I killed my first deer with a gun and didnt care for it, been bow huntin every sence! thats been over 20 years ago!! just curious, Jason
Bow only for mammals, gators etc. I hunt waterfowl and upland birds with a shotgun.
I have been trad bowhuntin only for about 20 years... we are lucky enough to be able to bowhunt during our gun season and have a 5 month bow season...
Bow for everything. Only use a gun at work.
I hunt deer with my recurve ( put my compound away 2 yrs ago), a .243 win that I customized a bit, and a .58 cal muzzleloader (cap and ball), and my 3.5" 12 ga with my spec recipe buckshot.
I love my Longbows but also love my guns as well!
I have a .270W that is a nice gun. I bought it when a good deal came along. I figure when I get too old to be able to pull a recurve "hunting weight" bow back to anchor that gun will keep me out hunting elk and deer. But for now it is all about the recurve bow and wooden arrows for me. :thumbsup:
I'll use whatever I have. Last week I went out after hogs with a rifle, because that it the way that the lease I was invited to was set up.
Bow only here. My Dad would not touch a gun again after the Vietnam War. He started teaching me at the age of 4. Ken
Depending on what it is I am shooting at I use Longbows, Recurves, Wheelie bows, Percussion rifles, Flint rifles, Air rifles, shotguns and high power rifles. What can I say, I love it all!
I'm about 90-95% bow but I love the old cap and ball december deer hunt and side by side pheasant hunting with my dog! The "other" guns are just for intruders!
Every rifle season I go through makes me want to go bow only more and more.
1985 I shot a buck with my 30-30. Been bow only since '86.
I hunt strictly Traditional archery. I do not rifle hunt of any kind but, I do like the fly fishing! :bigsmyl: I have yet too kill a deer or any big game and swore to myself that when I do get the chance, it will be with traditional archery gear.
Much prefer bow for deer and hogs. Given a choice it is all I will carry. There are situations, when invited to hunt with others, that firearms are the order of the day (modern and primitive). Fortunately, many of my hunting acquaintances are traditional archers so this is seldom a problem.
I quit hunting when I was in my early 20's, too many orange shirts. I started bow hunting in 1999 age 36. When gun season is in I won't go in the woods. After gun season the deer are very different, most decent bucks around here move at night for a little while. Bow only for me!
My guns collect dust.
Deer, Traditional bow only
Pheasant, shotgun
Coyote, 22-250
Traditional only for 25 years. Shotguns for birds.
LB only 31 years.
Rigth now at this time in my life it is bow only!Thats the way I prefer it.I do not care for the loud boom of a gun!!
Bow only for deer!
I love guns, all kinds of guns, but I don't hunt with 'em. I suppose I would if I needed meat.
Bow only. Ive never hunted with a fire arm in my life, nothing against it just never have.
My compound, rifle, and shotgun all have one thing in common...they've only been used for one season. Couldn't bring myself to kill deer with them. Nothing against them, I just find joy in using my longbows...
I much prefer to hunt with one of my bows, And the hernia surgery Scheduled for Dec 2 takes this years gun season off the table. :scared: :knothead:
Custom, hand made double guns and longbows float my boat. Big bore in rifles and small bore in shotguns, like my bows they are works of art. Haven't killed or hunted anything with a rifle in more then a few years but the birds sure take a beating.
Its bow only for me with deer but i'm a big waterfowl hunter as well so I break out the benelli for that ha
I got shot on Nov 28,1988 while gun hunting, and have bowhunted only ever since.
I like em all and hunt with them all. I collect guns as well as bows. No big deal.
By the way, guns make excellent trading fodder for bows as gun prices are sky high now.
Me...
Me, 41 years
Bow only last 20 years. I have rifles that haven't had a shell in them longer than that.
Recurve or longbow for deer, Getting out the Browning gold for duck and goose tomorrow....Roy
Stickbows for everything . Sometimes I break out the Marlin 22 for squirrels.RC
Bow only except for birds and an occasional skunk for the last 20 years. I will walk along with the kids when they want to rifle hunt.
I wiil stick with the bow till I can't shoot a leagle poundage. Been bow only for last 25 years and went TRADITIONAL 7 years ago should have switched sooner!!
