MN bills introduced to allow crossbows during archery season.

☝🏼 Brilliant!

I have no problem admitting that my gripe against the crossbow is for my own personal gain.
I have no problem with aged hunters, disabled hunters, injured hunters, etc using a crossbow. It’s the able bodied hunter, that has never bow hunted before, that wants to push that EASY button to hunt the early season. They never “paid their dues” so to speak.
that’s great if Swampcat’s wife is a natural, but most beginners take at least 3 years to kill thier 1st deer. Not everyone has perfectly laid out properties to hunt on. (Or bait, if that’s the case ?)
No bait. If it takes the average beginner three years to bag a deer with a bow using training wheels😉- I would submit it is not because of the difficulty shooting the bow so much as it is low deer density or lack of deer hunting knowledge - at least in my state. I have raised a couple of kids who both killed deer their first year bow hunting - and that was before I owned land - they were hunting public. It is not that hard to hit a five inch circle at 20 yards with a modern compound.
 
No bait. If it takes the average beginner three years to bag a deer with a bow using training wheels😉- I would submit it is not because of the difficulty shooting the bow so much as it is low deer density or lack of deer hunting knowledge - at least in my state. I have raised a couple of kids who both killed deer their first year bow hunting - and that was before I owned land - they were hunting public. It is not that hard to hit a five inch circle at 20 yards with a modern compound.
Here is a stat, or statement I pulled off the www
”Roughly speaking, the average success rate for bowhunters nationwide hovers around 10%. Not to say that rifle hunting is easy (it's not), but bowhunters get preferential treatment when it comes to licenses and seasons because they choose to accept lower odds of success.”
Again, we are all happy for your super successful hunting family, you all are amazing, but it’s far from the norm.

Are you hunting in MN?
 
I haven’t used any game cameras for almost ten years and still enjoy my hunting seasons. I scout the old way and enjoy not knowing what is exactly out there.

Why don’t more of you try it.

I could use a camera for monitoring trespassers, but I couldn’t/ wouldn’t do a thing about it anyway..
 
I haven’t used any game cameras for almost ten years and still enjoy my hunting seasons. I scout the old way and enjoy not knowing what is exactly out there.

Why don’t more of you try it.

I could use a camera for monitoring trespassers, but I couldn’t/ wouldn’t do a thing about it anyway..
Agree except the trespass part. I would absolutely do something about it.

I started a thread about hunting a property where I hadn’t run a camera and it was the most fun I had all season.
 
Here is a stat, or statement I pulled off the www
”Roughly speaking, the average success rate for bowhunters nationwide hovers around 10%. Not to say that rifle hunting is easy (it's not), but bowhunters get preferential treatment when it comes to licenses and seasons because they choose to accept lower odds of success.”
Again, we are all happy for your super successful hunting family, you all are amazing, but it’s far from the norm.

Are you hunting in MN?
What's the definition of "success rate"? If I sit in a tree for 45 days and see 30 deer that could be shot but don't shoot any is my success rate 0%? Maybe the 90% that weren't successful didn't see the "booner" they want, and may never see, but could have shot some other class of deer.
 
Here is a stat, or statement I pulled off the www
”Roughly speaking, the average success rate for bowhunters nationwide hovers around 10%. Not to say that rifle hunting is easy (it's not), but bowhunters get preferential treatment when it comes to licenses and seasons because they choose to accept lower odds of success.”
Again, we are all happy for your super successful hunting family, you all are amazing, but it’s far from the norm.

Are you hunting in MN?
no, I am not hunting in MN. And, from what I read about MN, I would expect out success to be much better than someone bow hunting in MN - and not because we are exceptionally proficient with a bow - but because we have quite a few deer. In a normal year, I would expect to get a decent shot, within 25 yards - every other hunt first month of bow season. I have two grand daughters who shot a deer with a crossbow this year. Me, my son, and my wife have all passed multiple deer, with both compound and crossbow. In fact, neither me, my wife, or my son has killed a deer with any kind of bow in the past three years - not because we couldnt, but because we chose not to. I hunted strictly with a vertical bow for 12 consecutive years and killed at least three deer every year. I have not killed a deer in three years with any weapon - from recurve to modern rifle. Again, I could have easily killed my annual six deer bag limit - but chose not to. And that is hunting a lot of public.

I dont consider any one of us, except my son, a great shot. We just have a lot of high percentage shot opportunities. I have owned a crossbow for six years and killed one deer. That in no way reflects the deer I could have killed.
 
Agree except the trespass part. I would absolutely do something about it.

I started a thread about hunting a property where I hadn’t run a camera and it was the most fun I had all season.
I have somewhat given up on the trespass after my cabin was burned. I fear finding my camper or pickup damaged when up there. Felons for neighbors.
 
I have somewhat given up on the trespass after my cabin was burned. I fear finding my camper or pickup damaged when up there. Felons for neighbors.
Damn man that’s terrible. Was it burned in retaliation for something you did?
 
I have somewhat given up on the trespass after my cabin was burned. I fear finding my camper or pickup damaged when up there. Felons for neighbors.

That element is gonna get bounced out of the countryside soon enough. Economics are going bad quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I strongly suspect so.
Man, that is some enraging stuff. What’s a guy with a family and a life worth living to do when the assholes you’re dealing with have nothing to lose..
 
Man, that is some enraging stuff. What’s a guy with a family and a life worth living to do when the assholes you’re dealing with have nothing to lose..
You just brought up the most relevant question facing society today. Scary times ahead.
 

 
Wow, landowners are required to label their own stuff on their own property. I wonder what comes after that?
 
Wow, landowners are required to label their own stuff on their own property. I wonder what comes after that?
Vaguely worded but I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t apply to land owners. Especially depending on their trespass laws. If trespass laws were like ND for example where you can hunt unposted land without permission, the requirement on private land makes more sense.
 
I like the “cant shoot anything you saw via a camera on the same calendar day” law. It’s illegal to use electronic communications in MN to “take” game so guys who see a deer on a cell cam and then go kill it are technically breaking the law but I’ve not heard of any enforcement.
 
I’ve never hunted NH, but in VT you can hunt any land if that land is not legally posted. Signs and registered at the town clerk.
 
I like the “cant shoot anything you saw via a camera on the same calendar day” law. It’s illegal to use electronic communications in MN to “take” game so guys who see a deer on a cell cam and then go kill it are technically breaking the law but I’ve not heard of any enforcement.
That makes a lot of sense. So if you saw a doe on your trail cam that day - can you not shoot any doe - or are they all named and you can identify each and every one?
 
That makes a lot of sense. So if you saw a doe on your trail cam that day - can you not shoot any doe - or are they all named and you can identify each and every one?
Or if you're hunting a specific buck...you go to a stand before daybreak, 15 minutes after daylight the bucks pic gets taken at another stand or location. So now your hunt is done for the day?

What if you hunt in area like a few of my properties where some areas have cell service and other parts are in a valley without service. Deer's pic is taken on cell camera on bluff top and you're in the valley and harvest him two hours later but never saw the image due to no signal, then what?
 
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