Are you considering bow hunting but aren’t sure if you can afford all of the equipment that everyone says you “need”? I’m here to tell you that you can get started bow hunting for far less money than most people will tell you.
Before we get started, there is one piece of equipment that I will say is an absolute must. As I am a certified Bow Hunter Safety instructor, it would be wrong of me not to stress how important a good quality safety harness and life line are. Don’t leave the ground until you are tied off. Yes, hunting and safety equipment can be expensive. You can cut corners in several places but please don’t cut corners when it comes to your safety. Your family and loved ones want you to return home from every adventure. Now let’s talk about where you can cut those corners.
First things first, let’s start with the bow you choose. My first archery deer kill came with a bow my Grandfather gave me, an old Bear Whitetail Hunter. It had no sights on it and no fancy stabilizers, sound deadening equipment, or fancy fall away rest. I learned to shoot the bow instinctively and put myself in a position to take a deer at a range that I knew I could hit my target from. I bought some Easton aluminum arrows and a package of WASP fix blade broad heads. The only thing I added to the bow was a quiver. I took to the woods one afternoon in the fall of 1997 with Grandpa’s old bow. I had on black jeans and a black t-shirt. I climbed up in an old tree stand that didn’t have a seat and stood there waiting for a deer to show up. That afternoon I shot a doe, which was not only my first archery deer but it was only my second deer harvest ever. After I had successfully taken a deer with that bow, I decided bow hunting was something I was really going to enjoy so I wanted a better, newer bow. I saved up some money and went to a small local archery shop the next spring. I told the owner of the shop that I really wanted a new bow but I had a budget of only $500. I also explained that I would need the bow all setup with a rest and sights within my budget. I asked about reusing the arrows I had for my previous bow and he said they were fine and that he would cut them down to fit the new bow. He suggested that to stay within my budget, I look at the clearance rack. The clearance rack consisted of several bows that were the previous year’s models and they were marked down considerably. The bow I ended up choosing was a Browning Prism 2. It was a single cam split limb compound that had a max draw weight of 70 lbs. The bow fit me well and was comfortable to shoot. The best part was that it was marked half off, meaning I got it for a mere $260. The shop owner was very helpful and didn’t try to sell me anything I didn’t need. I was out the door with my new bow all set up and ready to hunt for under my $500 budget. You can also consider a used bow, but I would recommend you buy it from a reputable shop so you can be sure it’s safe to use. A good shop will have inspected it before taking it in on trade. There are a lot of guys that buy a new bow every year or two so there are some great deals out there on one or two year old bows if you look around.
Next let’s talk about hunting clothing. I love my “scent lok” hunting suit and I do believe it helps. But I’m here to tell you that it is not necessary to be a successful archery hunter. When I started bow hunting back in 1998, I had not even heard of “scent lok”. I went to Meijer and bought some good old mossy oak. I picked up a shirt, pants and a jacket. I can’t tell you what I spent but it wasn’t much. I bought them a size bigger than normal so I could put them on over my street clothes. I also bought a head net, and a couple pairs of camo jersey gloves. I washed all of my hunting clothes in hunter’s specialty laundry soap. I kept them in a trash bag in the garage and never wore them until I reached my hunting location. Before I went out hunting, I showered in some form of hunter’s scent elimination soap and put on clean street clothes. Then when I arrived at the property I was hunting, I would spray myself down lightly with scent killer spray and put my hunting clothes on over my clean street clothes. After my hunt, I took them off and put them back in the trash bag before driving home. I bought a little package of black wafers that had an earth scent, which basically smelled like dirt. I kept one in the trash bag at all times and pinned another to my jacket. I rarely got winded and would often have deer approach from directly downwind. I hunted like that for ten years or more before I ever bought a “scent lok” suit and folks let me tell you, those first ten years of my bow hunting career I was a deer hunting machine. I harvested between four and six deer every year for several years and most of them with my bow. Just so there is no confusion on how I could shoot so many deer, I live and primarily hunt in an area where we are blessed with a very large deer population so antlerless deer permits are very easy to get and some years they are unlimited as to how many you can purchase.
The final component I would like to talk about is your stand or blind. One or both are nice to have but you don’t need either. I took my very first buck with my Browning bow while sitting on a 5 gallon bucket under an oak tree at a distance of about 5 yards. Now,
please understand I’m not saying that I don’t use tree stands or blinds. I do, in fact, I have rarely hunted without one or the other. The point I am making is that you can be successful bow hunting from the ground and even without a blind. Nowadays there are so many options, ranging from tree stands and pop up deer blinds to climber tree stands and saddle systems but, those are items for another discussion. When I did purchase tree stands, I looked for them to go on sale and I didn’t buy the fanciest looking or most expensive stands. I bought the ones I could afford and that worked for my applications.
I guess I’m just trying to encourage people that think they can’t afford to bow hunt to consider getting started on a budget. Look past all the fancy gadgets and just go hunting. Does all of the latest gear make a difference? Some people will say no while others will say they would never hunt without having the latest gear and the best of everything. In 2008, I upgraded from my clearance rack bow to a Mathews Drenanlin and I’ve been hunting with that Mathews ever since. It fits me well and I’m happy with how it shoots so I have no plans to replace it unless it gives me a reason to. I’ve slowed down over the years and shoot far less deer every year than I used to. Having said that, I would be willing to guess that even though I’ve hunted for more years with my Mathews, I bet I’ve actually killed the same number of deer or possibly more with the old $260 Browning. Just because my Mathews cost me $800 doesn’t mean it kills deer any better than my Browning.
A bow will last you a very long time as long as you take care of it. Go to your bow shop once every couple of years and have your strings and cables replaced or at least inspected. I still own my Grandfather’s old bow and my Browning Prism 2. Both of them have been converted for bow fishing and are still used occasionally to this day. As far as the rest of my equipment, I have a total of 4 hang on tree stands, the newest of which was purchased 12 years ago, one old ladder stand that is ready for the scrap pile and a climber that is probably 15 years old at least. I pull my stands out of the woods after every season and inspect them regularly. I keep fasteners tight and replace worn straps and components as needed. I didn’t buy them all at once so the cost has been spread out over several years. Cabela’s bucks bought me my first pop up blind and I picked up another popup a few years ago off a sale rack at Meijer.
So you see, there are several ways a person can get by with a minimal amount of equipment and still enjoy the benefits of archery season. The weather is usually milder and there tend to be less other hunters in the woods. Because there is less hunting
pressure, you get to see deer in a more normal behavior rather than running through the woods because they were just shot at or because 6 people just came walking through the area they were bedded in. If you’re not bow hunting because you think it’s too expensive, you are missing out. I hope this article might inspire you to give it a try. Look for those sales on bows and other equipment. Go get a bow set up and start practicing now, archery season is just around the corner. Get out there and bow hunt this fall. There is really nothing like it!
As always, be safe, happy hunting and God Bless.
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