questions

Well this year (2005) wil be my first time ever to hunt. I have no past experience nothing at all. I was thinking if i should bow hunt or rifle? (Remember no experience yet and for bow hunting u need to be an average of 30 yards away.)

kansaswiderack

This is an individual issure. With a rifle your odds of bringing home meat are greatly increased if you are talking limited hours in the woods. With archery you are afforded a longer season and must be much more diligent as to how you approach the hunt. When just starting, I would recommend rifle hunting as it will increase your odds of success and lesson the chance of frustration due to lack of "success." You have plenty of time to ADVANCE to archery as you grow into the hunting like style. And by the way, I believe studies have shown that the average bow shot deer is something less than 20 yards. You really need to be up close and personal to assure a good clean shot. Good luck and keep us posted on your success.

Arthur P

I really don't think it matters which direction you go. I guess it mostly depends on your personality, how much time and effort you're willing to devote to developing your hunting skills and what you want to accomplish.

dkeener

Well let's see, you are in the bowhunting forum, so, umm, I would say....
Sorry I will quit messing with you. There are lots of personal variables that you need to answer. Have you ever shot a bow or gun? Do you have someone to hunt with to show you the ropes? What are you going to hunt? How much challenge do you want? If it is deer, and you want some challenge, I would say go with a good compound bow rather than a gun. Shooting a compound is more challenging than a gun, but not nearly as difficult as trying to master a longbow or recurve. It is a nice compromise on the challenge curve.

DavidPaul007

I was in your shoe's about 3 years ago, so I'll give a little advice.

A friend of mine wanted to bow hunt, and I was like, "what the heck, sounds fun." I never made it into the woods that first season..there was so much for me to learn about hunting I was almost overwhelmed. I had never hunted, and no one in my family hunted, even though we live on 130 acres of woodland/swamps.

I spent the first year with my compound just shooting now and again to become proficient. The next year rolled around and I started visitng these forums and started getting "my ducks in a row" to hunt. So now I'm in the middle of my second bow season, and I've not shot at a deer yet. If I had been hunting with a gun, this would not be the case. My wife likes to rag me that I've never shot anything but go hunting but I just go . I'm having fun trying.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is this: It comes down to what you want. If you are going to be disappointed if you don't get a deer the first season or two (or three...) then maybe you should start out gun hunting. IMO there is less to keep track of when you're gun hunting. You don't have to worry (as much) about keeping your gun sighted in, what grain arrow you're going to use, what type of feathers/vanes, what type of mechanical or fixed point to use, or getting the deer within your kill zone, say 20 yards.

Personally, I don't want to hunt with a gun as it just doesn't seem enjoyable to me. One of my hunting buddies think I'm nuts as his primary interest is to "fill the freezer". But gun hunting just isn't for me. I'd rather be sitting with my bow and see a great deer walk 50 yards away from me and go home without anything then to be in the same situation and get a shot with a rifle.

hunter60

I would go with rifle but I would limit my range. 150 yrds would be tops & thats with a good rest. If you go with a bow 25 yards would be tops. Every situation will be different depending on the deer the weather & even the time of day wether you should shoot or not. Practice alot with what ever you choose & spend as much time in the woods before the season as you can watching the animals you want to hunt.

rybohunter

As stated a lot depends on you individually. How much time and patience do you have do allot towards hunting. How is you self control? You will be starting from zero with a lot to learn. If you are patient nad not easily frustrated nad have the time, by all means start with the bow. But I think it would be easier to have a fun overall experience starting with a gun. Whichever you choose, you need to establish personal limits based on your comfort/ability, not what others do or are capable of. Good luck, there is lots of info here, its a great palce to start.

Leverdude

Why not both? I started bowhuntng last year & love it. I still gun hunt tho in season. I bow hunt from Sept 15 till Nov 17th thru the 20th & then bowhunt till the end of Jan. The only reason I dont gun hunt more is lack of local places that allow firearms. I wont hunt state land here & people are way more receptive to bowhunting here.
I love huntng period, tho I will say I like hunting with my bow better as its much more personally rewarding to take a deer from 20 feet than 200 for me.

Flintflinger

I started hunting about 8 years ago, with a rifle. It gave me some good experience. Where I used to hunt with a rifle your longest shot was less than 100 yards, so you had to be pretty stealthy. Now that I am bowhunting, I use some of my experience as a rifle hunter. But now stealth is a critical factor in success. I dont regret my time as a rifle hunter, but I wish I had picked up a bow sooner.

zak123

Questions, I started deer hunting with a bow. I went once last season with a shotgun, but I wouldn't shoot anything with it, even if I had a shot. You do not have to be 30 yards away. As a matter of fact, the average shot distance is 20 yards. I have heard that gun hunting gets boring after awhile, so I went straight to the fun stuff!