Bow only?

How many of you are straight "bow only"? I have been for the past few season. I have gotten to the point that hunting with a rifle is just not much of a challenge. I do use a modern compound bow, and I realize that using one of those is a significant improvement over stick bows, but I am even thinking of moving towards that. I think the challenge of getting in to within 30 yards and having to use every resource that you can - concealment, scent control, entry into your stand, etc. - is what keeps me interested in this sport.

I thought about this after sitting in a tree yesterday from 5am until 11am freezing my butt off in 28 degree weather and having a beautiful 150 class 8 point come within 75 yards of my tree but never coming in any closer. Obviously I thought about the "what if" scenario if I had brought a rifle up into the tree with me I would have harvested that buck easily.

I am thinking about taking my open sighted 44 magnum into the woods for some old fashioned spot and stalk hunting like was common in Texas many years ago.

I know that a huge portion of bow hunters put down their bows as soon as rifle season starts up. I was just wondering what is the percentage of our group that thinks of bow hunting as what you do until you can pick up a rifle.

I hardly pick up the rifle anymore.. but every now and then I will just to be able to kick back and relax in a box blind with a cold beer.

I enjoy hunting with a lot of weapons. Iron sight lever gun, revolver, scoped rifle, bow, traditional black powder all get a rush for me.

I hunt with whatever I can whenever I can. That being said I enjoy bow hunting the most because of the added intimacy with nature.

I'm a bowhunter. I kill pigs outside of deer season with rifles at times. But I didn't kill a buck in Missouri the last week because the only shooter was at 150 yards. About 125 yards further than my Hoyt needed. I am shooting a recurve now as well as I intend to get more involve with traditional archery however I still enjoy my compound.

Still bowhunting here. Been on a bow only lease for several years now. Been a tough year for most of us so far but with the freeze this weekend it should start picking up.

Been bow hunting for close to 50 years and still get excited when I shoot a big old doe, bow only for the last 30 or so years. Forrest

I am glad to see so many devoted bow hunters. I am hunting a 800 acre property in East Texas with no feeders or "blinds" - only food plots, tree stands, and some hand thrown corn piles. I love it. Getting back to the basics of identifying travel routes, pinch points, scrapes and rubs. I do have other properties where I use feeders, but I am being drawn more and more to this other property.

It's been a long time since I took the rifle out. I might go 2 or 3 years before killing another deer, but when I do, it will be with the bow.

I started bow hunting in 2007. I learned A LOT in the 1st 2 years and didn't shoot a deer until 2010 which was a doe. I shot my 1st buck in 2011. It has been all uphill since. I've started hunting the Midwest every year and have taken a couple of rally nice bucks(142" 8pt and 164" 13pt) and I've taken 3 really nice buck in TX(122' up to 132") all with my bow. This doesn't include the numerous spikes, does, bobcats, foxes, coons, etc.

I shot my last buck with a rifle in 2010 on a hunt that was given to me(rifle only). Since that time, I've only taken the gun out a few times and it was to shoot does.

Last weekend, I busted out the .243 and took my 3 yr old boy with me hunting. It is time for him to start to enjoy what I enjoy so much. I shot a buck Saturday evening with a gun and had my son with me. Best hunting experience for me. SO, I went 6 yrs without killing a buck with a gun and was "bow only". Now, I guess I will get back to that as much as possible but I wont hesitate to get in the box blind with the kiddos anytime they want to go.

I just started this season! When Rifle season hit I left my rifle and took my bow. Can't say I'll never rifle hunt again but I know I'm hooked on my bow. Sitting in a tree stand 20 yards from deer and pigs is awesome! I have a couple more tree stands I'm going to put up on major trails and not be locked in on the feeders. I had deer traveling all around me and some didn't bother with the feeders at all. My only regret is waiting so long to get into it!

Until 2 years ago, I was pretty well bow only. Two years ago started hunting north east Texas, deer not coming to corn, no real consistent trails that I ever saw. Was able to take only one doe by bow and the rest of the harvests had to be by rifle. Very few clearings made this area very challenging.

I just like to hunt. I will bow hunt a lot but also enjoy taking my rifles out.

I also hunt properties that just are not conducive to bow hunting.

That said, I really do enjoy hunting with my bow

About 23 years ago I got onto a "bow only" lease and hunted it 16 years straight never getting the rifle out.
I enjoyed it, and even filled all my tags in some of those years. I had a blast!
I then had some offers of hunting on some other ranches and still bow hunted but took up a rifle during the rifle season. Mostly because of old age and limited mobility from my body parts wearing out, and not being able to hunt my favorite method which is up off the ground in tree stands. I was limited to pop ups and box blinds.
I still prefer the bow and have taken up my traditional recurve which I will still hunt with when I can before the season ends. Gun or bow I'll still be out in the woods.

There is no dishonor in any legal method of hunting. I prefer to archery hunt. But I am lethal with a rifle or handgun as well.

The challenge of traditional equipment has bitten me but I will still kill with my training wheels bow as well.

I take too many customers out hunting now and I guess its changed my methods for the most part, but I still like bow hunting the most. My bear trip up in Canada in May 2016 was with a rifle. When I go back in 2018 I will probably take my bow but use a rifle If I had too.

