Hunting with bows for hobby -not survival

a reply to: hunterTheory

How high is their shot/kill ratio? How many arrows does it take on average? Do you know or can you ask?

I bowhunt. I live for it. I now shoot a Halon 6 coming from a Carbon element. I bowhunt to fill my freezer though. My family loves deer meat and I process everything myself. It's not much of a hobby as something I need to get away from the hustle and bustle of work. Despite bow season starting at the end of September, I never start until after the first frost. Once you start hunting with a bow, it's tough to pick up a rifle. There's something about taking your hang on and climbing sticks out and getting within 30 yards of a good deer in the hardwoods. It's just different than dropping a deer at 500 yards across a bean field with a Tikka 300 wsm topped with a Vortex viper pst.

a reply to: Oleandra88
Oh, I know rural schools are different, and so is the culture in general.

My school had programs like 4H, where kids, for example, raised a calf, or piglet until it was time to butcher it. It may sound cruel, but it is not. It is reality. It instilled responsibility, and the mental toughness to deal with the ultimate end. It instilled respect for the animal, while making one aware of the reality.

Back to your question about bow hunting. Most hunters (at least among country ppl) see it as infinately more challenging, as almost any country boy, and many girls, cam go out with a rifle and easily kill any deer they find standing still within a few hundred yards. Bow hunting requres complete silence and little movement, or no deer will come close enough for a shot, not to mention countless hours of practice to actually hit the target.

I guess my point is it is about the challenge, and the peacefullness of nature.

I don't hunt any more, but bow season was always my favorite, and it was as much about the solitude, and being "one with nature" (sounds corny?), as it was the actual kill.

a reply to: Anathros
I get that it is a natural experience, we did that for thousands of years, it is a instinct.

What would you personally say is more efficient in killing? The bow or the rifle? Both being fired from someone skilled of course. Does the sound from the string notify them shortly before the arrow impacts and would it make them move a bit?

Does your experience compensate that already up front? Honest questions, no judgement.

originally posted by: Oleandra88
a reply to: hunterTheory

How high is their shot/kill ratio? How many arrows does it take on average? Do you know or can you ask?

You only get one shot. If you miss, it's gone.

If you wound it, you track it til you find it, or it stops bleeding. If you aren't willing to do that, don't shoot it, IMO.

Obviously you may hit one you never find, but if it stops bleeding, it has a decent chance of surviving, unless it is crippled, in which case wolves or some other carnivore will finish it.

I'm not trying to be morbid at all. I'm just telling you what happens in the natural world.

a reply to: Mach2

I do not find this cruel to show the kids. I am not going that far to say it should be mandatory. I see this as the parents job, they can also decide when the kid is ready for such an experience or not. Not saying that the school program is a bad idea but it being in existence is a dead giveaway, this is not done.

It totally does not sound corny what you wrote.

a reply to: Mach2

Obviously -- it will be alerted but my question was, I should have worded it better: How long does the struggle go and how often is it necessary to finish the prey manually?

This topic is very morbid to some people, I do not doubt it.

originally posted by: Oleandra88
a reply to: CraftyArrow
Sorry, I strongly disagree!

Someone needing that fish or deer to survive the next two days

versus

Someone driving 200km in their Range Rover 4WD to a forest to kill something for fun and trophy...

IS NOT THE SAME. I used all caps to make it more clear.

You can scream all you like, or use caps... it's not going to change a thing lol....

The only difference is one guy is hungry and the other isn't.... doesn't matter how they kill or hunt them, it's all instinctively the same.

Humans have an instinct to hunt, it's natural...and it's a fact. When your kids play hide-n-seek, they are hunting because it's a biologically instinct that's been ingrained in them for millions of years.

originally posted by: TheGreatWork
Ha this will be hugely unpopular.. I have hunted in the past, so ill get that out of the way so people don't think I know nothing about taking animal life. Okay... We are here to overcome base lower animalistic desires. Stalking and killing for the thrill is just that. If you are really HONEST with yourselves.

I kill to eat because I don't need someone doing it for me and because I completely distrust the quality of meat raised for slaughter.

As far as being here to "overcome our base desires", I got quite a giggle over that.

We live in a consumer society... the primary purpose of that is to fulfill base desires.

And if you seriously think we as a people have "evolved" past that, turn off the lights in America and see where we are at in a week.

I'm quite comfortable being what you would consider primitive, TYVM.

a reply to: CraftyArrow
Reading comprehension / assumptions

a reply to: Oleandra88

pointlessness, meaninglessness / pure idiocy

originally posted by: Oleandra88
a reply to: Mach2

Obviously -

- it will be alerted but my question was, I should have worded it better: How long does the struggle go and how often is it necessary to finish the prey manually?


This topic is very morbid to some people, I do not doubt it.

Rarely do you finish it off manually. If you approach while it is still able to run, it will.

Generally, if you have made a good shot on the vital organs, is will run a short distance, lay down, and bleed out within 20 minutes or less. If you hit the heart, it is almost immediate.

If you are unlucky, or a bad shot, and hit it in the rear flank area, you may be tracking for hours.


A "broadhead" arrow is like 4 razors, and do a lot of internal damage, therefore they blled out very quickly when hit behind the front shoulder, where its lungs, heart, etc are located.

My father was a professional archer..having said that, he had no use for bow hunters, and as a hobby..I'm sure less so. I tend to share his opinion.

