So I have hunted years mainly gun hunting and got into bow hunting 8 or 9 years ago. I have fell in love with it just the thrill getting that close the wildlife gets my heart thumping! I pretty much will not pick up a gun to hunt deer or turkey anymore. This year I'll be throwing bolts at them and hopefully next I can get a decent recurve it's been a while but I love the challenge and rather shoot recurve over compound now!(won a few competitions in my youth with recurve).

That being said how many of you would rather hunt archery all year round and not pick up a gun for the deer and turkey seasons???

I prefer to bowhunt deer. Don't have any desire to shoot a turkey with one.

Prefer bow for deer....shotgun for turkeys

Bow hunt only for the last 10 years....I`m hooked and can't go back.

Me. Love hunting with a bow so much I switched to traditional about 5 years ago

Changed your topic header from pole to poll.

Hey, I'm the same way. I started bow hunting in 2007 and haven't hunted with my rifle since. I got hooked as well. Only have 2 bow kills, but love it. ( I've had more deer in front of me I couldn't shoot b/c of club rules. Hunt public land now. ) I bought a Samick Sage recurve in 2016 and want to get good enough to hunt with it and put away the compound. It is incredibly fun to shoot! Good luck to ya!

I'll use the bow as long as I can but if I don't have a buck and it's getting late in the season I'll switch to a rifle

This is me also. I carry the bow until middle of January. When everyone starts bringing bucks in I can't stand it! I really try to go bow all season.

Recurve or long bow only for everything I hunt (deer and turkey). Actually I�ve never even hunted with a gun or a compound so I can�t relate to what it�s like. Probably relate to compound more. All I know is, there isn�t anything thing better than drawing a stick bow on a deer at 10 yards�well, maybe one other thing!

I use a compound during bow season and switch to gun after gun season opens. I'm not a purist. Hats off to you that are.

Aint had good places to rifle hunt in a long time, and ive always been sucessful on public land an i found that bowhunting opened alot more doors as far places to hunt. I like to rifle hunt..just dont get to much...i aint shot mine in awhile they dont shoot straight anyway. I think ive carried a gun bout 5 times in 5 years.

That's me, I like bow hunting, but I don't love it enough to walk past that rifle on November 18.

my first/only bow kill was on the opening day of gun season a few seasons back. The other guys in the club I was in looked at me like I was nuts when we started out the door that afternoon and I had my bow in-hand. I will continue to hunt with my bow periodically throughout the season, depending on conditions.

My other goal for the season is to kill a deer with my first deer rifle - a remington 710 30-06. My dad bought it for me when I was maybe 14 or 15ish.....I have never killed a deer with that gun. I've killed plenty with a couple of other rifles, but never that one, so that's goal numero uno for this season.

I still go to the rifle after mid November. I enjoy bowhunting more but I have never killed a racked buck so I�m just trying to increase my odds when it�s gun season. I definitely bow hunt more though because public WMAs only have certain gun days.

Same here. I enjoy bowhunting and appreciate it for what it is, but I get just as much enjoyment toting a rifle with me. It's basically a way for me to get in the woods a month before gun season starts.

Started bow hunting deer in 2015, haven't picked up a rifle since.

I am Bow Only till Rut is on !!
When the rut hits Big Gun comes out!
I have watched some Big Deer walk away at 70 yards
when I refused to put a bow up!
As far as Turkey im all shot gun!!!

I�m bow only until the rut, which is late January for me.

As far as turkeys, I like shooting them in the face with a shotgun too much to take the bow.

I can�t say I wouldn�t enjoy gun hunting because I�ve never done it. I can say after being up close and personal with my bow and killing deer with arrows I made, I probably wouldn�t enjoy it as much. I just don�t think it would/could compare in excitement for me.

Bow only. No desire at all to hunt with a gun

X2. id rather sleep in than shoot one with a rifle. Got burned out on that 15 years ago.

Use to bow hunt only, about mid January I'll take both. When I hunt clear cuts I take the rifle only. Shot one turkey with bow and couldn't find him. Shotgun now

Rifle. Seems like I have to carry too much stuff when I bow hunt.