I hunt in Illinois and hope to in Kansas. One thing I can tell you from visiting with hunters from outside Texas - they do NOT understand our hunting method of sitting in a box blind and waiting for deer to come up to a feeder when the timer sets it off. It blows their mind that we consider this "hunting". In a way they have a point - especially in more arid areas of Texas where the deer really do seem to swarm to the feeder when it goes off.

I have kind of grown to love the year long ritual of clearing and planting food plots and learning how to spot scrapes and rubs and identify deer sign that bow hunting kind of depends on in order to increase your odds to get you close enough for a shot. And yes, I have gone multiple years without using a buck tag (I have always been able to at least kill a doe). But I do love bow hunting. And I love hunting in East Texas too just because of the challenge in getting a shot at a great buck - which would be a challenge even if using a feeder in this acorn and food heavy part of Texas!

I wish Gregg County was like Grayson County and go "bow only". I am not sure how that happened in Grayson County, but from talking to some guys who hunt up there, that is probably a Texas bow hunters dream.

I love bow hunting and have been hunting seriously for the past 6 seasons after more than 25 years away from hunting altogether. There is nothing like seeing all the critters up close and personal or the pre-dawn excitement of hearing what is out there before seeing it and figuring out what it is.

That said, in the first 5 seasons I have taken only 2 bucks and 5 does and not from a lack of time and effort. For several years, I even had 2 leases because my primary lease was overcrowded with hunters and having an older buck come in after the gunshots started firing was just not happening.

Often I would take my rifle with me the last 2-3 weekends of the season and it almost never failed that I would see a trophy buck by my standards - 130+. And every time, until the moment I saw that buck until the moment it was too dark or he was out of range, I was sure he was coming into bow range.

This year I am on a new lease with a fair number of 140+ bucks and much less cover. So unless the conditions are ideal for bow hunting, I am going to do some rifle hunting. Not ideal would be moderate to heavy rain, lightning, winds greater than 15 MPH, or temperatures below 20 degrees.

I could have filled my Missouri tag with a rifle. But I chose to stick with my Hoyt. However, the people that don't understand the feeder sitting are hypocrites. A food plot is a big feeder. And I believe the majority of us may use other methods here but when you hunt property with others and the rules say you hunt your feeders, so you do. Our ranch we can do what we want so we will hunt trails as well. But feeders are an effective means of bringing deer in as well as allowing us to evaluate deer age and score for management purposes.

I understand your point about feeders. I do use them along with food plots too. But let's be real - food plots don't "go off" automatically and pull deer in on que like feeders do in some parts of Texas. I use feeders too - and it IS because they are easy and much less work than food plots and allow much less time on stand to harvest after.

I haven't hunted with a gun in about 8 or 9 years

Believe me I understand about how "easy" feeders are. However I try to do food plots as well but the rain doesn't always cooperate.

I put the rifle in the safe back in 2004 and have been lucky enough to get 4 turkeys, 4 yotes, 1 hog and 7 bucks and lost 1 buck that I will never get over. There is something that can't be explained about the feeling of taking a good buck with a bow.

Good luck!

Food plots would be nice but try growing them in 10 inches of top soil where there is nothing but rock underneath it. It may sprout but it isn't hanging around very long. As far as deer coming to feeders when they hear the dinner bell doesn't work all the time. All I have that come to the feeder when it goes off is just raccoons. Only time deer are there are at night. It is like saying if you build a restaurant people will automatically show when the doors fly open.

Try throwing only in the morning.

I have bow hunted for nearly 50 years, their is no comparison bow to gun, have killed a lot of good deer and also not got a shot at a lot. if you are a true bow hunter you will leave the gun at home. Forrest

I have, no difference. Even when it is not throwing they check it at night. North Eastern Texas, what ya gonna do.

It has no effect at all. This is on a lease that I got on last year. Deer rarely come to a feeder in the daytime. Very strange.

Hand corn. Seen good bucks come to hand thrown corn during daylight hrs. Only problem, if like me, live too far to corn on a regular basis.

Yep, 3.5 hours away.

3 hrs. for me, but, I get 7 days off each time. So if I corn up a couple places as soon as I get there, usually by day 3 it's ready to hunt. But, since we've had a bumper crop of acorns this year, I haven't even tried it yet this year.

I rifle hunt maybe once a year, and I have transitioned to traditional archery equipment only.

last time I shot a deer with a rifle was 1999. bow only for me.

Once you become proficient with a bow you will find that it doesn't put you at a disadvantage over using a gun in the least.
You adapt, and you learn what your limitations are with a bow, and you actually have to hunt a little harder in order to put the odds slightly in your favor.
That's the joy and draw of archery, and the satisfaction you get after a harvest is usually greater than those you've had with a gun, just because of the difficulty, and attention to detail that it takes in order to score.
One thing about bow hunters that I've learned on this forum, is that they don't bicker and whine like the long gun hunters do.

I have been bow only for the last 15 years. We bought property that is wide open so every once in a while I would carry a bow and a rifle. This year I killed my first buck with a rifle in 15 years. He was a 172 inch 12 point and I never would of killed him if I had had just a bow. He is at the taxidermist and I am very happy that I have him, of course I would of liked to have killed him with a bow but I would not change a thing due to the circumstances of the hunt.

Keep taking the bow out and it will pay off in the long run.

I still enjoy both. Just like deer hunting brings something different into my life than duck or turkey hunting, so do bow and rifle provide different fulfillment.