Bow Kill vs. Gun Kill?

Is there a lower standard set to kill a buck with a bow then there is with a gun? For example, would you pass on a buck with a gun that you would shoot with a bow?

Is this good management practice? pass on a buck with a rifle because he is too young but shoot him with a bow because it's with a bow?

i don't understand this reasoning.

No that makes no sense. You should stick with your management techniques no matter what method of hunting. Totally ignorant choice if you are a trophy hunter. just my .02 cents.

i agree....however i constantly hear......it would be a good bow buck? i don't get it.

yep that concept makes no logical sense.

If i wouldn't pull the trigger on a rifle on it I wouldn't
release an arrow

i hear ya. i'm not sure why some think that it's ok to shoot a smaller buck with a bow?

I guess there are two post about this going...Here was my response on the last one.

My standards for a bow kill are lower than they are for a rifle kill. My standards are also lower for a deer that I have stalked or called in than for one that I will shoot out of a blind.

With any of method, I try to take a mature deer so I don't see where the management practices are effected. The difference for me is what I consider a "Trophy."

The size of the deer is not the only factor that makes it a "trophy" for me. The hunt, the area, the method, the environment and many other factors go into what makes me proud of the deer that I decide to harvest.

That is one of the reasons that I have a 105" eight pointer still mounted on my wall along side my other trophies. He was the first buck I ever killed and I am as proud of him as the others.

I agree with Txshntr..
I have spoken those words but they're not coming from a whitetail management standpoint... I agree that you shouldn't violate your game management to take a deer with a bow... I have rifle hunted for 30 years and bow hunted for about 20. IMO there is no way that one can compare sitting in a box blind and snipe shooting a deer at 250 yards with a rifle to shooting a deer with a bow at 25 yards. Understand, I do still kill my meat with a rifle because I can shoot the animal in the head or neck and not ruin any meat but I "trophy" hunt with my bow. I hunt family property in the hill country where a 140 inch buck is extremely rare. I would not shoot a 140 buck with a rifle because I have killed better in the past when I was able to hunt South Texas in a time long ago when an average person could afford to do so... Anyway, I would definately shoot that deer with a bow because it is still a trophy to me personally (because my best bow buck is 120 inches). IMO a doe, pig, coyote, fox, javelina or any other animal taken with a bow is a trophy simply due to the level of difficulty involved in the entire process. However, I would not classify a doe, pig, coyote, fox, jalelina, or most other animals as a trophy if they were taken with a rifle. I think that a mature buck of any horn size is a good trophy with a bow (once again, management goals considered)... I cannot say the same about the rifle.

It's about age for me and not really size of the antlers. I am looking for mature deer with either a bow or gun.

Some people want to get in the P&Y book and will shoot a deer with a bow that they would pass on with a rifle b/c of that.

Thats it

If everybody was required to strictly bow hunt by law the standards would be lowered for sure. I have shot a buck before with the bow that I actually passed several times that season with the rifle. It's just a whole different ball game.

If I like him , it doesnt matter what weapon I am using

Trophy is all a mind set. If a hunter sets on a 200 acre wheat field with his rifle with specific ammo that he has hand loaded that can drive tacs and sees a nice mature 8 pt. thats 18 inches and good mass he very well could say I believe I'll sit here and waite for a bigger one. A bow hunter hunting the same situation has to pattern the buck find out where he enters the field set up stand and hope he comes into a "respectable" bow range. Maybe all this after seeing him a few times just out of bow range. Finally the buck makes that mistake of coming to a decoy that the bow hunter put out and using a set of rattling horns that came of a old mount his grand father killed he takes the shot just as the buck gets ready to destroy the decoy. Same buck differant hunts which one would be the trophy?

Well said cuthand!!

