I'm curious to hear if there are others on here who just don't like hunting deer with a gun anymore and switched to bow only. I used to hunt NJ 6 day and NY state rifle season religiously every year. And in 1999 I was hunting a private farm in NY state opening day watching over a dried up marsh and 5 does were making their way to me when this guy unloaded on them all five rounds and four dead deer. The one doe managed to get away and ran under me. That was the changing point for me. I just lost interest in that type of hunting that day. And since I use my compound and longbow and use them in gun seasons as well. Lets here why you switched.
When and why did you switch to bow only and decided to put the gun down?
hemlockheadcase
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I'm curious to hear if there are others on here who just don't like hunting deer with a gun anymore and switched to bow only. I used to hunt NJ 6 day and NY state rifle season religiously every year. And in 1999 I was hunting a private farm in NY state opening day watching over a dried up marsh and 5 does were making their way to me when this guy unloaded on them all five rounds and four dead deer. The one doe managed to get away and ran under me. That was the changing point for me. I just lost interest in that type of hunting that day. And since I use my compound and longbow and use them in gun seasons as well. Lets here why you switched.
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I switched to only bow hunting about 15 years ago because the bow season is nice and quiet ,deer are on normal patters and you see a lot more deer. Plus I like the challenge of using a bow for all animals. I like guns but they are way to easy to kill with
I started hunting almost exclusively with the bow around 2000. I'm not opposed to hunting with a gun and buy a sportsmans license every year so I have the option to take a gun out if I want. I just don't see the point of hunting with a gun when I can hunt all the same days with my bow. I used to go out for a day or two during 6-day with a gun but now I can take the bow that week as well. I prefer hunting with the bow so if I can hunt all the same days why spend the extra $$ for gun permits. If we didn't have the rifle permit I would probably pick up a ML permit once in a while but I don't see any reason to pay another $10 to shoot a ML.
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I love guns and I'll always target shoot but I'm just not interested in gun hunting much anymore.
You probably should have called the game warden.. Unless that shooter had a nuisance permit ,, there's no way he legally shot 4 does in NY with a rifle ..At the very least he would be issued 2 permits. (Depending on zone )
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I was basically forced out of gun hunting. When I was a kid I had 100's of acres to gun hunt. Once the building boom hit in the late 70's most all of my hunting ground grew houses and the Lawrenceville prep school bought the rest. I now hunt a small 11 acre patch and hunt one farm that the farmer rents and gun hunting isn't allowed. Once I started hunting the small patches with a bow and figured out that without an orange billboard on, people never saw me. New people to the area would call the cops as soon as they spotted orange in the woods. I didn't need the hassle of explaining to the police that I had permission to be where I was. City people want to move to the country then change that to a city...I don't get it. Anyway, I'm happy doing what I do.
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99.5% gun free hunting for me for about 16 years. I have never even seen a buck I would mount with a gun in my hands, which started around age 10 (41 years ago). There are 13 bucks on my wall from the bow though. Unfortunately my earlier deer hunting experiences were all with a gang so I never really learned how to hunt deer until I went solo with the bow.
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This will be the first year that I'll be able to hunt during archery season. Raising three kids, being self employed, coaching baseball and wrestling and having a mortgage, it was very difficult for me to even think about bow hunting. Now that most of my kids are grown, I will be spending a lot of time in October and November and I cannot wait. I'm getting ready to put out some minerals sites and I just purchased some more trail cameras. Who knows, I may just give up gun hunting all together.
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Over 25 years ago I scouted all summer and was ready for my first ever hunting, it was in NY and gun. I shot a buck and a doe both within 5 seconds and hunting for the year was over. I gave back the borrowed Model 94 30-30 lever action with iron sights and told my buddy I won't be needing this anymore because Im gonna try a bow... I never looked back and never used a gun again ever. The fun and challenge are worlds apart, to me it was too simple and easy with a gun but the bow presented me with challenges that I cherish to this day, bowhunting is my favorite thing to do in the world... except my family of course.
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when all the idiots picked up guns
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Nor do I, my town is like that. I mean I'm from the city but spent my youth getting out and going camping, hiking, fishing, backpacking, canoeing and hunting. These people want street lights, traffic lights and all the other BS. Not having all that makes it nicer.
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you must be over 90 years old then
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i personally prefer gun hunting. there are so many ways you can hunt with a gun: from a stand/blind, still hunting, drives. plus it allows you to be more versatile with your spots. plus you cant really hunt with your buddies with a bow.
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Shot one buck with muzzle loader in 30 years and can't remember how many with bow........It's the drawing back on a deer that gets me going. The buck I shot was big and when the smoke cleared it was over. I was excited but hunt was too quick,bang and done......
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