Bowhunting the west, can you be successful doing it or is it just a idea?

[BipolarBear]

I still have another year before hunting in Wyoming, will bowhunting in the west just wasted effort? Is it a challenge or just unsuccessful is what I am asking. I love my bow and I love shooting it but I also don't want to spend wasted years with a empty freezer.

 

[nevadabugle]

I still have another year before hunting in Wyoming, will bowhunting in the west just wasted effort? Is it a challenge or just unsuccessful is what I am asking. I love my bow and I love shooting it but I also don't want to spend wasted years with a empty freezer.

That's a pretty broad question. If you are asking is it possible, of course it is. But there are so many variables to give you a definitive yes or no. But there is always possibility if you are in the field.

 

[khunter]

One of the odder question I have seen.

Sounds like you should stay home if the idea of hunting out west is likely to be judged ‘a waste of time’ in any context, success or not.

Mail order farm raised elk instead?

 

[oldgoat]

Well I'll tell you this, I live in Colorado, I've had shots in more archery seasons than I have in rifle seasons, I've hunted 3 or 4 rifle seasons, never seen an elk, have never had that happen in archery season. The thing I think is a waist is OTC TAGS if you don't know what you are doing or where your are going, get a few points and get a draw tag . Didn't used to be that way, but the issuance of a bottomless pail of cow tags has greatly reduced the herd!

 

[William Sublette]

I still have another year before hunting in Wyoming, will bowhunting in the west just wasted effort? Is it a challenge or just unsuccessful is what I am asking. I love my bow and I love shooting it but I also don't want to spend wasted years with a empty freezer.

If only there was some way for unknown angels of love and beauty to just hand you instant success.



and not just instant success, free instant success.



Wouldn't that be epic?




























Hey, what kind of learning curve y'all runnin?

 

[WoodBow]

I noticed you posted this in trad so I assume that is what we are talking about. Will you likely have significantly less opportunities out west using trad vs basically anything else? Yes. Is it still very doable? If you can hunt and shoot, yes.

I hunted otc elk in colorado for several years with my recurve before I said to hek with it. I had many times I could have taken elk with a compound but never even stretched a string on the recurve. But I would also regard myself as a terrible elk hunter. My first deer tag I drew I took a great buck at 50 with the compound. I remember specifically thinking that I was glad I didn't have my recurve because I had no way to get closer.

I use the recurve at home for deer and pigs where if i squander an opportunity, it isn't the end of the world. You gotta hunt your own hunt and decide what matters to you. If the what is more important than the how, I would not recommend trad out west.

 

[nevadabugle]

One other thought, some of my most memorable hunts I was not successful. Yet the experience, lessons learned, being humbled, all added to an experience that made those hunts some of my most remembered. If the need to be successful, and post it on instagram is your driving motivator then coming out west with a stickbow may not be the thing for you.

 

[FLS]

The only thing a trad bow will do is cut your shot distance in about half. Everything else is the same. It’s a low percentage game with whatever bow you choose.

 

[chasewild]

I think if you are a new hunter, you owe it to yourself and the animal to start out with a rifle, get a few kills in, and then pick up the bow.

Success with a bow is low for a reason. Don't try to shortcut the process by going straight to the bow. Grab a rifle and enjoy that part of hunting for a bit and if you still want to hunt with a bow, then now you've got the basics down.

 

[Beendare]

Yeah, its huge country…with critters in a very small percentage of it.

It takes;
being able to cover a lot of rough country…..which in itself isn’t easy

Dealing with a lot of hunting pressure

And knowing enough about the animals habits to get a shot

I won’t give it up until I physically can’t do it anymore.

 

[BipolarBear]

One other thought, some of my most memorable hunts I was not successful. Yet the experience, lessons learned, being humbled, all added to an experience that made those hunts some of my most remembered. If the need to be successful, and post it on instagram is your driving motivator then coming out west with a stickbow may not be the thing for you.

Instagram is for teenagers and people going through a midlife crisis, I'm out to harvest game, to get away from the city and experience the mountain trips. If bowhunting here leaves you years with a empty chest freezer I want no part of it, that's why I'm asking everyone.

 

[nevadabugle]

There is no free lunch or guaranteed success. Might be better to stay home and hunt whitetail. Something tells me you may be disappointed with Western hunting.

 

[Brandon.miller.4]

Instagram is for teenagers and people going through a midlife crisis, I'm out to harvest game, to get away from the city and experience the mountain trips. If bowhunting here leaves you years with a empty chest freezer I want no part of it, that's why I'm asking everyone.

If you're in it for a full freezer and that's the primary goal stick to rifles and cow tags or hunt whitetails and pigs. My personal opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[TaperPin]

I’ve never heard a bow hunter wonder if it’s even worth trying - is this some sort of new tic toc challenge, or hidden camera trick? I don’t have to eat a tide pod or do a shuffle dance do I?!

Good bow hunters take elk every year, bad bow hunters never take one.

What I will say, is that during many September scouting trips up to timber line while bow season is underway, not 5 miles from the trailhead, I have yet to see a single bow hunter who camps up high and hunts down. We regularly have bulls pushing each other close to camp, see black bears every other year on a game trail up close, not to mention many mule deer above timberline that travel over the same saddles on a daily basis to and from the cover until shooting starts. Just for kicks I’ve sat motionless near a game trail coming over a saddle with good wind just to show a friend how easily a timberline mulie could be ambushed with a bow.

Well, the answer is no - its not worth it.

 

[GLB]

I do not want to discourage you, however with the way you stated your opening question your mind ain’t in the right place. If this is something you want to do you will have to put in the work. You should be excited and eager to make this happen. There is no guarantee of a successful hunt filling your tag if you come out here. You need to see the value of putting in the hard work, getting the experience in the attempt to fill your tag. If you cannot get your mind there then it will probably not be worth it. Only you can decide that.

 

[Recurve Man]

Been going out west for several years. I hunt with recurve only even in my home state. I have enough empty tags to wall paper one wall of my game room. The other 3 walls are full of mounts. Sometimes your the windshield and sometimes your the bug.



If you’re a freezer filler you might wanna rethink your western trip. Just speaking from experience.


Some of my most memorable hunt’s didn’t put meat in the freezer. To each his own. Good luck.


Shane

 

[philson208]

yes. bowhunting in the west is a challenge, and can leave the freezer empty for a few years.

 

[BipolarBear]

I do not want to discourage you, however with the way you stated your opening question your mind ain’t in the right place. If this is something you want to do you will have to put in the work. You should be excited and eager to make this happen. There is no guarantee of a successful hunt filling your tag if you come out here. You need to see the value of putting in the hard work, getting the experience in the attempt to fill your tag. If you cannot get your mind there then it will probably not be worth it. Only you can decide that.

I live in Wyoming now, I have no problem putting the work and the money in to get out and backpack in the bighorns, I'm just wondering if bowhunting is either a idea or a reality here sence it's wide open here.

 

[oldgoat]

I live in Wyoming now, I have no problem putting the work and the money in to get out and backpack in the bighorns, I'm just wondering if bowhunting is either a idea or a reality here sence it's wide open here.

Then you live in arguably one of the best states to try it, and that's not my opinion, it's the opinion of people that actually kill stuff with a stick bow regularly instead of once in a blue moon like me.

 

[Stickmark]

...hands and knees or even belly crawling is still fun, so there is that...
or it is ambush and getting into relatively tight funnels...
I say give it a shot.