What I mean to ask is... During the firearm season, do you still think, act, wish you had your bow with you? Sometimes I feel like there is something missing when I don't have my longbow along. Not putting down the other way to hunt. Just LOVE this Trad stuff soooo much it's hard to let go.
... mike ...
I feel like im cheating if im not holding my bow in my hands no matter what im hunting.lol
Here in WA, tags are not good for multiple weapon choices. Once you buy an archery tag, you are limited to hunting with archery tackle. You can do archery for deer, and gun for elk or vice versa but no going back and forth with the same animal species. Black bear, cougar, and turkey and other small game are any legal weapon though.
I am committed to hunting with my recurve and that is all I will be using.
We can hunt year round with the bow and arrow so it never gets put down... :)
About 5-years I think no guns except when I make a duck hunt.Them woodies would be tough with a bow.Kill less deer and hogs but more with my bow than when I was a two season hunter.That is O.K.I am not as mad at them as when I was younger.Kip
I still gun hunt and enjoy it, but its more about just putting meat in the freezer than hunting by that time.
Thankfully we can use a bow through both seasons here in Texas.
Yes, but only for birds. I do carry a longbow for that sometimes too. When I am shotgunning I always want my longbow. I usually bird hunt with friends so the shotgun is my only choice at those times.
Mr. mcgroundstalker,
Fortunately, we are allowed to hunt with a bow during the firearm season. If it is raining too hard, I carry a flintlock.
Best Wishes
i took my rifle out one time last year. it was a cold rainy day. i sat in a shooting house and fell asleep.
We can use a bow all season as well.I bowhunt on the good days in later season and gun hunt on the bad ones if I hunt. :)
Started to feel like it was murder to kill anything with a gun, so I don't. Wolfs excluded.
Bowmania
Im not near as mad at those deer as i was when i was young but with the hours i spend in a tree i still like to kill a good buck.
Its almost impossible to kill a 4 year old buck down here in south Al where i hunt and trying to do it with a bow makes it really tuff.
I just took up trad archery last year and hunted mostly with a bow and did manage to kill a good Bama buck.
When those guns start going off the chances of killing a good buck with a bow are very slim and about the only time you might get to see one is during the rut.
The bucks i hunt most all the time move at night fall but we have a great herd so this year i will hunt mostly with a bow, im going to give those does a run for there money.
No issues here. Different seasons, different weapons, different feeling, different fun.
Mike, you can carry and hunt with the bow during the firearms season.......so you don't have to put it down!!
I hunt pretty much the same way no matter if it is bow or gun. Both my deer gun kills last year were at under 20 yards. I was just as happy with them as I would have been with a bow. Don't matter at all to me.
I borrow a gun to hunt with my Dad in gun deer season. When he isn't hunting I go to my bowhunting areas with my stickbow. I hate lugging a gun and as mentioned above, it feels like murder and gives no thrill.
Unless it states that there is NO BOWHUNTING for that day... I don't hunt... I'm Bow only and have been that way for since 2005.
Very Interesting.......
Sometimes I try to stalking real close, like within 20-25 yards when I carry my (.243 bow) during firearm deer season. THAT gets my heart rate up!
* Man, it's all good! *
... mike ...
I build traditional flintlocks to hunt with, so during the 10 days of modern shotgun and muzzle loading season in Southern, Illinois I use my .58cal. flintlock. During spring gobbler season I use my .20ga. flintlock.
I don't think you are allowed to use a bow during the gun seasons where I hunt.
I'll be using my recurve from Oct. into Jan.
I prefer the swoosh of the arrow compared to the bang of a gun. I guess you could say I'm a trad hunter thru and thru.
no - flintlocks and caplocks are cool too!
My friend thought I was crazy last year when I hunted with my longbow during the gun season. :knothead:
I just can't get excited about gun hunting anymore....unless it's chasing pheasants with my dog.
seems like whenever I take out a gun I get really nice bow shots, and vise versa, lol. But the only guns I actually own are a 12 gauge for doves and a 22lr for play. I only hunt big game with a bow, and I only shot some small game with my 22lr because I was out checking traps and I wasn't gonna pass because I had a gun . . . and I was hungry, lol
i have killed 3 deer with a gun and they were all last year.they were all chip shots for my recurve so i kinda feel like i cheated myself on what i feel would have been an awesome deer hunt.now that being said i just got 150 acres of prime property and wont get to scout it much so ill carry a gun for filling the freezer
About ten years ago I pretty much stopped using a gun during firearm season and just purchase a gun license, but carry my bow. This way, I can still hunt the way I enjoy it most. I don't typically hunt heavily utilized public land during the gun season. I seek out fringe public areas without much pressure, or some smaller private places I can hunt that have public land around them. The pressure from the increased foot traffic in the woods tends to move the deer around throughout the day. Not my favorite time to hunt, but it beats the alternative.
