DaveH

On Friday, I mentioned to my mechanic that I had been bowhunting that morning. His response was, " Cool, I' m going next Friday and Saturday with my grandfather out to western Md to do some hunting."

Since the firearms season doesn' t open until Saturday, I asked him if he was bowhunting on Friday. He said that he had a bow. When I asked him if he' d been practicing, he said he never shoots it. After a few more questions, it became obvious that he knew little or nothing about bowhunting, but was planning on going anyway.

I told him to forget about bowhunting until he' s more prepared. I took a fair amount of time telling him about his responsibility to the animals he seeks to shoot and what he needs to do to be prepared. He listened, but I don' t know if it' ll make much difference with him. I' m sure he doesn' t practice with his gun either.

Are there a lot of these " hunters' roaming the woods?

Rickmur

I' d be willing to bet he will be gun hunting on Fri. It happens quite often. When I used to hunt in the Oakland area of Western Md we would leave on Fri morning and just get things set up and visit with the land owner. You would hear shots all day down in the meadows and you knew it wasn' t sighting in as they were always one shot or a bust in quick secsession. Years back a guy was killed while doing this on the eastern shore it was determined after an investigation.

fshafly2

Down here in Charles Co. MD, the " unofficial rifle" season starts the week before Thanksgiving. I was walking out of a field ~12 yrs ago at dusk from an afternoon of bowhunting when some yahoo cranked off a .243 or some similar calibre not more than 150 yds away. Made me wonder if he scoped me first and figured I wasn' t a deer. I caught up with another character (same field) a few years later and had a few words with him about the rifle he was carrying - tresspass, rifle hunting, and out of the regular gun season in Charles Co. - more common than I care to think about it.
Yes, I did have conversations with the game warden.

-fsh

Steve F.in MD

There is a fellow where I work who mentioned that he was going bowhunting when the rut came in. I asked him if he wanted to get together at lunch time to practice a little (we have a range at work). He said " Nah, it still shoots the same as it did last year, I don' t need to practice" .

Another of my friends has property in Western MD. He reports the same thing. Lots of early hunting on the Friday before the season comes in. Course the locals start rifle hunting in October so it is mostly the city folks who wait until the Friday before the opener.

JeramyK

I work with a guy that has the same mentality. He dusted off his equipment one night before the season started and he and I went out to shoot. He too 2 shots, one with a field point and one with a broad head. Both were in the kill zone on the 3D buck. He said that' s enough practice for him and he put his equipment away. He maintains that he does not shoot all year long. [:' (]

Rob/PA Bowyer

Unfortunately, too damn many, probably more slob hunters than ethical ones, at least in PA, I' d like to see more education and requirements to give bowhunting the respect it deserves.

DaveH

There' s other where I work who are this way. One guy hunts both with rifle and crossbow, but never practices with either. The other guy is only slightly better about it--he pulls his bow out just before the season and fires an arrow from 20 yards and another from 30 yards at his 3D deer target. If they' re in, he says he' s good to go. Unfortunately, that notion was just reinforced last week when he scored on a very nice 10 point that walked with-in 10 yards of him.

badshotbob

Michigan dumps nearly one million gun hunters in the woods on opening day of rifle season. With numbers like these, you bet there are people that are going straight to the woods with rifles they haven' t shot all year. It' s very common. I don' t feel it' s necessary to shoot a rifle or a bow all year - you either can shoot it or you can' t (unless we' re talking instinctive shooting - different deal altogether). By all means, drag the thing out and shoot it to make sure sights are still on, but if you' ve been shooting guns and bows all your life, how much practice does it take to be as good as you were at the end of last season? Not much. The sights are on or they' re not.

It is illegal in MI to sight in your rifle up to a week before the gun opener. People do it anyway. The day before gun being the last day of bow, is a very good day to be in the woods - people are setting up for gun running the deer all over the place.

Rickmur

Do you know the reason for this? I can imagine it is for fear that there will be some shooting of deer and a warden wouldn' t be able to check out all the gunshots?

badshotbob

md - I think you' re on the right track. People would use the excuse that they are " sighting in their rifle" , and shoot deer the day before. The DNR is strict with this law as well as shining - no shining for a few days before the rifle opener as well. I imagine when nearly a million hunters hit the woods, there' s going to be lots of illegal stuff going on.