Why a bow?

[airedale]

My interest in bow hunting first started after watching the old 60s and 70s American Sportsman TV  show which featured the old master Fred Bear on several archery hunts after various big game species.  In the late 60s I purchased a Bear Super Kodiak recurve bow and began shooting, I still have that bow and still shoot it today. From the start I found that I enjoyed just target shooting with a recurve bow ,  it is a enjoyable relaxing sport in itself. Yes I did own and hunt with several compound bows, a Jennings and a Darton both of which I passed on to some young hunters. Last winter I picked up a nice used Browning vintage compound to play with but my favorite is still the old Bear recurve.

While I hunted deer quite a bit in the early days my main interest when it came to bow hunting was and is small game (Rabbits and Woodchucks) and what they call "bow fishing" for carp which for me is a panic! IMO My best archery  shot on game was on a standing Woodchuck at 60 yards with the Bear recurve.

Al

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by airedale

[nybuckboy]

18 hours ago, NYBowhunter said:

More time in the woods, deer not in hide mode, change of seasons (love the fall), more challenging. See a much more natural deer behavior.

I agree with this to the "T" but would add that I have learned so much more about deer behavior since I began bow hunting in 2001. 

[Buckmaster7600]

I am surprised by how many mention hunting deer before I they hide or get scared, not trying to derail the thread but do you guys really notice that much of a difference?


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[moog5050]

3 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I am surprised by how many mention hunting deer before I they hide or get scared, not trying to derail the thread but do you guys really notice that much of a difference?


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Big difference around here buckmaster.  Once the pressure increases and guns go off, much fewer deer sightings.  I think you hunt pretty large parcels and that may make a difference in terms of pressured deer hunkering down. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

My first introduction to shootign a bow was through Boy Scouts. Simple fiberglass long bows. I believe even the arrows were fiberglass and if memory serves, heavy as hell. we shot targets and then what amounted to a 3D course. The 3D course was pretty simplistic. rubber blunt tipped arrows and the targets were plastic milk jugs suspended on a rope between two stakes pounded in the ground.  we walked through the woods and shot from predetermined points at each station. That was fun. I didn't care too much for the big round ring targets in the open fields.  I started bow hunting right after high school. My cousin that I gun hunted with my whole life started and he suckered me in. It basically gave us a longer season. we were the only 2 out of our hunting group of 8 that bow hunted. It seems like a hundred years ago. I am not sure were even got an extra tag back then. Something sticks in my head about our regular season tag being good for either sex but if you filled it you didn't have one during regular gun season.  maybe I dreamed  that. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

14 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I am surprised by how many mention hunting deer before I they hide or get scared, not trying to derail the thread but do you guys really notice that much of a difference?


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The difference is night and day around me. Even on the farms that we keep as low impact as possible, their behavior changes significantly after opening weekend. Im not just talking about what I see in the field, but the activity on my cameras changes big time as well.

[Doc]

There was no external motivation to take up archery that I am aware of. Other than when I was about 11 years old, I found an old draw knife up in the shop over the garage. For some reason, I associated that tool with building a bow. So I took my trusty axe and went up on the hill and chopped down a hickory and set to work shaping a hickory longbow patterned after some pictures of Indian bows that I had seen somewhere. I made some arrows out of willow branches, and headed up to the hay loft in the barn and started knocking off some of the pigeons that roosted up there. Several squab meals later, I was sold on this archery thing and later got the whole family interested and involved. I bought my Dad a book on building bows, and next thing we knew he was busy building a glue lamination oven and clamping forms. Pretty soon we all had some pretty stylish custom made and fitted laminated recurves, some of which had some pretty exotic woods built into them. That was it. From then on the whole family was involved in archery. It all started with a hand fashioned hickory longbow and grew into a life-long activity that involved the love of perfect arrow flight. There is nothing in the gun world that can match the attraction (for me) of a well shot arrow. The hunting was a side effect of the lure of arrow flight powered only my own hand pulled and controlled bow.

[tarheel95]

I wanted to start hunting when I was 39. I had never touched a firearm in my life, had no mentor, so I decided to start with the bow. I have only bow hunted ever since. Just seems to be a good fit for me personality wise, quieter, peaceful and up close to the quarry. Just all the reasons I wanted to start hunting.


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[Buckmaster7600]

The difference is night and day around me. Even on the farms that we keep as low impact as possible, their behavior changes significantly after opening weekend. Im not just talking about what I see in the field, but the activity on my cameras changes big time as well.

Hmm, I don't know if I have ever noticed a big difference around here activity wise. In the ADKS I'm sure there isn't one but around the house there is a ton of hunting pressure and it doesn't seem to make any difference. Might be because most of our deer are extremely nocturnal to begin with.


