GMMAT

OK....Apples to Apples:

When gun season comes in.....MANY of us never put down the bow. We hunt with our weapon of choice all through the entire deer season. So.....Apples to Apples.....I'll give you a 30-06or a bow on closing day and offer you $500 if you can take adeer with one of them.

Which one do you leave the house with?

Jimimac

That's obvious. It's the gun. However, you'll likey get to keep your $500 as the success rate on the last day of deer season is practically zero. I have way better odds on the last day of archery season here hunting with my bow.

Paul L Mohr

I think it probably depends on the area you hunt and what is around you. Now if you are hunting a field edge a gun would give you definite advantage due to range. If you are hunting thick cover in the woods, ranges will be close to the same, you may get an extra 10 or 20 yards with the gun, if a shot presents itself.

The thing is just because a weapon offers more range doesn't mean you have to use it. Who says you can't wait until a deer gets close with a gun? I have shot them at 20 yards with a shotgun before. It all boils down to what you want to do.

What I know in my area is during the early season (pre rut) it is much easier to get close to deer and pattern them. Once the rut starts they get a little unpredictable and you have to change your tactics. And during gun season unless you hunt an area with very little pressure it just becomes a crap shoot sometimes.

Another thing I have noticed if the deer are close they are no easier to kill with a gun than a bow. I hate that argument, you see it mostly with crossbow arguments though. For me that fact that you have to draw the bow means nothing. Regardless of what weapon you choose you have to bring it up, aim it and hold until you are ready to shoot. All of which will get you busted if the deer sees you, doesn't matter what weapon you are shooting. I actually think a crossbow is the hardest because they are so cumbersome to use. I have never hunted with one though, just played with them in the back yard. But I handled them enough to know I wouldn't want one in a tree.

If you can't lift your bow, aim and draw in a fluid motion you have too much bow and this is no ones fault but your own. And I can actually hold steady longer with a modern compound than I can a rifle (especially my heavy ass H&R ultra).

I will concede though that I am not half the hunter some of you are, I'm just not that passionate about it sometimes. I am a decent marksman and love weapons of all sorts, but my hunting skills could use some work. However as long as I'm not too picky and have a decent spot to hunt I don't have much trouble taking deer every year. I don't seem to have the buck fever problem either. I have anxiety issues anyway, so I am fairly calm when I see deer. I fall apart after I shoot them. The absolute hardest thing about hunting for me is not jumping out of the stand right after I shoot a deer. That wait kills me (not as much the deer though I guess).

I don't rifle hunt either, shotgun an muzzle loader only where I live.

I will say that if you hunt an area that offers more range a gun is an advantage. With an inline and a scope if I can see it with the naked eye I can pretty much kill it ( I don't see too far anymore, I'm talking with in a 100 yards or so).

But in the thick cover of the woods I think I would rather have my bow, or at the most a smooth bore shotgun that was easy to handle.

Something else to consider is that here in MI bow season lasts twice as long as gun season.

My opinions and nothing more.

Paul

Paul L Mohr

My first post of the morning, I hope it makes more sense to you than it does to me after reading it.

Paul

Vabowman

I think what GMATT is saying is that it is harder to actually hit a deer with the bow than it is with the rifle Also, a rifle can give you way more range. I say it is about equal or maybe even easier to take a deer with the rifle at 100 yds than it is to take one 10 yds with the bow. There is no room for error with a bow, you flintch just a hair and may never find him. Do it with a rifle and it will still do lots of damage.

GMMAT

The title of the thread is "Bowhunting is easier".

OK.....ALL seasons open in SC on the same day (gun and bow). If someone offered you $500 to kill a deer on opening day....and gave you your choice of weapon....which weapon would you choose?

Which is "easier" to kill a deer with?

Let's be honest, here. I take nothing away from gun hunting. I'm sure it involves it's own unique set of challenges. But bowhunting = "easier"? Please.

Jimimac

That's obvious as well. It is far easier to actually perform the act of killing with a gun, but there is more to it than that.

Like I said previously, for me the deer are much easier to find during bow season and I always get presented with shot opportunities. I can't say the same thing for gun season.

Vabowman

Im with you GMATT, it is going to be a gun for if I get the 500$ offer. Think about it a deer at 25-30 yds with a bow or with a .270 Rem. ?? No brainer!!!

eatsleephunt

Back in good ol' Illinois we have a 3 1/2 months bow season, interspersed with two shotgun/muzzleloader seasons, now a muzzleloader only season and if I remember right a handgun season. The gun seasons don't really amount to much, being only 3-4 days in length, so if you like to hunt you become a bow hunter. The first two gun seasons are strategically placed right at the peak of both rut cycles, because DOW figures this will maximize ablility of hunters to have high yeilding harvests.

