Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting question for you bow hunters

I went the opposite way of most folks, I started deer hunting in 3rd grade. Started with a 243. Worked fine, but the owner of the ranch was hunting wiht a bear recurve which got me worked up... by the time I was in 10th, I had started with a bow and hunted mostly with bow, moving up to where for about 20 years I hunted only with a bow, over 100 big game kills( stopped counting somewhere over 100) later, I flat ran out of the time required, we lost a deer lease, the next one wouldn't allow archery and so on....
With much less time than I had to, i've gone back to not even shooting a bow some years, and last 2 I've had injuries that prevent it.... I have shot a deer with crossbow the last 3 or 4 yeras running though.

But archery flat got to be just WAY too much hard work, and I had other things that were more pressing.

So while most "gun" hunters don't get turned onto the bow till late, I did it early and eventually actually got bored with it.

So bored that long range rifle shots were a much larger challenge and I kind of drifted that direction.

But I hunt with everything I own at times. And, other than where legalities get in the way, I don't pay much attention to what season it is, as long as what I want to grab is legal.

Thats been lately, 32-20 old 1892 Win, Kimber 45acp, 329 PD, civil war smoothbore musket, couple of Renegade MZ, 30-30, 30-30 pistol, 308 a lot lately, 7x300wtby, 223, 50 beowulf, and so on.... seems more fun to try things with different rounds lately to me... and have an unfired 257 Wtby and a 284 Win currently...

And I'll differ from JJ, it too MANY more years to become proficient at long range rifle( read that to be at least 500 or 600 yards and beyond) than it did with a bow. First year I had a current compound bow, 1981, I killed a deer on the first hunt, and it didnt' change after that. And my biggest archery bucks to date have been gimmes. Of course I set up to make it that way too, IE IF I got a shot, it would be a slam dunk one and thast the way its supposed to be to me. Last shot on last Sunday was 8 yards. I won't shoot archery past 20 either. At least with TX deer I wont'. Archery wise, drawing the bow was the hardest part without detection, after reaching full draw the rest was a given almost 100% of the time.

Yet it took probably close to 10 years of shooting rifle matches to were I even got to the mental confidence AND real capability to make a 600 yard shot on something like a clay target every last time, or at least know not to try.

Some argue the fact and I"m sure it works different ways for differnet folks, but because I'm from TX don't assume all my archery experience is in a stand with a feeder. Some of my closest kills with a recurve have been stalks on the ground, one a doe at under 5 yards, and one feral hog at 3 steps. I even had to stop to think to make sure the arrow would clear the string on that one for a second.... neitehr around corn or a feeder either.

BUT my proudest kill so far has come with a compound bow on an old doe that kept ruining hunts for my wifes bow stand... it took me weeks to figure out how to outsmart her, and then due to a hard lunge on her part, took me 8 hours to recover her. She hangs on our wall.

I hunt with a bow and rifle because it offers me more opportunities to hunt. I am first and foremost a hunter so the more time I get to spend in the field the better for me.

Acrhery opens up more opportunities for draw hunts close to home and up north, it allows me to hunt closer to the road instead of doing the dreaded 5 mile death march. Muzzleloading is next on my list, that's seomthing I have never done and would love to give it a try.

Theres the other debate amongst us bowhunters too... IF you are really into it heavy, don't you end up wanting to go to recurve or long bow eventually. OR are you in it for the techno race to see how far you can shoot with a bow and still kill? Something interesting to think about.

Me, I'd push distance on a bow in a heartbeat if I was not so extremely aware of how conscious animals are about movement and sound and how much they can move before an arrow arrives. Though I do think that noise wise you get to a certain distance and its not such a bother to them.
But I've had deer COMPLETELY and TOTALLY dodge an arrow at 18 yards.... hard when you aim low for the heart and get a complete miss. Not even hair..

"[ I'd push distance on a bow in a heartbeat if I was not so extremely aware of how conscious animals are about movement and sound and how much they can move before an arrow arrives]"

Yes, That's why I only shoot out to 30 yds, & If I get a deer right on top of me & It does'nt get my Blood preasure up, then I'll quit.

I hunt with any & all possible. but limit my shots so no deer are injured if I can help it ; )
BB

Rost, Shooting 600 yards is a clear skill. I however only wrote what I did regarding hunting.

Shooting 600 yards is a very "long shot" different skill set then hunting.

I lived in Ohio for years and due to no rifle hunting, I got back into bows in a big way.

I am a bow nut, a real nut. I will sling arrows at anything, any time.

The high light of my morning was hitting a sycamore leaf, with a flu flu at about 20 yds. as it fell to the ground.

I still like to rifle hunt, I LOVE to bow hunt. Slipping around with a barebow is just pain exciting, to me.