I stopped gun hunting when my kids left home for the service, i went along with my dad, who is 81 last shotgun season, although i did not carry a gun i had a good time. He was glad i was along to field dress and drag his deer out for him. Kinda like when i was young and he did those same things for me, i will go along with him again this year too if his health permits, not carrying a shotgun.
My dog gets upset if I bring a bow along on a bird hunt--she will get little action if I do so I use a 20 gauge. I also enjoy black powder at times, and often use a BP shotgun for turkeys..
My guns have collected dust for years. I wonder why I don't sell a bunch of them and buy some more nice bows. Hmmm....
Mikey, I hunt strickly with a stick and string in every season!!!!
Yes, I find myself sitting in trees that would be good bow spots.
Dave
We can hunt with bow throughout most of the gun season in CT, but if we fill our archery tags, we can't fill our gun tags with the bow. I think it's stupid to force us to quit hunting or use the gun. We should be able to handicap ourselves if we want to.
Even with the gun, I usually wait for the deer to be within bow range before shooting it, and yes, it feels like cheating. Even the wheelie bow felt like cheating. I guess that's why I'm here...with like minded people.
Some of my buddies and I take an annual trip to the Dakotas for Pheasants and Sharptails. There's usually about 7 of us that go and we all have some top-notch gun dogs. Although this is a shotgun hunt, this year my son and I will probably take our bows to add a little more excitement to the hunt. Surely we won't limit out every day like we did last year.
I hunt chuckars and huns with a shotgun- I have killed both with a bow; but these birds form flocks of 50 - 100 birds : and my bird dogs work their butts off to get them flying- and they would bite me if I used my bow while hunting for them.
I do consider bird hunting more the work of the dogs; and not so much hunting as shooting.
So - other than birds - I hunt with my bow; and have for some 30 years.
If I am in a situation where I have to choose a gun or a bow- I hunt with a bow or don't hunt.
Case in point: last fall my elk tag was good for bow season and cow elk with a muzzleloader. I had 4 hunters come up and try to get a cow elk with a muzzleloader- the elk were in eyesight of my cabin.
My son shot an elk; but I declined to hunt without my bow.
To me - compounds; or whatever they are called now- are not bows. I heard on a hunting show that "all the elite bowhunters use Matthews bows".
Well - that leaves us out of that club; and so be it.
Even Jim Shockey - who is promoting a compound bow - said that 'bows are so easy to shoot now- I don't see the challenge unless they (the animals) are out there a long ways'.
I have no objection to gun hunting; it is the best place for kids to learn about gun safety and responsibilities associated with the use of firearms; to include taking orders. So I feel it is integral to the meaning of the second amendment.
But I am a bowhunter. If I am hunting; its with a bow; a traditional bow; and I will not compromise: that relationship with nature.
I just have never been interested in gun season. Around my neck of the woods, gun season is only like 9 days and 5 of them fall during the week when it is unlikely that I am able to hunt then.
Besides, the people that I know that archery hunt have more success than the gun hunters I know. One of my friends has not killed a deer in gun season since 1998 and that was in eastern WA.
Hunting with the simple bow and arrow really trips my trigger. I think the experience and the journey is what I yearn for, not so much the kill, especially if the animal is 250 yds or more away.
It's very cool to see we are all on the "same page". Some of you got my point/meaning spot on while others opened my eyes to an un-seen angle.
I Love This Place! Always Learn Something Good.
... mike ...
