I've tried hunting with a rifle once gun season opened but just didn't feel right. Not that there is anything wrong with hunting with a gun, it just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I've had the chance to come to full draw on two bucks this year and there is nothing like it. To get a deer within bow range is an accomplishment in itself. I've been fortunate enough for it to happen this year several times. Last year, I hunted shooting houses, this year, I'm out I'm out in the elements 15 to 20 ft up a tree. I do think I'm hooked for life.

I went 8 straight seasons and never carried my rifle. Over the last few seasons I've started carrying the rifle from mid December through the end of the season. Started a little sooner this year because of my neck. I love to bow hunt and always will, but I don't mind shooting one with a rifle nowadays, especially when I need to get several more in the freezer. Bow kills will always mean more to me though.

Bow is more fun, but I hate watching big ones walk away.

Bow only! I stated why I felt that way last week in another thread and was chastised by a few on here but who cares. I personally feel like anybody from age 4 to 100 can kill one with a rifle. It takes much harder work and a lot of luck to kill one with a bow. More of a challenge and more rewarding. I also feel that bowhunting is a year round effort. ANYBODY can sit on a plot with a rifle and shoot one inside 200 yards. I've seen legally blind people, and kids who can't even hardly wipe their own butt do that.

I was bow-only for about 10 years until my son started going hunting with me. I never considered myself an archery snob like some folks. I never really understood that type of thinking for folks using modern archery gear. Bow hunting is now something I just squeeze in when I get a chance.

I hunt public land. Too many hunters, too many rules to hunt with a gun for my taste. Although guns are more effective, that's not what I worry about.

I'm basically bow only. I will carry a gun a few times a year, but I haven't pulled the trigger on a deer in several years now.

Its hard to explain why I prefer a bow, besides every kill is that much more of an accomplishment, and I get a big thrill every time I get a deer in bow range whether I shot or not.

Some of my favorite things are: the thwack of a good hit, a great blood trail, hearing one crash, and having to hunt close enough to see them blink and them not know you're there.

I've hunted primitive only the last 3 years deer,turkey and hogs. I just enjoy the nostalgia of hunting with a primitive bow from harvesting staves and curing them to make a bow or cutting river cane for arrows. Plus knapping points its a year round process I have no problem with anyone hunting with anything were all sportsman. I urge everyone to at least give it a try like my buddy Thad says if you make your own bow make your arrows and knap your own points that first walk in the woods with a weapon you crafted will feel like you stepped back in time. It's a awesome feeling. Plus with any animal taken I see it as a gift I hunt for meat and the enjoyment. But whatever you decide to hunt with I wish everyone luck and a great season!

I am basically a bow man. Love the challenge of it. Not to say if I had a big old soybean field to sit on I wouldn't take a gun but would most likely just spot so I could set up with my bow or put my wife on him.

Better opportunity for success. I still get a thrill out of shooting does with my bow and there are far more opportunities for them than for the "trophy" or "mature bucks" I would be hunting had I stayed with a rifle. And when I kill the occasional good buck with my bow there is no comparison.

I'm bow only because I am more about the hunt than a kill. I do manage to kill a few every year with my longbow and recurve but if I don't it's no big deal. Just being in the woods and helping my 15 yr old son drag his out is what I enjoy now days.

This is my first year with a bow. I usually have a freezer full of meat and some good stories. I have seen more deer this year and haven't been able to put one down. I have however gained more skill in the field and a deeper understanding of the hunt itself than I have with 15+ years with a rifle. That alone is what sets it apart for me...though I wouldn't mind drawing on something tomorrow morning when I go out.

If I can ever get my first bow kill I would probably be now only.

I'm usually bow only, b/c I like to hunt the public land that is "Bow Only". Once rifle season comes in the pressure on that land is tremendously decreased, I'll take bow hunting and seeing a bunch of deer over shooting a deer at 100 yd with a rifle any day. MUCH MUCH more satisfying, but don't get me wrong once or twice a year I love to go blast one,

Bow hunting is WAY more satisfying. The reason is because I feel a sense of accomplishment when bow hunting. There's nothing wrong with rifle hunting at all and I have enjoyed that as well. Yesterday, my neighbor told me about their hunting trip this past week and how nice the shooting house was because it had a recliner. That is not a joke and I asked them if they were joking and to my surprise they were not. I was laughing inside and trying not to let it out.

To me baiting a deer legally i.e. a food plot, using a shooting house with a recliner, riding a vehicle all the way up to the shooting house, then shooting a deer from 200 yards away is not hunting in any way, shape, or form.

Bow hunting is a struggle, a process, and an experience. You have to learn from your mistakes, practice, invest time in scouting, be patient, take advantage of limited opportunities, learn the habitat and deer movements, etc.

Again, nothing wrong with rifle hunting. However, someone who shows me a nice buck or several does they've killed bow hunting public land has my ultimate respect. They are a real hunters in my eyes.

I could have killed 4 nice bucks and many does using a rifle instead of a bow so far this season but none of it would have been very satisfying.

Being feet away from a nice buck or family of does and trying to stand up and draw a bow while your heart is pounding through your chest and hope they don't hear you trying not to breathe is bow hunting.

I'm bow only, just enjoy it more. That and I hunt public land so I'm more comfortable knowing the other hunters in the woods with me have a limited range. It's exciting and frustrating but that's what I enjoy.

I don't have any problems with rifle hunter, there's been a few times this season
I wish I'd had one, I'd have two more deer in my almost empty freezer but that's
part of it, still have a few weeks to fill the freezer.