Archery vs. Gun

I'm amazed at how many bow hunters have previous felony convictions and can't hunt with a firearm. Years later their indiscretions cost them the ability to own a gun and bow hunting is the only option left if they want to hunt.

I hunt with bow for the ability to hit the rut season and extend my hunting opportunities. Bow hunting allows me a 3 month hunting window where the gun season limited it to a couple of weeks.
 
I'm amazed at how many bow hunters have previous felony convictions and can't hunt with a firearm. Years later their indiscretions cost them the ability to own a gun and bow hunting is the only option left if they want to hunt.
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Wow!:eek: I've never heard of or seen that, including time I've spent working in an archery shop in college. Where have you experienced that? Not calling you out, just amazed!
 
globemaster3 said:
Wow! I've never heard of or seen that, including time I've spent working in an archery shop in college. Where have you experienced that? Not calling you out, just amazed!
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We have four with previous felony convictions in our local club, they make no bones about it...but use their experiences as a lesson to younger hunters.
 
I hunt with any weapon and any game in mind. I took a FAT doe this year with the Jennings at 12 yards; much closer than any gun hunting. I missed 2 does at long range with the slug gun simply because it's hard to figure the range and drop with open sights. There is a COUNTY park near the state land that I hunt that is bow only, and it is simply crawling with deer; especially after the opener of gun season in the southern zone.
Bow hunting requires more hunting skill than gun hunting; you have to fool the deer's eyes, ears, and nose. This is NOT an easy thing to do; deer live and die by these senses. You also have to be much much closer to your quarry than with a firearm. Only an ETHICAL hunter will take the best shot offered and make his/her kill. I have let enormous bucks walk because they simply did not give me the shot I wanted; they were and are too fine an animal to take an iffy shot on. I use a compound now, but I started bowhunting with a 55# Stemmler recurve in 1972. Arrows and bows have come a LOOONG way since then; some traditionalists like Tred Barta still use longbows invented around the time modern man stopped dragging his knuckles. Most states have generous bow only seasons that allow hunters to schedule hunts for when other people are just thinking about hunting. I've had hunters after grouse and squirrels push deer to me that I otherwise wouldn't have seen or had the opportunity to see. Anyone can knock a deer down with a gun at some extremely long ranges; I prefer to hunt closer to my stand and wait for the right shot. It's hard to concentrate on your deer when a red squirrel is trying to climb on your shoulder because you look like part of the tree you're in.
 
Good on them for keeping with the sport and passing on their hard-earned lessons so the younger bucks might not make the same decisions in life.

I must admit, I use archery as an avenue to extend my hunting season and have been fairly successful in the adventure. During the off season, I find it a good release to just go throw arrows at a target.

As lethal as a gun? Yes. But I find the margin of error even higher for a bow than a gun. A bad release, torquing the riser, misjudging the distance, all have implications that seem more sinister than a rifle inside of 200-250 yards. But then, animals have been killed by bow a LOT longer than they have by gun. An considering the Native Americans took quary up to the size of buffalo...
 
bow season here runs longer than gun season for deer anyways. last weekend of september to the end of november. then picks back up in jan. and goes into feb. in some parts. by that time i feel its too cold to be sitting in a tree with a shooting glove on instead of warm mittens holding a gun. but that just me i guess.

i still have my bow and equipment. have not shot it or hunted with it for awhile. job change 4 years ago kept me from going on my days off at the start in september. if i get a weekday or a saturday. can't sunday hunt here. but that may change soon.
 
i hunt with both but i prefer a bow to hunt. to me filling the fidge is great but to be able to stalk up to a animal within 15 to 30 yards even if i dont get a shot is well worth it to me. we should be glad to even get a glance at a animal at that range. i have a deer hunt this month and a javelina hunt next month both with bows. dont get me wrong if i would of got drawn for rifle i still would hunt but i still try and get as close as possible. it dont matter what we hunt with just that we have the great opertunity to enjoy what we love!
 
Bow - Damon/Howatt Hi-Speed Recurve (circa 1974)
Muzzleloader - Kodiak .58 cal double rifle
Browning A-bolt 30.06

It's not about the tool - it's about the EXPERIENCE! Tried them all and like them all. Most difficult - bowhunting, hands down, next most diificult - modern rifle, easist - muzzleloader.
Why?
1. Bowhunting - range/stealth/accuracy
2. Rifle - because by the time modern rifle season rools around deer are much warier and many more hunters.
3. Muzzleloader, greater range than bow, requires less stealth and much geater accuracy beyond 50+ yards plus earlier in the season deer are less wary.

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Generalizing, since folks do have different reasons for getting involved in an activity: Bowhunting started as mostly a nostalgia thing. "The way the Injuns done it." Included in this was the need for a greater skill level in getting within ethical killing distance. (Much the same deal for the muzzle-loader types; you don't reach out reliably to 300 or 400 yards.)

Like any sort of endeavor, technology entered, and we've wound up with compound bows and sights. (Much like IPSC and "race guns".) Not many people can deal with a simple bow that has an 80-pound draw weight. (Howard Hill? Do I have the name correct? I saw a film of him killing an elephant via his 80-pounder.)

Since the odds for success are greater against a bow hunter than for those with centerfire rifles, and since the need for peace and quiet in the boonies is greater, the various game departments started the "bows only" seasons.

Anyhow, that's the proximate background...
 
I guess I don't get the original question?

Here in Texas 95% probably of all hunting is done on private land and has been for a long long time. There just aren't the same public hunting opportunities here that there are in other states, like Arkansas for instance. You have to pay to play.

