Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Switching from Rifle to Bow

Hi all, I’m switching this year from rifle hunting for deer to bow hunting. I have a pretty good compound bow and am pretty good with it in a variety of positions and stances. I have a tree stand set up on 25 acres of woods surrounded by corn. It seems to be a pretty popular bedding ground. I am a fairly accomplished rifle hunter. Assuming I have all the fundamentals of hunting down (being quiet in the woods, minimizing scent, correct positioning etc) what should I considerations should I make for bow hunting that I might have never thought of rifle hunting. As of right now I’m not using any calls mainly because I hear it’s far easier to break a hunt than make a hunt with them if you don’t know what you’re doing. I also don’t care about shooting a buck this year. What do I need to do in order to successfully transition from rifle to bow hunting?

Understand the wounding/killing mechanism of the broadhead completely.
Only take the shot that gives the best chance for BOTH lungs to be deflated and your success rises exponentially.
BE AWARE OF THE WIND!
Enjoy the adventure!

Set stands closer to trails or food source than you are probably doing now. Having back cover is important when you are drawing for the shot.
Biggest bit of advice is be patient. Every mistake seems exaggerated while bow hunting to me. You have to learn when you and move to position for the shot. You have to read body language and anticipate the shot. I aim a little differently with bow vs rifle. In my opinion once someone learns to be a decent bow hunter, gun hunting isn’t much of a challenge any longer.

this. Since bow hunting, its made me a much better rifle hunter in general. Entrance to and from stand will be much more important as will the wind. I assume you'll be hunting from a tree stand? Back cover is very important as well as having shooting lanes. I like to use scents when bow hunting and have had good success with tarsal glands.

Obviously you have to get them in closer and hopefully putting their attention on something besides you.

Good hunting

Oh and practice, practice, practice.

I don't hunt where they sleep period!

Scare them off a food source and its no big deal, they'll be back. Scare them in their bedroom and so long to any mature buck.

Patience, patience, patience...you're entering a waiting game that requires some self-discipline to be successful.

IMHO - Waiting for the right shot angle, and the right time to draw is probably the hardest mental skill to learn with a bow.

The broadhead has to cut enough blood circulation vessels to take the animal down quickly, and you can't cover a poor hit with a second shot, the first shot has to be the killing one.

Ranging - as soon as you can in the stand - range several fixed points around you, and get an idea of how far out an animal may be.

You need two hands to run the bow, and a third hand to range...knowing the distance before hand will take some of the pressure off of trying to figure it out when the animal is in front of you.

Shooting arrows for groups will tell you where the bow is shooting, and get you dialed in, but you need to be shooting single arrows at different ranges to see where you are shooting with no warm up.

I agree with the comment above, stay out of the bedroom, and hunt the routes in an out of the feeding areas.

Broadheads riding in the quiver, the vibrating, the removal - will cause them to dull over time - check them regularly for sharpness.

Get a couple of "stump" arrows - blunt tips or small game head - and shoot an arrow before you come down from the stand. Pick a leaf on the ground, a rotten stump, - and see how close you can hit - without ranging it first. This will help you get used to bow shooting from an elevated platform, which is different than being on the ground - and it will show you how stiff you can get from sitting for a period of time, especially if it's cold.

What is your draw poundage?

Some younger hunters ( I was one) tend to want to be "over-bowed" for what they are hunting. You're a rifle hunter - .270 vs .300 WM discussion - on whitetails...50 pounds of draw will kill as well as 70 pounds draw, for most hunters.

This right here is as real as it gets! If you can not shoot an end of arrows with your bow hand on the target and draw holding on the target you are trying to pull too much weight!

One other pretty critical mistake made all the time is moving your bow hand up or down to the target. The proper way to acquire the target is to bend at the waist.

Another good shooting tip for sure. This changes your anchor point and/or sight picture. A little change in either and your POA/POI will be off.

Practice shooting from elevated stands if you hunt from them. Like MCH said...bend at the waist.

Be sure and shoot your broadheads, a lot of the time they don’t shoot like field points.

...or elk. Kick one out of it's bed and it won't stop for 5 miles.

Wow! So much good advice I can’t respond to all of it. First to answer a few questions:
I am hunting in a tree stand above where 3 major trails converge. I am shooting at 55# right now. I’m not strained pulling it back or staying on target. I can easily keep my draw for 30 seconds. I practice regularly from a ladder stand I have set up at my house. I really like the idea of having one “bad arrow” to shoot into the dirt at the end of each sit to see where I’m at and just practice shooting cold.

I found that bow hunting requires me to be higher in the tree than gun hunting. 15 -20 ft up in a tree is ok for a 50+ yd shot with a gun. And yes, I've had them come in closer, but when you have to raise and draw a bow, you are much more likely to get busted at that height. I find that 30-35 ft up in a tree is much better when bow hunting. Be sure to wear a safety harness.

30’-35’ feet is the ideal tree stand height for bow hunting!?!?!?

Thirty to thirty-five feet... ???

Forget doing that at your chosen stand location. No farting around, as the less time you spend there the better. Quiet in, quiet out. Control your scent. Control your impact in the area.

Take your practice shots where you normally practice, not where you have set an ambush.

agree!

Hmmm That isn't very long.

I tend to also agree about tree stand height. I keep mine high, animals catch movement very fast. The more you are out of their peripheral vision and line of sight the better.

Nicely said. I tend to use a lower poundage bow, because I am more accurate that at higher tension.
I can add use ranging pins. I use gutter spikes, bright orange, and mark the distances while setting up the stand or blind. I have a spool of mason cord with a small washer every 5 yards, and a clip on the free end. Makes for fast quiet set up.
I also often use a wire frame, photo realistic, doe decoy. Deer are often curious and the decoy takes thier attention. (Be careful what direction you aim your decoy, or you may actually draw attention to yourself).
I do not call or make noise of any kind, but may use scent wafers of food, sex or fresh earth.
And I would agree, stay out of the bedding area. Find food, water, and bedding, and set up between these points in the travel areas. Pick multiple spots for changes in the wind. That deer has a better nose than a bloodhound, and he/she will smell you when down wind of you. Hunt the wind.

This is my second year hunting during the archery season on public land (but with a xbow). What's surprising to me is how many deer I'm seeing, including more bucks last season than in years of hunting the same ground with a rifle. They just behave much more naturally and predictably than they do after the pumpkins show up. Follow the advice from the up'n down bow guys about making the most of your opportunities, and you should prosper, especially if you're more into making meat than hanging big horns.

A crossbow doesn't require as much movement as a vertical one, and two of the four deer I've whacked so far have been from the ground; one from a tree seat, the other while walking out of the woods just before dark. By moving very slowly and when a deer is looking elsewhere, it is possible to raise a weapon and get a shot off, especially if you keep it directly in front of you to minimize the silhouette.