I hunt, bow and rifle although I've only been successful with rifle. I killed my first deer this past November on opening day of rifle season here in Vermont (see my Avatar for the picture).
In my opinion hunting requires that we take on some pretty serious ethical responsibilities. I've been hunting for four years with a hand-made (by me) wood bow, and only this year invested in a rifle.
There is a debate, both among hunters and between hunters and non- and anti-hunters regarding how it should be done. Bow vs. rifle vs. muzzleloader vs. shotgun vs. crossbow vs. not at all. An archer who keeps themselves in shape, practices regularly and is familiar with their equipment can put sequential arrows into a paper plate at 30 yards, and will have no problem making a clean, ethical kill. I meet very few people like this, though. Studies show that most (over 50%) deer hit with an arrow by hunters are never recovered, and therefore run off to die an agonizing death due to an infected wound or blood loss within hours to weeks of when they were initially shot. Choosing to be a bow hunter is a big commitment, unless you leave your soul at home and don't mind killing two deer for each you bring home.
Gun-hunted deer are also shot and never recovered, but the proportion is much lower. You still need to practice with your tool before opening day, though. You'll never perform as well when there's a deer in your sights as you do on the range, because the deer being there raises your heart rate, your breathing rate, and does all sorts of other crazy things to your ability to concentrate and keep your hands steady. If you haven't learned this first hand yet, I'm sure you will.
In deciding on bow versus rifle, both have pros and cons. The pros of a bow are that they're quiet and that they're safe for the hunter and for other people in the area. It's very unlikely a hunter will shoot him or herself, and you have to be close enough to whatever you're shooting that you aren't likely to mistake, say, a golden lab or a horse for a deer. Arrows also don't travel far, so you're not likely to kill the person hanging their laundry the next ridge over if you take a shot without a good backstop. THIS IS NOT, however, an excuse to take a shot without a good backstop (something immediately behind your target that will stop your arrow or bullet in the event you miss).
The cons of a bow are that you have to get a lot closer to take a lethal shot, which is HARD. You also have to practice A LOT more with a bow to get good enough to put the arrow where you want it to go. Risk of lost game, as I noted above, is a lot higher. You also need to have finely tuned arrows and razor sharp broadheads, because you're depending on cutting a lot of blood vessels and perhaps puncturing lungs to kill the animal, and if your broadhead isn't sharp any hole it makes can seal up fast and the animal will dash off wounded to die later of an infection.
The pros of a firearm are that you can take a longer-range shot, so your field craft doesn't have to be as good. Bullets rely on doing massive tissue damage rather than cutting vessels or puncturing lungs, so it's more likely that a shot--any shot--will be more lethal when made with a gun than with a bow.
The cons of firearms is that they're loud, and non-hunters and admittedly many hunters don't like to be in the woods near where a firearm is discharged. From personal experience I can say that hearing a rifle go off a few hundred yards from you when you didn't even know a hunter was there is very unsettling. And that says nothing about watching a bullet tear into a tree a few feet from your head, shot by someone a mile+ away who pulled the trigger without a backstop. Which brings up the issue of safety. Guns are freaking dangerous. They just are. They represent a danger to the person carrying them (unless unloaded), and they represent a danger to anyone within a few miles when one is discharged. People, including hunters and non-hunters, are killed by hunting accidents (including errant bullets) every year, without fail. A couple years ago, maybe fall of 2008, a toddler was killed in his bed here in Vermont when a rifle bullet poked through the house wall after being shot by a hunter in a forest hundreds of yards away. He obviously didn't have a backstop. Amazingly enough the hunter was caught, and gets to spend the next several years of his life in a state-sponsored cage, which suits me just fine. And the other danger of firearms related to their range is that you can take a shot at something far away and kill it, which means people are tempted to take longer shots at targets they can't always see. A few years back in Vermont someone was killed during turkey season, and this past spring at two hunters were shot during turkey season, although I think they both survived. And this says nothing of the many livestock, dogs, and other deer-look-a-likes that roam forest and field that get shot because they're in range of the firearm but are too far for the hunter to clearly see what they actually are.
I hope you do get to go hunting, but I also hope you are aware of the ethical responsibilities you're taking on when you carry gun or bow into the forest intent on tagging game. If I can be of any help, feel free to email or PM me.
Be safe!
