Bow During Gun Season?

[chucker34]

How many use your bow during gun or muzzleloader seasons? I did last year and bagged a doe opening morning of gun season.

Some people may think I'm crazy but I hunt in slug gun country, hang my stand in thick woods/cover, and near cabins and houses. So I wouldn't be taking many shots over 30-40 yards and I certainly wouldn't be taking any running shots. Usually, just one careful and calculated shot that would do the trick.

[harvey lee]

Half our group bow hunts and the other rifle hunts after opening weekend in North Dakota as the buck tags are hard to get for non-res. hunters.The bow hunters always seem to do just fine.Its just that they dont have the chance at long range shots and have to hunt the thicker cover and not the open fields or meadows.

[st.crioxfishin]

I bow hunt during a gun season in SE MN. But then two weeks later is when we have our official gun season in SE MN as well. So I kind of do both I guess.

I like bow hunting during a gun season because there seems to be a lot of deer activity going on with people out walking aroung in the woods. Last year I got my buck while bow hunting during a gun season.

[Scoot]

HL, e-mail me please. scootsfishing at yahoo dut commmmmm.

[Deitz Dittrich]

weird stat.. but just an FYI, its illegal to bow hunt during the gun season in Wisconsin. The bow season is closed from the wed before gun season till the wed after gun season... I think.

[chucker34]

Deitz, I've heard this. Would be interesting to determine the reasoning. One I've thought of is say you are hunting public land and you arrow a deer that might go down a hundred or few hundred yards away and a gun hunter shoots it before it reaches that point. I could see it leading to all sorts of disputes in that case.

[David Frank]

Could also be a safety issue, or that they don't want people shooting deer with their rifle and slapping their archery tag on it.

I'm not sure of their reasoning, but these are a couple possibilities.

[KidWalleye]

Is it legal to bow hunt during gun season in MN? If it is do you have to wear blaze or still all camo? Thanks Kid

[Shwangman]

Its legal, not sure but I plan on having my top half orange for safety!!!

[harvey lee]

You have to wear orange if you are bow hunting during rifle.Same clothes rules apply.

[Deitz Dittrich]

yeppers.. mr Lee is correct, as a bow hunter during rifle season.. all orange rules apply..

[eagle_3464]

I have a permit to hunt a park where only bow hunting is allowed. I'm sure the regulations here allow full camo since it is bow hunt only. I'm going to double check as I plan on being there Saturday hoping lots of deer are driven in from surrounding areas.

[chucker34]

I was very liberal with my orange clothing last year bowhunting during gun season not only because it was the law, but also because you can never be too careful at this time of the year. I even wear an orange vest and cap while taking a walk during muzzleloader season because I know hunters might be somewhere in the adjoining woods to our property.

And last year, even though I was hunting on private property, I clearly marked the blind I bowhunted out of with long strips of orange duck tape so other hunters could see it from adjoining properties. Didn't seem to bug the deer a bit. They're usually more occupied with trying to evade the last hunter they saw during gun season then spotting a few strips of orange tape that weren't there a few days ago.

One more thing. A lesson I learned while bowhunting during last gun season is to draw and be prepared to release the second you see a deer headed into range. Usually, they'll be running or trotting but they will stop for a few seconds every now and then. It's a good bet at least one or two will stop for that short amount of time in bow range. If you're already drawn and aimed, it will be cake to release the arrow in those few seconds. Otherwise, good luck trying to draw and be ready for the shot in that time frame.