Poll: Are you a full-time Bowhunter?

• Jan 1, 2005

• #1

R

Rainmaker

Senior Member

Just trying to get an idea here of how many out of our used to be 96,000 archery license sold each year went to people who bowhunt exclusively for big game.

Please indicate if you are a full-time bowhunter or not. Also let us know if you know a full-time bowhunter.

If you do know some full-time bowhunters and they have not responded to this thread please tell us how many.

Thank you !

 

• Jan 1, 2005

• #2

Dustin Pate

Administrator

Staff member

I have just taken up bow hunting within the last couple of years. I was able to take my first two deer with a bow this year. I killed one with a gun. All together I carried my bow more this year than I did a gun. Still I like to hunt with a gun, so I'm not full time yet.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #3

K

kcausey

Banned

99%

I hunt with my bow more like 99 percent of the season.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #4

F

flat foot

Senior Member

If it's just me then I only Bowhunt, if my 8 year old daughter is hunting I carry her Gun for her.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #5

Jim Thompson

Live From The Tree

What are you crazy

I do know a couple, but they are members here and will probably respond.

Not me though. I love the bow in my hand as much as life itself.....until I start thinking about cold weather and rifle season...then I love that as much as life itself.

Jim

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #6

davidhelmly

Senior Member

I haven't taken a gun deer hunting in over 15 years. I am in a archery only QDM club and it's amazing the deer that you see on a property like this. My son who is 19 now grew up a bowhunter and still is but you should have seen him when he had a chance to kill a deer with a gun, it was like his first deer all over again. Any hunting is great but to me bowhunting is just something specia l.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #7

J

Jody Hawk

Senior Member

I never took my rifle out of the safe this year. I'd rather take a doe with my bow than a ten pointer with a rifle !!!! I got to a point where nothing was big enough to excite me when I was hunting with a gun. I've let alot of bucks walk that didn't measure up to what I was looking for while gun hunting but would have been awesome bowkills. I just love the challenge of bowhunting !!!!!

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #8

Jeff Phillips

Senior Member

I am with JT on this 1

I love bow season, but by the end I am ready to reach out and touch 1

If I was forced to choose, I'd choose my rifle

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #9

Ramey Jackson

Senior Member

I'm 100% while hunting in GA. But when I go to Texas, Canada, or Al....It's the big gun.

However, a doe with a bow in GA. is more exciting that a 140" in TX. with a gun.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #10

R

Rainmaker

Senior Member

Jim, I am crazy ! I teach 7th grade Math !

I'd like to add that hunting for small game with a bow is alot of fun too. I've been lucky enough to take some squirrels, rabbits, and a racoon with a bow. I missed a turkey some years ago. I missed a gray fox this year with my longbow too.

Squirrels are the toughest creatures I've had the pleasure of hunting. If a squirrel weighed 125 pounds we would be in trouble in the woods. The animal that I have found that gives up the ghost the easiest from a broadhead is a wild hog. Hit them in the right place and they won't make it far at all.

I know some full-time bowhunters, so I'll try to count them up and post here.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #11

Arrow Flinger

Moderator

I carry my bow until the rut starts up then pick up the rifle for a few weeks.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #12

Hunterrs

GONetwork Member

As soon as bow season is over, I put down the CROSSBOW and pick up the Browning.

Robert

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #13

Gaswamp

Senior Member

I hunt with a bow almost 90% of the time. Each year, I bow hunt more and more. Casey, I have told you before, but I want to re-iterate. I like your ideas concerning the length and timing of gun/muzzleloader/bow seasons.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #14

Mechanicaldawg

Roosevelt Ranger

I just used my bow this year until my wonderful wife threw a steamer trunk on top of my arrows!

I'm all set up again now and ready for next year!

Debbie's wounds healed very nicely!

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #15

reylamb

Senior Member

Jeff Young said:

I just used my bow this year until my wonderful wife threw a steamer trunk on top of my arrows!

I'm all set up again now and ready for next year!

Debbie's wounds healed very nicely!

Click to expand...

I knew there was a reason I had 20 dozen arrows laying around, and now I know what the reason is.....

Big game or small, if I am hunting a bow is in my hand.

 

• Jan 2, 2005

• #16

H

HT2

Guest

Casey......

Not a full time bow hunter.......

Just when the season is in.....

 

• Jan 3, 2005

• #17

Jasper

Senior Member

It's been 8 or 9 years since I've hunted deer with a rifle. There's just nothing like bowhunting. I first shot a bow when I was 6 and still love it just as much now.

 

• Jan 6, 2005

• #18

1Shot Wally

Member

Jody Hawk said:

I never took my rifle out of the safe this year. I'd rather take a doe with my bow than a ten pointer with a rifle !!!! I got to a point where nothing was big enough to excite me when I was hunting with a gun. I've let alot of bucks walk that didn't measure up to what I was looking for while gun hunting but would have been awesome bowkills. I just love the challenge of bowhunting !!!!!

Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better myself, Jody Hawk. I've been a full time bowhunter for the past two seasons and so has my cousin. And for just the same reasons you stated above.

 

• Jan 6, 2005

• #19

huntnnut

GONetwork Member

I'm not currently, though I could be. When gun season opens and those guns start going off all around me, I have to switch over also. I correlate it to taking a knife to a gun fight...

 

• Jan 6, 2005

• #20

BowArrow

Senior Member

I started bow hunting in 1966 when ten of us formed the Bulloch Bowmen Archery Club with the help of Dan Quillan from Athens. I have been a full time bowhunter for thiry-seven years and have never had a desire to gun hunt. There are three of us who bow hunt only thruout the deer season.

It is getting more difficult each year to fill my freezer as deer sightings continue to decline. I guess I had a fair season as I got one doe and two eight pointers. With two days to go, I would like one more doe.