Simple, quick, and a chance to be heard. Welcome to the 1/3 that controls the other 2/3. 🙂
I'm a little curious as to why some of you think this would make the woods more crowded? Especially on quota hunts? The concept of a quota hunt is that the number of hunters are controlled at any one point. They could allow the use of them and not increase the numbers of permits. In other words, it would just open up the choice as to what someone wanted to use but not necessarily increase the number of people in the woods at any one time.
Crossbows have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They have found them in archeological digs all over the world. Matter of fact, in the big sceme of things, they're a lot a lot more of a traditional archery platform than a modern compound bow is.
Additionally, they have the same range as a regular bow. It's not like they're something that can be used to shoot hundreds of yards. Physics and gravity don't change just because one arrow is shot from a longbow, another arrow is shot from a recurve, another arrow is shot from a compound and another arrow is shot from a crossbow. None are more effective or more deadly than the other. Arrows weighing close to the same, fired at equal velocities and tipped with the same heads will all fly pretty much the same. What affects one, will equally affect all.
I personally don't hunt the archery season. But I have shot longbows, recurves, compounds and crossbows. I doubt if a deer really cares what was used to put a broadhead into flight. I will grant that it takes a lot longer to get proficient with a longbow, recurve or compound, but so what? It takes a lot longer to get proficient with a flintlock than it does with a modern, scoped inline. But, both are legal in the muzzleloading season. Should we outlaw inlines and only allow flintocks and percussion capped rifles during the muzzleloadig season?
It appears to me that the same rationale people use to complain about crossbows could be used to divide hunters along other lines. And that, my friends, is a dangerous path to begin walking down. As hunters, we can not afford to let something like this divide the ranks. When it becomes "us against them" because of the tools someone wants to use, then the anti's have won a significant victory.
Just my 2 cents worth. Fell free to disagree if you wish.
Cheers :cowboy
It's simply a money making scheme.It's hard enough to get good quotas as it is.
flags - there are several wmas that are open for archery w/o quota. These are the areas I believe would be most impacted by the introduction of crossbows to the current archery seasons. As for range and velocity, have you looked at the newer crossbows? A lot of them have IBO speeds in excess of 400fps. I am almost certain that there is not a compound bow out on the markets that comes close to those speeds. The fastest I've found is like 356fps.
crossbows are still bows. not sure if its really that big of a deal. kinda like flags said, they have been around for a long time. i can understand some peoples angst torwards them being allowed during archery season, but i dont necessarily agree. there is a good article on this issue in the american hunter this month. there will always be people arguing both sides.