Gun for both. I've killed about 5 deer with my bow and it was really fun but just not what drives me.

Dr. B

Watched a definite 5-6 yr old shooter (prob 135" deer) and a marginal shooter last weekend feed on a ridge across from me at 75 yards while I sat there listening to white oaks drop and holding my bow. I was wishing the whole time I had my rifle or muzzleloader instead of that stupid bow. I love bow hunting but it can be very frustrating in AL.

Turkey - gun. Most with a bow are just a ground blind ambush anyway.

Deer -I go to the muzzleloader then rifle as the seasons open. I only shoot 1-2 deer a season max. Sometimes none. And even though I won't mount it... if I did I would be proud to put it on the wall. They WILL be big enough.

I usually get somewhere between 0-3 chances at a deer like that per season.

Given those odds I don't want to further stack those odds against myself by sticking to bow hunting.

On the flip side usually if I do kill a good one early with a bow or early rifle... I will finish out the season with the bow.

See that has never bothered me. There have been chances I've missed out on because I didn't have a rifle, but if I had a rifle I wouldn't have felt near as good about it. That isn't knocking any rifle hunters, I just don't have any desire to shoot a deer with a rifle. But, the same can be said about a compound bow or crossbow for me too. There have also been times where I had a deer like that 100 yards away one morning, then had him come right by my stand another morning. I've always looked at it like a challenge. If I hunt one morning and miss a chance at a deer I would love to take for any reason (not just distance), I look at it as I need to be a better/smarter hunter. Ask my wife, I obsess over it. I don't think of it as "it would've been easier with a gun." If that deer beat me this morning, I'll try to outsmart him next time.

Also, this isn't a knock on you. It's just how you operate and how I operate. Basically, I'm not saying you're lazy or you want it to be easy. It's just my thought process.

Been bow hunting only for deer going on 30 years. When I took my first deer with my bow I went home and sold my deer rifle the next week. Turkeys on the other hand have a head that was just made for a load of shot from a scattergun. Most bow hunting for turkeys involves ground blinds and decoys and I don't like to hunt that way.

i have learned a ton just from bow hunting. I cant tell you how many times ive seen bigger deer or seen deer just being deer because you have to watch them if they are not close enough. if i had a rifle, most time its see deer and shoot within a minute or two and never learn anything else about it...

I�ll m trying to get in this bow hunting wagon for deer, I�ll use a gun for turkey hunting

Got into bowhunting back in 1998 and was completely obsessed until I got married and had kids. As my boys get older the fever is starting to come back as they get old enough to start shooting with me. I love bowhunting but will take up the rifle in December and January. I will use whatever means necessary to kill a turkey. No reason why a bird with a brain that small should be that smart.

No offense taken. It is easy to pattern and get deer close but on this particular property it is 100% impossible to pattern a specific buck this time of year. There's a section of 400 acres of open, 65% white oaks, 25% red oaks and 10% water oaks with just a few big pines mixed in surrounded by 1000's of acres of various age pines and mixed timber. There are so many white oaks dropping at this time of the season and so much food laying on the ground that the deer just wander aimlessly through it. It's pretty flat with a few creek drains, no real pinch points or other significant topo features to hunt or really funnel the deer. You set up on one ridge and they show up on the one to the east. Next day they will be on another ridge to the west. Seeing them is not the hard part which is a good thing. Having them wander into bow range is. It also makes if frustrating because I've killed a ton of deer both with gun and bow and I will not shoot a young buck or lesser deer just because I have my bow in my hand. We only shoot mature bucks on this property regardless of the weapon. I did have a 2 yr old 7 pt and a pile of does all around me, that same morning I saw the shooter, that I could have easily killed. In this particular case, killing a mature buck with a bow is not really skill or outsmarting him, it's simply being lucky enough to be in the right tree at the right time. Once the white oaks quit dropping, patterning them gets a whole lot easier. Unlike a lot of AL, this and most of the surrounding property is big timber that hasn't been cut. Both a blessing and a curse.

If a turkey could smell like a deer can, you would never be able to kill one.

I like the challenge of bowhunting. I carried my rifle once last year and killed a deer with it... It was almost too easy.

