Every year I hit the woods in early September and unless I tag out I have nice and quiet hunting til' mid October. Then here come those pesky gun hunters. Hunting from the road, shooting anything they see, tearing up the woods with their noisy movement. I have just about decided to stop gun hunting all together because I cant stand being in the woods during the same time as those idiots. I love the peacefulness that bow hunting brings. It takes a rare breed to bowhunt. You have to be quiet, you have to bring'em in close, you have to utilize camouflage and scent control in ways that most hunters will never understand. I may never take a rifle into the deer woods again.
i spilt my time bow hunting and duck hunting i have not gun hunted for deer in ten years to many hunters
No, I don't feel that way at all. I have never really encountered those "pesky" gun hunters. Especially the ones hunting from the road shooting anything they see. I've encountered gun hunters but they were usually sitting patiently waiting for deer movement, not unlike a fantastic bow hunter. For over 40 years I must have been in the right place at the right time. You see, I am a hunter. I hunt with many weapons. Bows, rifles, shotguns and pistols. I use a lot of those rare breed bow hunter tactics. I'm quiet, I try to bring them in close, wear camouflage and pay strict attention to the wind. Believe me, I understand all of those tactics. The only difference between me the bow hunter and me the gun hunter is that I am legally required to wear a vest of orange when I am hunting with a firearm. In my book, *****in' about fellow hunters doing things legally, ain't cool.
Man, things sure are different down in my neck of the woods. I usually encounter no less than (10) road hunters a weekend during modern gun season. I've commented on this in a previous thread where I said that I wished that my state would go to "shotgun only" for deer season. I'm glad that you have respectable gun hunters in your area but that ain't the case were I'm at. And I know that bowhunters ain't perfect but my experience has been that when you do run into a fellow bowhunter, there a lot more prepared and dedicated to hunting. I guess if I lived in a state were bow season wasn't so long it would be different but here bow season runs from Sept. to Jan. and you have muzzleloader and rifle season thrown in between.
Well it's according what you mean by "road hunter" because like in threads I've posted in before my father use to be apart of a dog rushing club that had leases to LARGE tracks of land and hunted along sides of roads adjacent to the properties (dirt roads/trails) and followed the dogs. Fun stuff. But I do come across the "road hunter" that is not on his own land and is trespassing which is a pain, or the night hunter, which is also a pain. Two different things.
In KY it is illegal to discharge a firearm from a public roadway. What guys do is wait in their parked vehicles and overlook large fields and wait for deer to come out and feed in the fields and then shoot. Besides being illegal it's easy hunting because in KY we have a lot of old strip mines and when the coal companies are finished stripping they resew the land with wildlife friendly foliage such as clover and alfalfa, so all a hunter has to do is sit in his truck out of the weather and wait til' sundown when all the deer come out in the open to feed then they shoot them.
Do they really do that? I can see it being a problem if it's illegal. Have you ever seen them run by at night, hit them with a spot light, and blast? That's disturbing.
It depends where you are. Public land around here can be a bit crazy during gun sesaon. Where I'm hunting now though it is a bit secluded and we don't see many gun hunters. The ones that are around shoot their deer in treestands in the woods and once they get one they're done.
Very well put Greg. I dislike illegal activity any hunter is doing not just gun hunters, that gives all hunters a bad name.
Michigan has over 300,000 licensed bowhunters. Factor in another 25,000 that don't purchase a license, and it doesn't sound all that rare to me. At this point in my life, gun hunting does not interest me. So you know what I do? I don't go. I could go and then complain about it, but I just choose to do other things. Its a crazy concept, but its working for me.
Around here it is about the same with both weapons. Most of our Bowhunters are actually gun hunters that want the extra time in the woods, if they have a bow in there hands in the woods, they call themselves bowhunters. If they have a gun, they call themselves gun hunters. I actually had a guy tell me before this past season opener he was wanting to get his bow back out and start hunting with it again since the weather is more desirable. Not the reason I want to bowhunt but, we each have our own reasons. Personally, I prefer bow over gun. Not only is it more of a challenge but, I would much prefer to shoot a bow over a gun. I think the "rare breed" is the guy who loves to do it and does it for the love of the hunt and not just because it is something to do or something a person does because his friends do or because its "COOL". Not the weapon they choose to use. We have too many that now do it because it is on T.V. and it is "COOL" or my friends do it so I do it. Thats my opinion though. Bottom line in my opinion it is if they are doing it and doing ilegallyly and ethically, who am I to jude how they hunt or how rare they are. I do think that someone who hunts with a bow only over a gun is more uncommon than someone who hunts with every weapon.
I don't harbor any ill feelings toward those who only gun hunt. Here, most guys that hunt with a bow pick up the gun for the annual rifle season. I too pick up the gun each year if I have tags left after the archery season. It's a nice change of pace and the fact that our hunting camp is filled with family and close friends makes it a blast. I haven't killed a deer with a rifle in several years now, but I do take it for a walk. I'm fortunate to have a large amount of private property to hunt and don't have to deal with the public land fiasco that happens each gun season here. I hear the horror stories each season. But even archery season on public land can be a crazy time around here. We're all hunters, regardless of weapon we choose. I look at this way. I'd rather have a guy who only gun hunts a couple days a year kill a deer, than that same guy pick up a bow in October and wound 10.
There are different levels of "bowhunter" around here. From weekend warriors to diehards. Not many eat sleep and breathe it. There are also different level of gun hunters. The deadliest being a diehard bowhunter with a gun in his hand.
Seems to me it's hunter education and hunters per square mile for the area you are in,I can tell if a guy is a idoit if there are more of them and they are hunting closer to me..... just saying if you put 20 bowhunters in 20 ac woodlot there is some stupid $h!t about to happen when a single buck runs threw this crowd.
For me, it's more that I don't like slob hunters... I've seen slob gun hunters, bow hunters, fisherman, in-staters/locals, out-of-staters, etc. - they seem to come in all shapes, sizes and weapon type preferences.. Don't mind sharing the field with anyone else doing it in a legal and ethical way....
You're at least right about mid-late October. It's the absolute best time of the year. No chance of hearing gunshots "Pesky" gun hunters though? Maybe some but I don't know about throwing all gun hunters in the same boat. I will say this though, the most annoying thing in the world is hearing 4-5 close-sounding shots when you're not seeing a thing. Especially 30-45 minutes till dark.