Bow only. We can use a bow in modern firearm and muzzle loading seasons. I use my bow for turkey and small game too. I get to shoot alot and don't have to clean many rabbits and squirrels.
i lived to shoot and hunt with rifles in my teens and 20's. i went through pounds of powder and thousands of rounds to make a 500 yard shot on a deer. spent thousands of dollars customizing rifles and tricking them out. i made two one shot kills nov. 1996 in kerrville, tx. one shot was 500 and the other 475 yards. haven't shot a center shot rifle since. kinda sad when i think about it. turned to compounds and did the same thing. now i'm 99% trad/primitive archery. i have a flintlock i hunt with on occasion. killed a five pointer with it last weekend so i've cleaned it and put it up for the season.
i'm getting closer to it, still love the smoke pole though!
Bow in bow, inline in gun and mz season.
204 for woodchucks all summer.
Enjoy it all.
I have bow hunted every year since Illinois opened deer season in the early 60's and have never killed a big game animal with a gun. Just never had the interest in it. I have used a shotgun in earlier years for quail and pheasants. I now have a great little Beneli 20 gauge autoloader that I sometimes take out for quail.
Currently, all longbow all the time (was all recurve all the time) though, given a chance for some duck / goose hunting, I wouldn't be above dragging the scattergun back out.
I hunt yotes,cats, and other predators with a .17 hmr real close range. I have a 7mm that my gramps gave to me this year, he wants me to take it out for muleys in a week (I have a rifle tag I normally bowhunt)will see. I might give it a try for him.
I will probably be bow only for this deer season. I have a single shot slug gun that doesn't have iron sites and my scope broke while sighting the gun in before last years firearm season. I ended up using my old Mossberg with iron sites and shot a small buck from about 20 feet with it. I didn't shoot a deer with my bow last year and I really debated just taking my bow out for the gun season. Wish I would have. I don't have any plans to buy a new scope so it's looking like bow only this year. I still like to squirrel hunt with a .22 but I haven't done that this year either.
I use a bow for big game; and grouse when I am bowhunting. For chukars and huns I use my shotgun...my bird dogs would probably eat my bow- if I tried to shoot chukars or huns with an arrow.
The longbow for hunting, I still hunt the firearms opener and Thanksgiving Day with a slug gun (family tradition). If I was put to a choice the Remington would have to go.
I have never shot a deer with a gun. Bowhunting since 1991 at 14 yrs old. Shot one with a compound, rest have all been traditional.
I prefer to hunt with a bow for sure, but not to own a few rifles and hunt with a rifle in Wyoming?.....that may be an act of heresy. Will take a bow any day but our archery season is so short here rifle hunting is a useful option. :thumbsup:
Can't get that PY if I don't have a bow in hand
Recurve only for whitetails, shotgun while bird hunting.... my kids are the ones behind the .243 while rifle hunting. So far- 2 outta 3 have joined the ranks as successful deer hunters.
A follow up to my previous post. If I lived somewhere where the deer season was 3-5 months long as many of you do, I would sell my rifles and never look back.
I gun hunted for 10 years then one day I went to the Colo Bowhunter Asso. dinner, just 'cause and joined, then bought a compound bow hunted with it for one season.. then bought a trad bow. That 18 years and 25 big game animals ago. I have not shot a gun since. Not even at a target. Joe
Never hunted with a gun, and never plan on to either...
On a bowhunt in 1995 for caribou, I picked up a rifle on the last day of the hunt and killed a bull. As soon as he hit the ground I said I probably wont ever do that again. I occasionally carry the scattergun for turkeys in the spring but otherwise stick with my bows from that day on.
I hunt with a bow 90% and all but a few big game have been harvested with a bow. Have done it since day one, some trad some wheely( trad only from now on). I do hunt birds a little with a shotgun. Mainly for my lab she's my girl friend as my wife say's. I would probaly hunt more birds with a bow if it wasn't for her(she gets impatient with my misses). Most of her blind commands were learned at the archery range. I will rifle hunt with my dad to keep him in good company but the bow is usally there. I do pull my guns out once a year to dust them off. Nothing agin hunting with other weapons but the flight of the arrow burns my soul.
