Hunting drives my spirit. For years I had a fantastic bird dog. So, I shot trap, sporting clays, etc. with the gun at ready to reinforce the movements likely needed in the hunt. When I concentrated on the game for score, I soon lost interest. When my dog was put down, I picked up the bow in ernest. Bowhunting was the plan. I shoot instinctive. Stump shooting, roving, shooting targets at unmarked random distances is now the game. The plan remains the same- a clean kill shot on a deer. We have the same purpose, view archery by similar definition and expectations. If I were good enough to compete in some manner, winning would never begin to mean as much to me.

I say everyone has likes and dislikes. I hunt with my bow but that isn't why I shoot a bow. To me, that isn't hard to understand but is hard to explain to someone who is only hunting oriented.

I don't hunt to eat, but sometimes I eat what I hunt. I shoot a bow for the pleasure of shooting a bow and the camaraderie it creates, and that don't take any special bow at all.

I've been a bowhunter since 1965 but an archer since 1954/55. So there you go. To me it's natural and it's how I like to do things. I try not to worry much about what others do and I would hope others don't care what I do as an archer who hunts with the bow too.

I guess it would be fair to add that if there were no hunting with the bow and arrow, I would still be an archer. Also, there are about 22 million archers in the USA, but only about 11 million bowhunters. So I would question that 'most' are hunting related.

I agree, George. But, becuse hunting is an option, archery golf or shooting target butts indoors would run a very distant 2nd or 3rd :))

Bowhunting is what started me on the quest.

Whitetail hunting and then south Texas for hogs, then Colorado for Elk.

I enjoy shooting a Bow and would likely shoot one if I did not hunt in some sort of 3D or indoor.

I consider myself a bowhunter first but that romantic flight of an arrow would still keep me interested as a archer.

Bow hunt first . Pretty much stick to one bow/arrow for years except like to make osage selfbow occasionally . Will shoot a few 3-d courses a year, as there good practice. Practice good form and followthru and set limits on hunting shots but no limit on practice shots.

I started enjoying archery because I tried it at scout camp and did OK. Got much more into it reading my dad’s copy of Robin Hood, published in probably the ‘20s… about 5-6 times.

What really got me hooked for hunting was Saxton Pope’s book, (which was probably written at about the same time!) when I read that in college.

Nowadays, of course, I spend almost infinitely more time shooting targets than getting out to do any actual hunting, and I’m OK with that. Somehow, there is nothing quite like shooting for satisfaction can you get it right and frustration when things just aren’t quite coming together for you… I’m sure any golfer would agree, even if they don’t quite get the whole hunting thing.

So I absolutely enjoy the shooting for it’s own sake, but I never forget the Legal Intention behind every shot. I guess it’s the aspiration to a clean kill which makes the outcome of every shot important.

"So I absolutely enjoy the shooting for it’s own sake, but I never forget the Legal Intention behind every shot. I guess it’s the aspiration to a clean kill which makes the outcome of every shot important. "

GF, I couldn't have put it any better as far as my personal perspective is concerned. Shooting my bow does more to relax me and provide peace of mind than most other things I do. It really upsets me whenever I am unable to shoot for any length of time. Fortunately that hasn't happened lately.

I am not sure why I hunt, never could pin point it. I can be in all the same places and experiences without actually killing the animals. I have however killed hundreds of big game animals over 50 years with my selfbow and cedars. Nothing romantic about it for me and could take it or leave it.

well said by George, and I agree,,,, I just love to watch an arrow fly,,,,,,,,,,,,

I'm a bowyer/bowhunter... a bow-weilding predator. As I'm hunting for the best tree to cut down, the best stave to split out, the right growth ring to use for the back of the bow, choosing measurements, sharpening my drawknife or scraper, choosing an appropriate color of dye for the bow and/or natural camo backing, selecting a finish that won't reveal me to my prey, quiver design, knife design, or a long, long list of other things... all decisions and efforts, big and small, are done with The Hunt as the main motivation and deciding factors. It guides how I choose and make my gear, how, where, and why I practice shooting, when I use my vacation time, even how I address what others would see as everyday mundane tasks, so much is centered on the hunt.

If I wasn't a bowhunter, and just into another form(s) of archery, I'd do things, and make things, a lot differently. Heck, since the intimate connection with the prey and nature would he absent, maybe I wouldn't be interested in making any of my own gear at all. I don't know that I'd even be an archer at all if it wasn't for hunting with bows.

Yup, shooting those arrows is real addicting, and I'm not planning to stop anytime soon.

I love to shoot. It was guns at first but the expense was high and got worse as time went on. Then I rediscovered archery and realized that I could shoot the same projectile over and over with very little expense. So, my frugalness was a large driving factor. Now I'm in love with it. What a wonderful hobby to have. There are always bows to shoot or trade, strings to be built, arrows to be fletched, and targets to be built. It fills much of my day, almost every day. The history is interesting but I didn't live it, or really even live where it was happening, so that is more of a nighttime read for me.

I started hunting in the 60's when it was work. You had a stick and a string as equipment. You had to go out and learn to find your deer and in Michigan, back then you hunted ground blinds only. They made it way too easy now a days with hunting from the air, using 80 % let off bows unless of course you are using that other contraption, the crossbow. Yup, way too easy.

I went back to primitive about 8 years ago when I learned how to flint knap my stone hunting points, making my own self bows and using ground blinds. I understand that is not for everyone but it sure brings back "fun" in hunting using a real stick and a string.

