I thought I was going to use a bow as a weapon in one instance...a true story. It was the 2004 archery season here in Wyoming and it was about 4:30am. I am alone, no one else left in camp, they'd gone home the day before. I had killed, cleaned, and hung a deer about 60 yards from my tent. I was awakened by a tremendous racket, a sound of glass clanging along with a sort of snorting noise...could it be a bear? As I said, it's 4:30am and I'm only about half awake.
I sprang off my cot, fumbled around to find my bow and an arrow, then go charging out the front of my cabin tent wearing nothing but a pair of underwear.
I was unsure of what the intruder was but I was as armed as I could be with the bow because I had nothing else to use.
It turned out to be three moose that walked through my camp, so close to the front of my tent that apparently one of them tripped over one of the tent ropes, shaking the tent and rattling the lantern that was hanging from the ridgepole. Scared the s%#t out of me.
After thinking about it I realized that while our bows are wonderful hunting tools, they are poor defense tools. For a few seconds there I'd have given anything for a 30/30 or a .44 mag.