How many of you guys hunt with your bows during gun season? Ive never tried it before and was wondering if you had any luck?
I'm currently doing now in shotgun in mass...I've been seeing deer but recently they've been too far for a shot or when they are under my stand/within shooting range its right when i get in the stand way before shooting light.
I'm doing here, shot both my deer this year during rifle season with my bow. It can be a little frusterating to know that if only I hada rifle on some occasions I could have taken several more deer. But thats bow hunting, it drives us crazy.
I'm doing it here in rifle season in NC. It has been a bit agravating but so much more rewarding when I finally do connect on one. The really frustrating part is when you have one that is out of range and a few minutes after they pass you hear a gun shot from the neighbor. Or when you pass on one so he can grow and the same thing. Boom off in the distance. The hardest part of it is not knowing if that was the deer you passed or if it was a different one. Gun hunters around here don't understand the concept of let them go watch them grow. They just want to shoot something.
I hunt my regular gun season usually with gun. But put the guns away and pull the bow out for muzzle loader here in Wisconsin. Sucks haveing to wear a pumpkin costume though...
i wore one for an entire week because i didn't read the book close enough. i was on my thanksgiving break so i hunted everyday all week thinking muzzy opened up at the end of minnesota gun season but it didn't open up until the next weekend.. man i felt like an idiot thinking about the farmers neighbor laughing at me as i walk up the hill to my stands. back to the post, i hunted with my bow during rifle season, i saw a lot of deer and loved every second of it. something about being in a tree without a gun just feels good.
It's really no different than bow season, cept you have to wear a vest and hat. I use a lightweight cheapo vest, don't even know it's there. If you think a vest is gonna get you busted, you're doing multiple other things wrong.
Bow hunt the entire season in Dixie. Pretty much the only time I break out the BAR 30.06 is if I am invited to hunt with someone else... then I usually only watch the deer. It would take a really big one for me to shoot it with rifle.
Having control over the hunting pressure in my personal plot of land is huge! I usually hunt other areas the week before gun season in Ohio and let them use it as a "safe zone" type of scenario. When the gun week opens, I usually have deer flocking in! Granted they are zoned in and skiddish, but if your prepared, and maybe hang your stand a little higher, I've have much success with this tactic.
I killed my buck this year on opening weekend of gun season here in Indiana. I only take the bow all season for deer. With hunters flooding all other parts of the woods it should only make your property that much better if you play your cards right and do your homework. You have to have a little more patience then normal too.
I have done it on many occasions. The hardest thing is seeing something that is just out of range and knowing you could have had your rifle. Sometimes I will take both rifle and bow. Sure is a blast to harvest a nice animal with the bow during gun season knowing everyone else is running around with guns though!
I kept seeing a bruiser one year while Bowhunting through the gun season. Never could get him in range. I finally carried my rifle on the last day I was able to hunt and shot him 15 yards from my treestand. I ended up wishing I had taken my bow.
I have yet to give it a whirl, although I have thought about it many times. For the last 5-6 years I have been exclusively pistol hunting during gun season (where legal, as there is one zone i hunt where I can use a slug gun or inline, but not a revolver) A few of the deer I've taken that way have been in bow range, but I don't wish I had used my bow, I enjoy my handguns.
Same here in Illinois....Bow season is from Oct. 1st until Jan. 15th, except for the 3-day shotgun season and the 4-day shotgun season that ended yesterday. Now....back to bow hunting the way it should be!
I have way more trouble shooting a pistol accurately than a bow. A couple weeks ago I was trying to shoot a squirrel from a tree in our back 40... My son was rolling in laughter!