For me it's just another form of shooting. I like to shoot rifles, shotguns, pellet guns, compounds, recurves, longbows, and self bows. When most kids growing up played sports I was fishing and shooting anything I could get my hands on. I became a very good shot with all of them because I shot a lot. When I started hunting it was a blood bath, I killed a lot of game. As I started to get older the killing became less exciting. I jstarted to fish with a fly rod using my own hand tied flies and kept shooting recurves and longbows. I started to make my arrows and even made a Osage self bow. I've only ever shot in one competition and took second place in the IBO Traditional World shoot with the self bow I made.

So where am I at now, I fish with a bamboo fly rod still using my flies, hunting with a self bow and using stone points. I still hunt with firearms and shoot sporting clays for fun. I like to shoot my compound bow and hunt with it occasionally. I'm having a hard time killing game animals lately because I feel terrible after I kill one. I still hunt but it's more for getting out of the house and getting some exercise..I would like to kill a deer with a self bow and after that wouldn't care if I ever shot another one.

Shooting my bows in the backyard is my main sorce of enjoyment, no pressure and just shooting. Hooking a big brown Trout with my Bamboo fly rod is exciting as it gets.

Will tell, I once spent near an hour trying to hook a brown trout that was refusing everything I sent his way. It would come out of its little eddy and look at the passing fly, ant, etc., and go back in. After using what seemed like a dozen different styles of wet and dry, I gave it one more go with a red ant and he took it. Got him in the net, took the ant from it's mouth and returned it to the creek. It wasn't a monster...about 14" total but it's one of the best memories I have with that old South Bend fly rod.

"'So I absolutely enjoy the shooting for it’s own sake, but I never forget the Legal Intention behind every shot. I guess it’s the aspiration to a clean kill which makes the outcome of every shot important. '

"GF, I couldn't have put it any better as far as my personal perspective is concerned. "

Sure you could've - you probably would've checked your spelling and written LETHAL, rather than Legal... LOL

I've been shooting bows since about 1956 and hunting with self bows of my own creation since 1992 or so. I also shoot 3d in the spring and summer. Jawge

I’m going to be 50 next month and I’ve been shooting a bow since I can remember, my dad started me out young hunting and fishing. I’m still hunting and shooting with him, I’m very fortunate and blessed I still get to hunt with him and talk hunting and deer movement with him everyday. We are also blessed we get to hunt on our own property where we live. He’s retired now so he see’s most of the deer on the place and even gets pictures he’s better than a trail cam. But I would say still getting to hunt with my best hunting buddy is my real connection to archery.

For me, I started in archery in 1955 as an 11-year-old after seeing a Robin Hood movie. My parents gave me a 30# Ben Pearson longbow. I didn't buy a hunting bow until 1967. Although I hunted the 60s and 70s I was still shooting field archery tournaments and indoor archery. I still shoot 3-D, indoor and field archery and hunt but consider myself an archer first and foremost.

I started shooting around 1974 at 11 years old. My buddy and I would take our bows out once in a while and just stump shoot. It was OK fun, but we really had no skill or form. One day we discovered the carp were spawning, and after that, you couldn't keep us out of the lake with our bows. That's when I really caught the fever for archery and it became an adventure.

There is a meditative aspect to just shooting a bow, but I believe there is also a primal connection to our ancestor's use of the bow for hunting that is imbedded in in our genes.

These days, killing stuff is much less important to me (though I am way over-do), but I haven't much interest in just hiking or camping without a purpose. Too much time in the infantry I guess. - John

Both my parents were archers, both shot target and bowhunted, I've never known anything different. Ive had both a hunting bows and target bows since I was 11 and used them interchangeably. I'm another that discovered the joy of shooting spawning carp in the marshes and while it may be the most inelegant, low skill form of bowhunting, it is an absolute riot and when youre done for the day, youve got fish to smoke, give away, fertilize the garden , etc. It is weird how many of those who enjoy the zen of archery also enjoy sneaking around with a #5 fly rod and trying to fool a fish that they will, like as not, release right back to the shadowy pool it was hiding in. " Fistmele" is about as applicable to traditional archery as it is to the native brook trout of Southern Appalachia.

I shoot archery because I hunt with the bow.

I am a hunter & fisherman its not something I do it's who I am other than work & a little lovin every once in a while it's all I think about it consumes me I did go bow exclusive for 14-15 years but now I do gun hunt mostly for herd control but bow hunting is my passion

From the Mid-West. My parents grew up in the country and the depression. Hunting, fishing, etc. is what they did and what we did. We did it to put food on the table. It saved us money. If it moved I killed it at one time or another. Mainly with a firearm. I no longer hunt, have no need to or any desire to.

But I still enjoy the focus of Archery.

Got mine from Vietnam. Came home in my dirty clothes. Has 1950 stamped for date. I left it as is. Did make a new sheath.

I am a Bowhunter, I would not shoot my bow if I could not hunt. I would not go hit golf balls at the driving range If I did not golf. Btw, I don't golf.

I am a bowhunter too. I do not enjoy paper shooting except to exercise my body for hunting shots. No target archery for me, would rather do many other things in life.

The drive for me is the same as many others. The ability to make a clean kill. Everything else for me is the whipped cream on top of the pie!

I am a hunter, but in order to be proficient with my bow to harvest game I must shoot my bow on a daily basis. Sooo, I shoot targets, 3D to keep me fit. And I must say that I love watching the flight of an arrow.

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