He hunted, but with a rifle, easier to get a clean kill that causes the least amount of suffering.

a reply to: Oleandra88

On the contrary. The animal is generally raised at home with the parents oversight.

Remember, even in small towns in rural areas people have acres of land, barns and such. If not, they surely have relatives that do, and usually there are actual farms.

It isn't done without parents being involved. Litterally nothing is done in small town rural areas without the parents involvement to some extent. That is my experience anyway.

originally posted by: Oleandra88
a reply to: Lumenari
Yes I thought that by defining my reasoning I may have restricted it a bit much.

I just wanted to make clear I am coming from a moral standpoint (not cause unnecessary suffering because we can avoid it). I agree it is a skill that is useful if you need it. I totally get it.

How high is the takeout rate with a bow, once you released the arrow? I guess you are using a compound or similar high strength bow.

Will they be able to get some distance to you before they break down or is it "lights out" most of the time instantly?

I've made my own bows since I was a teenager. Juniper, cedar or ash, since you are going to ask.

I've never hunted with a bow that had modern technology involved.

I've played around with some of the family's cool bow stuff with targets and hay bales, but if I wanted to use modern technology for hunting I have a perfectly good .308 for the occasion.

I knap, I fletch.

Shafts I have tried and liked are wild plum, willow and chokecherry.

Usual range for me is 40 feet or less.

I prefer 20 feet.

I haven't had a bad experience with taking something down in a long time.

TBH, I think I'm a bad example of what you wanted to talk about...

I'm not your "typical" bowhunter.

The OP wants to be a mind reader, and judge whether it is proper for a given hunter to hunt, based on whether they have a proper attitude.

That's the whole problem.

If you cannot see in the heart, you have no right to judge other than imposing your will on other people.

Do you deny people of Native American ancestry the right to hunt the way their fathers did?

What if I'm not native? Do you deny me because I'm the wrong race? on your great scale of social credits?

The law cannot measure anyone's attitude. It has to settle for outside measures. Age, hunter safety classes, etc.



I hunt with traditional homemade (by me) bows. I often use aluminum arrows because they are cheap, but hunt with handmade because they are quieter.

There is no other rush on earth like creeping to within 25 yards of a whitetail deer, the ghost of the woods. I don't use camouflage, I don't use pulleys and cables, I don't use scopes.

I use a hatchet, a spokeshave, and a piece of sandstone to shape the bow. I use Dacron to twist my own strings, because I cannot make enough natural strings to last the intense daily practice that I put myself through. I make arrowheads out of old silverware, the spoons. Silver is excellent for being easy to work and deadlysharp.

I hunt squirrels and rabbits for practice. And eat them too. Rabbits are the best practice of all for deer hunting. They veer the same way a deer does. If you outlaw it, I will still hunt rabbits with a bow. you'll never know.

It's how I get clean meat.

I have my game warden on speed dial. He knows me on a first-name basis. He doesn't have a problem with me hunting; why should you.

Have you ever hunted? With a bow? But you are so sure you are in a position to judge me, when you don't know anything about me or my food. Armchair experts.

You'll never know.

a reply to: Graysen

I think that the OP was referring to the typical American bowhunter.

You and I are not that... at all.

The modern hunter is not going to get that close to a deer or elk in the first place.

Do you sinew back your bows?

a reply to: Lumenari

I've never done any kind of backing or laminate, other that just using a laminate glass recurve.

white ash, the stave cut from a billet about 8" in diameter. Usually 40-50 lb at my 27 inch draw.

My reason for not using sinew has been my concern for humidity and rain during hunting; I don't know if that's a valid concern or not, just figured it was. I fletch and mount arrowheads with sinew; but figure that backing would impinge on performance in the wet. Which is a shame because the worse the weather the better the hunting, in my book.

I've never even shot a compound bow.

First, they are far to LOUD. The cables or the pulleys creek. And even though guys can get 50 or maybe 75 yards with one, You cannot use one in the field. Dragging a compound bow with those cables through tall grass on a stalk, must be like dragging a harp through a field.

And hunting from trees! My wife doesn't believe in evolution, but she tells me I must've been evolved from ground apes not tree apes. Plus she sees the number of hunters in the ER from falling out of trees, or shooting themselves pulling a rifle up a tree with a rope. I see those hunters freak out when their bow rubs a branch with its scope while being hoisted up to a roost.

I don't carry a chair into the field. I carry a pair of lobbers and will just cut a few bushes to clear my field of fire. and to hide behind for an hour.

originally posted by: Graysen
a reply to: Lumenari

I've never done any kind of backing or laminate, other that just using a laminate glass recurve.

white ash, the stave cut from a billet about 8" in diameter. Usually 40-50 lb at my 27 inch draw.

My reason for not using sinew has been my concern for humidity and rain during hunting; I don't know if that's a valid concern or not, just figured it was. I fletch and mount arrowheads with sinew; but figure that backing would impinge on performance in the wet. Which is a shame because the worse the weather the better the hunting, in my book.

Didn't know where you lived and a sinew backing just doesn't work in a higher humidity environment. Wet weather can be worked around though.

We call the work-around bear grease...

I've played with both and my goto is just a plain green ash, which is kinda hard to find here but is worth it.

Cedar is all over the place here, but it ends up a little brittle.

So interesting to talk to someone who does their own bows... it was a dying art that seems to be coming back.