It's tough in Mn, the gun season falls right in the peak of the rut. With that said it's really tempting to pick up the old rifle and go out guns blazing. Every year I go through the mental struggle and the last two that old rifle has stayed in the safe. For me there is no better rush than getting that buck within 40 yards using my skills as a hunter against his keen senses and winning that battle. It is one of the most rewarding things a hunter can do. Bow wins for me hands down! BOW HUNT OR DIE!!!
To me any kind of hunting is fun. I like to squirrel hunt, dove hunt, rabbit hunt, duck hunt, deer hunt, just hunt. It is fun being in the woods and being able to hunt in the woods makes it just that much more fun. I have killed more deer with my bow than with a gun and I have gun hunted much longer than bow hunted. Bow hunting made me a better hunter and I do enjoy the challenges of bow hunting over riffle hunting when I am hunting alone. I have been taking my daughter hunting since she was 5 years old and she killed her first deer a doe last year at 8 years old with a rifle. That was the most fun hunt I have ever been on and the most exciting hunt as well. My daughter is not ready to bow hunt yet so I will continue to have fun rifle hunting with her. I do still get excited when I shoot a deer with a riffle just as I do with a bow.
Only thing I can say about a disadvantage about bowhunting is distance when you see a booner 70-80 yards away and your thiking in your head he would be on the ground already with a rifle lol and dropping the deer would be my other thing. I love dropping deer in there tracts and I have yet to do so in bowhunting. Compared to 99% of my rifle kills the deer drop. But I would never trade my bow in for a rifle I plan this year to strictly bow hunt all year.
Bowhunting is a clear winner for me. There's something to be said about sitting out in the peace and quiet of nature while I'm bow hunting, as opposed to sitting during gun season when it sounds like the start of WWIII. I enjoy the challenge of getting close and not being detected, I enjoy the difficult nature of getting your setup in the perfect location to make that 20 year and under shot. I've killed several deer with my .270WSM over the years, but the rush just isn't the same for me.
Unless where I'm hunting doesn't allow bow during gun season I'll very very rarely choose to grab a gun over my bow. Just me.
If I could only choose one it would be bowhunting. But, I very much enjoy sharing a camp with the guys I rifle hunt with and I have never found it easy to kill a big buck with a gun. Bowhunting is something I mainly do by myself so I probably have less "fun" in comparison to rifle camp. I was bow only for a number of years but I think I will be doing both for the rest of my life. I see no point in making comments to gun hunters that they should be trying something more challenging? Not everyone wants to be a bowhunter or hunts for the same reasons. It is a lot easier for me to kill a 110-120" buck with bow than it is for me to kill a 140-150" buck with rifle. It's all relative.
That's very fair to say, which is what I realized and therefore deleted my comment on the social media post. I was just thinking out loud and expressing what I prefer and it was taken in a different way that what I had intended. I didn't realize it would have been taken personally (it wasn't even the person who made the post or who it was about). That's a very good point though. The fun with gun season is the camp camaraderie and tradition, whereas the fun in bow hunting is the bow hunting and close up hunting itself.
If I were hunting whitetails in the woods, I'd pick a bow every time if I only had one choice. After all, killing a whitetail buck with a bow wasn't a super hard task. On the other hand out here, I look forward to gun season. Sure, I bowhunt out here but it's not as much 'fun' to me. It's hot and you have to do a lot of hiking and keep in mind that if you shoot something, you're going to need to get it cut up and packed out in a hurry. Rifle season is nice and cool. The deer are more skittish, the season is short and there seem to suddenly be a zillion other hunters so that's an additional challenge. I really like the precision of crosshairs and a well sighted-in rifle. My 2015 buck was 240 yards away. A slam-dunk shot for my .300 win mag with a 4.5-14x scope. The challenge was in finding the deer, waiting for it get up out of it's bed and finally turn broadside at 240 yards. It veeeeery slowly walked/fed towards me for 45 long minutes before turning enough for the shot. It was a fun wait. (especially while all the road hunters were driving back and forth on the distant ridges, clueless that there were more than 30 deer feeding down in the canyons below them) When it comes to coyotes, nothing is more satisfying than settling some crosshairs on a clueless songdog. :D My husband may take his .338 lapua out for doe pronghorn next month, it won't be hunting as much as shooting but a filled tag is fun too.
I started bowhunting because using a rifle was losing its pizazz. Still, rifle hunting is better than no hunting.
I've killed deer with both. First deer ever was when I was 12 with a .30-30 and it was just a yearling but I was shaking like a leaf on a tree with excitement. Then when I was 14 I killed my first buck, and it was with a bow and nothing will compare to that. I've yet to kill a deer and not be excited, regardless of weapon choice. But the excitement of hunting when the rut is in full swing and having deer at such a close distance is an adrenaline rush I don't think I'll ever get when hunting with a rifle
I just like being out in the woods away from the everyday life problems. Nothing's more relaxing then being in the woods!
Although I haven't shot a mountable buck with my bow... The only deer I have mounted is a 120" 8pt I shot at 20 yards with my rifle. When I got down and got my hands on that deer, it was truly one of the happiest moments of my life. That was a few years ago and it was my first "big buck" after hunting for 12 years... I'm not sure I've ever felt that happy/excited/emotional in my entire life.
I love deer hunting... Period. I bow hunt because of the long season. I definitely get a thrill out of any bow kill more so than if I shoot a doe with a rifle; but pure and simple I would take a rifle with me all season if I could. I take the weapon that improves my odds of being able to kill a "big deer". That is my ultimate goal. If I routinely was able to kill booners with my rifle every year, hunting with one may lose its appeal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Like Brad, I gun hunt for the Camp setting. But, given the choice, I'm a bowhunter. That's why I only bow hunt in MN, but rifle hunt in WI.
If IL had the option I would probably bowhunt through 1st and second season as well. But, looking out for our best interest(read safety) we're not allowed to even on private land unless you are in a bow only county. But, we can hunt during youth firearm, muzzle loader and late antlerless only firearm season. This state is so backwards even turning it around it's still off kilter.
