A friend of mine hunted exremely rarely. We're talking not even a day a year in the woods. He went out with his uncle once and a deer that was being driven by another group was pushed to him. For what I remember, the thing may have already been wounded. Anyway, the thing was at the very least extremely exhausted, and he shot it, and ended up bringing the buck home...and bragging about it. Now, I'm sure most people would shoot that buck under those conditions, but I'm not sure bragging about it is in order since it was nothing but dumb luck.

I hunted for 12 years - both gun and bow. I agree - bow hunting is much more challenging than hunting with the gun. I harvested two deer with the bow, and missed many others (admittedly mostly due to lack of practice). In contrast, I raised the gun on two deer and those two went home with me. Fortunatley, I didn't wound any deer along the way.

In my experiences, if I was in a spot pre-dawn and I saw another hunter (flashlight) apparently setting up close to me, a couple flickers of my flashlight usually got them to move at least a little further away, and I would do the same if the tables were turned. I have also been in situations where as the sun comes up, an orange object becomes apparent within 50 yards of my position. It was frustrating. When I hunted, it was in NJ where rifle hunting was not permitted. It was shotgun, muzzleloader, or bow and arrow.

 

I feel bad for you guys who are stuck hunting in areas that are too small and too crowded. Out here where I'm at your main problem is getting too far from civilization!

 

I am looking for some land to lease out here for hunting, but all the farmers know how much they can get from the right person with $$$ so what I offer they laugh at. I even offered to build fence and a little work around the farm for free but he still says no.

 

I live in PA now, and there's definitely more room, but in NJ - the areas that I hunted, it would be very difficult to truly get lost.

 

My Hoyt superslam got run over last year [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]
So I am back to shooting my old browning this year, easton 2117 gamegetters, 100 grain muzzys fixed 3 blade, cobra site & release.
Just arrowed a big body 8 or 10 the Saturday before shotgun season started in Ohio, thought I had a perfect double lung on him, but never found him. After he crossed the highway the blood went thin and sparse quick. Can't figure out why he never laid down though, I actually fell asleep waiting to go after him so I didn't start tracking for almost 2 hours. Feel bad about it cause I know he'll die, had lots of blood, bright red and foamy so I know I hit where I was aiming, just not sure what happened. I looked for a few hours the next day and still never ran across him.

 

I am more of a fisherman than a hunter, but I do hunt each year. I have hunt with rifle, crossbow and compound bow, but I really like hunting with my crossbow (Barnett) and compound bow (Parker). I really don't hunt with a rifle any more, but that doesn't mean rifle hunters are not true hunters. We all hunt and fish for the love of it. Weather hunting with a rifle, crossbow or compound bow shouldn't matter. What really matters is enjoying God's creation and the gift of hunting and fishing. Of course, we could hunt like the Indians of southeast Texas did several hundred years ago.......a group of indians would chase deer with spears until the deer could not run any more. BUT, as for me...........middle life will not allow me to run down a deer........lol.......that is unless I use my ATV.......lol.

 

Oh yes Archery. I shoot a Mathews Outback 70# 30" draw, muzzy zero effect, vital bow gear oracle, mathews quiver, gold tip traditional shafts with muzzy 125 grain broadheads.

 

Several interesting posts with the Capt'ns being right at the top of the list. Personally I have hunted with an old handmade long bow, a recurve made by Fred Bear and just about any type of rifle or musket you can imagine. Figured out pretty early on I got better results with a rifle with good energy at the target when using the proper types of bullets.

For a long time I hunted hard, many times in areas where you had to carry a saddle with you so you would have something to sit on at the tops of ridges. Now I hunt on our own place and close to the roads.

Later years I have tended to carry some of the old big bore black powder cartridge rifles and keep the shots fairly close in. Less than 100 yards for sure. Past few seasons I have tended to find a spot to sit, take a nap, eat lunch, do a little more watching and napping and then go home. When a critter does manage to stagger thru my "Danger Zone" I usually just wait till they get out of range and then yell at them. Keeps them more alert. Guess I'm just to lazy to clean, pack and cut up a deer or elk anymore.

It has never mattered to me what kind of equipment anyone wanted to hunt with, as long as it was adequit for the game they were after and legal. What mattered was that they were concerned about the animals, the sport and those that were afield with them. I have met many real Nimrods and a number of real jerks in the outdoors. The latter I can do without. To me one of the really revealing things about someone you meet afield is how they treat and react to their fellow hunters. Unfortunatly some seem to think their way is the only right way to pursue the sport.

 

Love Archery too. Have 5 bows, but the one I hunt with now is a Mathews Switchback, 27.5" draw, 70 lbs with a Trophy Ridge Matrix sight, Rip Cord drop away rest Mathews 1 pc quiver and Easton Axis arrows. I hunt rifle and muzzleloader also, but love bowhunting the best

 

Bigjimmy, I don't understand how you can say that you didn't mean to "slam" other hunters when you said in your first post that archery hunters were the "real" hunters. That imply that other people that don't use archery equipment aren't "real" hunters. I totally agree with Capt.'s post. We are at a point and time that ALL hunters need to drop the bickering between ourselves and focus on the idiots that would take away our ability to hunt. If you don't think it's happening, think again. There are anti-hunters that are constantly trying to get lawmakers to stop all hunting. I say that as long as someone is hunting according to the laws and hunting safely, I don't care what they use. I have been hunting with a bow for over 20 years and a shotgun for about that. My current bow is a Hoyt Razortec and I managed to kill a doe with it.