Meat Hunting

[Mudfeather]

Whip story matches mine verbatim EXCEPT I did kill a few farther than the 20 yds he referred to.

[2Blade]

I forgot to add I pratice everyday for hours im not a very good shot with a recurve so im trying to hone myself so by season I can comfortably and confidently shoot a deer at 20 yards. I think you should get to the point that no matter what kind of situation your in you know that you can put an arrow in that kill zone at your effective range and from any position at that.

I pratice in a lot of real hunting situations infact to day I was shooting under our deck so I had to slump low on my knees and shoot my bow almost flat and ya know what I did ok at 15 yards. Im going to keep doing these realistic scenarios so if a shot like this does occur im ready for it id hate to shoot a deer in a position I haven't pratice in. I also shoot my bow upstraight and canted in the opposite direction just to add a little twist to my shooting and better help me and I think you owe it to the animal to do the same. Good hunting.

[stick_string]

Yep, the more I think about it, every bow hunter I can think of that I have learned from (compound hunters) have rarely shot an animal beyond 25 yards.  

I thought of another good point as well.  With my compound I can split arrows and rip vanes off out to 30 yards, but this year I missed a doe that ducked the string at about 16 yards!!

I think that I need to accept the fact that I am going to miss...no matter how good a shot I practice to be; I think it is written in the cards that at least a few times in my life, I will be forced to eat some dirt soup.

[One eye]

I guess I qualify as a meat hunter too, since I do not shoot anything I am not going to eat.  That was the rule under which I was brought up hunting and will always live by.

Good luck in your switch to trad equipment.  You will love it.

Dan

[Seeking Trad Deer]

FWIW...use a compound for your required subsistence then have fun with the stickbow.

[SOS]

Where I live in Georgia, you have to be a meat hunter.  Not too many P&Y bucks in this part of the state, so that's why trad is so fun cuz everything's a trophy!  That said, we don't buy beef, ground or steaks - we eat venison.  Plus a little wild piggie when things work out.  True I'm just getting into trad 2nd year, so since we eat 4-5 a year, I do pull out the wheels from time to time...plus my daughter helped the cause with a rifle buck when she was home from college.  3 deer and a hog in the last year with trad gear.

[Littlefeather]

  I like pork much better than deer.

[Stone Knife]

No pork in his part of the country, or it would be on my list.

[MikeC]

I wouldn't consider myself a meat hunter since of all the deer I take a year I only keep a small one for myself per season (bow / MZ), the rest go to friends and co-workers when they ask for one.

I hunt some really good property and on most occasions during the early bow season especially I typically have a perfect shot oppertunity almost each time I go out and that is no more than a couple of hours in the morning or afternoon.  Like I said I only keep one for myself with the bow so unless a friend wants a deer I look for a mature buck.  That being said I typically get requests for a few deer during the bow season and take about three each season.

I love to hunt with flintlocks and usaually take another three during the gun seasons.  I only hunt with stykbows and traditional MZ's.  But if I wanted to between bow and MZ I could supply a butcher shop with steady work...LOL.

I don't pratice much for a few reasons, at best a couple of times a month and never during the summer months.  One I don't feel the need to since I have full confidence in myself and I do much better shooting at game than I do targets.  Second I have better things to do with my free time.

[stick_string]

I shoot alot just for the fun of shooting a stick bow...

I agree with Trad Deer in that it sounds like a great idea to whip out the compound in case of emergency      

We do have pigs...one of the properties I am going to hunt this year is overrun with them.  Dont know how they taste...   :confused:    

[TRADITIONAL ONLY]

ok, im goin to jump into this.

i hunted all last season from October 15 (opening day of bow season) to January 31 (end of bow and gun season) and from Oct 15 to November 18 (opening day of gun season) i hunted with my compound only because i wasnt good enough to hunt with my longbow. on opening day i missed a doe at 30 yards because i put that 20 yard pin on her and let er fly. it made me sick to watch that Lumenock sail right under her (i still say that hose nocks are great...)
from there things went downhill FAST! i had one other oppertunity during bow season, but i was sittin down and FUBAR'd on that shot, BUT if id had my longbow, i probabbly could have gotten her...

on the second week of gun season i waited on the bigger doe to move out from behind some brush when the baby spooked (it was a yearling, not a fawn) i had the 30-30 that day trained on that spot ready to kill, oh well, there went that chance...

my next encounter came in January, i had hunted harder than my dad and i was determined to kill whatever walked out next, cause i had hunted hard and wanted a deer. well here she came one morning. one got by me by getting behind some trees. i held my new 300 Winchester Magnum that morning and when the nest doe popped in to view, i found a clear shot and tapped the trigger.

it took me a LONG time last year for me to get a deer, it was WELL earned! i dont care how i manage to kill it, im proud of ANY deer that i hpeent to kill. im happy and will take them as they come.  if its got horns youll probabbly have to come and bring me out of the woods cause id probabbly have a heart attack and die right there,  but im happy with does and will kill them just as well as anything else.

now then, you can call me selfish and you can call me a Redneck (which i am) but i dont care, im going to hunt my  way and as long as your not doin something SERIOUSLY illegal, im not goin to say anything to you. thats just my opinion..

sorry about the rant and the long post...