JJ I"m not and didn't intend my statements as negative to yours at all. Simply that we all get excited about different things. And that different skill sets come at different costs to us.
For me, the rifle shooting took and takes a LOT more work than bowhunting. Especially once I figured out the ins and outs of bow... I can go back to a bow at anytime and not have lost much. Even going to my custom Brack recurve it generally only takes a few weeks of shooting and I'm in the saddle. The hunting part of bowhunting never leaves since i hunt one way or another every year.

Shooting on the other hand, while the act of firing the shot I don't get too rusty on, figuring the wind is somethign you don't totally fall back in the saddle on real quick.. especially when pushing out to 1000 yards.

Hence the difficulty level for me that made long rifle shots more complicated than close bow shots. And as I noted when bowhunting I simply set up one way or another, stands, stalking and such, that my shots will be well within my comfort zone mentally, or I get none at all. Does me no good to setup and or stalk to within 50 yards, but not take the shot. If that makes sense.

And for whatever reason, the largest bucks with bow just have been basically nothing. A good setup of course to get that close, but anti climactic in the end when we are talking all have been at relaxed unaware deer at 16 yards or less, one being at 8 yards...

By the way I'll argue you all day on the meaning of hunting. To me, its any legal method that I choose to harvest game. Whether its 10 yards with a bow or 800 with a rifle or anything in between. I just can't figure where to draw a line that its not hunting, as the result is the same. But like you said, its a different skill set, but to call it not hunting, thats a stretch for me, unless I"m misunderstanding that statement.

Regards, Jeff

When I only shotgun hunted I didn't have a damn clue about deer behaviour. When I took up I archery I figured out what deer actually do (when they are not running away from you). When I took up muzzleloading after shotgun season, I learned how deer react to and avoid human pressure. I'm very thankful to have learned from each of these tools. Bowhunting is by far the most exciting. The bottom line for me though is that they are just tools. I will get the best ones I can afford and use them to the best of my ability. I have learned the hard way that truly mature bucks don't give you many opportunities so you need to learn from every encounter and ask yourself "what should I have done differently?".

I pretty much just archery hunt these days. No real reason to grab a rifle or shotgun to hunt here in CT. If I lived out west I would most likely rifle hunt a little. My main focus would always be archery.

Been bow hunting over 35 years. My first choice but also enjoy rifle muzzle loader too.

Learned something today

Interesting technique but have never bow hunted down south

Thanks.

Hunt with recurve long bow and wheel bow.

Have shot a lot of deer with recurvevand long bow. Deer has never "ducked" an arrow shot from a quiet recurve or long bow. In fact have had follow up shots because so quiet.Shoot heavy arrows.

I have had deer "duck" shots from a fast compound.

I hunt with every possible option out there. I dont prefer one over the other. Even my out of state hunts are 50/50 gun bow. Im doing 90% of my archery hunting this year with my Black Widow recurve.

Being a gunnut also has its advantages. I usually carry a different gun each time Im out. Then there are those pistol hunting opps.

I caught the archery bug in the late 80's and it consumed my hunting life. I realized that I wasn't bird hunting any longer and was really missing out on things I used to enjoy. I started hunting with every legal weapon and started having fun again.

I've heard that from more than a few folks. And I've seen their eyes wide open when hunting TX deer often. I don't know what the difference is but our deer for some reason are just tightly wound.

Even if not hunted around feeders as the majority do.

OTOH I've shot a few, not many, but a few that flinched and kept on eating acorns, oats or corn, and just wobbled and fell over or got weak right at the end and made a few feet before falling....

And I've been amazed to have the stupidity( IMHO) to have taken what I thought were long shots at deer in other states, IE 40 yard shots, and have them almost seemingly stare until the arrow hits em.

You see accuracy with a bow at longer distances is not an issue. Movement is or can be.

And FWIW a lot of my hunting these days is out of ground blinds... thats like having a suppressor on what little noise there is with a bow to start with.

Compound wise we went to great lengths to make them as quiet as they could be. And to realize that feathers make an awful racket in flight vs vanes....

I do both - Here in Idaho drawing a 'good tag' is pretty tough and only happens about every 5 or 6 years. With a bow most of those area are 'open areas' so in order to hunt every year it is necessary to change your weapon. It started out as just a way to hunt more, but now I really enjoy archery and shoot a couple times a week all year long.

Bow hunt (trad) 99.9% of the time.

In Oklahoma we can bow hunt during all gun seasons.

I will hunt with anything, if there was a knife season I would do it. I started archery in the early 80s for the expanded opportunity. I have since pigeonholed most of my hunting. Elk is archery, coues deer is rifle, mule deer has been 50/50.

Kent

Yepo