Yes. I don't know if this is a good management practice or not, but I hunt for fun and also for the meat. A lot also depends on how much meat I have in the freezer. My family all like to eat venison. I've taken a doe with my bow so that has given some smaller bucks a pass. Every hunter hunts for different reasons alot of hunters are trophy hunters and only care about the horns and don't like to eat the meat. These type of hunters won't kill does and also throws the deer herd out of balance. The wild life department sets the harvest limits according to what needs to be done to control the herd size and buck doe ratio. With all that being said I would love to kill a 150 class buck with my bow, but that doe got my heart rate up.

Well said cuthand.......however i don't know anyone who patterns anything! The only patterning they do is check the camera card and see what's coming to their feeder!

That is a great little scenario however......i don't know anyone in texas that hunts like that!

As far as patterning deer, I do that all the time. I go on lots of Public Drawn Archery hunts and that's how I do it. I find the most open area I can find where I can see the most ground. I don't plan on killing anything for at least the first few sits. I just watch and see where the deer seem to be moving and set up accordingly. I have moved as much as 6 times before finally connecting on one.

Nice work! your one of the few.

Nice work! your one of the few.

A trophy is in the eye of the be-holder. I am not too shy to shoot a doe or a nice 10 point. I believe any deer taken should be considered a trophy.

I thought that a trophy was in the eyes of the bow-holder.

That's a great line!!

I shot a trophy this weekend. A doe!!!! She was the spookiest deer I have ever seen in my 44 years of deer hunting. Hunting with my longbow in a 15 ft. ladder stand it took her 25 minutes to cover the last 2o yards before I could ever stick her. She blew iut 4 times to return and actualy nearly belly crawl in. She had her nose on the ground like a hound dog going side to side. She was even looking up in the trees around her. A squirrel nearly made her turn through herself and he was 75 yds away! Never seen anything like it. The property has not been hunted but once all year...... What I'm saying is would have been easy kill with a gun. Strung out my nerves trying to raise my bow,get in position to shoot and aiming low/under the doe because you know at 14 yards she is going to drop the way she was shivering with nerves. Anyway broadhead cut the top of the heart off and I collected the trophy!!!

I agree with Bj and Bowtech. For me, I don't lower standards on maturity for a gun buck versus a bow buck. But, I would shoot a smaller racked deer than I would with a rifle for a couple reasons. For one, my bow hunting places are not near as productive or populated as my rifle hunting places. Also, bow hunting is much more of a challenge, and shooting any animal as weary as a whitetail with a bow is a trophy to me. That said, would I like to kill a large racked buck with either, sure, but its the experience that makes it special for me, not as much the size of the deer!

you must have done a great job of pre-season scouting and observing to close the deal on this particular doe!

or was she coming to the feeder?

I bought my bow two years ago. I made a decision at the time of purchase that the first deer I would take, would be a trophy to me! Last season I had a mature 8+pt come in. I never got an oppurtunity for a "resposible" shot before the deer made off. Now if I would have had my rifle, I would have had several opportunities that I definately would have a BBD. Now I have had several opportunities for doe and small bucks with the bow, but I have not taken the shot, do to my decision when I purchaced the bow. So if anything, I have gone the opposite direction, there are deer I would take with a rifle, that I have passed on with my bow. So it goes both ways!

There is a big difference in passing on a buck and never getting a shot at him.....

She was coming to a feeder! Deer are always spookier around feeders! Guys at work wanted some meat so I needed to thin some does on this place and killed her at the feeder. No scouting at all except were to put the ladder stand so I would not be detected and make the kill at 15 yards.

It is also easier pass on smaller bucks or pass on does if you are in a target rich enviroment, but if you have hunted for a month and haven't even seen a deer because of low herd density, that small buck will look pretty good.
Now if you join a lease and the rules state that you can't kill bucks under a certain size, then you need to follow the lease rules.
Now a hunter new to hunting with a bow will probably miss his first shot anyway.

Im not gonna shoot a small deer because its "with a bow"
that logic is dumb to me. Every deer I ever shot with a gun I would have shot with a bow, vice versa