[BillyMarkwell]

I enjoy venison and other wild game, but I’m not a meat hunter. When I was a kid, we supplemented our grocery list with quail, rabbits and squirrel, there were no deer in my area in those days. If I had to live on deer, or other wild game that I killed with a longbow, I’d have starved to death many years ago. I hunt because I enjoy being in the woods and the challenge of bow hunting. When I do take a deer, with my bow, it’s a sense of accomplishment that no one can appreciate until they’ve experienced it. I only get to hunt 2 weeks per year, during vacation, in the past 10 years I’ve taken 6 deer.  

I practice every day with my longbow, 60 to 100 shots per day, weather permitting.

[styckbow]

I am a meat hunter I won't kill any thing unless I am going to eat it I shot a compound for about 12 years and switched to trad about 5 years ago I find it a lot easier to consistaintly take animals with trad equipment. There are no parts to fall off no rests to move or make noise the only thing that could fail is your string and its easy to toss an extra in your pocket. Where I live there arn't a lot of trees so we hunt from the ground and it is a lot easier to carry a light stick than a 5# compound also it is a lot easier to hit a walking animal with a stick beacause you don't have to worry about punching your release. That being said when I do go for trophy animals (this year will be my last) I will take my rifle but you can bet I am still going to eat them. I practice with my bow about 3-4 times a week. I think you should switch to trad only take the plunge have convidence in your abilites sounds to me like you know what you are doing I didn't take any thing with a stick till I got rid of my compound (rifle and bow are 2 seperate seasons here) and I didn't have a "fall back" so I say go for it

[cory hunter]

this obviously is a long thread so i cant help but feel my post will just be one more of the a million already posted. However i can tell you that if you hunt with a compound your chances of getting meat are probably better. most people i know who hunt with the recurve or longbow hunt with that weapon because it puts them on another level, to take game with something as basic as a stick and string is an ancient art, and the level of graditude you recieve for accomplishing such a feat is very satisfying. When i got into bowhunting it was becuase my mother wouldnt allow me to hunt alone with a rifle or shotgun yet, she always siad you never hear " i didnt no my bow was loaded". i used to hate it becuase my success rate was so poor. i got rabbits here and there and shot grouse and squirrels out of trees, i even shot the occasional muskrat. but by the time i picked up a rifle my skills were so refined to that of a bow hunter that i could take game almost everytime i went hunting. traditional bowhunting taught me to appreciate hunting and life in general on a much higher level. try not to look at what shooting a traditional bow will give you in means of meat, but try to think of what it will teach as a hunter over all. i think i speak for everyone here when i say that shooting a traditional bow has changed there perspective as a hunter. it's not for everybody, but i strongly encourage you to at least try it, good luck buddy!

[RC]

Like Little Feather I prefer the porkers.
  No matter what the group size you shoot you`ll kill what you shoot at with conifidence. The confidence will come with experience and the experience will probably come with some arrows stuck in the dirt with no blood on them.
  I hunt almost all public land but its good hunting here in south Ga.I have had bad years but my worst had 7 kills. One deer and six hogs.I average 12-15 deer and hogs a year together. And yes I hate Turkeys.
  If you want to enjoy your hunting to the fullest hunt with the stickbow. The critters will come .
 I shoot at least four days a week, one arrow at the time while walking. Don`t own a target for the yard other than a piece of foam for broadheads. Good hunting and get after`em. RC

[stick_string]

Styckbow:
I like what you say and I think I will give it a hurl for sure...

Cory Hunter:
I think that is what gets me the most about stick bow hunting...the idea of what it will teach me.  If a group of three people are standing there telling stories, one a gun hunter, one a compound hunter, and one a stickbow hunter...I think the stick hunter's story is going to be the most detailed and exciting!!    

[Bowferd]

I might stuff em , never thought about mount'n before.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I have't taken a critter with a traditional bow yet.....I say "Yet"....because i WILL ....if yiou are meat hunter as i am....to me that means i have no desire for trophy's hanging on the wall....oh the horns nailed to the barn look kinda cool after the moss starts growing on them, but what i mean is....in my opinion, a meat hunter is looking at the hams & shoulders of the deer or elk he's about to harvest, not the horns....For example, i've had oportunities some years where i really wanted the venison, had bucks and does to choose from. one year i had 3 does and a 4 point with a nice tall rack standing there looking at me. one of the does was huge in body....i didn't give that rack on the buck a second look.....i took that fat does instantly.......NEED the meat.....no...i raise my own beef....but when i want deer meat or elk meat, i could care less about the sex of the critter.....Kirk

[stick_string]

Kirkll:
I agree, however...I have to take pause becuase I have never seen anything with head gear beyond a 4 point!!    :eek:

[xia_emperor]

Meat, and I practice 5 days a week and some time more if I am in the mood.

Public land.