The rise of hunting with a bow.

You guys should come to wisconsin. Then gun hunters get so (pick your word) about bow hunters shooting their deer that one of the people on the deer council I believe actually muttered if only they could make crossbows more inaccurate.

I have a friend I pheasant hunt with that will shout till he's blue in the face about my unfair 3 month lasting bow season shooting all of his deer where I suggest he buy a bow and shoot them himself.

I hunt every season I can and I don't care if they don't like my compound bow, crossbow, rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader... whatever. I'm only out to shoot 1 to 2 deer that I share with family. But I believe that bow is harder and more rewarding if successful. Spot and stalk is even harder. My luckiest year I shot an 8 point walking to my deerstand with a bow. I was 7 minutes into walking to my stand. That novermber I burned all my luck and shot a 10 point with my rifle in under 2 hours.

Last year I hunted Michigan and was lucky to shoot a doe in 2 days with my bow. It was the only doe without fawns. And I hunted every day of gun only buck season and didn't see a single one.

Do what makes you happy.
 
I would only seek does in the future and with a rifle at that..

My bigger beef than limited gun days is limited doe days all through deer season.
 
bows

To answer the original OP question, I do not think that regulation is driving folks to bowhunt deer. Here in AL, the legalizing of crossbows has drawn more early season "archery" hunters, because it allows more opportunity to take a deer. The crossbow is easily learned and shot well, and I see more crossbow hunters afield now in the early archery season. But they all disappear once firearms are legal.

If all one can legally hunt with is a bow, ML, or shotgun, of course if one wants to hunt (legally), he'll use the tools to which he's limited. Society is constantly expanding, but I do not see extensive regulation and growing development driving people to archery. While that may be the case in some more heavily populated states, and small portions of the American South, I do not see it as the norm nation wide. I suppose I could be wrong.

I have seen animosity towards bowhunting deer and experienced it personally on the first big deer club I joined. I was amazed at how childish and trifle grown men became about that and other club topics. Most of the resentment centered around wounding animals. Truth was, rifle hunters lost as many, and likely more deer, on that lease than the limited number of archers. They would blaze away at any distance, in any light, at any shot opportunity, with predictable results.

Bowhunting has been growing since the 1950's,and modern media brings archery hunting to the forefront (as well as spring gobbler hunting I'll add).
I started with my Dad at age 12 in 1970 with a 35lb Pearson recurve, afoot, with wood arrows, barred fletching and absolutely junk broadheads, but we didn't know any better. We never took a deer either!:) I left bowhunting in my 20's, but came back in my mid 30's, mainly because by that time I had witnessed a good deal of despicable behavior by "typical " gun hunters and did not want to be seen in that light. I relished the challenge of a more difficult hunt, and being part of a more exclusive society. Taking a doe with a bow was rewarding enough, and it took 3 years of bow only hunting to accomplish it! I became a bow hunting snob:cool:, bowhunting only, for about 15 yrs.

When bamaboy was old enough to hunt, I initially picked up a rifle again to accompany him. Bumping into my 50's, I realized that a rifle hunt from a fixed stand, or on the ground, was just plain easier than humping a stand in and back, and clambering up the tree for a couple of hours of bowhunting after work. I now rifle and bow hunt about in even amounts, but still feel proud about a bow kill. Any deer with a bow is an accomplishment, to me anyhow. I still climb about 30 trees a year, take a deer or two with my bow annually, but pick my days and conditions. I am fortunate to be healthy enough to do that, and to live in an area with ample opportunity.
 
Urban deer populations cause problems yet the so-called average suburbanite does not want deer hunting by high powered rifle anywhere close to his home. Archery hunting resolves this dilemma and certainly the use of crossbows has greatly increased in recent years. Compound bows are also very good hunting tools for thinning out urban deer.

Jack
 
Depending on where your hunting shooting a deer with a rifle can loose it's appeal, if you hunt the same place year after year you learn where and when to hunt and it can be a matter of pulling the trigger. At some point you start looking for trophy animals, when you walls are full of heads you start looking for a more difficult hunting method. Not everyone goes through that but many do, I've hunted 5 different states and killed lots of animals with a rifle, I don't get as excited as I would like to shooting animals with a rifle.
I'm a gun person, don't really like shooting bows, rarely practice{thank god for modern sights, eccentric cams and releases} with them but hunt the first week of rifle season every year with one. Nothing is more thrilling than shooting a deer or elk with a bow at 20yds. I can sit in a treestand all day and watch nature go by, probably shot half a dozen deer standing directly underneath the stand.
Crossbows are less objectable to me but they're heavy and awkward, I often walk in close to a mile to my treestands and they suck to carry and almost as loud as a gun.
I know lots of older gun guys who have taken up archery hunting vertical/crossbow for the extra challenge.
 
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