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.

 

[Double Creek]

Never forget the #1 cause for shoulder injuries for bowhunters is the legalization of crossbows…..

 

[Angus 1895]

I’ve hunted recurve, compound & crossbow.

The recurve hands down is easiest to hunt with. It’s just not that great of range.

The compound has a herky jerky deer spooking draw….then it can come outta tune. Or u pick the wrong pin.

The crossbow, it’s hard to pack, tears up the string, clunks around, u can rip your thumb off when it shoots, scopes fog.

The recurve you need to practice……..a lot. Always need to be shooting.

Drawing it back a lot of critters take it.

Recurves are super fun

I harvested near 20 deer with a recurve average 6 yards.

No elk though…..I’m really regretting that.

 

[SwampCat]

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

8 weeks of combined gun season between ML, straight wall, and modern gun. 22 weeks for archery/crossbow. How can you believe the “weapon does not matter”?

 

[roymunson]

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

If you think a crossbow is just as effective as a 243 in the deer woods, you're trying to convince yourself of something that is not true.

Sure it's easier than a compound.
It also allows me to spend time with my kids in the woods and let them hunt earlier.

But if you put a gun to my head and said "you have to kill a deer today", I'll take my 444 100 times out of 100 over even the newest and greatest crossbow.

I respect a lot about what you bring to this forum Dawg, but I also realize that arguing with you in regards to something you're this emotional about generally means any sort of reasoning has been left behind a long time ago.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

My point is the distinction between weapons is what defines seasons. Archery/muzzleloader/rifle (gun). The crossbow is every bit a gun as it is a bow. The similarities with bow begins and ends with the projectile it’s fires somewhat resembling an arrow (ironically it’s not even called an arrow). It’s held horizontally, it’s fired with a preloaded trigger, it can be fired from any position which eliminates one of the toughest variables in archery, which is drawing for a shot, 95% of the time requiring standing and moving. It’s mounted with a SCOPE. It has triple the effective range and almost double the speed of a compound in responsible hands. This is from Ravins website , Shooting 415 FPS and weighing just 6.9-pounds, the Turbo X generates long-range accuracy out to 100-yards

If you can do this, it’s not archery. A 4 year old sitting a blind with a crossbow on some kind of brace/arm. It’s insanity that we can’t make this distinction to me. I’m all for using one in gun or even muzzleloader season. Looks fun. But I thought the point of seasons was differentiate the means of take and giving those who chose to increase the challenge another opportunity. My point being if we have just watered these down to mean nothing, eliminate seasons.

 

[BenA]

My point is the distinction between weapons is what defines seasons. Archery/muzzleloader/rifle (gun). The crossbow is every bit a gun as it is a bow. The similarities with bow begins and ends with the projectile it’s fires somewhat resembling an arrow (ironically it’s not even called an arrow). It’s held horizontally, it’s fired with a preloaded trigger, it can be fired from any position which eliminates one of the toughest variables in archery, which is drawing for a shot, 95% of the time requiring standing and moving. It’s mounted with a SCOPE. It has triple the effective range and almost double the speed of a compound in responsible hands. This is from Ravins website , Shooting 415 FPS and weighing just 6.9-pounds, the Turbo X generates long-range accuracy out to 100-yards

If you can do this, it’s not archery. A 4 year old sitting a blind with a crossbow on some kind of brace/arm. It’s insanity that we can’t make this distinction to me. I’m all for using one in gun or even muzzleloader season. Looks fun. But I thought the point of seasons was differentiate the means of take and giving those who chose to increase the challenge another opportunity. My point being if we have just watered these down to mean nothing, eliminate seasons.
View attachment 88767

If we're just going by level of difficulty or challenge, a compound is a LOT closer to a crossbow than it is to a recurve/longbow. You can take a ready to hunt compound bow package home and be shooting accurately to 40 yards in just a day. That's not a made up thing either. My kids did that. It took them almost the same amount of time to become efficient with a crossbow. If anything, traditional archers should get the long archery seasons, and shorten the compound season. Also, range with a compound is more than it ever was before. You have more and more people becoming efficient at 60 yards and on than ever before. The compound equipment is light years ahead of what it was when it was introduced.