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[dbHunterNY]

18 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Hmm, I don't know if I have ever noticed a big difference around here activity wise. In the ADKS I'm sure there isn't one but around the house there is a ton of hunting pressure and it doesn't seem to make any difference. Might be because most of our deer are extremely nocturnal to begin with.


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if you don't shoot doe much at all.  2/3 or more of your deer wouldn't be phased much.   i've noticed a difference depending on where i hunt out this way (brown it's down ground or properties that don't harvest many doe) and a difference the co-op made once we started encouraging doe harvest.  before then people really didn't shoot doe much at all.  all private ground.  ADKS i agree with you not much seems to change.

Edited July 20, 2017 by dbHunterNY

[Buckmaster7600]

if you don't shoot doe much at all.  2/3 or more of your deer wouldn't be phased much.   i've noticed a difference depending on where i hunt out this way (brown it's down ground or properties that don't harvest many doe) and a difference the co-op made once we started encouraging doe harvest.  before then people really didn't shoot doe much at all.  all private ground.  ADKS i agree with you not much seems to change.

You might be right, not that it matters I haven't shot a deer on the home farm in 5 or 6 years. I just enjoy being able to sit in a stand and see deer.


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[stoneam2006]

For me it was really just a more time in the woods excuse. But then I realized the best hunting is last 2 weeks of Oct to the first 2 of November...the leaves the smell the sounds the cool mornings with perfect daytime temps....and then there's the non skittish deer as mentioned above. Some areas are worse than others for me. O yea and the rut.

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[Robhuntandfish]

Some of the best times to hunt are during the bow season.  Pre rut and rut are usually right at the end so have to be in the woods for that!  oct 25-Nov to gun opener is when i see the most buck activity.  Can only use a bow or crossbow (last 2 weeks) then.  But the warmer weather, the fact that i cant wait any longer to hunt, and more time in the stand, .......gotta bow hunt.  And i see way more deer in bow season!  I do a DEC bow hunting survey every year and I generally see 5X as many deer in bow season.  And they are much more relaxed, a lot of the gun season deer are kicked up and on the run from neighbor hunters.

To extend hunt season i am even gonna try early bear season this year. And an out of state pig hunt next year! 

 

[Qthehunter]

It's the challenge for me.  Rifle hunting can also be challenging.  But the elation after you've harvested any animal with a bow cannot be put into words.  Getting so close to animals also makes you appreciate them even more than you do.  Man they are smart..

[sodfather]

I think everyone above has pretty much covered it same goes for me, seeing more deer in there natural state and when the rut begins it's really a good time. 

[Critter4321]

I used to love to bow hunt I got into it as a chance to see deer closer and have more time to hunt. I used to get out every chance I had the time spent alone just trying to win over a wild animal was time ill never forget,  

[ATbuckhunter]

Originally for me it was the fact that I could get another deer as well as hunt an extra month. I also used to watch a lot of hunting shows where they would bow hunt, so that made me want to try it as well. Glad I did because now I couldn't imagine not bowhunting. 

[Doc]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 3:26 PM, Buckmaster7600 said:

You might be right, not that it matters I haven't shot a deer on the home farm in 5 or 6 years. I just enjoy being able to sit in a stand and see deer.

 

 

Sounds like you might be a good candidate for wildlife photography.

[dbHunterNY]

13 minutes ago, Doc said:

Sounds like you might be a good candidate for wildlife photography.

a lot of us probably would be.... it's just many of us suck at taking pictures.  i'm slowly getting into it.  i'm in the hole a bit and still need a telephoto lens and a fish eye.  if you can't control yourself enough to just watch a deer without killing it you need a less violent hobby. lol

[Gencountyzeek]

Started at 14yrs old because that was the earliest way to start deer hunting. Now it's the best because deer are calm and not spooked. And I hunt private land, can't imagine on state land. 

[Buckmaster7600]

Sounds like you might be a good candidate for wildlife photography.

I only get so many tags and if I fill my tag on the farm I can't hunt the ADK's. I have killed piles of farm field deer, the big woods bucks are all I care about killing these days.


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[Steve D]

For me deer hunting with a gun is like seeing the same movie three times. You pretty know what to expect from year to year.

 Bow season on the other hand provides a new experience just about every time and seeing the transition from fall to winter is a great thing to witness. Definitely my favorite time of the year    

[Doc]

It sounds like not very many people fell in love with the weapon itself as a hunting item, but were more interested in the additional hunting opportunities that a bow season provides. Is that a fair statement? As I recall, it wasn't that way when the bow season was originally conceived. The primary draw back then was the archery itself and the challenges that it provided.

[The_Field_Ager]

For me:

Less people in the woods = calmer hunt

Quieter, no volley of machine gun fire, so Deer are more relaxed 

Harder. I love the challenge of getting close on big deer

First pick of the seasons offerings 

[skully]

My father told me to start shooting bow when I was real young , early 80s.  Said you'll have the whole woods to yourself which was true but alot has changed over the years.........