Only bow for this guy but I draw a rifle tag for the area I bowhunt & fill it with my bow. I rifle hunted as a kid but after harvesting a deer with a bow there is NO comparison. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Opening day of rifle here tomm. Definitely gonna have the .243 with me. Theres so many hunters, chances would be extremely slim of killing a deer with a bow once rifle opens up. I like bow season 100% more, but theres endless possibilities as to what may take place on the rifle opener. It goes from trying to pattern a buck during bow, to trying to pattern the other hunters and hunt the hunting pressure.
I hunt both seasons! I bow hunt with my .243, shot this buck after I jumped him from his bed. I made a perfect heart shot at 80 yrds. Hunted hard for 4 days straight with below zero wind chill. Now I can concentrate on my archery buck!
If I need meat in the freezer I take my shotgun. But after one or two hunts with my shotgun I pull my good old bow out again.
Our 1st gun season always falls the Fri-Sun. before Thanksgiving. The 2nd season falls Thur-Sun. the week following Thanksgiving. Only legal weapons are shotgun, muzzleloader, and maybe handgun now (not 100% certain on the last part). I choose to use my H&R 20 gauge. There is also a muzzleloader only season the weekend after, but you can bowhunt as long as you wear orange. The way it was explained to me years ago when I first started questioning it was, DNR being concerned with deer being shot with a gun, and being claimed as a bow kill. I don't know how much validity there is to that though, take it for what it's worth. I would like the option to take both honestly.
I hunt straight through I used to bring my bow with while rifle hunting but now that 95% of Minnesota is buck only, I'm not rifle hunting I used to go up and use my rifle to knock down the first mature doe I saw pack up and go home. hunting camp is not much fun sitting in a cabin by yourself for a week straight is not much fun when I could put a doe down and come back to the wife and kids and butcher fresh meat right away I'd go up check on the cabin hunt for a day two if I had too, and back home with meat. it just isn't worth the $200 it cost me to go up there last year I saw 14 doe and not a antler on anything in two days. and didn't see anything on day 3 so I'm opting out of rifle hunting this year
I'm a bowhunter to my core but I also just love to hunt. I have no problem putting down the bow for a couple of days and picking up a slug gun.
In the past i always put down the bow and picked up the rifle. This year would have been a bit different...was going to take my bow and a cva single shot pistol with me in case I saw a nice one poking along outside of bow range from me.
Even though I'll need the deer at almost bow range , I'll be hunting with my pistol this morning . Love my Ruger 44 as much as I do my bow !
Handgun is valid any firearm season with the exception of muzzle loader. Unless of course you're using a muzzle loading handgun. Heck, you can't even legally concealed carry, even on your own property, at all while in the act of bow hunting or even firearm if it is not a legally defined handgun.
I hunt in a bow only area so I will continue with the bow. However I do get to a gun area occasionally and maybe 1 time a year I will get out with a gun.
I shotgun hunted one time last year. I will probably stick to my bow this year. Hunting with a gun just doesn't excite me.
^^THIS^^^ even through muzzle loader and shotgun season. they help push the deer and get them moving for me!
Bow from October all the way through January. Usually don't hunt as much in rifle just because my brother hunts and like to keep it low pressure. I know of few spots on public that could hold some deer once the army comes out.