 

[roymunson]

My point is the distinction between weapons is what defines seasons. Archery/muzzleloader/rifle (gun). The crossbow is every bit a gun as it is a bow. The similarities with bow begins and ends with the projectile it’s fires somewhat resembling an arrow (ironically it’s not even called an arrow). It’s held horizontally, it’s fired with a preloaded trigger, it can be fired from any position which eliminates one of the toughest variables in archery, which is drawing for a shot, 95% of the time requiring standing and moving. It’s mounted with a SCOPE. It has triple the effective range and almost double the speed of a compound in responsible hands. This is from Ravins website , Shooting 415 FPS and weighing just 6.9-pounds, the Turbo X generates long-range accuracy out to 100-yards

If you can do this, it’s not archery. A 4 year old sitting a blind with a crossbow on some kind of brace/arm. It’s insanity that we can’t make this distinction to me. I’m all for using one in gun or even muzzleloader season. Looks fun. But I thought the point of seasons was differentiate the means of take and giving those who chose to increase the challenge another opportunity. My point being if we have just watered these down to mean nothing, eliminate seasons.
View attachment 88767

I can make the distinction. It's more difficult to get a deer killed with a compound than with a crossbow. I'm just saying it doesn't matter as much as you say it does. That's our own opinions.

I sat with my 8 year old as he killed his first deer this year. On a beautiful October evening. I feel blessed that I got to spend that time with him and watch him come unglued as he experienced that rush. If not for a crossbow during archery season, I don't get to experience that. Go out, enjoy the outdoors, get what you want out of it and quit worrying about what other folks are doing. Focus on your thing. Theres so much fun to be had out there. It'd be a shame to miss it.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

If we're just going by level of difficulty or challenge, a compound is a LOT closer to a crossbow than it is to a recurve/longbow. You can take a ready to hunt compound bow package home and be shooting accurately to 40 yards in just a day. That's not a made up thing either. My kids did that. It took them almost the same amount of time to become efficient with a crossbow. If anything, traditional archers should get the long archery seasons, and shorten the compound season. Also, range with a compound is more than it ever was before. You have more and more people becoming efficient at 60 yards and on than ever before. The compound equipment is light years ahead of what it was when it was introduced.

Yeah but you’re reaching. I’m gonna challenge that your kid became proficient enough to ethically shoot a whitetail deer at 40 yards in a day. Could he hit a target, I buy that but I’ve been bow hunting for 30 years and I’ve never attempted a 40 yard shot at a deer. Ive seen 5 year old stack bullseyes with a crossbow in minutes. As you stated above go ask a tracker about trailing gun vs bow. If bow was so easy there wouldn’t be a disproportionate amount per weapon.

 

[TonySoprano]

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.

I heard that. Live and learn , I've shot 3 deer with a compound bow and only located one of them. I felt bad of course , but now realize it was 100 % my fault. I was young and dumb , the first deer I saw fall and die in a field. The others were in the woods and I had to track.. MY mistake was to track right away....NOW after watching bow hunting shows I know to give them a hour minimum , or leave them over night.

The last few years I haven't even bow hunted....3 years ago I bought a Mathews Image 50 lb bow after I messed up my right arm, so I'm ready to go if I decide too.
I just prefer rifle hunting....the last 3 deer I shot with my .300 savage dropped in their tracks.

 

[Telemark]

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

Yes. That's why they were legalized for hunting. Why would we want greater barriers to entry?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Yes. That's why they were legalized for hunting. Why would we want greater barriers to entry?

Because that’s the point of seasons I assumed? It falls to my point, why have a distinction if there’s no inherent difference?