quiksilver

Another reason I prefer archery to rifle season is that it gives me an opportunity to fill my buck tag before rifle season. That frees up a few off days in rifle season to take a youngster out and teach him something useful. They're what it's all about anyway.

It just works better for me, insofar as time management goes. In a tight work schedule, time is the enemy. Archery season gives me the most time, so that's a big factor.

silentassassin

For you guys that do both, why do you switch to a gun during gun season instead of just continuing to carry a bow?

avid_bowhunter2005

Why not just shoot a jet with a blow gun?....most people switch over to the gun because the area they hunt is going to have deer running at high tail 24/7! Unless you practice shoot paper plates out to 75 yards with your bow, riding in the back of a pickup driving 20 mph- bring your gun

silentassassin

Wouldn't you need to practice shooting at moving objects with your gun also?

avid_bowhunter2005

We do, we fill milk jugs with water and have someone throw them or we'll drag 'em behind a 4-wheeler and take turns wasting ammunition...

Oh yeah, if you pull the jug behind a 4-wheeler, have about a 30 foot lead rope to the atv, just so no one has a lead on the target that will get the driver.

silentassassin

I think I will pass.

Rob/PA Bowyer

I do sometimes carry my bow during rifle season as I have in the past. Seeing as I scored on my archery buck and I have a doe tag but no intention of shooting a doe with my rifle what's so ever I did carry my rifle last Saturday and I will the next 4 days I'm off...why, for coyotes and I think the answer to your question that no one will volunteer to answer is this.....

It's easier with a rifle......meaning if the buck in question is 100 yards away, no shot with the bow but with a rifle, sure.....so my question then becomes,

Is it about the hunt or about the kill?

rybohunter

I thought about trying the bow in gun season, but where i hunt deer aren't staying still for very long at all. And there is also the problem of another hunter shooting/stealing your deer if it makes it out of sight after the shot. I did drop down to hunting with a pistol, which was a great challenge and a lot of fun. I managed to take a nice doe last saturday with it. It was still up close in your face hunting which is what I like.

silentassassin

Rob, you know me so well... I tend to agree with your answer also.

doughboysigep

Because is gun season. I have already been bow hunting for a month and am ready for a change. Also the deer patterns change so much, it isn't practical to hunt with a bow (mostly state land around us). When it is muzzleloader season, I will be using my ML. Got the implements, might as well use them. Enjoy them all.