I get it. We have 8 guys on a pretty big place. Everyone has their own designated or proprietary space. Many a year ago, two of the lease hunters wanted to bow hunt. Each are experienced & capable. One weekend during early bow season, they were down there by themselves and went out in the field to knock something down and bring it in. They were competitive with each other. One guy brought in a 4 1/2 year old main frame ten that scored right near 150. Said he knew it wasn't old enough (we try for 6 1/2 and accept 5 1/2), but he just could not restrain himself with an animal that big, so near and only with a bow. The other guy brought in an even younger 13 point.

The next year we got together and had a vote about not taking trophy deer during the early archery season. There was only one of the bow hunters left and yes, he pissed & moaned. The vote was 7-1. Although he could take mgt bucks & does during the early season and then shoot a trophy buck with his bow during the general gun season, he didn't bow hunt at our place after that. This guy is a great guy, but all that talk about bow hunting being so noble & back to our roots actually had very lil' to do with his thinking. He might not have realized it, but It was all about getting a jump start. He later left our ranch and went in pursuit of even bigger deer. The new ranch is MLD so they started off early anyway. He never uses his bow there.

I have also seen the other side. Have a good friend who used to shoot competitively. He never picks up a rifle unless it is in pursuit of varmints. Pretty much, he doesn't even start hunting until the rut. Has shot several large trophy & mgt deer with one he rattled up and shot with a bow while hunting by himself. That one was 170 plus.

Exactly!

And I bet the bowhunters that are shooting 100 arrows a week make up about 1% of total bowhunters. He is comparing one end of the spectrum to the extreme other end of the spectrum to make his point which is just plain silly.

And I don't care how many arrows you fling at a target it aint the same as flinging them at a live animal. There is a video out there of an Olympic gold medalist archery champion who missed a world class typical at around 20 yards if I remember right. Happened about 10 or so years ago. Deer can string jump you, a target cant and I have yet to see one string jump a rifle either.

I do let a very select few bow hunt but we have a long discussion about it first. All of our hunts are guided it tough to get a big deer within 20 yards of two people and then communicate about making the shot. I also tell all my hunters when you touch the trigger or turn that arrow loose we trade ownership. We cant afford to take the loss for someone's lack of skills. On our place if it goes more then 50 yards or so in the brush I don't care if you shoot a rifle or bow the chances of finding it go way down. I wont and my go to dog guy wont turn his dogs loose on a wounded deer unless we have the arrow to prove it not still in the deer and taking a chance on wounding the dog if the deer is still alive.
I don't want to have to have the discussion on whether I think it going to live or not and a client doesn't feel like they should have to pay for something they didn't get ( oh what's the loss of one deer you got plenty of them can I just shoot another or why do I still have to pay if we didn't find it) Its just easier to avoid the stress of it. And before you think I'm against bow hunting I'm not I AM a bow hunter I shoot a recurve but I live by the rule 10 and in if I cant get within 10 yards I don't shoot. We don't let a hunter shoot over 25 yards with compounds. So if I can eliminate a potential problem I will. Believe me most folks don't realize it but the guide has way more stress on him then the hunter if he truly a real guide and wants his hunter to be successful.

This!

Rifle or bow, I think the best attitude a hunter can have, once searching for a deer is "I'm not going to quit until I find it."

Remember where you hit it, and do you believe it was a lethal shot? Was it gut or brisket? Be honest with yourself.

If you made a vitals shot, the deer is going to die pretty quickly, but they sure can cover lots of ground with two destroyed lungs. It happened to Randy and I three weeks ago. He made a perfect double lung shot, and the deer ran. I made a perfect double lung shot 15 minutes later, and my deer ran. We spent an hour blood trailing for his, gutted it and hung it. We spend 45 minutes blood trailing mine, gutted it, hung it, skinned and quartered both. It was midnight when we were finally washing our hands.

Blood trailing is part of hunting. Get good at it, and really try hard to find that deer.

If I was a land owner and I didn't allow bow hunting....^^^^that would be the reason.

Haggerman in Grayson County, which is a Bow Only county has guidelines for hunters that eliminate some of the problems associated with bowhunting but not all. I like their rules. Never know what might step out up there and buck fever happens with bow as well as gun.

