OK, maybe "hardcore" isn't exactly the right terminology, but... Here's the scenario. I was telling my father all the nitty, gritty details about my recent elk-hunting trip out to Colorado, and about all the close calls I had. He listened intently, soaking up all the imagery and excitement I poured into my storytelling. Then, when I was finished he asked "Why don't you take a gun the next time you go out there?" You'd think my father would "get me" by now... I honestly have NO interest in shooting a large game animal again in my life with a gun. None. Zero. Zilch. I tried to explain that to him as politely as I could, and ended up mumbling something about if I wanted meat that bad I'd just go buy it. I've thought about it a bit since then... I know a lot of the members around here participate in other seasons, and I'm glad you do... I think I remember Tony saying once it gave him a chance to share some hunting time with his father (if I'm remembering correctly... maybe it was Big John). I'm so over the edge that I'd go buy a gun tag and STILL carry my bow with me. I don't know... maybe it's the fact that I was a way-above-average shot growing up... I literally shot dragonflies out of the air with my BB gun just by following their flight path and waiting for a split-second hover. Did the same with swallows (just to see if I could... didn't do it often as I recognized their importance in the ecosystem)... Qualified expert in Military Police school with a perfect score out to 300 meters... I guess what I'm saying is I've always been of the mindset of "If I can see it with a gun, I can kill it." It just gives me NO sense of accomplishment. I'm not making this post to disparage gun hunters, or to condemn anyone's choice of weaponry. I'm a NRA member, and I'll fight right alongside you for all of us to have the choice to hunt with any weapon we choose save a fully automatic... I still own shotguns, .22s and several pistols. I guess I'm just wondering how many others of us feel similarly?
I feel the exact same. Don't care what you use, how you do it. I'll help you track you're deer, listen to you're stories, and shake you're hand. Rifle hunting is just NOT for me. I've killed two deer with my rifle, and then it was over for me. I honest to god find no thrill in doing so, I hope I never lose that thrill with my bow.
I feel the exact same way. I don't care what you use to take game with. I'll help trail your deer, take pics, and listen to stories about the hunt. Rifle hunting just isn't for me. I've taken two deer with a rifle, and I really found no thrill in it. It was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me, I literally felt nothing. I hope I never lose the thrill while bowhunting. (some how my first post got deleted)
Greg, I know I have previously said hunting with a gun still gives me an opportunity to hunt with my father. He is at the age that he isn't going to be picking up a bow. So, for those few weekends here in IL, I enjoy going out with my dad and both of us getting a chance to share in a passion of ours. Funny thing is, I attribute bowhunting with developing this passion far more than hunting with a gun ever could. And to confess, a gun is the only means of which I have killed deer, or any animal for that matter. Therefore, I lack in the emotion that comes with arrowing something for the first time. But from what I know, just holding a bow, learning how to shoot it with little prior knowledge, to where I am today; archery is going to be the primary focus for hunting, the rest of my life. It is a different breed and I haven't even had to squeeze my release yet to understand the addiction which goes along with bowhunting. Quite honestly, I picked up a bow so I could hunt more. This was in a time when I truely didn't appreciate hunting. I am sure happy I stuck with it though. I have a feeling this season is going to be different than the rest. And to answer you question, I agree with you 100%. Great thoughts!
Im becoming more and more like that mindset everyday. People ALWAYS ask why you dont take a gun if you dont score...but on the flipside, show them a picture of a pronghorn or elk that was a bowkill and youll get the "you killed that with a BOW?!" exclamation. As if it was an unheard of feat. I gunhunt maybe 1-2 times a year, just to get out with dad....but anymore, I just keep carrying my bow right through rifle season. I'd still get a rush killing a big one with a gun, but not near the excitement I would from a bow. I like gun hunting just for the tradition in it...deer camp and hunting with friends and family is awesome
I've only gun hunted once with a shot gun. Eh! Might go with a rifle, just to hunt with a buddy who doesn't bow hunt. I guess it's the difference between fly fishing and using live bait. There's a challenge and a certain esthetic to it that makes it more appealing.
