But he managed only two tries for the Ospreys in their RaboDirect PRO12 title winning campaign last season and after an early double against Cardiff Blues for Ulster this season, he was struck down with a long-term knee injury in December, stranded on 48.
In the meantime, Edinburgh's flying winger Tim Visser has been coming up the rails and having reached double figures in each of his first three seasons, he began this year on 37.
Another blistering start to the campaign saw Visser reach ten for the season by the time Bowe's injury struck but the Scotsman has scored just one since.
And with Bowe returning from injury to score his 49th try in his comeback match against the Scarlets, he followed that up with number 50 in the 71st minute of the 34-18 victory over Connacht last time out.
"I suppose it has been a long time coming," said Bowe.
"I got a lot of tries early on in the league and the last couple of years I've maybe waned off a little bit but I'm delighted to make 50 and hopefully there are plenty more to come.
"It was fairly end to end stuff first half, great to watch for the supporter I'm sure.
"It was a little bit all over the place first half and coming into the second half it was difficult and Connacht made us work for it but in the end we were able to pull away with a couple of nice tries at the end of the game.
"Coming back from Saracens there was massive disappointment from that but we really focussed on the next two games and to come away with two five-pointers is exactly what we want."
Thanks to that victory over Connacht, Ulster are top of the RaboDirect PRO12 table and will secure a home semi-final by avoiding defeat in their last match of the season against Cardiff Blues.
Bowe's form is such that he will also be hoping he has done enough with his late charge to claim a place on the Lions tour to Australia - but for now he's purely focussed on the RaboDirect PRO12 campaign.
"We've set ourselves up for a massive game against Cardiff Blues in two weeks and hopefully we can get the result we need and get a home semi-final," he added.
"Personally I'm very happy with how I've come back from the injury, to be out for four months and then get myself back playing rugby again.
"To get a couple of tries over the last couple of weeks has been nice too. I'm happy and who knows what could happen?
"I don't know if you can ever be happy that you've done enough unfortunately.
"I'm happy that I'm back fit. It was a difficult injury to come back from but I've hit the ground running and it's out of my hands now."
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