Why So Many Lost "Biggest Bucks"???

[Slaya]

I will still kill a doe with a rifle, unless I can get at least two at the farm in front of the arrow. I'd prefer to do that killing with the bow now, but will resort to the rifle to meet the *management goals* of the property, and the *filling* goals for my freezer. I enjoy all the sights and sounds, but at the end of the day, I want some sausage, cube steak, and backstrap. I gotta be able to find that deer to get what I want.

But, I enjoy bow hunting much more than rifle hunting. I enjoy the challenge, the wait, even the disappointing letting down of the string after drawing on a deer that never did give me a good shot. Its not that I feel I've "moved past a gun" or am "better than" a gun hunter. Its just a different way of hunting that presents new and different challenges, perhaps even more complex challenges. Challenges that have made deer hunting new and exciting again after 20+ years of killing them. It's more like decoying and finishing a group of ducks over cork decoys vs. pass shooting a pond, if I can compare to anything else. I still don't want to lose a deer - buck or doe, and will be dilligent in my efforts not to.

I've learned more precisely about the anatomy of the animals I intend to shoot. It matters. With a gun, it was simply pin the shoulders, shoot the heart, or my favorite, shoot the neck. Now, I'm thinking about what the arrow will do all the way through the animal, and where I have to shoot the deer to pass through the things that make him/her tick. I'm drawing on all of my hunting experiences, and learning more about deer habits and behaviors than ever before. Ultimately, I've always tried to be a better hunter and woodsman tomorrow than I was today; I believe bow hunting requires you to do that.

[Duckman#1]

Good discussion. We all have a responsibility to be respectful of the resources.

Remember we all like to hunt, no matter what form you choose, just remember their are those out there that are trying to take it away.

[Carolina Counsel]

....but i agree with what someone said about all the techno gadgets and the glorification of bow hunting has a LOT of people hunting with bows that havent learned to walk yet. to me, taking hunting to another level is why i started bow hunting. it became routine and boring to snipe a deer at 200 yards BUT i will never stop rifle hunting. as a matter of fact, i might go shoot a slick tonight just to make me feel a little better about last night.

i think people need to hunt 10 yrs before they are allowed to choose a bow. kinda like stripa said with mandatory bow hunter education, i think you get that in the field.[/QUOTE]

I'm with you 100%. My father always said that he wouldn't start bow hunting until he "mastered" the rifle. That may be taking it a bit far, but I killed dozens upon dozens of deer with a rifle and shotgun over the course of 15 or so years before I ever even considered a bow. Not saying it's the way it has to be done, but I think it's wise.

[Catdaddy]

Let's don't kid ourselves about just bowhunters not recovering their deer. Seems like I hear it all the time from gun hunters. I've seen it quite a bit on other forums, especially from the muzzyloader crowd.


Alot of people who shoot big calibur guns, think they can hit them anywhere with all their firepower.

I would venture to say that the crowd with the highest loss ratio, shoots the biggest caliburs(300 mag,7 mm mag,etec).............at least the ones I know.

[2thDoc]

not to mention that slob rifle hunters dont go look for a deer "because it ran off" after they shot it so they have never seen this side of a blood trail....

[TealTapper]

Good thread...

Maybe one day I'll grow up and be a bow hunter ;-) Seriously, I'd like to give it a go one day, but know better than to do it without lots of preparation. As in get a bow for Christmas, and practice regularly for the nine months until the season opens. And then only attempt it if I have much confidence in my ability, knowing it's a whole nuther ball game shooting at a real dear versus a target...

Now the 11 year old will be deadly one day. He's gotten a bow the last two years and he effortlessly cuts my ass every time we shoot!

I try to stay within my limitations, and have never shot a deer past 100 yards or so. I'm consistently within a 4 inch circle at that distance. I know it's not all that impressive, but for me it works. It's almost moot, since most all of my opportunities have been within 50 yards, hunting in woods and bottomlands and such....

Question I wonder every time I watch a deer hunting show... How come I never see these guys/gals use a dog? Not even the outfitters seem to use them... Watched one last night where the guy shot a little high and forward and ended up looking for his deer for 3 days! On the first day he jumped the buck and it ran off. It's commendable to not give up like that, for sure. And he said he committed the cardinal sin of not having his bow with him while looking for the buck. It occurs to me that they're hard enough to hit standing still, but was he saying he'd shoot it running away?!? Didn't make sense to me. Why not trail/track him with the shotgun? I suppose if its bow season he had no choice...

[FLS]

Shooting a deer with a bow is the easy part. Its what happens after the arrow is released that screws people up. Being a good shot is only about 25% of the game. No way to get the rest except through experience. I shit one up earlier this season. Shot a nice 7 at point blank range and hit him a little foreward. Not a great shot but lethal. Shit happens. What I did next was where I screwed up. I saw him go down and thought it was a done deal. Didnt wait. It was hot as hell and I was ready to get down. Jumped him from what should have been his death bed and didnt find him till the next morning. My fault totally. Had I waited till he was quartering away he would have been easy to find. Had I been patient he would have been easy to find.
If you'll wait till theyre quartering away you cant help but skewer his vitals. Shoot a well tuned heavy enough arrow/broadhead combo to punch two holes in a deer. My advice is to get Bowhunting October Whitetails 1 and 2 and watch it over and over. There is more good bowhunting know how in those two videos than all the bullshit that Primos and Realtree have ever put out. Look at how those guys set up and what they shoot. Short shots with big heads on heavy arrows out of old slow bows. Disreguard all the running shots, it was a different time and place.

[Stripa Swipa]

FLS....can you still get those and on DVD? They are hard to come by yes?

[ccleroy]

FLS....can you still get those and on DVD? They are hard to come by yes?

I found them the other day on AT but wasnt quick enough to the classified Ad...........

[FLS]

Theyre still available. Check 3 Rivers. I like seeing a guy happy over an average deer. I think all the Realtree and Primos videos have given the newer generation of bowhunters unreal expectations and made them too equipment oriented.