Archery vs Rifle hunting

[Turpentine21]

There was a time I would only hunt with a cedar arrow and my homemade Longbow or Recurve. Nothing matches that for pure excitement and sense of satisfaction for me. I remember every deer and hog I shot with the recurve and longbow, vividly. That puts you as close to the game as you are going to get. You learn more about those animals and all the animals around you. It takes effort every day to stay accurate, It's a different mindset. Plus you have to deal more with disappointment.
Bowhunting for me was a passion. It requires you to operate and hunt in the animals world. I would rather kill one deer or hog with a bow, than 25 with a rifle. I can't draw a bow and shoot now, so that sport has been taken from me and I miss it.

Rifle hunting is much more forgiving. But you do have to know your game. Its not easy, but it's a whole lot easier. I've always said with rifle hunting you can stay in your world to hunt and the animal can stay in his.

 

[Turpentine21]

Love both but if faced with a choice, I would have to stick with the bow. I remember my dad telling me back in 1970 he would buy me a bow if I could shoot a deer with a borrowed bow. I'm sure he was confident he wouldn't have to pay up! I borrowed an old Herter's fiberglass long bow from my cousin and bought some arrows. Remember those Fred Bear wooden arrows with the green broadheads that used a razor blade insert? Well, I shot an 8 pointer and dad bought me a Kodiak Hunter Magnum. I went on to kill a few more with it before moving to compound but wish I still had that bow!

I may even have some of those old Bear Razorheads

 

[Lee7588]

The thing that gets me excited is hunting season, I love to hunt with both. I love hunting with my bow because it is more challenging. I want to be able to get up close and personal with the animals. My rifles gives me the opportunity to shoot the animals that I saw while bow hunting that were out of range.

 

[Rick Richard]

There was a time I would only hunt with a cedar arrow and my homemade Longbow or Recurve. Nothing matches that for pure excitement and sense of satisfaction for me. I remember every deer and hog I shot with the recurve and longbow, vividly. That puts you as close to the game as you are going to get. You learn more about those animals and all the animals around you. It takes effort every day to stay accurate, It's a different mindset. Plus you have to deal more with disappointment.
Bowhunting for me was a passion. It requires you to operate and hunt in the animals world. I would rather kill one deer or hog with a bow, than 25 with a rifle. I can't draw a bow and shoot now, so that sport has been taken from me and I miss it.

Rifle hunting is much more forgiving. But you do have to know your game. Its not easy, but it's a whole lot easier. I've always said with rifle hunting you can stay in your world to hunt and the animal can stay in his.

If you like that thrill of being close and can't shoot a bow anymore than try it on the ground with a crossbow. Very exciting.

 

[Turpentine21]

If you like that thrill of being close and can't shoot a bow anymore than try it on the ground with a crossbow. Very exciting.

It is exciting. I did it with my wood bows. I thought about crossbows but honestly don't even get very excited over compound bows. I probably could pull a compound back if I had too but I miss the traditional bows. After breaking my back in a treestand accident, I couldn't walk without assistance for 3.5 years. 9 major operations followed. I can walk unassisted now but still have limitations with walking, sitting, standing, and spasms. I don't have the stamina. I certainly don't belong in a treestand now. I don't have a lot of help if I do shoot something. At the same time I don't want to be a burden on someone else. I lost a lot of my lust for hunting after my fall. The other side of a fall like that is financial. The paycheck stops coming but the bills do not. I can't lease those great places to hunt now. Doesn't mean I don't miss it though. But it taught me some things. I'm more happy just to be here now and I certainly appreciate the little things more. Maybe one day I will be able to get back into it. There's nothing else like it. Don't ever take it for granted.

 

[Rick Richard]

It is exciting. I did it with my wood bows. I thought about crossbows but honestly don't even get very excited over compound bows. I probably could pull a compound back if I had too but I miss the traditional bows. After breaking my back in a treestand accident, I couldn't walk without assistance for 3.5 years. 9 major operations followed. I can walk unassisted now but still have limitations with walking, sitting, standing, and spasms. I don't have the stamina. I certainly don't belong in a treestand now. I don't have a lot of help if I do shoot something. At the same time I don't want to be a burden on someone else. I lost a lot of my lust for hunting after my fall. The other side of a fall like that is financial. The paycheck stops coming but the bills do not. I can't lease those great places to hunt now. Doesn't mean I don't miss it though. But it taught me some things. I'm more happy just to be here now and I certainly appreciate the little things more. Maybe one day I will be able to get back into it. There's nothing else like it. Don't ever take it for granted.

