Preferred weapon

[Moho81]

I like everything about the bow. I like that it’s harder to shoot and takes a little more skill and talent to shoot. I like the season it’s in, I like that it’s during the rut and I’ve seen some really cool things during the bow season, I like that the woods are quiet.

I just so happen to be horrible at bow hunting but whatever.


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[Marion]

Bow…the silence, stealth, and close contact adrenaline rush can’t be matched by a gun. Admittedly I’m not a “gun guy” since living close to NYC guns are harder to enjoy.


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They're too scary

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[suburbanfarmer]

After i got my first one with a bow, that is what i truly enjoy.

Will still go out gun season to fill the freezer but hands down bow hunting is where its fun for me.

[Doc]

11 hours ago, Mike32 said:

What is your weapon of choice to hunt with, bow, gun or hunt with both?

It is not even close......my Bow is the weapon that gives me the most satisfaction and fulfillment. No, it is not the most efficient or the most productive, and that probably is what the attraction is. I do hunt with both, but the gun is more of a carnival atmosphere and the sole reason to use a gun for me is simply meat-gathering. When it comes to matching wits with the critters and taking on additional challenge, the bow has always been my weapon of choice.

[johnplav]

57 minutes ago, phade said:

The few split seconds of being full draw, anchored, and ready to touch off the release feel like an eternity and a nano-second all at once. Followed by the sound of a double lung or even better that gurgle grunt hitting the heart.

My new favorite piece of poetry!

[coonhunter]

I prefer hunting with my bow. Gives me time to unwind and really relax. And, I like the up close aspect of it.

For actual fun, I like the camaraderie in the regular season. I enjoy all the deer being killed and butchered up. I love all the first bucks and first deer, the good food, the beer drinking and card playing at night. Just a fun season.

[cdbing]

Bow.

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[TreeGuy]

Both have their place with me. I would choose the gun for effectiveness and increased opportunities, but there's just something to be said about the glorious sound produced when an arrow enters a deers chest and what it takes to get it there.

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[phantom]

Close call but i like gun a little better, Gun because you can hunt in more ways and still be effective with it and at a longer range  . I can still hunt track   or just site on log with my gun and still kill deer .  With the bow i am  forced to stay still in a blind or a treestand to be effective with it and the range is limited .

[rachunter]

After 30+ years of nothing but bow hunting i've been enjoying the gun hunts the last 8 years.

[mike103]

Rifle.

Specifically a Remington 7600 pump carbine in 35 Remington or 35 Whelen.

Heard about the Benoits in the early 2000’s and bought all their books and videos. Soon after bought my first 7600. 
 

Shot some nice bucks with the pump guns but funny thing the first buck I actually tracked I shot with a Remington 750 auto in 35 Whelen.

It was a very rewarding experience that I have not yet duplicated. 
 

I shot a nice one with my crossbow and it was a great experience but it’s not the same as slinging a rifle over your shoulder and hunting on your feet. 
 

I guess I’m a cowboy at heart not a Indian.  

[wolc123]

I have hunted deer with shotguns (slugs) for 39 years, compound bows for 30 years, a sidelock ML for about 5 years (never connected), and inline ML for about 25 years, rifles for about 23 years and crossbows for 7 years. Of those, my preferred weapon is the crossbow, by a very wide margin.  So wide in fact, that I will probably use one a bit during the southern zone gun and late ML seasons this year, and maybe even the northern zone early ML season.  #2 would be the rifles.  I would certainly rather use those in my home WMU, but NY DEC wont allow that.   Fortunately, I have a couple of slug guns which I have been able to do pretty well with.  One of those is a rifle "wanabe" with a rifled barrel, and the other (a 16 gauge smoothbore) just seems to have some sort of magical ability to kill any deer that I aim and fire at.  

The crossbow is my favorite for many reasons, starting with the fact that it is legal to use at my favorite time to hunt deer (the rut).   The lack of a "bang" is a huge advantage over any gun or ML, and that is another big plus.  Being able to use it legally, within 250 ft of a building owned by an "aborigin" (person I don't know) is the reason I will likely use it some in the gun and ML seasons this year.  After all the "bangs" associated with opening day of gun season, the deer activity in the areas I hunt in the southern zone, drops off big time.  Those bangs, combined with human scent, is like throwing a switch that turns the deer from partial nocturnal to full nocturnal activities.  

