Considering hanging up my guns.

[Tradcat]

I made that decision back in 1998. I've been blessed to harvest 6 deer with a firearm & 13 with a bow. I'm not as successful but I'm having more fun !

[kill shot]

For a long time I was bow only but I still hunt squirrels with a .22 rifle. I reflect on the days when my dad and I would bow hunt in the a.m. and squirrel hunt in the afternoon while scouting for deer on an indian summer day. A few times in the winter I haul out my .410 winchester 101 and go for rabbits. The smell of shotgun powder reminds me of my youth. And yes, during the gun season it's about tradition. But I'm still 90% archery.

[mpugh12]

I grew up bow hunting, I got a rifle when I was old enough to go to work and buy my own. I killed one deer with the rifle and sold it, seamed to easy.

 But the last few years ive bow hunted and hunted with a flintlock rifle, the flintlock is a challenge. Ive missed a couple with the flintlock that I wish id had my bow with me instead.

[dragonheart]

"Today there is no need to battle with the beasts of prey and little necessity to kill wild animals for food; but still the hunting instinct persists. The love of the chase still thrills us and all the misty past echoes with the hunter's call.

In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite.

After all, it is not the killing that brings satisfaction, it is the contest of skill and cunning. The true hunter counts his achievement in proportion to the effort involved and the fairness of the sport.

With the rapid development of firearms, hunting tends to lose its sporting quality. The killing of game is becoming too easy; there is little triumph and less glory than in the days of yore. Game preservation demands a limitation of armament. We should do well to abandon the more powerful and accurate implements of destruction, and revert to the bow."

       Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
               By Saxton Pope, 1923.

[kill shot]

good post dragonheart

[BAK]

I've been a gun nut all my life, both pistols and rifles.  No reason to really hang them up per se, just a matter of choice as to use what when.  

I've taken two coyote at over 600 yards, neither of which was as rewarding as the grey fox at 15.

[kill shot]

600 yards with a bow is a long shot. LOL

[DennyK]

Pretty much bow only but do sometimes hunt with my handgun.

[Owlmagnet]

I consider myself a bowhunter, but before I retired from agriculture, a .22 LR was kept handy for nuisance animals around the barn, like skunks, feral cats, and an occasional raccoon. I made and sold good bit of hay and my primary interest was sellings lambs.

A very accurate .270, (my former deer rifle), was pretty much reserved for woodchucks that were attempting to den, out in my fields, (equipment hazard), and eastern coyotes, who were engaged at every opportunity, in defense of my flock and border collie.

[Owlmagnet]

I should have added that I was also pretty tough on pigeons attempting to nest in my barn. (They could ruin a lot of stacked hay with "droppings", if you didn't stay on top of them.) For that, particular, animal control issue, a Howard Hill longbow, and an ash arrow, tipped with an Ace Hex Head blunt, was my weapon of choice. (The Judos tended to stick in the ceiling!)

[Zradix]

I'm close...

Bow and flintlock/cap and ball for me..
..oh..and some .22 for squirrels with the kiddos...

[BWallace10327]

I'll take the place of the exception of this post.  I am PROUD to hunt with a rifle if I have a tag during rifle season. I don't hunt with a rifle only if (insert justification/excuse/rationalization). I just love to hunt.  I see far fewer animals when rifle hunting than when archery hunting, but I have more shot opportunities with a gun.  It really evens out my chances at filling my tag. I don't see rifle hunting as the lowly method of the inexperienced, lazy hunter.  Which ever I carry in the woods I am thankful to be outside doing what I love. With that being said, my longbow weights 1/4 as much as my rifle and the CO archery season is a month long with usually more pleasant weather.

[TRAP]

I love my guns and love hunting with them.  

Towards the end of May, I'll hit the Mulberry patches and take a couple limits of young gray squirrels with a trusted .22 rifle that I've packed around for 20+ years.

Early September will find me in a sunflower patch hunting migrating mourning doves with my 3 daughters having an absolute blast with shotguns in hand.

Later in September, Teal will push Southward on the shoulders of the first cold fronts of the Fall.  I'll be there with my Labrador and my favorite Barretta 12 ga.

Around the first of October I'll spend a couple days stumbling around in the thickest cover I can find in search of migrating Timberdoodles (woodcock).  

Mid November will find me perched in my favorite treestands or huddled up in a warm box blind with one of my girls. With me, will be a pre-64 Model 70 my father gave me for my 16th birthday.

When I bowhunt, for frogs, fish, turkeys, deer or small game I choose a recurve, but first and foremost, I'm a hunter, a trapper and a fisherman and I'm damn proud of it. To limit myself to just a bow would prevent me from doing a great deal of things I truly love, not to mention make my Labrador retriever very grumpy.

To all things a season

[Hummer3T]

I found I get less meat but the experience fills the gap, being closer to the animals in a more natural state and less competition for peace in the woods.

[Mike Gerardi]

[gringol]

I don't mind hunting with a gun, it's all the other people hunting with guns that annoy me.  It's just more peaceful in the woods with a bow.

[Thumper Dunker]

About six years ago for sport hunting. Might take a gun in the general deer season. For the coyotes its now bow only got too easy with a rifle they show up and you shoot them. Still use the rifles for problem animals and when I need to clean the orchards out of ground squirrels.

[Frank V]

Originally posted by TRAP:
I love my guns and love hunting with them.  

Towards the end of May, I'll hit the Mulberry patches and take a couple limits of young gray squirrels with a trusted .22 rifle that I've packed around for 20+ years.

Early September will find me in a sunflower patch hunting migrating mourning doves with my 3 daughters having an absolute blast with shotguns in hand.

Later in September, Teal will push Southward on the shoulders of the first cold fronts of the Fall.  I'll be there with my Labrador and my favorite Barretta 12 ga.

Around the first of October I'll spend a couple days stumbling around in the thickest cover I can find in search of migrating Timberdoodles (woodcock).  

Mid November will find me perched in my favorite treestands or huddled up in a warm box blind with one of my girls. With me, will be a pre-64 Model 70 my father gave me for my 16th birthday.

When I bowhunt, for frogs, fish, turkeys, deer or small game I choose a recurve, but first and foremost, I'm a hunter, a trapper and a fisherman and I'm damn proud of it. To limit myself to just a bow would prevent me from doing a great deal of things I truly love, not to mention make my Labrador retriever very grumpy.

To all things a season

I'm kind of like you TRAP!
I love the long bow & recurve, I love it I can shoot a bow in the backyard.  :    

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

I won't give up the guns anytime soon. I shoot my great grandpa's old rifle, and it has never yet failed to make meat in a hunting season while in my possession. Western hunting is a whole lot different anyways. I couldn't begin to count how many animals I've seen at 700-1500 yards. It takes a lot of effort to get in range, even with a rifle. In that respect, it is just as much of a hunt as it is with a bow.

That said, it is pretty hard to top an elk hunt in September with the longbow.

[hvyhitter]

Its tuff hunting doves with a bow.............

90% of my hunting is with a bow but I still enjoy taking out a shotgun/pistol/sidelock every once in a while...............