So one of the other hunters goes out to our lease this past weekend and finds the new rules posted for the 2012-2013 hunting season. It says "ABSOLUTELY NO BOW HUNTING"... WTF? This is my 13th year on this lease and it has never been an issue before. Of course a new family member is managing the property this year, but we thought we had a pretty good relationship with them and this is completely out of nowhere. To add insult to injury, I just bought me a new pop-up blind this past week.

I hunt with my father and brother on this place and my father said "well, you will just have to hunt with a pistol if you want to get close and not use a rifle." But that is not really the same.




Anyone know of any possible reasons bow hunting would not be permitted on a deer lease?

Bad shots with bows wounding deer. Not waiting long enough to make sure the deer died before tracking. A near death deer can run a long way if spooked.
 

Gun hunter not wanting anyone out before him/them perhaps? I would not be in on that lease again.

Could be a lot of things.  People wounding deer, property owner wanting to bow hunt themselves.  It is hard to say the reason, but I would be frustrated myself.

well, I spoke with the hunter that passed along that new rule and he said he believes that they don't want arrows and broadheads left laying around on the ground for the cattle and horses to step on.    

Like I am going to leave a $10 arrow and $10 broadhead just laying on the ground out there.

Which makes me wonder, if one did leave a broadhead out there, how long would it last before corrosion took it to where it would not cut?

As for all of the ideas you fellas posted, I doubt it is them hunting the property as they have their own plot to themselves and the acreage we lease is for us. And people can wound deer just as easy with a gun, heck it happens every year, bad shots get made and that is just part of hunting sometimes. We try not to but sometimes it just happens. And everyone on the lease bowhunts, or at least we did. I started back up in 2009 after a long hiatus and love it more than ever.

I doubt we will get off because of this, like I said, I hunt this with my father, brother and a few good friends, plus the price is tough to beat for what we get. I will just have to try and educate the land owners when possible.

You can kill but not find a gun shot deer.  When it finally dies, the critters eat it and you can't tell how it died (gun, car, yotes).  But, if you walk up on a half eaten deer with an arrow sticking out of its guts, you have a pretty good idea of what killed it.  I suggest talking to the land owner.  You might be able to change his mind or at least know why the change.

In Ohio, archery season is from September to February, and gun season is about two and a half weeks in total.

Is archery season longer than the gun season in Texas?  It could be that the land owner is trying to limit the amount of time folks have out there.

Here in Texas archery season starts a month earlier than gun season.

Better call the land onwer and find out. I lived in CO in the 80's and hunters use to try and put up no trespassing signs on BLM land, I'm a map freak so I knew what was what with BLM land,

official word from land owners was that they did not want lost arrows to be stepped on by their horses or cows.    

If thats the way its going to be tell them to shove their lease

Here archery season starts over a month before rifle. I am betting this guy is a rifle only hunter that wants more deer out there for himself come rifle season. I would find a new place to hunt.

the land owner does not live nearby and does not hunt the land being leased. And I am not quite willing to give up on this lease yet, for the price we pay and what we get it is a heck of a deal.