Hey, no question that gun hunting as a general skill or type of hunting is easier than bow hunting. As a bow hunter from the get-go, I can tell you it has made me a far superior all around hunter whatever weapon I choose to pick up.

I always felt that opening week of bow season and the first few days leading up to the first rut were the best to bow hunt in Illinois. In the first week deer were still following summering patterns on the fields, since most harvesting hasn't taken place yet. If you patterned a buck group or two in the summer, this is the time to take advantage of that. After the first gun season though, well... I guess you gotta pick up a gun to help mitigate hunting preasure, or you stick it out with your bow in hopes of something happening.

When DOW extended the season until Jan. 15th it gave Illinoisians' a new big buck opportunity, because from the end of Dec. or so until the end of the season it is possible to catch them letting down their guard and hitting the food plots/food sources with the rest of the deer. However, you have to sit in some pretty fierce cold, and that means humid cold!

In Montana we get a 6 week bow season with no interference from rifle hunters. The rut, unfortunately, is included in our 5 week gun season, so if you want to bow hunt during the rut you must find some private property that doesn't get much hunting activity.

I have a buddy who hunts exclusively with a long bow. He has shot a deer a day with it for the last three days. This is the end of our rifle season, today in fact, and is probably the most difficult to hunt because everybody with a tag left is out looking to do the same (with a rifle).

Bow hunting -vs- gun hunting? If you are a bow hunter, and you have been doing it awhile - and are any good at it, you are keenly aware that it is vastly more difficult than gun hunting. Only a bow hunter with years of experience and knowledge would look at bow hunting as easier than gun hunting. Fledgling bow hunters and gun only hunters don't know where you are coming from with all of this die hard "I'm a big bad exclusive bow hunter" stuff, but I can see from this bow hunting forum that they get swept right up in it. If it was easier to kill stuff with a bow than a gun, they would have to give us bow hunters the BC book and let the gunners have PY.

Why can't you guys mellow out and quit peeing on fence posts. As far as I can see, the deer hunting forum is not off limits to weapon type, nor is the big game hunting forum. You see gun kills and bow kills there. I'm sure you see gun and bow kills on the turkey hunting forum as well as varmints, etc. If I killed a couple of prairie dogs with my bow I'd much rather share it with the dudes on "small game and varmint hunting", because they're gonna be like, "wow, you got those with a pointed stick?" I doubt too many folks on the bow hunting forum go varmint shooting with a bow. I'm not saying some don't, I'm just saying I bet there's a short list of dedicated ones. Hey, varmint shooting is just way funner with a .223.

If the occasional gun hunter, who is probably also a bow hunter, decides to share his/her pics on the bow forum (which by the way is the most exciting and popular place to be - obviously!), so be it. I'm good with it. I like it.

It probably wouldn't hurt many of you to post your pics of deer/big game on the appropriate sites for the speciesas well. I've done it, and they are just as happy to see it as you guys even if it has a bow in the kill shot.

Schultzy

There shouldn't even be a discussion on whats easier, its plain as day! Here in Minnesota therewere 270,543 deer shot combined witharchery, rifle, slug, muzzleloader. The bow hunter's here shot 25,360 deer at asuccess rate was 24%. The rifle and slug people shot 231,676 deer at a success rate of 38%. The muzzleloader people shot 13,507 deer at a success rate of 40%. I am not a gun hunter, I choose to bow hunt because thats what ilike.If some one wants to gun hunt, more power to them, everyone chooses what fits them best. Not everybody is built to be a bow hunter, some don't have near the patience it takes. Alot ofgun huntersadmitto me that they could never bow hunt because they have no patience.Hats off to them for saying that because thats what it is is a challenge. I use to shoot compound. I quit doing that because the challenge wasn't what I wanted. Before I let that arrow go with the compound I knew that deer was dead to rights. Shooting my recurve opened a whole new book. What a challenge that is, wow! Like I said in my other post if I would of been gun hunting during the firearm season here in Minnesota, I would ofhad numerous oppertuntities to shoot 160" class deer the last 20 years. Everytime I would see a buck of this caliber during the gun seasonand it was to far out of bowrange, it would frustrate the hell out ofme but then the dinger would go off in my head and say thats why your bow hunting, its the challenge of getting them close. To each there own but there is no dought what the easier weapon isto hunt withhere in Minnesota!