I hear you and wish you the best. Sometimes it is the simple things that can be the most meaningful. Nothing like being on the ground behind a natural blind and having a big buck look right through you, but never seeing you. That is the best for me. Good luck and keep on pursuing that….thrill.

 

[sierracharlie338]

I'm a bow hunter by heart and Gun hunter by "birth" if you will. My passion is archery and has been since I was 13. But spent much more time behind a gun growing up and later for work. I love long range shooting without a doubt but there will always be the love of archery I don't think will ever go out.

 

[myshootinstinks]

There was a time I would only hunt with a cedar arrow and my homemade Longbow or Recurve. Nothing matches that for pure excitement and sense of satisfaction for me. I remember every deer and hog I shot with the recurve and longbow, vividly.

Yup, me too. I have been a member of that line of thinking and I still enjoy shooting a bow. I made a few longbows and shot strictly cedars. Never became interested in compounds or crossbows.
I grew up hunting with bows and guns and I appreciate both. I love well made firearms and handcrafted bows.
Traditional bow hunting is simpler, more basic, requires less equipment. Of course it's far less effective in terms of harvesting animals. For every deer I've killed with a stick I've taken probably five with a gun. I've always considered a big doe killed with my bow to be a greater "trophy" than my biggest buck taken with a rifle.

 

[Turpentine21]

Yup, me too. I have been a member of that line of thinking and I still enjoy shooting a bow. I made a few longbows and shot strictly cedars. Never became interested in compounds or crossbows.
I grew up hunting with bows and guns and I appreciate both. I love well made firearms and handcrafted bows.
Traditional bow hunting is simpler, more basic, requires less equipment. Of course it's far less effective in terms of harvesting animals. For every deer I've killed with a stick I've taken probably five with a gun. I've always considered a big doe killed with my bow to be a greater "trophy" than my biggest buck taken with a rifle.

Yep. I have killed hundreds of deer and hogs with a gun. Which is likely to be around 5 per each bow kill as you say. Our deer are "wired" and very spooky due to our 4.5 month long hunting season. So any deer with traditional equipment is a trophy. I hunted squirrels, shot fish, and even killed rabbits running in front of a pack of beagles.
I made my own Flemish strings, my own bows, sharpened my own broadheads, and ground my own fletching from turkey feathers. I wish I had gotten into flint broadheads. It's a lifestyle. I wouldn't even pick up a gun or compound back then. You have to live with some disappointment. A lot of animals are still alive because I chose to hunt that way. But they and the ones that aren't sure made things exciting.

 

[Buck-bomb]

Man there's nothing like the excitement me I get having a buck 20 yards away and coming to full draw and letting her fly.! It's my biggest passion along with turkey hunting. Gotta love a thunder chicken hammering down in your face!

 

[Turpentine21]

Turkeys are fun. But turkey hunting and walking go together and my walking and sitting on the ground is limited. I'm not an ambush turkey hunter like so many are. If he won't gobble or come to my call I don't find it interesting.
For me, there was nothing like having 10-15 hogs under me and putting that burch shaft with a Zwickey 4 blade in the right spot. **** I do love to hog hunt.

 

[Bwana_1]

I prefer archery if I had to pick one, purely because I get to hunt the rut phases here....about the only time the big boys are on their feet during daylight hours in a heavily hunted state.

 

[Turpentine21]

Too me traditional Bowhunting was a lifestyle. 1 started it off when I went to Clemson. I had been shooting compounds for about 7 years then. We had a nice bow club and course not far from Clemson. My roommate and I drove to Jeffries Archery to meet Tom and Owen Jeffrey and left with three recurves. Then a trip to Dan Quillians shop in Athens Georgia netted me one of Dan's. Longbows. We met people through the club and if we weren't hunting on the weekend we were at a traditional shoot somewhere meeting some more interesting people. Man we had a good time with all of that stuff and met some really interesting people. If you were carrying a recurve or longbow and spotted another group doing the same. You knew you had some brothers there and some common ground to get you started.

 

[myshootinstinks]

I'm old enough to have started shooting before compounds. I have owned a few that I acquired through trades but never did take to them. For one thing, compounds are heavy. My longbows i can shoot for hours. Compound bows are usually 4-5 lbs and after a couple of hours it feels like I'm holding up a Chevy.
I remember all the hoopla when compounds came into style but I always thought they looked like a bumper jack.