I certainly do not want to start a debate or arguments between gun hunters and bow hunters. I simply am looking for opinions to help me solve some what of a dilemma in which I seem to have found myself. Since my father sold the farm twenty years ago I have had to hunt on property of others. Fortunately I have many places to hunt. I have been deer hunting two adjoining farms for quite a few years now and between the two there is quite a bit of acreage. When I first started hunting these two farms there were very few bow hunters hunting on the farms. Now it seems as if there are more bow hunters than gun hunters. (Although I do not bow hunt I have nothing against bow hunting!) But I seem to have noticed that although I see many deer during the spring and summer, come the fall and gun season they seem to disappear. In talking with farmers and other hunters in the area they all seem to agree. I could'nt quite figure it out until one of my friends (who also bow hunts) told me that he sees the same thing. His belief is that even though there may be plenty of deer in the area, once you start hunting them they will wise up rather quickly and even become some what nocturnal. So, this year I had the opportunity to lease 80 acres with a small woods. The woods connects to a rather large woods on three separate properties. My thoughts were to get away from the other hunters and if I were the only one hunting the property I would have a better chance of at least seeing deer come opening day. I have Ed Spinazzola's book and even though I should wait until next year to plant food plots, I couldn't wait. I was buying some Roundup, ran into a friend and explained what I was doing. He wanted to go halves with the lease. I told him if he gave me a hand with the food plots he could hunt the property come gun season. He had quit bow hunting several years ago so I didn't even think of him bow hunting the property nor did it come up during our conversation. Obviously, he was aware of why I had leased the property per our conversation. After spraying the Roundup and doing some other work in the woods he suddenly mentioned that he saw quite a few spots for his tree stand to bow hunt from. I was a little shocked! I did not want any hunting until opening day of gun season. That was the main reason for leasing the property. So I told him that I did not want him bow hunting and that I though he had understood my reasoning when we spoke previously. Of course, now he's po'ed with me.
So, my questions are these. Do you feel that once you start hunting deer, be it bow or gun, that they become some what nocturnal? And secondly, if you were in my situtation and based on the information I have provided would you have stopped him from bow hunting?
So, my questions are these. Do you feel that once you start hunting deer, be it bow or gun, that they become some what nocturnal? And secondly, if you were in my situtation and based on the information I have provided would you have stopped him from bow hunting?
