Recently, I was asked why I bowhunt and how long I have been at it. I have been an archer for 27 years and bow hunting for 22 of those years.

I have only taken one cervid species with archery tackle and that is the whitetail deer. As a native of Western New York State, my main goal was a deer each year. I have taken other species with a firearm, but only whitetails with a bow and arrow.

Each year I hunt Pacific-Hybrid deer (California), and whitetail deer (New York). There are other game animals I hunt, but deer are my primary focus.

I am a life member of the North American Hunting Club and a pro staffer for DIYBowhunter.com. I haven’t found a need to join any organization like Pope and Young, etc. They are great organizations, but my time is filled with my family, hunting and helping other hunters. I am not a trophy hunter and have never registered an animal. It’s not to say that I couldn’t or wouldn’t, but personally I don’t find a need. If I have a tag and a legal deer walks by – it’s getting shot at.

My choice to become a bowhunter was hands-down because of my dad. He would take my brother and I hunting with him when we were very young and I loved being in the outdoors. When I was nine, my dad gave me my first bow, a hand-me-down recurve. He taught me how to shoot it, care for it and the safe practices that go along with archery. When I was young I helped him track a whitetail and that got me hooked on bow hunting. I was the one who found the deer and the experience was one that I think of every hunting season.