Contributors to this thread:
Just curious....
How many here go out specifically after small game? How many habitually take shots at small stuff when the opportunity arises? And what kind of gear do you use?
I’ve rarely set out specifically to hunt small game with a bow; hunted a couple years pretty recently with a compound and never took a shot at anything under #100...
But with my tradgear... just can’t pass ‘em up!
I rabbit hunt with a recurve. I go out specifically for rabbits. I am going to try a few of the squirrels around here this year. Fox and Pine, not sure they will be tasty like the acorn eaters out east.
I rabbit hunt with a recurve. I go out specifically for rabbits. I am going to try a few of the squirrels around here this year. Fox and Pine, not sure they will be tasty like the acorn eaters out east.
I keep a chicken arrow in my quiver when hunting in Montana.
Every chance I get!!! Yummy stuff, or fur. It's all good!
heck yea GF,,I had a norm Johnson blacktail stalker,,absolutely deadly at 20 and under,,on a wv hunt once I was in " the zone"by noon I had 4 gray squirrels,and 2 chipmunks,,the munks were both head shots ,,10 and about 8 yards,,my first archery kill was a rabbit with a recurve,,8 yrs ago that spring and summer,my son and I had a groundhog contest,,at the end of August I had 23,he was right on my tail at 21...I've killed just about every eastern small game animal,,aerial kills as well,bowfishing was a passion in the early 80s ..anyone ever use the steel coffee can spool method?? Ahh wat a blast,,,yeah I'm a small gamer too!! Now I run a z7 extreme AND a assenhimer 55# td..love I'm both
I target geese with the bow from mid Dec to mid January here in Colorado. Lots of fun and a great opportunity to extend the bow season.
You sky-blasting with that contraption, Paul???
Have to admit that part of my reluctance on the smaller targets with the compound is simply the fact that those arrows get so COMPLETELY lost when you miss!! LOL
Kinda makes me wonder, though, if the compound guys are so busy taking themselves Seriously that they forget how much fun they should be having!!
FWIW, I prefer Ruffies to Blues, but they’re all good!
I hate loosing an expensively arrow and head combo, but always have one small game head screwed on while hunting big game.
On a recent caribou hunt, I shot a ptarmigan. On the next bird, I got cocky and took a risky shot with a fast creek as a back drop. Sure enough, a pass through and arrow into the creek and gone. I looked half heartedly in the fast flowing water for 15 minutes
Three days later my hunting partner was coming back along the creek and found it a few hundred yards below the shot location.
And the birds were very mediocre table fare, as usual.
For dedicated winter hunting for of snowshoe hares, I use old arrows and sometimes flu-flu's for close shots. Great fun and good infield practice.
GF, no sky blasting. I shoot them off the ground when they land in the decoys at 10-30 yards. I have only lost one arrow in the 5 years of shooting geese and killing over 50. A few arrows took some time and maybe even the next day. I started to rub some pheasant scent on the arrows so the lab could find them if buried in the taller grass. Worked especially with snow on the ground.
I've gone specifially for jackrabbits, but most of the time I am an opportunist. Taken roughly 15 geese and a lot of chickens and rabbits. Of course coyotes get it every time they are even remotely within range!
I specifically target small game in January and February. Cottontails, Jackrabbits, Squirrel, Grouse, Pheasants, Quail.
Are you guys head/neck shooting the geese? I've only shot one. There is some conflicting opinions on the legality here because "it is illegal to shoot migratory birds with a single projectile".
Paul ,that's genius putting the pheasant scent on arrows...as for heads,,usually a judo tip on softer targets,,rabbit,pheasant,squirrel,,,3 blade muzzy ,with a turkey stopper ring for a little extra punch,,for ghogs and any tougher hided creatures..
Ambush, no issue using bow and arrow to shoot ducks or geese, on the ground, water, or air.
So where did you find " it is illegal to shoot migratory birds with a single projectile". Most likely true but I would expect the single projectile is a rifle bullet, which makes sense. I use expandable BH for geese and turkeys.
Paul, I'm in British Columbia and that's the law. But a CO did tell me that it didn't include archery, while another gave me a "warning" because I told him I was going to shoot some geese.
The only one I shot came drifting underneath me on a steep bank. A Spitfire mechanical right between the wing butts did the trick. But I did get wet to the crotch retrieving goose and arrow.
I think I got one goose with a bow my first year bowhunting... I sneaked up on a sandbar full o' honkers along the Platte and was very comfortable with the shot but never did find my arrow ... pretty sure the goose flew off with the flock and my arrow besides, but it never occurred to me at the time that such a thing could happen...
Gotta be careful using a dog to locate any arrow with blade up front.
Heck yeah, wish I could do it more for these guys, but deer hunting on the plains gets in the way as well as work and bad weather!
