...[That said, if you want to know the real push behind crossbows, it's not so much revenue as it is youth opportunity. FWC is on an all-out push to get kids in the woods and retain older hunters as well. There are some very influential people in this state that feel strongly about getting more kids out there and think crossbows will facilitate that much easier.
Personally, whether it passes or not, I will still hunt with my bow. It's more accurate, faster shooting, easier to handle, less cumbersome and quieter. But if it does pass, I will be buying one for my 9 year old daughter so she can start hunting with dad during archery season. Why should I have to wait for gun season to take her when she could be shooting a doe or two during archery with me or her grandpa?]...
Exactly the reason why I like the proposal and I explained it on my second posting on this tread. It is funny that there were a couple of comments on what my son was doing wrong on a video of him shooting his bow I posted in another tread. Some comments were related to him struggling to pull a legal 35 pounds bow. However, no one took into account that when you are teaching a kid to be an ethical hunter, being legal is the first lesson and to be legal he needs to either struggle with his bow or find an alternative. How do we keep our sport alive and teach our young if he/she is too young to draw a legal bow? Why do we parents with access only to public land need to wait until gun season to take our kids hunting when the risk of an accident is greater and their chances of taking their first deer less? In my opinion, allowing crossbows will probably draw a few more people to the woods during archery, but I’m not convinced that this will be a real problem. Bow hunters will always be bow hunters and there is a good reason why we bow hunt. I don't see bow hunter switching to crossbows. I do see bow hunters buying a crossbow for their young kids and take them hunting during a less dangerous season, but not a lot of new hunters taking the sport just because of crossbows.
I see Carlos's point but overcrowded woods are an inconvenience. in the big picture the more hunters the more political pull we are getting, and the less the anti gun/hunting are, which may help the political scene in our favor. plus if realy medicaly unable to use a standard bow I'd like everyone that wants to hunt to be able to, maybee just give them a separate season. the more licenses sold the more revenue for the stste to work with. I'd like to see the state put some food plots in the wma's to help increase the size and quality of animal populations,especialy quail, doves and deer, pigs seem to be doing fine, and maybe year round seasons on wma's for nuissance animals, coyotes/hogs. JMO
i see where you are coming from. mr. lolo. had to make my boy wait to archery hunt. until he could pull back legal draw weight.
I really don't think a kid under 12 or 13 should be bow hunting.It's not that easy for an adult,not to mention the massive amount of bugs and snakes out this time of the year.HAve any of you ever blood trail a hog or deer at night when the creepy crawlies are out and about? I have plenty of times. Ethical hunting is also about retrieving game,I can't see a 9 yr old girl or boy crawling on their hands and knees looking for blood sign.Plenty of times I made it back to camp after midnight.Wait till you crawl up on your first NOT DEAD PISSED OFF boar hog,or a coiled up rattler.Hey,it's part of bow hunting too.
a couple of my older buddies have crossbows they have disability permits i hate them they are so heavy and from an accuracy stand point good to 30 yards ive shot with them with my switchback the crossbows have a big drop off from 30 - 40 yards over a foot and what if the buck of a lifetime walks out behind you how are you gonna hide all of that movement and if you can hide it oops there is a tree there and the crossbows limbs would kill the opportunity by hitting the tree as far as youth my daughter is 6 1/2 and can draw the diamond nuclear ice at 29# by the time shes good enough to hunt with a bow she will be able to draw the minimum i think its gonna be bad news if it passes everyone knows what happens on the WMA,S once the rift raft shows up we get stolen stands,cams people sitting in there truck with a high powered rifle hanging out the window on the main roads just waiting on a deer to jump out in the road so they can shoot it and whatever else is in the road behind it! ok ill shut up now its been a rough week
