Archery and Hunting The Fine Art of Bow Hunting

If you have never hunted with a bow then you are missing some of the best hunting around. Yes it's harder and yes it's very time consuming but it's worth every bit of the hassel. Read on and see why.

When I first met my husband he told me that he was a hunter. He enjoys hunting waterfowl, upland birds as well as other game. He had a Labrador retriever and he spent a great deal of time training the dog. As we started seeing more of each other I began learning how to train dogs and found that I have a natural ability of working with animals. We had been dating for several months when he mentioned that he was going to be going deer hunting. I questioned this because deer season was still two months away. He told me that he was into archery hunting and that the season began two months earlier than the gun season. I had heard of archery hunting, but I never knew anyone that was involved with it. I was about to enter into a whole new world of hunting.

The year we were dating I did not see him get ready for hunting. I just knew that we did not spend as much time together on the weekends because he was out hunting. Once we were married I discovered the preparation that goes into bow hunting. First the clothing is completely camouflage. My husband is very insistent that the clothing be laundered with no detergents and it needed to hang out side for several days so there would be no household odors on it. The reason for this is that with archery hunting you need to get very close to the animal being shot at.

Next he practiced shooting arrows into a large target that was shaped like a deer. This was to improve his accuracy at different distances. Also he placed a portable stand in a tree so that he could quietly sit and hope for a deer to walk close enough to be shot. He explained that there is a technique called still hunting in which the hunter is on the ground, but in the early season when there is still many leaves on the trees the tree stand is a preferred method of hunting.

The amount of time, planning and thought that went into archery hunting was amazing to me. I was also surprised at the amount of strength that is needed to pull back the strings on the bow. Through the years I have come to admire archery hunting and the people that do it. It is much more of a sport that using a rifle to shoot a deer. The animal needs to be close and the shot needs to be very precise. My husband has shot several deer as well as two black bears with his bow. It is more work and more time consuming, but it is an activity that he enjoys.