Sold the bow.

Kittery Trading Post is also another good place worth a look. Especially the GUNS !!!!!!!!!!

Resistance is futile....assimilate.

It's horrible I feel so stinking dirty!

You got a damn good deal on a fine bow!

dont want the navy boys running around with rifles, heh?

It's actually a municiple law. We are about 5000 acres but surrounded on 3 sides by town.

The whole area is bow only.

The base get's to whack unlimited does and two bucks. Kind of hard to knock a local hunting area when the closest rifle hunting is 25 miles away. That and I have 100% access without any tresspass fee or drama.

Navy is 100% surrouned by 10 foot high chainlink, so they need some kind of control measure.

Well, I'll trade archery lessons for hunting access.

Ann,

We can do that it will only cost you 4 years of Naval service and a probability of Iraq deployment.

I already have an Honorable Discharge....

Welcome to the stick and string society.

I bet you come to like it.

Unlimited does and two bucks . . . so much for Navy's plans during season.

Stick em good and they will go down QUICK.

Oh one bit of advice keep the pointed and sharp away from you and the bowstring!!

D99,
I have read way too many of your bowhunting slams to not get some good mileage out of this.
This is all in good fun and jest.

quote:

Bastards now I am stinking bowhunter!

Just because you own a bow it does not make you a bowhunter. It just makes you someone who hunts with archery equipment. The bowhunter will come.

quote:

It's horrible I feel so stinking dirty!

It's because you are using training wheels. Someday you may be able to give those up.

Remember this is all in good fun.
Welcome, and go out and have the time of your life.

It's only for this season, I am moving to Florida in 2009. I can hunt Eglin Air Force Base with a rifle!

The only way it won't be just for this season is if I end up going to Maryland in 2011.

Your right hunting with a bow makes me a homo not a bowhunter!

Similar to having sex with a fatty!

quote:

Originally posted by KSTEPHENS:
dont want the navy boys running around with rifles, heh?

Sorry D99, that's just funny... What can I say, I'm former Air Force and hear the same thing...

Ken....

Actually I'm sorry you are in this situation.

You are being "forced" into bowhunting, and you really don't want to. You have to want to bowhunt to enjoy it. I have NO illusions you will suddenly have a change of heart and announce to everyone here, "I now love Bowhunting!"

Ain't going to happen.

I don't feel like I have to or I am being forced to. I don't have any genuine intrest in hunting with a bow. The base is too good of a deal to let go, if you were a bow only hunter and were offered your own personal hunting preserve for free but you had to hunt with a rifle what would you do?

I hunted with a bow when I was a kid, and technology has changed quite a bit. I used to shoot 4-H in high school with my Bear Kodiak recurve.

I have serious doubts that I will continue hunting with a bow after I leave here.

The lack of an ability to have dead right there kills with a bow every time bothers me. I am a Elmer Kieth type rifle hunter and I am always looking for a bigger hammer. My preferred shot is the bottom of the spin top of heart. Using a large caliber bullet moving fast. This shot does both cardiac and central nervous system damage. This shot isn't possible with a bow as a high percentage shot.

With a bow in yer hand you're gonna have to learn to hunt up close and personal. It's going to improve your rifle hunting more than you can believe.

the chef

Hang on to that bow,FLorida has quite a
lengthy bow season,if you can stand the
Mosquitoes.

D99,
I hunt with archery, muzzleloader, and rifles. Even used a pistol once.

I just plain enjoy hunting, the tools I use change, but not my mindset as a hunter.

Hunt hard, have fun, and make sure I have done my job as a hunter before I fire a shot or loose an arrow.

Maybe this is the way to put it into perspective. Go out and enjoy the hunt and the challenge. Regardless of the weapon you are using and be happy that you are hunting.

I am pretty deep into bowhunting, I have been enjoying it since 1985. Went traditional in 1994, dabble with primitive equipment, and just yesterday started on another osage selfbow.

Once turkey season rolls around, I will carry my archery equipment, 3 1/2 inch Benelli, and maybe even a rifle. My mindset does not change. Go out and have fun. Play in the woods and maybe even kill a turkey for the roaster.

Hard pressed to pick one, I would definitely go archery, but I would miss firearms.

Now, if I ever go to Africa I will only be taking firearms. I don't know why, but it has to do with my visions of hunting Africa. Something about sitting a pre-planned waterhole, which many African bowhunts are, just doesn't appeal to me.

But that is the beauty, I can choose to hunt any way I want.