I pay to hunt bowseason, I hunt bowseason. I pay to hunt rifle season, I hunt rifle. I think those fortunate enough to have any kind of real hunting opportunities on public land, in other states, ought to consider themselves fortunate, even if it is only bow or primitive hunting only in some cases. If you want to hunt with your rifle, you can always do what a million Texans have to do every year, and pay for a deer lease. It ain't the perfect system but that's what we have to do pretty much.
 
Lots of politics involved in the public Game and Fish commission here. There's a 1/8 cent part of the state sales tax dedicated to that department so everybody pays and generally, being always flush with money, the AGFC does a good job. If there's a politician that takes an interest in a specific WMA though, he/she can basically "run things" as they want.
 
I have no problem with bow hunters at all. All those scent things etc. are fine if that is what trips their trigger. I am an avid firearm hunter because I like to hear the boom. Im not too sure I could hit the broadside of a house at 5' with a bow. For those who can, I say great. Whatever gets you out into the woods to appreciate it works for me.
 
Talking to your local DNR officer does work, it may get the wheels roling on something. Here in West Virginia muzzle loading season comes in after high powered rifle season. I have been talking to them and letting them know it should come in before rifle season, we'll see. We all ready got one of the laws changed for turkey season so give em a call

and yes I hunt all three seasons Bow,Muzzle loader, Rifle/pistol
 
I don't enjoy bow hunting myself. Just my opinion though. To everyone who enjoys it I'm not trying to bash you. Its just no matter how much I practice I can't consistently make accurate shots with a bow so I don't believe I have any business out in the woods hunting with one.
 
Bow season is a God damned bull**** boutique season cooked up by Gov't Fuds who hate the idea of armed citizens.

If it weren't for Gov't Fuds, nobody would have even bothered to invent compound bows. But, if you have only limited time and want to hunt, you have to play their game.

There should only be one deer season and you should be able to use whatever weapon you want within reason.
 
In my opinion, Bow season has its place in more heavily populated areas, not that it makes any sense. In Europe they allow hunters to take game with rifles just outside of villages/towns. What burns my hide are some of the additional "municipal or unincorporated" laws (no-projectile) found in some of suburbia. Very discriminatory to hunters. Then they wonder when people get killed in car/deer collisions. Getting back to the subject however - If somebody (gun or bow) only makes it out 3 weekends a year, good luck! . Hunting takes time, patience, skill and experience. I have seen atrocious gun and bow hunters who really should not be out in the woods. Anybody who pays his dues in the woods is going to be a better hunter than a weekend warrior.:o
 
There should only be one deer season and you should be able to use whatever weapon you want within reason.
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Not too up on game management are we BeCoole? Like it's been said before, bowhunting is a way to limit the range and give the deer a break. I bowhunt 95% of the time BY CHOICE. In SC , there is almost 4 months of rifle season and still the deer heard is too big. They don't have enough doe days nor antler restrictions.

Game management is there for good reasons. We've already tried the no limit method, it doesn't work.

If it weren't for Gov't Fuds, nobody would have even bothered to invent compound bows. But, if you have only limited time and want to hunt, you have to play their game.
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That's kind of an uneducated statement. Why are there other cartridges other than the 30-06? Thats all you really NEED. Why are there so many newfangled rifles comming out every year? Compound bows were invented because there was a market for them and they can out perform long or recurve bows. They can be more effective killing tool in the right hands. But the others can definately be more effective in the right hands.
 
Two favorite season`s-bow then m/l. Wished m/l season here was longer. BeCoole,Don`t know where your from but I`m old enough to remember when you could hunt for days in Ohio(late 60`s) and never see a deer(or turkey). Season`s and weapons restrictions has diffenitely improved our herd. DNR of most states have learned alot since then and try to maintain a certain ratio of game species so as to not let them die out due to overpopulation and above restrictions are tools they use to maintain that balance so animals stay healthy. If it wasn`t for the laws we have now, then maybe the short amount of time you and I have to hunt today would be a waste of time cause there wouldn`t be much to hunt. Something to think about!
 
Lot's of issues in this thread. But getting back to the start, I certainly side with Daryl. What you choose to hunt or how you do it, is purely a matter of choice/preference. Specific game laws in one's area nothwithstanding (and I generally trust state game managers to do the right thing to manage deer herds), there are those of us that choose to hunt deer with a bow. I've used bows and guns, but I have not taken a deer with a gun in over 30 years. This will, likely, be the first time in 15 years that I have not taken a deer with a bow, and purely by choice. I've been out, and I've let a number of them pass. But I just didn't have a need for the meat this year. I would never be so smug as to suggest that I'm such a great hunter that I've never lost a deer. I don't know of many avid hunters that have not lost deer with guns or bows if they have hunted for a long time. But where I live, we are overrun with deer, not all trophies, but certainly huntable. Additionally, I live in a county that does not permit the use of guns because of high population densities. There are opportunities to hunt deer year 'round if you choose. The county wants to get rid of as many deer as possible, and they have three choices: bowhunting, paid snipers (usually from local SWAT agencies), or road kill.

Nevertheless... I can take as many deer as I want, and if I were just hunting for the meat, I could drive 60 miles and fill my freezers in one day. My season could be over very quickly. But when people ask if I am a hunter (when they see the nice buck embroidry on my favorite shirt), I like to tell them that I am really a birdwatcher. I spend far more time doing that than shooting deer.

When I become so disabled that I can't climb a tree and sit for days just enjoying the scenery, or walking through the woods looking for new trails and funnels, I'll scrub the cosmoline off of my rifles, and I'll become a gun hunter again. For me, hunting is like a nice bottle of wine. I can't imagine guzzling it as fast as I can.
 
Sorry, BeCoole, but you're mistaken. Archery seasons came about from hunter demand, not from government. Same for Primitive Weapons (muzzleloaders).

Now, it may be that after some states had adopted the archery season concept, other wildlife agencies got on the successful bandwagon...
 
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