What draws you to bowhunting? If you had to pin it to one thing about bowhunting vs ML or shotgun or Rifle that makes it special to you..I mean I shotgun hunt too and it's fun , but bowhunting is truly special to me and i think it's the relative closeness and romaticism of the shot that does it for me. I love the 12yd shots from the tree. Bowhunting is such an up close and personal thing to me....Im not saying that all hunting isn't great, but being close is awesome.
Too many things that I love about bowhunting (including the bow itself) to just pin it to one thing. What I really get the rush out of is when you have a deer at ten yards and it feels like if you blink they will bust you, although I love gun hunting too, that particular circumstance rarely happens.
I hunted with a rifle, muzzleloader, shotgun with buckshot, slugs....then one day I put an arrow through a buck at 1-2 yards with my bow. Something about it changed the way I wanted to hunt the rest of my life. It took me a few more years to finally lay down all the other firearms and only hunt with a bow, but I did it. I like all the practice that is involved in becoming proficient with a bow. I like the closeness of the shots. I like the silence of the draw and anticipation of the shot...the arrows I launch are symbolic of the energy and excitement I possess before I unleash my shot. I enjoy the difficulty. I enjoy learning to trach deer shot at different angles with a broadhead and what each clue means. There are a ton of reasons. OK, I will play the game and narrow it down to one thing. I like the silence and stealth of it all. *****Watch out bowhunting.com, Landon's summer vacation has begun.
I love the fact that it is silent. When i shoot a gun out in the woods it seems that you are disrupting the peace of nature.
I don't know if I can pin it to just one thing but.......One of the coolest things is actually being able to see the fletching bury......Can't do that if you're sniping them.
Probably the biggest factor is that I get to hunt deer under reasonably normal behavior. Gun season is a circus, unfortunately archery season is moving that direction as well.
Because I look cooler while I browse Walmart's hunting section in Realtree camo than I do in blaze orange.... Plus they don't make all the cool stickers and accessories for my truck in orange... So it wasn't so much my choice, as Bill Jordan forced my hand.
I am with Ryan, around my area it is actually easier to hunt in archery season than rifle season. The pressure in rifle season has the deer so screwed up that it is virtually impossible to pattern any deer unless you have a very large chunk of private land to yourself, and even then you have to worry about guys tresspassing and screwing that up.
This past weekend I had the pleasure to give my father in law his first bow. He is an avid outdoorsmen and had been hinting and asking about bowhunting for some time now, esp after I came on the scene 4 years ago. My brother in laws, his wife, and my wife and I chipped in and got him set up with a Diamond Marquis. Upon recieving it and being rendered speachless for a few minutes, I took him outside and we shot a while. When we were done, he asked "how many weeks can I hunt with this?" I said, Sir, you just added 9 weeks to your usual 2 that you used to hunt. He replied, "11 weeks to deer hunt? Why did I wait so long?" This is a big part for me, its what got me started, then I fell in love with the "sport." It's the best time of year to be in the woods. You get to hunt the rut. The list goes on.
it started out as a way to get more time in the woods, especially during that great fall weather. But to pin it down now - it's the whole "Stealth" aspect of bowhunting...camo, hiding, silence, close range, drawing the bow back, unleashing the arrow...then retrieving the bloodied arrow and the game...
its an evolutionary thing... gun hunted for years, time to take the next steps... but my primary draw into bowhunting was to get my kids into it... i was into it when i was a kid but my dad had injuries that prevented him from taking me... so now that i've got kids i can take 'em and teach 'em proper... they will still gun hunt for a while but the oldest will be bowhunting when he turns 10 as an "apprentice hunter"... the kids are what drew me to it again...
To walk thru a rain dampened forest floor to a tree and climb quietly to the stand. To pull up the bow and quietly nock an arrow. To wait in total silence. To hear the unmistakable sound of a grunt not far away. The ghostly shadow of the deer coming into view. To quietly come to full draw. To hear the thump of your arrow. To hear the sound of your own heartbeat racing in your ears, and no one else knows. For they have not heard a sound. To hear the tell-tale crash shortly after, and then silence again. While I sit and wait and become perfectly calm again... and no one else knows but me and the good Lord above. I LOVE IT!!!!
with bowhunting. im so much in tuned with nature. there is noting like sitting up in a tree listing to all of natures sounds and seeing a deer up close is really cool. I love rifle hunting as well, but you just dont get the rush you do hunting in a box stand a hundred fifty yards away compared to right up in the action. that is what draws me as well. and its normally not freezing like rifle season haha
