Crossbows as we age....

[roymunson]

Did you post a picture of this buck you speak of?

Thanks

I did, but if you twist my arm I'll do it again...

 

[H20fwler]

I remember how trad bow hunters went spastic when compounds got popular.
Now the compound archers are spaz over crossbows.
Who cares.

Ohio legalized crossbows in the early 80’s, same arguments about them being rifles and you could shoot a deer at 100yds and they will ruin hunting.
It didn’t, and today Ohio is one of the top five trophy states in country with more deer killed during archery than gun season and more archery deer killed with crossbows than compounds.

What it comes down to is hunters thinking they own the deer in their areas and they are spiteful. I’m guilty of it myself.

 

[SwampCat]

In AR, the crossbow harvest still has not exceeded the vertical bow harvest. Crossbow harvest is basically insignificant - about 5% of total harvest. It seems the states with the longer gun seasons have a lower percentage of archery harvest - including crossbows. In the states with the shorter gun seasons, hunters find a way and will hunt much more with other methods.

 

[bigboreblr]

Think the success rate is higher with a crossbow. Harvest vs wound. With crossbows being legal in NY for a few years, I hear less I cant find what I shot stories.

We also get less free time as we get older to practice too.

Many people go into the woods with rifles that can shoot well at 600 yards, many of them come out empty handed.

I was going to wake up a older post about using iron sighted rifles / muzzleloaders as we get older. Same kinda topic. Especially muzzleloaders. States have different limitations. flintlock vs caplock vs sabots vs scope vs open sights vs peep sights.

I debate how many more years I will enter the woods with a flintlock vs having to use a scope. Always have fun at the range with iron sights. But, I don't want the animal to suffer because of a self imposed limitation.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Think the success rate is higher with a crossbow. Harvest vs wound. With crossbows being legal in NY for a few years, I hear less I cant find what I shot stories.

We also get less free time as we get older to practice too.

So admittedly it’s easier to shoot (and absolutely easier to hunt with) a crossgun than a bow. Thus eliminating one of, if not the greatest barrier to entry to hunt in archery season. Practicing and effort. Therefore, reducing the point of having weapon differentiation between seasons. So my argument all along has been if the weapon doesn’t matter why do we bother with seasons? Open it up at a specific starting point and a designated ending point and just let it be a free for all, the only limiter would be the limit. The gap between archery with crossbows and guns is getting so small it’s almost pointless at this juncture to worry with different seasons.
In my opinion of course

 

[bigboreblr]

So, my brother in law has thousands of acres to farm. I am the only one allowed to hunt a property about 2 hours away from my farm. Just me every weekend of bow / crossbow season. First 3 weeks of rifle I see half the town there........... Kind of layed off hunting rifle there past year or two. Rut is on at that point. Then 3rd weekend of rifle to the end, just me again......

There are a lot of guys who just rifle hunt.

On a side note, some of my best fishing has been during hunting season. They get hungry and cold. Makes them more predictable to fish.

I hate seeing wounded deer..... Probably got only 1 or 2 deer I wound until I won't hunt with a certain implement or at all. I have stopped hunting a season after wounding one before. The job is harvest, I take it seriously. I limit myself if I don't practice that much that year, both rifle and bow. 30 if I practice well, 20 if I don't. 200 if I practice rifle, 150 IF I don't much. 150 with muzzleloader, 100 if I don't practice much. Still get plenty of chances. Seen many real nice ones many couldn't say no to, just farther than I want to gamble. Practice 250 sometimes 400 with the rifle, and 40 or 50 with bow/crossbow.

 

[BenA]

So admittedly it’s easier to shoot (and absolutely easier to hunt with) a crossgun than a bow. Thus eliminating one of, if not the greatest barrier to entry to hunt in archery season. Practicing and effort. Therefore, reducing the point of having weapon differentiation between seasons. So my argument all along has been if the weapon doesn’t matter why do we bother with seasons? Open it up at a specific starting point and a designated ending point and just let it be a free for all, the only limiter would be the limit. The gap between archery with crossbows and guns is getting so small it’s almost pointless at this juncture to worry with different seasons.
In my opinion of course

I'd absolutely be for that. I'd never hunt with a bow or crossbow again. I started bow hunting in the 80s with a Power Mag just to take advantage of a longer deer season. Method makes no difference to me. But, you'd have to probably shorten deer seasons due to the greater effectiveness of gun hunting. The other thing it would do is decrease the wounding rate due to bow hunting. With bow hunting gear, people lose way too many deer.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I'd absolutely be for that. I'd never hunt with a bow or crossbow again. I started bow hunting in the 80s with a Power Mag just to take advantage of a longer deer season. Method makes no difference to me. But, you'd have to probably shorten deer seasons due to the greater effectiveness of gun hunting. The other thing it would do is decrease the wounding rate due to bow hunting. With bow hunting gear, people lose way too many deer.

Well then why limit the calibers and we should allow .50 cals and the like to be used. I’d bet as a numbers game more deer are lost with a gun than a bow every year. Don’t want that so let’s make sure we take all sport out and just get to a quick static end result every year. Actually why even have a determined season length. Just open year round, set a limit and let er rip.

 

[BenA]

Well then why limit the calibers and we should allow .50 cals and the like to be used. I’d bet as a numbers game more deer are lost with a gun than a bow every year. Don’t want that so let’s make sure we take all sport out and just get to a quick static end result every year. Actually why even have a determined season length. Just open year round, set a limit and let er rip.

Ask a blood tracker how many gun vs archery jobs they go on. I'd be for an equal number of day's season for each weapon type, and alternate the weeks those dates were. One year crossbow season would come first, the next traditional bow, the next compound bow, the next gun, etc.