I am a long time gunsmith, built over 200 custom bolt guns, several trad. muzzleloaders. I have shot for years on a local, state and national level in muzzle loader competition and have a deep love for black walnut, curly maple and browned steel. I usually fill 3 out of 4 of my deer tags with a recurve, but usually save one for late ML season. It has been a tradition around here for about 16 years, 6 or 7 of us get together, including my wife who hunts and have a great time hunting and enjoying each others fellowship. I also am a serious varmint hunter, chasing woodchucks and coyotes year round here in KY, and since cutting down on these populations is paramount, I use one of my own custom long range rigs I have built. Very seldom do I ever gun hunt deer, unless on a drawn specific hunt, or the landowner has crop tags and is specific about his weapon choices for hunters.I am a die hard bowhunter, sold my compounds long ago. I have had seasons where I only bow hunted, trad bow hunted, or trad ML hunted, and have been successful as well. After loosing my 20 year old son 8 years ago, I realized we shouldnt box ourselves in, or leave other people out of any situation which affords quality time with true friends, in any given outdoor activity. Seize the opportunity to enjoy any time afield, take a youngster hunting and see the new spark in their eye, with whatever means, and maybe, just maybe, someday they will feel the longing to bend a trad bow, see the magic in a simple arrows arch to the target and understand what we all feel. If you give a newbie to hunting a ultimatum, no matter what the age we stand a 50/50 chance of alienating them from the sport. Its all good, enjoy it all, and trad. bowhunting and archery is my favorite. let others have theirs as well. Just MHO. Sam
I do both..... I love bowhunting but I still hunt with a handgun.... I love em all... I just love bowhunting the most
I'd always rather harvest with my bow.
I use my rifle to fill my freezer quicker.
...need to work on my hunting skills..lol
I use my muzzle loader often during regular rifle season just for the fun of it.
My bow is the MOST fun...just not always as productive..lol
guns have been collecting dust for over 20 years.
only gun I hunt with is a flintlock rifle.
In Florida we can use bows through hunting season, and I typically do except on cruddy days. I do however enjoy going out with my Winchester 94 to hunt. I also think it is important to practice as a rifleman and to put it into service in the woods.
I love to squirrel hunt with rimfires. I hunt 1-2 days a year (does) with a favorite .308. Like others have said, a different kind of fun.
No I just use my bow during gun season. I haven't gun hunted in a couple of years.
Bow - gun - its all good.
I'd hunt with a spear if I could. :)
I still enjoy deer hunting with my bird gun loaded with slugs during the firearms season. Although, I still use my recurve during firearms season as well. We have a lengthy archery season here in KY so I have plenty of time to hunt with my bow.
I still hunt with shotguns for birds and small game and rifle / slugs for deer and I enjoy it. I consider it a completely different activity.
I shoot trad because I really enjoy it but not to the exclusion of other methods.
I don't bowfish only nor do I choose trout over bass or fresh over salt water fishing. I enjoy all these things and will continue to do them.
But, yeah, hunting with a stick and string... it connects me with the past and is my favorite thing to do. So I will try different types of hunting with a bow when I can. Goose, pheasant, rabbits. Great fun, but so it is with a gun also.
i love my flintlocks but starting to hunt more and more with bow.
I really enjoy hunting small game and deer with a flint-lock at times. Sometimes I even dress in period clothing......stabow
This will be the 14th season that I hunt deer only with the bow. I have gotten the gun out a few times when foxes were attacking my cats, but that was war, not hunting.
I pretty much mentally aim at everything that moves! That must sort of count as a non-bow bowhunt^^
Mike you can still bow hunt just leave the firestick at home. Got my first trad deer on a Thanksgiving morning. I was the only one to get a deer that morning and everyone else had guns !
I love to wing shoot upland and water fowl. I still gun deer hunt, but not all that many days compared to bow hunting. When I do it is more to fill the last slot in the freezer if needed. I would bow hunt gun season, but where I hunt you can't let them run far during gun season or someone will take a shot at them and claim them.
Having the ability to just go out & hunt, anytime I like is still a novelty to me. Last year I hunted mainly with my bow, but I also took a rifle for a day & hunted a good bit with my muzzleloader.
I did sell the rifle after my one time out (shooting a deer at 100yds left me cold) but the I find the traditional muzzleloader very appealing!
I use to do both but now my three rifles just sit at the house(guess I should get rid of them).
Luckily archery season is long enough here that I have hunted with a bow exclusively since 1995. I like up close and personal hunting and have no desire or reason to be out during firearms season.
Sold all my rifles to buy bows!! :goldtooth:
I still bird hunt with a SxS 16 or 28 ga. though.
Just be careful during gun season. Remember what happened to Curt. . .
Don't miss the rifles at all . .
Larry
I still hunt with a bow during the general season here in Montana, just got to wear that funky orange during the general season when ya do.
During the rifle season you can use any weapon. But you can only hunt one 'season'. So if you get an archery deer, elk license only archery can be used and you will not be able to hunt any other season.
Joe
Gun hunting does nothing for me anymore, so therefore i will not do it Unless my son wants to go or when my grandson is old enough, and even then i will not carry one. Wish i could hunt with my bow during gun season here in Wisconsin, Hey Kevin you must know something i don't? Is it really true?