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
With a bow in yer hand you're gonna have to learn to hunt up close and personal. It's going to improve your rifle hunting more than you can believe.

the chef

I have stalked within 20 yards of a rutting roe buck and within 10 yards of a whole herd of elk in the timber.

Standing in a treestand for 3 months with a bow in my hand isn't going to make me a better hunter.

I have hunted on 4 continents, and tracked all kinds of game in all kinds of habitats.

I hear a lot of people talking about how bowhunting made them a better hunter. My father guided a lot of guys in Wyoming and Montana that were from back east and had hunted primiarily with a bow. They were loud and couldn't spot game.

I will get something from bowhunting, as any time in the field you learn something. It has nothing to do with having a bow in your hand. I really wish that this myth would go away. I have never met a bow hunter that was any better a tracker, game spotter, or stalker than a lot of the rifle hunters I know.

Time in the wild is what get's you woodscraft not what you carry or what season you hunt.

Having a bow in your hand doesn't make you a better hunter period. You're 100 right about that. You don't score with a bow unless you're a good hunter though. It's one thing to get within 10 yards of an animal, it's another to get the shot off with a bow.

You can sit in a treestand all you want, if you don't situate it correctly it won't work, and I'm not talking about beside a feeder.

I think you'll have lots of fun. Let us know when you get one.

quote:

Standing in a treestand for 3 months with a bow in my hand isn't going to make me a better hunter.

I agree 100% with that statement. But placing that treestand in the correct place is going to make you a better cerebral hunter. I haven't shot a critter out of, or even sat in a treestand for probably close to 5 years. I haven't had any trouble filling the freezer. That may change this year, but once again it is great to have that choice.

That is why I made the statement above about Africa. There is no way you can convince me that some nimrod bowhunter is a being a better hunter when parked at a waterhole, than say someone who is out there and stalking with the trackers and PH.

I have quite a few bowhunting acquaintances that have gone to Africa on stalking type hunts. They have all been truly humbled by the species over there. Waterhole hunting is THE best way to be a successful bowhunter in Africa.

Stand hunting, be it tree, waterhole, etc is just another method in a hunter's bag of tricks.

Do what you like, like what you do, but most importantly have fun.

I think this is absolute BS that this post was moved!

It was rather anti-bowhunting not for it!

Like it or not, you are one of us now.

Like I said at the beginning of this thread.
I have to get some good mileage out you buying a bow.

All in good fun of course.

Well, its clearly far more relevant to Bow-hunting than to Big Game Hunting.

I was cleaning house and had to be consistent. Didn't want someone whining about why their thread was moved and this one wasn't.

Besides, pretty decent group of guys/gals here...maybe you'll like it here...despite your earlier posts here.

Just to stir the pot a bit.

You say you stalked to within 20 yards of a deer once that's pretty good. Was it broadside? If not you wouldn't have a shot. you'll have to do it more than once I believe before you "score"

Maybe we can give ya some pointers so you know the tricks for short yardage hunting. I know I'm always eager to learn from other hunters.


tip #1 (a freebie) don't set up your stand too close to where you expect the deer. Stay 20 yards away or so. I always seem to get too close and can't get the shot off....although I could have poked a decent buck in the nose this fall.

the chef

Not that I agree, but my hunting partner would tell you in no uncertain terms:
It's bow HUNTING and it's rifle Shooting.

More like bow sitting and rifle stalking!

quote:

More like bow sitting and rifle stalking!

D99,
It's up to the individual hunter.

I have seen slob rifle hunters and slob bowhunters, um, I mean people hunting with archery equipment.

Hunting is in someones heart, no matter the equipment used.

You have a pretty passionate view on hunting. I think you will do just fine hunting with a bow, as long as you don't get too hung up on success.

quote:

More like bow sitting

I've hunted with a bow since 1997, and I sat in a tree stand for my very first time this last December. About 2.5 hours at -16 deg C. Otherwise, its always been spot and stalk, or calling in elk, or still hunting.

It is what you make it.

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
More like bow sitting and rifle stalking!

With talk like that, I think you wasted your money on a bow.

One arrow thru the lungs at 10 yards and you will be hooked.

D99, My nephew ran into the same issue when he was stationed at his last post.No gun hunting on base. He is a Marine Air corp pilot, right now flying over Bagdad so his time off and in the field is very important to him. I gave him one of my bows and all the necessary equipement and he harvested a nice buck with it this fall. He was needless to say on top of the world. He has not given up gun hunting but does see the extra challenge of bow hunting and has accepted it as such. I hope you accept it as well and enjoy your time in the field, that is what is the most important to me, not the kill. drwes