Does are legal to shoot in many states But many people prefer to shoot bucks for their antlers The landscape slowly comes to life as the sun rises higher Two bright cardinals dart through the brush A raccoon shuffles past 6
Suddenly a white-tailed doe appears The deer walks 20 yards 18 m away heading for the woods It stops flicks its tail and looks back The young archer begins to draw her bow Any deer is a trophy especially when taken with archery gear But then the hunter hears something else A buck is coming too It is mating season The buck is following the doe The hunter draws her bow settling into her anchor point She has practiced this shot many times The buck pauses only 15 yards 14 m away Thwack The arrow finds it mark The buck leaps into the air kicking its hind legs It scampers off The bowhunter listens She hears a crash in the woods followed by some thrashing in the leaves Fewer than 50 yards 46 m into the woods the young hunter spots the downed deer As she approaches it from behind she sees that it is dead 7
The young bowhunter kneels next to the large six-point buck She smiles with the pride of harvesting a wild animal with a bow and arrow Bowhunting through History Bowhunting has been around for thousands of years It was part of the Native-American way of life in North America Native Americans hunted with bows made of wood and backed with animal tendons to make them springy Hunters crafted arrows from wood and arrowheads from flint or other stones In the early 1900s most hunters used firearms instead of bows and arrows Game populations decreased because of overhunting and habitat loss Many hunters wanted to limit how many animals were killed One way to do this was to make hunting more challenging by using archery gear instead of firearms Bowhunting as a sport became more popular in the 1950s Famous archer Fred Bear filmed hunts for others to watch He also started 8
Legendar y bowhunter Fred Bear right poses with a prize bear in Ontario Canada in 1943 a company that made bows and other archery gear for hunters Bowhunting is now more popular than ever Like all forms of hunting bowhunting takes special techniques equipment and shooting skills But hunters enjoy the challenge 9