Not needing to make that quick draw motion, like you got to do with a bow, is another huge advantage of the crossbow, as is being to shoot it while supported on a rest and with a telescopic sight. Minimal meat damage is an often overlooked advantage of a bow, and that advantage is shared with the crossbow.  Meat is far and away the main reason why I hunt, and wasting it is to be avoided.  Finally, the crossbow is not subjected to politically motivated ammo shortages, like has been reeking havoc on gun and ML hunting this season, where the value of a 209 primer is fast approaching the value of its weight in gold.

Less meat waste is one small consolation I get at home, because I am forced to hunt with a shotgun rather than a rifle.  Those much slower-moving, heavy shotgun slugs do not tear it up nearly as bad as most rifle bullets.  Better shot placement capability of the rifle cancels out that advantage, which is why I prefer the rifle over the shotgun.   On the "close to"  a hundred deer that I have killed with all weapons, I know for certain of only one projectile that stuck exactly where I wanted it, and that came from a rifle.   

I have taken what was likely my largest bodied deer ever (43 inch chest girth) with the crossbow, along with my largest racked one in the last 20 years.  A scoped, rested crossbow provides near pin-point accuracy, approaching that of a rifle, at ranges under 50 yards.   I would give up all of my other deer weapons, before I would give up my crossbow.   That said, I am going to make a concentrated effort to break in my old sidelock ML next week, up in the northern zone.   I am also bringing along a crossbow, just in case that don't pan out, or if it rains a lot.   I got both of my crossbows zeroed in earlier today.        

Edited October 10, 2021 by wolc123

[ATbuckhunter]

I depends. I prefer bows more, but If it was purely about putting meat on the table, then a rifle gets the nod

[Overtkill]

Bow is my choice.

[Buckmaster7600]

I’ve killed a deer with every legal weapon in NY From a longbow to 300win mag. I don’t care what I kill them with, I just want a fun hunt. My favorite hunt has been with a bow when I shot my 8pt in adks while still hunting. But I’d rather shoot them tracking in the snow with a peep sighted pump action rifle.


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[ncountry]

My favorite weapon is my rifle. At close to 100% kill ratio over 30 years its very effective.. If you measured it by my heart rate it would be my bow..  I do love to hunt with my bow the best...

3/4s of the time I hunt the same way and distances, there just isn't the challenge with a rifle. Put the crosshairs on the kill zone and squeeze the trigger .. Way too many other things that I can screw up with a bow.(slowdraw,hold,anchor,squeeze trigger,form etc.). Unfortunately I've probably done close to all of them over the years..lol

[ApexerER]

I enjoy them all. Bow, Crossbow, Rifle, Muzzleloader.  I would say my least favorite is Muzzleloader...

[dbHunterNY]

I'm hard pressed to give trad bows a fair shot but I'm a die hard bow hunter. If it wasn't for limited time my rifles would never see the light of day.

Rifles and even my muzzleloader are tools of success though. Way better odds.

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[moog5050]

To this day, the most exciting hunt I ever had was a stalk and kill on a doe with my little bear kodiak magnum.  I am not sure if the doe or I was more surprised that it worked.  lol  Bow wins hands down.  And I do take more satisfaction in the trad bow kills only because I know how easily those shots can go wrong.  But I still enjoy hunting with a compound or even with a gun.  

[ncountry]

5 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

To this day, the most exciting hunt I ever had was a stalk and kill on a doe with my little bear kodiak magnum.  I am not sure if the doe or I was more surprised that it worked.  lol  Bow wins hands down.  And I do take more satisfaction in the trad bow kills only because I know how easily those shots can go wrong.  But I still enjoy hunting with a compound or even with a gun.  

One of my best hunts was ,I think, my 1st year bow hunting. 

I spent over an hour belly crawling and sneaking in my socks across a meadow.

I finally had closed the distance and had a rock pile between me and a 1/2 year old buck. I waited for him to step out. When he did, I shot 2 feet over his back.. lol..I'm not sure wich one of us was more suprised..

I discovered later that the old painted iron pin on my garage sale bow had loosened up and fallen down to near the bottom of the sight.

Not successful , but I was hooked..

[vmals]

Bow for sure! being up close and personal, drawing back without getting picked off by the deer. Being silent and possible and making a good shot. Nothing gets my adrenalin going quite like bow hunting!

[Borngeechee]

After today, I think I prefer the crossbow.

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