Bow during bow season and Gun deering gun season. For me I honestly believe it is more challenging hunting with a gun in the woods then with a bow during bow season. When I gun hunt i have to be so much more alert trying to catch a buck moving thru the thick stuff in a 100 -150 yard circle of me. Just looking for that 2 inch hole to shoot. With a bow much easier as they are with 20 yards.

ive never shot at one with a bow. Even that being said i love the advantages of gun hunting better.

I have been bow hunting for the past 38 years. I might have taken a rifle 4 or 5 times and that was just so my kids could shoot one. Really just don't see the challenge in shooting one with a rifle unless you are shooting 400-500 plus shots. I prefer to "hunt" and get them up close and personal.

I did get a muzzleloader for Christmas 4 years ago, but haven't taken it out of the box yet. Might consider that this year.

"If a turkey could smell like a deer can, you would never be able to kill one."

Truer words have never been spoken.

Strictlybow except for doves ducks and rabbits.

I bow hunt until rifle season, tho I�ll still break out the bow from time to time.

Haven�t touched a gun for deer in years

I'll hunt a deer by any means necessary. If rocks were lethal and there was a rock season I'd be in on it. I just like to hunt. A few times I've toted a bow until Ive killed one then switched to a gun. If I could I would carry a gun all season though.

I love bow hunting. I still haven�t killed a buck with one so I�m dead set on shooting one this year. I will take both gun and bow every time during the rut. If my bow set ups are just right I will bow hunt, if a clear cut makes sense, well, you get the picture..

I bow hunt with traditional archery,and if my shoulder wasn't so banged up I would love to try to kill one with a spear,I just can't hardly throw anything.I love to kill deer with a gun to much to just put it away.Turkey always gets a face full of my shotgun!

Same here. I enjoy bowhunting and appreciate it for what it is, but I get just as much enjoyment toting a rifle with me. It's basically a way for me to get in the woods a month before gun season starts. [/quote]

Exactly why I bought a bow this year

I have bow hunted only for the last 10 years or so, got hooked on it and really enjoy it. Sometimes I win, sometimes the deer wins (most of the time the deer wins), but it's still exciting.

I appreciate bow hunting for what it is, esp getting that close to a deer & making that much movement & getting away with it is very cool ... But, I also love watching deer & turkey do the "dirt twerk" when you blow 'em off their feet w/a gun ...

majority bow, but will use the rifle also.

Bow hunt until rut, then I will carry both. If I can shoot him with the bow, then that's what I use. If not, then the smoke pole comes out.

Man thats what Ive said for years. I just used to be ate up hunting them. If there was a rock season, Id be chucking rocks!!

You have to have a pretty high deer population to be successful with a bow, consistently. That�s a fact.

Well, if I were a single fella I�d live at my camp and bow hunt pretty much all the time. For whatever. I�d shoot a gun too. Well, I guess it would be wayyy different if I was still in young man single world. LOL!

Bow for deer and shotgun for turkey, I have no desire to let those birds torture me any more than they already do.

30 years ago I was bow hunting until gun season. My nine-year-old son shot one with a gun. Haven't hunted with a gun since. I figured I hunt for the challenge. If a 9-year-old can do it with a gun, there wasn't much challenge left with a gun. Only bow for the last 30 years.

I've been hunting a year now. I only became interested in deer hunting once I picked up the bow. Today is actually the anniversary of the first buck I shot and missed last year. Even after disappointment after disappointment and beconing calls from buddies to surrender to the gun and just get my first kill. I haven't waivered and I'm still enjoying the challenge. I know when I finally harvest that first deer it's gonna taste so sweet.

Short version: Bow only year round for me. (And I'm hunting with an early 2000's PSE compound with steel cables, no cam, wheels only).

Since 1975 I have had a passion for bowhunting.
I love guns but I just don't hunt with them much.
I've always shot a recurve or longbow.

I bought a new rifle 3 years ago, then a bow directly after that and the rifle has been into the woods 1 time since I bought the bow. I choose bow every time and get crazy looks from my buddies all the time. It�s so much more rewarding to me and I enjoy it way more.