I "is" (if we can agree to define is as is in its proper verbage) an Archer. An Archer who relishes the making of my gear, the planning of the chase and then the end result; a Traditional Bowhunter.


LOL

Sanderlin III

I am a hunter who prefers to use a traditional bow to do all my hunting and some fishing. They are both the same and somwhat different. What does it matter as long as you are keeping the spirit alive.

"For instance: a meadow-lark shows his yellow breast in a hunch of clover blossoms, or in a tuft of timothy stubble, thirty yards distant from you-you halt instantly, throw up your bow quickly and gracefully, draw an arrow to the head and let it go sharply, all with as little effort and precisely with the same half-involuntary, half-mechanical accuracy with which you take so many steps in walking. Your arrow flies with a keen hiss straight to the mark and knocks the bird over and over amid a cloud of gold feathers and clover or grass leaves. When you can do this one time out of ten, at even twenty paces, you may begin to call yourself an archer; but do not grow discouraged if it takes a long while to get such ordinary proficiency. "There is no excellence" in archery "without great labor.""

-Maurice Thompson "The Witchery of Archery"

Great.!?! More categories and "clicks" to divide us and some feel superior. Why not just shoot what you want the best you can.

But to me either of them works.You are right to have said that it doesn't matter the attire in which one chooses to wear or the targets that he chooses to fire upon.If he hunts or if He stump shoots.This all could be or it couldn't be factors determining this.

The terms bowman and archer mean the same as was noted earlier and that's easy to validate.

During 1943 a group of archers formed the California Bowmen Hunters in order to distinguish themselves as archers/bowmen who's primarily pursuit was hunting with the bow by coining the term bowman-hunter.  "Bowman-hunter" has been accepted since as a term to identify those archers/bowmen who hunt with the bow.

During the 1870s, Maurice Thompson used the pseudonym "Bowman" and Will H. Thompson used the pseudonym "Archer" on some submissions to "Forest & Stream."  You will find in Maurice's writings that he used both terms interchangeably.

Well, with a last name Bowen I get called Bowmen from time to time.

Bowman:
Dragoon regiments always had attached to them a number of young boys called bowmen. The bowmen's job was to perform stable and general camp duties. They were dressed in a variety of of stable dress, legware and forage caps.

Archer:
4th May 1960: A Dutch Guild King aiming his bow and arrow during the archery test. This is one of the many tests of strength, skill and endurance the Guild Kings must face during 'The Festival of Guilds' in the Dutch provinces of Limburg and Brabant

I shoot a bow, there for I am an Archer. I hunt with a bow, there for I am a Bowhunter.

Archer= one who shoots a bow.
Bowman= one who shoots a bow.

Archer....Bowman, is one and the same.

Archery target shooter= one who shoots at targets.
Bowhunter= one who hunts with a bow.

I'd call myself an archer because I love to shoot bows and work at getting better, whether I compete (not in years) or hunt with the bow or not.

I was an Archer until my tie got caught in the string, nearly broke my neck,  now I am a Bowman

I am    shocked   :rolleyes:  how can we possibly have a title for what we do, that is so obviously politically incorrect??
What about the great and venerable, Lady 'Gangers; such as Claudia,Shell,Kille.....
Are we to refer to them as bow-MEN?
Titles,categories,clicks....YUCK !!
Fling arras and have fun. Keep score or don't. Loin cloth or golf shirt...whatever...  

I've always thought of myself as just an old wood chucker.....

The bowman is in charge of the foresails on the boat, either the two headsails or the spinnakers, depending on the sail configuration and point of sail.

Seem to me that there would only be Bowhunters and Archers and the only difference would be that Archers don't hunt???????????? But hey...whats in a name.

The Gay Archer
circa 1938: Betty Saunders, dressed as the Gay Archer for her part in a new Grosvenor House cabaret. She is one of a cast of 14 British girls selected by George Black Jnr.

Not that there's any thing wrong with that....

Bowhunter. IMHO anyone that pursues game with a bow is a bowhunter. I have pursued the game of archery to hone my shooting skills for bowhunting. Again IMHO the best of both worlds.

Tony...you are SO correct!    
Killdeer

I just came here to see what Killdeer would say.    

...but, I'm just 'a kindred spirit' to everyone here.  

Whoops!
This just goes to show that two posters cannot occupy the same place at the same time. Didn't mean to bump you, Ducks.   :eek:  

'Scuse, please.