Should you get into bowhunting? Yes, you should!
Written by: LP Brezny
Like most everyone I know of in the big game hunting world, are you confused about the merit of bowhunting? Let us look into this and find out what we are missing. Hint, we are missing lots of great stuff.
Types of bows for hunting
There are three types of bows in the bowhunting world: Recurve, Compound, and Crossbow.
The Recurve Bow
The Recurve Bow is still used by some looking for the traditional hunting style; the primitive hunters, I do believe, is the term used. If you are not aware of a recurve style bow (please forgive me), think of a Robin Hood movie, which is pretty much what they use.
The Compound Bow
The Compound Bow uses the camming components of the “wheels” on the bow to generate the energy that releases the arrow. Compound bows are the most advanced archery equipment on the hunting scene. The hunters who use archery are dedicated experts in the design and in-depth knowledge of compound bows, and they are real artists when they master their hunting style.
The MODERN Crossbow
Then, we get to Crossbows, here we have a bleed over (no pun intended) of the shoulder-fired long gun and the archery world, and this area is fascinating.
The crossbow popularity has gained a lot of following after the TV show The Walking Dead has one of the lead characters sporting around with one. The sporting goods stores that sell rifles and the like now have quite a stash of crossbows.
When looking into the crossbow hunting, it seems the Hog Hunter crowd is heavy into this style of bow. The power they can generate is immense, and the learning and accuracy curve is more comfortable to accomplish.
Accuracy in Archery
One of the most important skills developed with bow hunting is breath control. When you can have direct and immediate feedback on the projectile’s effects when the chest rises and falls, the breathing rhythm affects the entire body. Bowhunting is the top dog for developing precision shooting breath control, and virtually your whole body moving control.
Accuracy with the crossbow is even more useful with an optic added and here is the list of best crossbow scopes for hunting, and to my knowledge, there is no way to add optics, like a scope, to compound bows, or recurve bows.
I am sure the magnified optics for the crossbow places wild hogs in a bad situation, and I have seen compound bows equipped with laser sights.
I have seen a documentary where a blind hunter used a laser sight – yes, that is what I said, had a spotter talk the hunter to the target, and then instructed the release, and a blind hunter was able to take his big game target, well done!
Wood Skills
As most hunters have to admit, the stalking skills of a bow hunter are some of the best. If that bow hunter is unsuccessful every year, they are not part of the most extraordinary stalk hunter group.
The stalking and Bushcraft that must be studied and practiced all year long, locate game trails, understand movements of the game, and even use trail cameras to gain knowledge on your prey is possibly the most significant part of bowhunting.
After studying scent, scent markings, and how to keep your clothes and gear smelling like dirt and not like humans, your hunting skill, in general, will increase by leaps and bounds.
Learning to read the weather and watching the news for the weather reports will become a new and eye-opening education, and many training courses online to help you in this manner.
Camouflage Experts
Quickly covered here, the bow hunters rapidly learn about camouflage. It is not just a pattern on clothing; it is the entire ordeal of camouflaging your presence. The best way to practice until you have it right is to try and trick a deer into walking past you on a game trail, and not give yourself away, either with movement, noise, or scent, and you are not even hunting, just getting good and not being noticed.
Summary
As you can see from this brief look into the world of bowhunting, many things more significant and more profound than archery are involved, and creating a world-class hunter is what is made in the end.
These skills will project into the everyday world in places you do not think they will apply, and you will have that inner knowledge that you alone developed that skill set, with many hours and days of practice, and then there are the archery skills that go with it, how can you beat that?
And in the late part of the Covid19 era, arrows are still available, and most other ammo sources have dried up, so there is that to think about.
Good hunting!
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