I, like others I'm sure, own a crossbow and a compound bow. If allowing crossbows gets more people into hunting then it's only a matter of time before they are hunting all seasons. I do think the crossbow was easier to become proficient with but haven't used it in a few years and always will take my compound during bow season. The same thing will happen with any hunters that start up with a crossbow. Even with the crossbow I don't see me taking a shot over 40 yds. so I'm not sure where the big advantage is but I'm sure someone will enlighten me. 😆
Mine was deadly accurate right out of the box. To me it was no different than shooting a rifle up to 40 yds. At 50 it dropped a ton and I never shot it farther than that. If they would add a few weeks for another season and not take away from the other seasons then I would say no to archery but that ain't never gonna happen. I've never huted public land that was over run so I guess I don't really understand that point of view. Where I hunt in the Big Cypress I never see a bunch of people. Most I ever saw was 6 trucks in the parking area on opening day of gun this last year. Either way if it gets more people into hunting it is good in the long run.
My point is there are thousands of acres of public land "WMA's" that have limited acces to bow hunters like Croom no archery season at all or Richloam no BP season. Or some have 3 day BP hunts out of a 9 day season. If they want more hunters open up some more land,don't cram them in over crowded areas. Try getting some decent quotas,they're not that easy to obtain,then throw in a thousand more applicants who want to go because they can use a different weapon it will get impossible.I really don't care if they have an advantage and I don't think that's the FWC's idea to improve hunting,they just want to sell more licenses and by more airboats and brand new 35,000.00 trucks for 10.00 pr hr workers.
Skunkape,
Your arguement about this just being a scam to sell more licenses doesn't hold much water. Why would allowing crossbows add much to the # of licenses sold? Do you honestly believe there are thousands of people just sitting around thinkng "As soon as they let me take my crossbow hunting, by God I'm going to start buying a license and until then I'll just sit on the couch watching TV"?
People that want to hunt are already buying licenses. If they want to hunt, they'll use the tools that are legal. They aren't going to just sit on the sidelines waiting until some other tool becomes legal to use. Granted, there may be a few more people apply for the quota hunts, but I really don't think the # will be that great.
A couple of years ago Virginia began to allow corssbows. The same complaints I hear on this forum, I heard when I was there. And guess what, time has shown the concerns and complaints were unfounded. There wasn't a huge influx of brand new hunters hitting the field. The number of licenses sold didn't automatically shoot through the roof. There weren't hunters packing crssbows hang a tree stand on every tree.
As to the arguements I've read about how a crossbow has maybe a whopping 40fps more speed than a compound, I simply point out my comparison of the flintlock and the inline. A flintlock is basically a 75 yard weapon. A modern scoped inline, some of which even use smokeless powder, shooting sabot rounds, is deadly at 150-200 yards. Yet, both are legal during muzzleloader season. If someone chooses to handicap themselves by using a flintlock, more power to them. If someone wants the advantages of the modern rifle, then that's okay too. It comes down to personal choice as long as both tools are legal.
Using the above as a comparison, I see no problem with letting someone use a crossbow. It's a traditional archery platform, has existed for centuries, and really doesn't place much of an advantage besides the ease of proficiency. The more we allow things like this to divide us, the quicker we lose our right to hunt.
Cheers :cowboy
You may be correct about the influx of hunters but I still stand my ground about them opening up more areas for archery and BP seasons.I do know when they started the crossbow season a few years ago I know of at least 5 of my friends that bought them and hunted with them.THey do have there own seson,and they've always been legal during general gun season.
