a friend of mine was wondering when he bowhunted if he could bring along a .22 with him to shoot a squirerel or two when he didint see any deer.
is this a bad idea to shoot squirrels during bow season and will it scare deer aweay from his stand for a while?
thanks

I wouldn't say so. I've though of bringing along the rifle for coyotes etc....not squirrels, as shooting them all day long certainly would limit the deer I see. But the random coyote or two I see in the stand a season would be nice to have the rifle to take them vs, only the ones I spot at 30yds and give me a shot, which is pretty rare. But lugging a bow and rifle everytime seems like way too much. I'd stick to squirrel hunting on its own, and deer on its own.

I wonder if you cleared the woods of squirrels if that would leave way more forage/acorns for deer? cull the squirrels, cull the coyotes, have quite a deer population I'm guessing.

allright thanks man

Check your regs in your state. I'm not sure all states allow this.

I am an avid bow hunter and i would never do such a thing. First of all if he wants to kill some squirrels he could just use his bow, just take some small game broadheads along. Second if he is planning on hunting that spot often he will not have much luck. Deer in that area will avoid that part of the woods all together if he does that often. They may even be so stressed that they up and leave that area all together. I would say that it is a bad idea for sure!

im pretty sure its illegal in Ohio.

it is?

dangit

Up here it is also illegal to carry a firearm while bow hunting. Even if it was legal, I don't think it would be a good idea. You are out there bow hunting for whitetails and that is what you should be concentrating on. Never forget the harvest should always be secondary to the experience. If an individual needs to bring home meat everytime they go out then where they should be going out to is the grocery store.

Even if it is legal it will pretty much insure you won't see any deer with in range of a bow. Either small game hunt or deer, doing both probably won't work out that well. Deer hunting with a bow is all about stealth, popping little critters with a .22 pistol isn't exactly stealthy in my opinion. .22 rifles are not all that loud, but the pistols are.

Paul

Bad idea, illegal in many states.