Bow only here, the only gun I own sits on my hip under my coat when I am forced to go down to the city...PR
Recurve only during archery season. I'll break out the smokepole or the Ruger Redhawk .44 during gun season. Scoped CZ 453 .22 for squirrels. Winchester Model 12 for rabbits. Les Baer .45 for bad guys.
That would be me. Have a .45 Smith and Wesson but it is not for hunting. Some of my best deer have been taken during the regular firearms season.
i like shooting my old marlin lever. it's older than i am anyays
Trad archery equipment. But use a Flintlock during gun season.
Trad only for me the last 30 years...
Bow only for the past 7yrs (compound) with the exception of a week I spent with dad at his hunting club last year, I broke out a 30-30 that I've had since I was 15yo. I was after some meat for processing. Came home w/ 5 deer.
This year is my 1st full year of longbow.
Obiviously I'm not against guns, I just have more fun w/ bows.
When I hunt alone (without my 2 kids) it is recurve bow only!
Usually get one or both kids to come out and sit once or twice a year and that is the only time I take a rifle.
Rifle I take is the Winchester 30-06 that my Dad used to take his one and only deer when I was a kid. He is gone now so it feels pretty cool to have my Dads rifle in my hands when it is my kids and I hunting.
I am. Sold my guns when my oldest started College. I figure you can't do everything. Happy to be in the woods with the Bow.
trad only for me. i love it.
Been an archery only hunter since 1974. Mostly compound but strictly Trad the past few years. We are able to hunt the rifle season with bows in NY and that worked quite well for me for several years with the rifle hunters moving the deer for me, just sit tight the first day and something usually cruised by.
i have been gun hunting with my dad since i was 5 im know 16 but still gun hunt love my 7mm-08 reminton but i traditonal bow hunt with my recurve 2 seasons 2/3 of my hunting in a year 1/3 is rifle
bow only here to!
I used to hunt with both. About 12 years ago, I was having so much fun with the bow, I decided to keep hunting with it into the rifle season till I got tired of it. So far, I still haven't gotten tird of it. I am considered a bit of an oddity at deer camp, as I am the only bowhunter there.
98% recurve, if its extremely nasty during the first day of "rifle" season I'll carry the ole trap door 45/70 with iron sights. Either 40 degrees and pouring or to cold and windy for a arrow to fly.
Bow only since 1977 .... except for birds
I must be the strange one out of the group, I love hunting anything with any weapon. Ive taken big game animals with bows of all sorts, muzzloaders of many variations, handguns, and rifles and own many of each. If we had a open season for hunting with rocks for weapons I guess id chuck em.
I love to hunt, Bow, gun, rock, club, whatever I can use, I will hunt with.
longbow for food and fun
guns for intruders and trespassers
Almost all of my hunting is with a bow. Generally selfbow, cane or hardwood shoot arrows, stone points or trade points. If, by the end of the season, I haven't taken a deer I will hunt with my .308 or shotgun but that is just a meat hunt.
Doves shotgun all else bow only since 1991 :banghead:
Bow only all my life. I've been shotgunning before, but never for live birds. I've shot rifles, but only at targets. All trad gear, all self-made wood arrows, all trade points or MA-2's. Soon, I'm hoping to be exclusively shooting a self-made bow as well. I shot a wheelie when I was a kid, but I don't think a 9.5# Wal*Mart Compound at age seven counts against my track record.
75% bow for me, 25% percent firearm. I love reloading and precision long range rifle shooting, trap, IPSC pistol, 3 gun, plinking with bow,rifle,pistol, shotgun, and I have shot some black powder. Old school loose powder flintlock. There is a certain satisfaction to making a good shot weather it is 150 yards with a 22 long rifle, 300-500 yards with a 223, or 600 to 1000 with a 300 Winchester, double tapping with a 45, a feather stripping group of maple shafts in a 3D target, or a perfect shot in the pocket of a hard hunted deer! Each has its' place and time :bigsmyl: Joseph
I'm appreciate all the response to my post. I'm 37 years old and kinda got a late start in hunting, my dad wasnt a hunter but he liked to fish so Ive done alot of fishing in my life. Ive never been much of a killer but I love nothing more than being in the woods or on the water and enjoying what God has blessed me with.To me the journey is definitely more important than the destenation and there is just somthing special about hunting with traditional gear!! Good Hunting, Jason