sends him by pure chance, past a member of the orange-clad, heavily-armed, one-day warriors. Now if you manage to figure out all of those nearly infinite bow hunting variables, you might one day score a mature whitetail.

Is it any wonder most guys choose the long gun, which is obviously the easier of the two methods?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sight in my muzzleloader.

Is that a REAL muzzleloader, sidelock and iron sights, loose powder and patched round ball, with an effective range of 100 yards or less; or one of those scoped, in-line playlike muzzleloaders with pelletized powder and hollowpoint bullet wrapped in a sabot, good for 250 yards?

[&:]

BAA HAA HAA!!! Arthur I almost spit my diet pepsi all over the screen!!!

Well, isnt there a bunch of opinions on this subject!? First let me say, hunting is a tradition between my uncle and I. It soon will be a family tradtion with me and my two sons, my best friend and his son and hopefully if i ever get married with my wife as well. Now when i was a kid my uncle had taken me hunting for the first time in Winchester, Kentucky with 30/30 lever action, he brought a bucket............that i had to carry for him, and boy was it heavy!! He would sit on his bucket and i sat on the ground with my cushion. As i got older and was able to shoot a 12ga, about 12yrs of age, he got me my hunting liscense and bought me my first deer tag, along with giving me his 870remington 12ga, that i still use to this day for everything i hunt. My first deer i shot(or should i say the first two deer!) was with this shotgun. I had shot a doe, then shot a buck thinking i missed the doe but i didnt and i had killed them both! My uncle was upset with me and happy at the same time, because now he had to use his tag on my second deer. Those days are what i dream about, that feeling of seeing those deer for the first time, shooting my first deer ever and seeing the look on my uncles face of how proud he was and he knew that day a hunter was born, and that hunter was me. These days i am 26yrs old, and i am an addicted bow hunter, it has giving me another level of excitement and memories. This past Ohio gun season was very special to me, i longed to sit with my shotgun next to my uncle up against an old oak tree and share the day together. My oldest son who's name is Hunter, got to do that with me on the last day of gun season. We had sat on the same log i killed my first deer when i was 12yrs old, and he was able to see me harvest a mature doe. I knew after i had shot that deer and i seen the look on his face...........another deer hunter was born on that day. I say all that to say this...................it doesnt matter what you harvest your deer with, rather it be a bow, gun, javelin, muzzleloader or a slingshot! Its the memories that you can take with you when we leave God's wonderful playground, that he provided for us to build these memories with family and friends. I am not a gun hunter, i am not a bow hunter, I am a DEER HUNTER.
-Mick

Just wanted to toss in my 2 cents.

I hunt in NY and use shotgun only. I do have a scope but I use a smooth bore slug barrel and the effective range for my slug gun is not very far........not to mention the woods I hunt don't offer 100+ yard shots. 90+% of my gun kills over the years are all within bow range. I've killed 3 already this year all within 30 yards.

I guess a lot of the comparisons I have read here depend on how and where you hunt.........for me, gun and bow seasons aren't much different. The biggest difference is just the knockdown power of a slug and the fact I can pump another shell into the chamber quickly.

I don't relate to the "It's so much harder with a bow" theory..........but like I said most my kills with a gun are up close and personal. I have to be just as careful picking up my gun and clicking off the safety so as not to get busted as I do drawing a bow.......the amount of motion isn't much different. Also, there are MANY more deer casually walking around during bow season vs gun. Try and even find a deer after opening week........GOOD LUCK!! If you are not driving plots with large numbers of guys your chances are minimal......sitting on stand is pointless.

Now if you are talking about picking something off that is standing in an open field 300 yards away then that is where I start to admire the SHOOTING skills used........not the HUNTING skills.

None of the above. In fact, it is the ONLY muzzleloader that God intended man to use...a flintlock.

Now tell me Arthur P, do you use one of those woosieazz muzzleloaders that use caps? Real men don't use caps.[8D]

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I'm certain that you are, as are we all.

But you most likely have an opinion as to which is more difficult...whether you've thought about in those terms or not.