why should I not wanna learn to archery hunt for next year???

[backwoods_boy]

ok well first of all i dont consider myself a long range hunter by any means.
i have been with in 10-15 yards of elk in the deepest thickest crap so thats not the issue.
everyone has their opinions so thanks for the thoughts guys but i have a little while till i have to decide.
so lets not get into a pissing match and end this topic.
 

[rasbo]

good post bucklucky,I miss bow hunting im to broke up to do it anymore,but my archery skills have made rifle and muzzy a blast,I love thick steep close encounters of the fur kind

[BENCHLEG]

bucklucky summed it up perfectly. it can be frustrating and rewarding at the same time good luck J

[New England Native]

Some may have seen some of my post mentioning of me switching to archery luckily I didn't get as much greif but that could be I am not as well known as bwb since he has alot of post about rimrock. I can understand his interests in switching. I support him and hope he does well it is always better to see a hunter improve his skills than just complain. The main reason I want to switch is that modern is just not what I am looking for. I am not saying I am a very successful hunter because I am not. I have never scored an elk after 5 years of hunting them. But I have got all I want to get out of a rifle. Further more if I want to continue risking my life by some wacko trying to lob bullets 800 yds. I would still be serving my country. bwb I say good luck and I hope archery satisfies what you are looking for.

[backwoods_boy]

Thank you so much NEN......
its nice to have some positive feedback.
and i agree with you even after 3 years of rifle hunting i have seen all it has to offer.
you can shoot arrows in your back yard .

[Timberstalker]

Your gonna master Archery?

[backwoods_boy]

thats not what i ment
i ment that i can practice everyday if i choose too...
 

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Hey Backwoods_boy! Guess i better say hello. Just so you know if you take up archery elk hunting you will never go back to rifle with the same enthusiasm that you had before. I have killed a couple bulls with my rifle and that was all good. My first Elk i ever killed was a 290" 6x6. As exhilirating and awe inspiring as that was it didn't compete with my first elk with a bow. And that was a nice fat cow at 40 yards. Once i got a taste for bow hunting for elk something funny happened. The elk just kept dying. I shot and harvested elk 5 years in a row and on the sixth year i called in a really nice bull to 30 yards broadside and promptly bounced a arrow off of his shoulder bone. So number six was tag and release. Although i ended up with six in a row with a rifle spike elk in oregon to keep the string going. At any rate in 16 years of elk hunting i have shot 14 elk and harvested 11. Any body out there that tells you that you need to be able to call elk is full of it. The last thing you should be doing is walking around in the woods blasting on your horn. Case in point. The bull that i bounced the arrow off of his shoulder i knew they were there 45 minutes before i ever touched my call. I walked out of camp and immediatley heard them crashing on the hill below me. For some strange reason that early in the morning there was a warm breeze blowing up the hill right in my face. So i reasoned that i was good to go and i would wait for a shot opportunity to present itself through the mountain vine maple. No such luck. So i waited and waited and waited and waited and waited...................and then i waited some more. The entire time my brain was analyzing the situation and trying to determine the best course of action for that given situation. Because the elk were not calling i decided that i would wait until they called before i called. It took a while. I got so tired of waiting that i decided that i would go up the trail and get ahead of them and let them come to me. Didn't work. By the time i got up to where i thought i could cut down the hill for an intercept they were alredy there. Oh crap now what. Now i could hear the bull raking his antlers but still no calling. Finally after 45 minutes one cow let out a single cow call. Now i knew that i could finally play. I let out a single cow call. The bull fealing that i had gotten to far away let out a nice clean bugle. "get back here wench, i havn't screwed you yet." Of course all you experienced elk hunters out there know what i did next. I hit the horn with one nice high pitched young bull bugle. Holly living crap. That bull couldn't pull himself up that 50 degree slope fast enough. I could see his hooves pulling dirt like a stinking back hoe. Bingo right into my shooting lane at 30 yards broadside. Whacko. Unfortunatley there is not an arrow made on this planet that will break and penetrate an elk shoulder bone when hit dead center. Arrow penetrated 1.5 inches and the tip bent over at a 45 degree angle and popped right out. I guess what i am trying to get at is that each and every hunt is different and will present you with a different scenario. It is what and how you approach those scenarios that will make or break your success. The word practice is never used enough. When you are archery hunting you can't practice enough.LITERALLY. Practice until you are sick and tired of practicing. And then practice some more. I can tell you that alot of the elk that i have killed i have shot through openings in the brush the size of a soft ball. I can also tell you that i have never wounded an elk by taking such a shot. I practice at 100 yards until i am shooting 6 inch groups. then and only then do i move in and check my pins at closer ranges. I am not condoning 100 yard shots. But if you practice that way you don't even have to think about the close shots.

So i guess what i am getting at is go for it Backwoods_boy. If no one else will mentor you on archery elk hunting I will. I have never worried about more people being in the woods archery hunting because the majority of them never kill anything. There are other ways to hunt than what you see on the videos. And like some others have said, and i totally agree, it is a totally different ballgame when you are hunting on an unpressured private ranch or you are in a wilderness 20 miles from all the roads. Anyway thats my . If you want some advice send me a PM i will fill you in.