I've killed 1 deer with a rifle in about 8 yrs. The only reason I used a rifle that day was b/c I took my 4yr old with me to experience what hunting is all about. I'll likely kill others in the future under the same circumstances. I've got 3 boys that are six and under that I have to show this hunting "thing" to.
Gun season is all about family with me we get my 2 brothers, cousins, a couple friends, and uncles and head up to Northern Wisconsin and just catch up on everything from the past year. I have been doing this since 1984 and it started with the family back in 1944 at a logging camp. When Nov 18th hits this year I can not get up there fast enough and pop a nice cold one and I mean cold in a frosty mug. I sit my butt down and just take in the atmosphere that first day at the cabin. Its priceless to me. My father also lived for that week and I know he is out in those woods everyday now. It was our time together. <-------By the way I am hardcore.:d
Greg I am there with ya brother, I go up to just spend time with my buddies, Last year I never even picked up my gun just took my daughter out hunting and sat with her and talked!! Guns do nothing for ME but I don't mind if anybody wants either!! Kinda like my bio on our whiteknuckleproduction sight there was just something about when my dad gave me that first recurve and I shot it and watched that arrow fly through the air I knew I was hooked for life!! Walt
I am pretty much that way too. I haven't gun hunted for deer in 7 years I think now. I took my only elk and black bear with a bow. However I will have a Muzzle Loader in my hands come gun season in IL this fall. Mostly to keep the trespassers off my new property(you cannot use a bow in IL shotgun season???). But if I see something I really want I will take it with my muzzle loader. Now turkey hunting is another thing. I tried bowhunting them this spring. Maybe it's just my birds, but hell I feel lucky to have gotten one with a shotgun this year. Those birds were tuff.
I completely understand that. I bowhunt alone. Always have, I never had a family member introduce me to bowhunting. It was my ex-girlfriends father senior year of high school he took me up to the archery shop had a old bow tuned and fitted for me and paid for all of it. Man I tell you after that first encounter I had, I knew it was in the blood. I became a obsessed hunter. Anyway I have since tried to get a few cousins into it but none have the time needed to bowhunt. Well I say they are not willing to "make" time. But I have now got 6 family members between cousins and uncles that will go up rifle hunting to where my ex-girlfriends father brought me to bowhunt. If it weren't for them or the chance to feel that unity and share stories I wouldn't even purchase a rifle license. Now I do little rifle hunting up there anyway as I am always trying to put them on deer and set stands for them where I think they will do best. I know I have a better chance with my bow when I return back home. That is the one thing I wish I had was a friend or family member who was as passionate as I was about "the hunt". I just never have had that. And although it's nice to be alone I understand some guys like that but when I come home after seeing many animals or had two nice deer sparring out in front of me. I have no one that really cares. And that sucks. Sorry for the lengthy post can ya tell I am bored at work? lol
For a time I wasn't able to hunt with a bow. So, I still hunt with everything and enjoy it everytime I step into the woods, regardless what weapon I have in my hands.
I know exactly what you mean. I was telling my roomates that I was planning on elk hunting in Colorado or New Mexico before I get out of college. They asked if I was going to use my bow and I said, "Yea, duh. Is there another way?":d They honestly looked shocked and then acted like it would be the feat of the century if I got it done. My passion and desire to bowhunt grows more with the more I learn and experiance, and I don't see that ever ending. I have taken 3 deer with a rifle, and even though it was very exciting, my 120" rifle kill doesn't even compare to the thrill that came from my 48" bowkill:d My rifle won't leave it's case this fall. My time in the woods won't be unlimited like it has been in the past, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible. For me, that is when I have a bow dangling from the hook beside me.
