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Archery Only?

This will be my first year that I will stick with the bow and not swap to my slug gun when firearms season opens because I no longer enjoy or feel a sense of accomplishment punching a deer's ticket from 90 yards out because it's just too easy to do. I've seen two nice bucks, one is a monster, on separate pieces of land that are archery only areas that I'm planning to go after while most others trade their bows for a long range implement leaving these areas undisturbed for me to do my thing.
The only change to my plan is when I take my son out to hunt I will hunt with my pistol but in reality no deer are going to get within my range with him behind his scope.
 
Wyatt_burp said:
It seems like a good idea until you are 30 yards away from a good buck, tag in your pocket, and you are only confident to 20 yards, I could have cried last year. I'm other news, 35 is now my recurve max, and I'm not taking it out until I shoot a buck with the compound

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My plan is to do my early season doe management with the traditional gear next year. I'm blessed to be in a target rich environment. Come the rut the compound will still get the call for now.
 
Kowi Anukasha said:
My plan is to do my early season doe management with the traditional gear next year. I'm blessed to be in a target rich environment. Come the rut the compound will still get the call for now.
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Longbow and recurve. 20 to 30 yard confident at stationary targets. 1 to 2 yards confident on moving targets. Kidding. 20 to 25 at a deer.
 
Ive been archery only for the past 6 years, I love the challenge and nothing quite gets the heart pumping like a buck inside 30 yards and letting all the practice and hard work come together. The WMA that I hunt is archery only and helps keep the pressure low as everything else around it allows rifle and have scheduled dog running days. I stay as far away from all that as I can.
 
#1 I have struggled last year and so far this year, no kills. I need deer meat so im gonna use every legal advantage as I can. When and if i ever get my freezer almost full before season ends than i will try bow only. I love the thought of bow only and one day i may, but right now its to frustrating always coming up short and me saying if i had a gun i would have deer meat.
 
Jwiggins762 said:
#1 I have struggled last year and so far this year, no kills. I need deer meat so im gonna use every legal advantage as I can. When and if i ever get my freezer almost full before season ends than i will try bow only. I love the thought of bow only and one day i may, but right now its to frustrating always coming up short and me saying if i had a gun i would have deer meat.
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Hunt bow season hard, use a gun in gun season. As you get better with a bow, bow kills happen easier. I miss gun hunting and no deer at all for a year or two, but when you get it, it comes.

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gcr0003 said:
Who here exclusively hunts with a bow? What reasons do you have for staying bow only? Have you ever regretted taking your bow instead of a rifle?

I am bow only by both preference and necessity. I enjoy archery as much if not more than hunting alone. I love shooting and tweaking my bows. Archery is almost a daily routine for me. Also, the public land I spend all my time on is restricted to bow except for a short muzzle-loader season and small game. Even when I have chances to hunt my buddy's lease I always bring my bow.
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Archery only for me since 2006, gun hunting just isn't interesting to me. At 300 yards you can end a hunt with a gun, it's just beginning with a bow. I have nothing against gun hunters at all. I was a full tilt hand loader at one point, now just zero interest. My oldest daughter is almost 10 and has some interest in rifle hunting before she can draw a bow (hunting weight), I'll leave that option open for her.
 
I gun hunt, but in an area where any success is to be celebrated (I think there were 3 archery deer in the permit area taken last year). Otherwise I archery hunt.
 
Bow only got to be easy with a gun lost interest in the whole thing (hunting) one day my buddy convinced me to start again but only with a bow and to be honest there is nothing more satisfying sitting there waiting for that shot hoping u have done everything right for just that brief moment. So really it’s about the hunt for me nothing else
 
Bow only going on 40 years, nothing against the gun hunters. Just the way I roll . Next going to get into longbow ,recurve . Good luck everybody
 
I am hunting bow only for now due to the rules of the public land I've been hunting but i thoroughly enjoy gun hunting.

My hands down favorite way to hunt deer is organized or semi organized deer drives with shotguns. While i feel more accomplishment from deer I've killed bow hunting or gun hunting off a stand, the camaraderie and excitement of a deer running right at you is great. On top of that, there is more strategy involved than one would assume, especially when your deer are used to being pushed. I've also learned more about the area i hunt (bedding areas, escape routes, hidden & overlooked areas...) by walking through the thickest part of a woodlot trying to get the deer moving than just about any other way. As long as the group you are with is safe and enjoyable, i would take that experience over any other.
 
I'm archery only for hunting. Only time I use a rifle is for coyote management on the properties I hunt, that's my "payment" to the rancher, take care of the coyotes and since they often hang up at a couple hundred yards out its more practical. I grew up gun hunting in Alaska, for me archery has opened a whole new world and made hunting more exciting and challenging.
 
I love hunting with my 30-30. And making a good longer range shot with the 308. But we got a long bow season in TN and I love it just the same. Not sure if I have a preference. Only thing I don’t really like is muzzleloaders, dirty finicky smoke poles. I’d like to get a smokeless conversion some day. But between bow and rifle it’s hard to say which I like better. Bow hunting is more exciting, rifle hunting is just a lot of fun. Wouldn’t give either up.


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Phopkins said:
Bow only, recurves and longbows. I killed about 6 antler less deer when I was a kid. No thrill for me in shooting an animal that doesn't know you're a threat, 20 yards and in, that's when the excitement starts.
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Depends on the scenario really... shot a doe last week at 10 yards with my bow and she didn’t have a dang clue I was there. Trying to get a clear shot at a deer walking through the woods at 100 yards while holding your rifle steady can get pretty exciting. I enjoy it all, the easy shots and the hard shots.


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I was doing some scouting/ still hunting today with bow in hand. It is currently firearms season in Kentucky, and I kept thinking, I'd love to be able to reach out a tad bit farther than the 25 yard comfort zone of my bow... if need be. I wouldn't mind carrying a hand gun, with my bow, to extend my range a bit.
I'm not really interested in trying to pull off several hundred yard sniper shots... maybe 50 and under.
 
Me personally, as soon as Nov 11 hits I never look at my bow or crossbow again for the rest of the year. I hunt a private piece of land that is about 40 acres. However the issue is that this 40 acres is in the center outside edge of a 300ish acres that is not hunted at all. Trust me when I say that the mature deer stay very clear of my 40 acres lol...I plant several food plots to try and get as many doe's to come on my property so they will draw in the bucks during the rut. I will however admit that part of the reason I don't bow hunt is because of 2 reasons. The first reason is I just don't feel comfortable shooting at a animal passed 25 yards. The second reason has to do with the first, literally all but like 2 of the bucks I have killed, if I didn't have a rifle, I wouldn't have killed them. The majority of my buck kills happen very quick. A doe comes tearing through the woods with a buck behind, I let out some form of call to get him to stop and pow at 50 plus yards. I will admit though this probably not the norm.
 
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