i know many of you do this and you ALL have my upmost respect but this is the first time i will be going bow only ALL year for everything.  as most of you know i love my flintlocks but have grown more fond of hunting with bow even though i have never killed a deer YET with one! hope to change that this year. i am shooting every night and a ton on the weekends feeling very confident out to and over 20 yards but plan to keep all shots under that.  will be using a couple different set ups that i am fine tuning now. will be hunting from ground, climbing stand and over a dozen permanent stands. i am very excited to see what this year brings! 0-5 on squirrels so far lol! have a couple special hunts planned with a couple good friends as well. both my kids will also be hunting with me and both are very good with their bows.  good luck to all and bring it on!!!!!

Good luck to you

I think you will find your new pursuit very rewarding! Good luck!

I've have been bow only now for 37 years; experiencing all the exhilarating highs and devastating lows that anyone could imagine. It's been a journey I've never regretted. I mean, really, who wants to win every time?

You may need to be a bit hardheaded to go this route. I've been bow only except calling coyotes for about 30 years. 

You can do it !!   

Same as Kenny and stringwhacker , I've been tradbow only for well over 30 years or so. I've had some lean years and some where things really came together.
   Good luck on your decision , as you know you can't kill a deer with a bow if you have a muzzleloader in your hands

30 years of bow only for me - actually this year, number 30, was a bust as I did not hunt due to surgery. The hardest point is in the early going when you have a few animals pass by just out of bow range but within easy rifle distance. The temptation is great to dust off the boom stick. Over time, though, you get used to seeing these scenes, and you appreciate just seeing the magnificent animal in the wild. More importantly from the hunting perspective is that you start paying very close attention to scouting and stand placement. In short, you become a better hunter. No, you will not kill as many deer, but you will learn a lot and have a lot of fun doing it. At least that is how it has worked for me. Go for it. As my TBOF friends say, "Live at full draw."

I've always been bow only. Never killed a deer with a rifle. I enjoy the hunt. I've gotten fairly successful with the bow so I usually have meat and if not, oh well.
The journey is the best part

Maybe someday you can recover from it, but know going in that many of us don't, I'm too far gone! Another many years Tradbow only junkie. 

Dont judge your ability on squirrels.   Those darn things are ninjas.
Bow only is fun.  At one point that's the only way I would shoot a deer.  I shot my first deer with a rifle in a decade or more this last fall in Missouri.  Even though he was my best buck ever and I had him caped to mount there is something just not the same in a trophy with a bow vs just another kill with a rifle.
We kill a lot of coyotes and pigs.  So I do use a rifle some but deer hunting is for archery.
I sat this weekend for pigs with my longbow while my friends were rifle hunting them.  They've decided I'm just a tad off that way.

Good luck and good hunting!

I been doing for about 25 years with just a bow and I have had a ton of fun and the adventure have been awesome. good luck.

Excellent...good luck...

I've been doing the same for several years. It's been an evolution and frankly I have no desire to shoot anything with a firearm of any kind right now. I actually am finishing a flintlock Fowler right now that I have no desire to even shoot. I just enjoy the building. My longbow is what I want to hunt with.....

18 years for me bow only.  First few years was hard, as there will be misses and lost opportunities.  But, I have come to find out that that makes great memories, and for me (like so many others) it is about doing it the way I want.  It made it more enjoyable for me, and put the HUNT back into BowHunting.

i went all trad in 2010, killed 4 deer that yr. and my first trad buck.

i was all mod. archery about 12 yrs before that for deer.

il never go all trad for squirrels though, i like eating fried squirrel to much, so its a 22 for them.

    i got to thinking about how long i have been doing this, WOW..the last deer i killed with a gun was a muzzleloader, one that had a hammer you had to cock.

     I never felt it limited my success on deer,.. except on squirrels   

  good luck, if you get good at taking squirrels with a tradbow you wont have any trouble taking deer.

Congrats on the decision, once you get your first deer you will be hooked to using the bow, as I have for 42 years.

  Good luck to you adkmountainken, after all nothing beats a failure but a try. Keep us posted on how you do. Shoot Straight and Good Hunting.

  Tony

How's it going, Brother...?? 

Update would be nice... Good Luck!!!

Ken, you know what they say?  Once you go bow only .... um I cannot remember the rest.

have been VERY close multiple times and its ALMOST all come together! in to birds almost every day and have worked them in to shooting range 3 times with no clear shot! absolutely LOVE playing the game!

Go git'm Brother!!!!