That's a very good point. Buzzards always tell the truth no matter what may have been said earlier. They are experts at uncovering deer that someone never found or even failed to look for after hunting a stand without permission.

So mainly we get down to the wounded deer argument. Buck fever happens to both rifle and bow hunters so bad shots happen regardless. I made the comment of shooting 100 arrows a week to suggest that in my opinion, I see bow hunters practicing a lot more than i do guys at the rifle range. Range fees have gotten out of hand, a man can shoot his bow in the back yard. I just see the overall (PRACTICE) is being put in by bow shooters.

So, shooting a target is not the same as shooting a live animal. 100% CORRECT. How else is one supposed to practice? Shooting targets is for practice and honing skills to be able to place the most ethical shot possible when the opportunity presents itself during the hunt. You certainly don't want guys out there sending rounds or arrows at live animals as practice, right? We will never stop occasional poor shot placement, it happens for a number or reasons, and to all of us from time to time.

I personally started bow hunting 5 years ago because I had lost passion in hunting with a rifle. The excitement was gone in the hunt. I loved to get up early and stay late just watching animals but had no desire to take a shot on an animal. After the first morning bow hunting, my passion was back 10 fold. The adrenaline rush of being that close and having mature bucks with in 40yds was exhilarating. I still do not take a shot outside of my comfort range, and have had to let the 2 biggest bucks I've seen on our property walk for this reason. But, those 2 hunts where more exciting than the other sits i've had rifle hunting in a box.

Completely understand a landowner making his own rules. That's why I did not argue push the issue when LO said he did not want bow hunting on his property. Was just looking for responses other than wounded deer, as that happens with both types of hunting.

Maybe land owners realize they can get the money they want from gun hunters and wish to avoid the additional drama and whatever else accompanies the less numbered bow hunters.

Totally agree with bow hunters as a whole being more well practiced than rifle hunters.

I shoot my bow 100X more than my rifle, at least

Probably should have stated that up front. You have other responses here that are not about wounded deer.

As for the excitement of being close, it is great that you have gotten that with a bow, but you could have gotten it with a rifle or pistol just as well. I have a couple of buddies who still-hunt. They won't shoot outside of 30 yards and like to get closer. Apparently, they find it very exciting.

All a land owner has to do is watch TV on Saturday morning. Every other show that hunts with a bow, says, "We need to back out of here and come back tomorrow to find it." Those shows are enough to make a land owner think about how much wasted/spoiled meat that bow hunters ruin.

You really think the landowner is concerned about a possible deer spoilage?

In all my 40+ years of hunting, the number of landowners who cared about deer meat being wasted far exceeds the number of those who showed no interest.

Feral hogs on the other hand have almost always been viewed as little more than rats that should never be given a pass.

No, what I think is the landowner is concerned about his hunters loosing several big bucks before finding one to use a tag on. As someone else said, you can't learn tracking by watching a youtube video.

I am wondering with all the crying about landowners not allowing archery if the bow hunters will do enough crying to the right people. Then it will become law that bow hunters can't be discriminated against and you have to allow that type of hunting. Now don't some of you bow hunters get your panties in a wad, I'm just messing with you.

Another consideration is the size of the property and if HF or LF. I am a bow hunter, but do not bow hunt for deer on my property. Simply not large enough to contain a deer that is going to travel some distance before expiring. On a large property, a hunter can track without worrying about crossing fence lines. Some small property owners may feel the same, not worth a hunter venturing onto neighbors property while tracking and causing issues. If it happened once, the landowner may feel it just isn't worth it going forward.

I do bow hunt for turkey and hogs on my place as the turkeys typically go down quick, and hogs, well, not as concerned if I lose.

I do both rifle and bow. Even after practicing all year long im 10x more capable with my scoped center fire rifle that I haven't shot in 11 months.

Some landowners want your money but really only want you on their land for the bare minimum of time.

BINGO

It's why many of the locals here prefer to lease to someone from Houston instead of NB. Less likely to spend as much time at the place that way.

+2. Go over to the green screen and read about all the deer wounded and not recovered. I've heard guys even say, " it happens to everyone, go get you another one. WRONG!