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.