Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting How many of you guys hunt big game each year with a Rifle and Archery?

Just curious how many here are avid in both types of hunting? Not just a casual participant in one or the other but really avid in both.

JJ, I hunted for years with a stick bow, and black powder.
Last few , I have been so busy that I have not been able to hunt as much as I would like to with my long bow, due to time constraints, so have stuck to the rifle,
I plan to change that this year, however!

Shooting a long bow takes a lot more practice for me than shooting either a BP rifle or a CF rifle, but I really enjoy it.
I practice the long bow as a Martial art, not just a sport.
It really consumes me when I pick it up.
Completly different feeling than when holding a rifle.....

Catnthehat

JJ,

After leaving bowhunting for 20 years & only rifle hunting for whitetail, I went the Mathews Q2 route in 2000. Talk about a shock going from a Bear Whitetail Hunter in '79 & finger shooting to a release & a Mathews!!

Now my yearly November trip back home to Wisconsin has become twice yearly as the October bow trip is one I'll not miss. The early fall woods has become more enjoyable to me than the 9 day late November rifle season. It's good to hear you're back bowhunting again. Regards, Bruce

i usually get 2 bow tags every year, and 4-5 rifle tags.

love both sports, and wouldn't give either one up.

I'm an avid hunter, so do as much of both as I can. I am not as enamoured with archery gear as I am rifles, handloading, etc (i.e I have one bow vs a beanfield bow, a brush bow, a mountain bow, and so on.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )so I guess you could say rifle hunting has an extra kick for me.

-Lou

i think archery makes you a much better hunter all around. i love it almost as much as rifle season.
woofer

I hunt with both whenever and for whatever I can. You can throw BP in the mix, too.

I'm like Talus. The Blackpowder bug has hit me too, but can't afford it this year.
Maybe next year I'll get into it.

I hunted whitetail almost exclusively in Iowa with a bow through the 70's when school would allow and 80's, transitioning from recurve to compound and then back to recurve. I'm a traditionalist if not a purist in bowhunting at this point. Through that time I became sort of a trophy hunter for whitetails after taking maybe twenty of them but really have only taken one "big" whitetail. All that time I was a rifle nut or looney as Mule Deer would say but didn't have the where -with -all to go out of state to hunt with one. Centerfires are not legal for deer in Iowa.

In the late 80's I began hunting for elk and began collecting rifles; I don't have that many - being a southpaw definitely limits you if you have definite notions about form and function. I hunt out of state on mayber two hunts a year now and have slacked off on archery a bit although I chased elk with stick and string in the Flattops last fall and thoroughly enjoyed it again. Perhaps I overdosed on whitetail all those years with a bow for I've quit doing that because of the time committment demanded by patterning a big buck but my latest love is spring turkeys out of a blind. I'm 2 for 4 (two birds out of 4 seasons).

My first inclination would be to go with rifle but it's not hard for a friend or acquaintance to sell me on a sharp stick trip.

GDV

Avid I was untill Idaho changed there reg's.Now you pretty much have to choose one or the other in the areas that count.Can't do both in good area's prime time,A or B tag now a days with pro's and con's on each.Unless you already have an Archers permit,It's class time to get one.

Jayco.

Well growing up I was in the woods EVERY fri afternoon Sat and Sun from Oct 1 to Jan 1 no exceptions. Bow and Rifle. Then I got married, had kids and the hunting slowed down. Sad to say I have not really hunted in 2 years and don't forsee the chance to do so again till 2005 at the earliest. Just sold my bow- to my father so it wont be too far away. People always told me the hardest part of being away was missing family- true but I miss hunting every weekend just as much probably cuz it was always with my dad and brother plus uncle and cousins.

I hunted with a Mathews SQ2 and was floored by the performance - enough so that when I go back I will buy another and prob some type of recurve. i dabbled in BP too, but rifle was always no1 with me - the Mathews made a good run at it tho- probably woulda pushed the rifle to no2 if I hunted it more!

JJ, used to hunt deer and hogs with both for several years, with the rifles and handguns, just about any caliber I had on hand, with bows every thing from an English long bow to compound, when the back went I tried the crossbow also.

Shooting and hunting w/ a rifle is fun but I love bowhunting. It's as rewarding as it gets (w/ hunting over a favorite German Shorthair coming in a close second <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />).

BTW - Good choice on the Mathews.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I hunt with whatever they'll allow me too here (BP, rifle, bow).... If they'd let me hunt with spears or maybe catapults I'd be in on that too (grin). The rifle season (whitetail) is so short that to I'm forced to take up the "other" disciplines to get any real time in the woods.

I'm primarily a gunner, but I usually manage a bowhunt for moose each september, and occasionally can fit in a few days bowhunting for whitetails each season. Tags permitting, I may be able to fit in 6 weeks plus a few days of hunting this year. Bow and rifle for moose. Two rifle hunts for deer, one week of shotgunning for deer and a week of blackpowder (my first try) for deer as well. With a few days for archery deer, I could have an active fall season coming up.

Bow and gun every year. I really like them both.

For 8 years straight I only hunting archery then got back into rifles. Last year I achery hunted for deer and elk and did get my buck. This fall I drew good rifle tags so I wont be bow hunting. I do love to shoot archery and I practice year around. BlackPowder, pistol, archery or rifle it doesn't really matter to me. They are all different but add to the total hunting experience. Its all about getting out, trying something different and adding some variety.

Like to do both and did so when I lived in an area when you could obtain both types of permits

NM is a choose your weapon state. Have only hunted with a bow here up until this year. Looks like I drew an elk and javelina tag. Probably will use a rifle in both rather than a bow this time around.

Gene

Very serious in both here. I just can't pass up archery hunting elk and deer in the rut with a bow <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Everything else gets a bullet. Flinch