hunting during general gun season

[Medic85]

WhAt are some opinions of bowhunting while the riflemen are out and about as I havent done it.  Are the deer generally more skittish.  I'm also nervous about hunting on the ground regardless of the blaze Orange.  What are yalls thoughts.

[ChuckC]

I like to read a good book during gun season.  I hunt public land near the capital city (Madison). I have gotten really allergic to gun season over the years.

ChuckC

[ISP 5353]

I am usually on private property and will bowhunt some through gun season.  I wear lots of orange though!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I hunt it hard but I hate it.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

It all depends on the property you hunt. Usually I go to an archery only county during our rifle season. Then we are left with the people who love archery and the felons who cant use guns. I find the deer are more prone to natural movements.

The areas I have access to gun hunt are small parcels and usually the deer are Nocturnal after the first day or two. I do however have deer in bow range on these properties the first day or two but do not bow hunt them because the boundaries lined with hunters on 4 wheelers who shoot at anything that moves are close.

I used to have access to 420 acres of prime farmland white tail hunting. I would have no qualms about hunting that farm with the bow during rifle season but unfortunately the landowner passed and the son sold it.

If the deer are really pressured, they could be spooky but it all depends on the property you hunt.

[Stickbow]

You guys have options......I am jealous. General season here is oct. 10 till dec. 1 either sex. Not much choice but to hunt. I wear orange to and from my tree stand.

[The Night Stalker]

Here in the Mountains of NC, the deer become real spooky at the beginning of muzzleloader/gun season. I bowhunt throughout the gun season but it is hard. The deer are just so hard to get a good shot at. I also tend to aim a little low if I do get a shot. If the weather gets bad and time goes on in the season, the bowhunting gets a little better at the end.

[Stump73]

I hunted first day of gun season with a gun. Shot a doe for the freezer. The next day put the gun up and back out with the thunderchild for the rest of the season which ends in January.

I use my longbow all the time. I also hunt on private property, so I don't worry about the guns too much. I hear them off on the other places. Opening day of gun season here is just another day a month into bow season for me!

Bisch

[Sam McMichael]

It doesn't bother me at all. All the properties around me are hunted by riflemen, but it doesn't seem to affect the deer. I have heard rifle shots many times when deer are close by, and they hardly react at all to the sound of the gunfire.

[Cavscout9753]

I will but on Ft Benning the post is large and broken down into sections. So for example one section will be "A7". There's somewhere around 30 or so of these areas. Each day certain areas will be open. Of those open areas certain ones are Rifle, some Shotgun (or muzzle loader), and some Bow only. I only hunt one area that Rifle, and I'm the only guy who bothers with it. The rest I stick to either Shot gun (no one ever goes in the ones I hunt), or Bow only but the bow only areas are rubbish for the most part, or around housing and you have to use a stand, also rubbish in my mind. So I really don't mind bow hunting in gun season. Im not a freezer filler so if I eat tag soup, whatever, the best pig season is right after deer and its more fun to me. Additionally it being Ft Benning, as you can imagine the deer hear plenty of shooting and the like so they live their entire lives in either a state of hyperactive shock or general bemeusment at the sound of gun fire and people trapsing through the woods.

[uglyjake]

There is some great bow hunting here in Missouri during the firearms seasons.  I just order Teresa Asbell's new hunter orange wool mackinaw zipper cape and plan to get Two Tracks hunter orange Coups cap to meet the hunter orange requirements.  Be safe and go hunt.

[Robyn Hode]

I don't like to hunt during gun season. The deer are moving but that's because everyone in town is in the woods with a gun.

[Friend]

You may consider googling 'Bowhunting during gun season'.

There you will find substantial information pertaining directly to your inquiry.

[Izzy]

Hunt on weekdays, cuts the amount of hunters down by 90% at least.

[overbo]

Find bedding areas and try to locate a stand site w/ the least amount of impact on the deer as possible. Also, w/ in range to get a shot. Very tough proposition, but not impossible.

[Roughrider]

I lived in WI for many years where gun season is an EVENT with businesses closing so employees can hunt and 650000 gun toting nimrods charging the woods.  I usually left the state during gun season and went bowhunting somewhere else.

When I moved to ND, then NE, I found that gun season here isn't much of an event.  I was out last evening (gun season closes today), and I think I heard 2 shots - one about a mile away and the other further.  I shot a nice doe with my longbow as she calmly walked by at 22 yards.

[German Dog]

Here in wisconsin i find it too crowded with 600,000 gun deer tags sold and I just don't hunt during the gun season. If I hunted more open or bigger country out west I'd put some orange on and go.
I love to bird hunt also and I even stay out of the woods during the gun deer season with my dog and shotgun.

[jt85]

I'm in my stand right now with my longbow and it's gun season here. In my experience yes the deer are generally more skittish but it can still be done.

[Rustic]

Originally posted by Medic85:
WhAt are some opinions of bowhunting while the riflemen are out and about as I havent done it.  Are the deer generally more skittish.  I'm also nervous about hunting on the ground regardless of the blaze Orange.  What are yalls thoughts.

I cut down on bowhunting during gun season and join the the orange army with my shot gun. After the 1st week, I think the deer just go nocturnal. There is just too many people in the woods at that time. Being safe is my 1st priority. Last week I watched a kid sneek in and out of the woods without a stitch of "Hunters Orange" on.