Not me, and I don't get your logic. Your a Bowtech Staff guy right (the Brand is unimportant in this exercise) Are you saying in a controlled enviroment such as within 40 yards you are going to miss a deer with a bow? Suppose you say No, I won't miss. than how is this any different than hunting with a gun. Next you'll say well there are variables the wind, the deer might move, I might hit an unseen twig..again, this is different from a gun HOW? Not picking on you, just making a point, take Rob, how many 3d trophies do you have? I've seen you shoot, your top notch. Would you be more accurate with a Bow at 35 yards or a Gun at 100 yards? Do you have as many Gun tropies in your cabinets? As Easy as Bows are for you guys I can't believe there is any challenge hunting with a fully loaded top of the line smoking fast compound bow shot with a high tech release and multiple aiming points. You should be shooting Trad bows with fingers instinctively. How do you feel when the trad guys look down their noses at you? See the coorelation? I tell everyone hunt with whatever weapon(s) makes you happy and you enjoy. But don't play the "Too Easy" card on the guns. It tends to make you look elitest.
Greg i know 100% what your talking about here :d My father is exactly the same way. I have to laugh sometimes but other times it kinda gets to me. They just dont understand
It's difficult to explain, Bob... I knew someone would take your stance, and there's nothing wrong with the playing of devil's advocate here. The musing was intended to generate a discussion, after all. And I agree. I'm not saying I'm in Rob's class as a shooter; I've never shot with him... but in my first year of semi-serious 3d competition I came home with a boatload of trophies and in the one shoot where I was competing in the same event as the past three-time state champion, I finished two points off his score -- so your point holds merit. Natural aptitude and athletic ability helps me do well in almost anything I set my mind to. But it's not just the "too easy" card as far as marksmanship... it's much more than that, to me. I've said it before, and been quoted often in saying it... but I feel when I see a deer with a gun in hand, the hunt's essentially over. When bowhunting, the hunt's just revving up. There's SO many more variables in play with a bow -- even a smoking fast compound with all the gadgetry -- than my marksmanship. The deer could cross my scent trail; he could pick me off at close range; he could detect me drawing; he could wind me at 50 yards; he just might get a bit goosy closing within that last bit of shooting distance... Obviously, I could go on and on; we all know how much can go wrong with bowhunting at the moment of truth. And I almost included a paragraph about going trad someday... Right now I just have no inclination. Almost as little inclination to do that as I do to shoot one with a gun... that may be hard to understand, but you've got to realize it's not a "snub" to either choice of weaponry as you seem to have chosen to have interpreted it. I don't know... Again, not being derisive to any choices; I can't even begin to explain how strongly I feel an affinity for taking game with a bow over using a gun -- of any kind. I LOVE hunting shows, and am one of the few guys (apparently, given the recent threads elsewhere...) who'll watch almost ANYONE just out of my love for deer hunting. But it's gotten to the point where I can't even hardly pay attention if the host is gun hunting... I've almost stopped buying videos if there's more than a couple gun kills included. It's hard to explain, because it probably does come off a bit as a "holier than thou" attitude, and it's most certainly not. If my father, or Tony, or you Bob goes out and takes a trophy buck or a doe you wanted with a gun, I'll genuinely be excited for you if you're excited. Honest. It just doesn't do it for me, and hasn't for a long time. It's weird trying to explain.
While, I will have a gun in my hands on the opening day of gun season, It is more to look the part than anything else. If they made PA all bow and no gun, I'd jump up and down with excitement. The only thing that I truely enjoy about hunting season is that my father and my uncles are at the cabin and we have a blast.
I feel the way you do to an extent, but not fully. I've really gotten to enjoy handgun hunting. My dislike of gun seasons come more from the people rather than the instrument used. I can't rule out that I would never shoot a big game animal with a rifle, but it's probably not likely,save does as freezer fillers. I could see my future hunts that involve a gun, being done so with a handgun. But most will likely be bow in hand.
