how many days a year do you bowhunt?

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

I often have wondered how many days a field us non "professional" bowhunters hunt and how many states? I typically hunt around 50-60 days a year.... whether that is hunting for myself or taking a friend hunting. I have been lucky enough most years to hunt 3 -6 states.... luckily I have never had to pay for a place to stay  only the flight or gas to drive there and the tags, alot of it thankfully has been landowner tags which dont cost me out of state fees!! aside from the hunting license which isnt much. I also try to hunt oregon every year as 250 bucks is not to much and its more meat in the freezer and a fun change of pace. I would love to hunt more but as of now on a trainer/ fishing guide /teacher salary thats about it. so what about you guys? how many days with a bow in the woods a year and how many states?

[WAcoyotehunter]

This year the deer hunting was poor an I felt bad going after them- so i skipped that season.  I ended up with 11 days elk hunting with my bow in WA only.  pretty sad. 

Lot's of time with a gun in my hands, but not much this year bow hunting.

[bow4elk]

As you get older, priorities change.  I used to hunt 150-160 days/year and much of those years were spent filming, etc.  I've bowhunted 14 states, all over Canada, and South Africa.  Now, it's a far cry from that but I enjoy every minute I get outside.  These days I'm really trying to focus on taking some mature blacktails and keep raising the bar on bull elk as well.  Trail cams, scouting, hiking with my daughters, etc. all count for me as that is time well spent in the outdoors.  I hunted elk 10 days this year and deer about 4 total before I tagged my buck.  I spent most of the year scouting with my trail cams, and I enjoy that almost as much as the hunt itself.  Lot's of shoulda-woulda-coulda's on elk but they'll be bigger next year!

I've got a pile of points in several states that will get priority soon enough for elk, pronghorn, mule deer, moose.  After several years I've pretty much given up on Sheep in WY and CO.  They are pricing non-residents out of the running.  I'll put my money elsewhere.

[coonhound]

Probably around 30 days of bow hunting for me...you have to add several more days with the shotgun and varmit rifle to round it up to somewhere around 50 days of total hunting.  It's tough to keep the boss and the wife in check when I start pushing these limits...

Coon

[rasbo]

zero

[jwroberts]

I am probably around 50 for this year with about 3 more to go.  The only other state I have hunted in is Montana.  I would love to hunt in other states but I just don't have connections for figuring out where to go.  I am willing to pay out of state fees if it looks promising.  So far I have only hunted for deer and elk and would love to chase something new, even though I am still not very good at the deer and elk.

[jdb]

well I have a grand total of about 6 days in the field with my bow. but I am pushing 40 total for the year. JB

[Houndhunter]

not really a big bow hunter, but i do archery for elk. i probably spent 10-12 days elk hunting this year

[jwroberts]

what are landowner tags and how do you get them

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

landowner/depredation tags are tags issued by the game department when people own land that have a problem with the number of animals on it, whether it is damage or just too damn many animals, those land owners can call and have a official come out and survey the land and if it is found worth they issue etra tags for that owner to use to kill animals from thier property.. alot of trophy ranches sell these tags for insane amounts of $$

[SHANE(WA)]

I spend more time scouting than hunting, I spent over 100 days one year watching a buck and only hunted 7 days  total before I got him.This year I scouted about 70 days and hunted 50 days

[WonkyWapiti]

I spent about 22 days bowhunting this year for elk and another six rifle hunting for deer.

[archery288]

As many days as I need to fill my tags...     Took 28 this year to fill 4 tags.  I always wish I could have more though! 

[funkster]

I am with you as long as it takes. This year I would guess around 30 with a bow in hand. If you bring scouting into play it would be around 60ish. First year in three years I ate tag soup. We where into elk every day and had elk really close. I passed on a cow at 12 yards due to a 4x5 at 20 but it just didn't work out. We did lead one of are crew members to his first elk, a nice cow!

[hunt4]

what are landowner tags and how do you get them

in this state

    Landowners with crop damage can obtain permits that allow hunters with permission to take X number of animals off that property in a given timeframe determined by WDFW.  According to WDFW rep that I talked to, nobody can legally shoot two deer unless they draw a second deer tag.  It is not a tag for an additional animal.  You have to use your general tag should you harvest an animal.  Landowner permits just allow additional hunting opportunity (time) to assure the right number of deer get taken on that particular property.  This info is straight from the Spokane WDFW office, I talked with them last month before I hunted a private land section on a doe damage permit.   

maybe you can clarify something here Hoyt shooter
Did you get drawn for that doe you shot or is there such a thing as Landowner extra tags for this state?