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.