Michbowhunter

I think its really ridiculous how an issue like allowing an elderly person to use a crossbow in ONE State has turned in to an International incident, and bashing our President!

I'm relatively young, but I would be very happy for senior citizens if the Stateof Michigan allowed them to use a crossbow!

Cougar Mag

I think I have the solution...........lets just put all the seasons together. Rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader, crossbow, compound, and traditional. Use whatever weapon you want. Everyone wear blaze orange all season long.

Sliverflicker

Its just a matter of time Greg, I look back over the years at a once very generous archery season that some fought so hard to get, only interrupted by a 2 week gun season. Now we have a youthdeer season 1 week befor bow,we get about 3 weeks to ourselves, then a disabled firearm season, 3 more weeks to ourselves, then the 15 day firearm season, 2 weeks to ourselves, then ML for 10 days that starts mid Dec, with a late firearms that starts while ML is in and goes to the end of the season. So my season has already been cut from 77 down to 57 archery only days in the last 15 years by special seasons, thats about 20% of my Archery only deer season gone!Next it will be the 62 years old season that wants their week or weekend and we will loose another 2 to 7 days. There is now not a period over 3 weeks long that someone is not shooting at deer with a firearm from the end of Sept to 1st of Jan!

In the early to mid 80's X bow manufactures made major improvements to the X bow and knew there was big money to be made even if they could turn 10% of gun hunters over, after all they are shoulderd and shot just like a gun, theystarted lobbing big time using the handicaped as an excuse to get the Xbow into the regular archery season, and today 62year olds.

They use the excuse that compounds and Xbows are the same, and the 10% of Gun hunters that resent the fact that we get to hunt first, and at the best parts of the season in most states will use the same reason I keep trying to keep them out of our season, locked cocked and ready to rock, and shoulder fired like a rifle, to claim there is no diferencebetween a Xbow and a Gun toeither have their seasons extended or all the same season which means ours will be shortend.
10% Those that cry the loudest, get the most!

Germ

There you go cougs, when all else fails through out all reason and logic[8D]

davidmil

Exactly what he said. Heck, the manufactures of Xbow's even had a get aquainted day in Maryland with lunch,Xbows to shoot and all that with a bunch of the legislatures.

LKNCHOPPERS

I thought my response was pretty clear. I did not say the people that can not shoot a bow for physical limitations should not be allowed to hunt with a crossbow, just setting an age was a bad idea in my opinion. A law like this opens the door for this to become the norm and before you know it the age gets changed to 55 and then 50 and then pretty soon they lift the restriction all together. Pretty soon you are the only guy in the woods with a bow amongst all the crossbow hunters.

Also SteveBNy, your statement on being 10 feet up in a tree stand hides your movement and to out law treestand hunting. It may help reduce the chance of being seen somewhat if you move at the right time. If you don't believe me, go ahead and draw your bow back the next time a big buck is within 20 yards and in plain sight of you. You will see whatI mean then.

SteveBNy

Make it 20 ft then.

What about pop ups with mesh?
Big bucks got xray vision now.
What about high let off that lets you hold that "real" bow for several minutes - especially when seated and resting the lower limb on your leg.
Make it apples to apples - no blinds - no treestands - ground only.

Steve

Schultzy

I wanna see you or the man that is going to hold my 73lb recurve back for several minutes! Don't put all of the compound crowd and other Archer's in the same boat! Not everyone has the high let offs! And if these High Let off's are so easy to pull back and simple like you say, shoot them then! Problem fixed! Get over it already!

Kid

This is all much ado about nothing. Unless you're running down deer with a knife or killing them with a spear, you don't have any right to complain about someone else's prefered method of hunting. If it brings more hunters into the fold or back into the fold, i'm all for it. All of you holier than thou folks need to find something else to whine about. The world won't stop turning if Illinois allows senior citizens to use crossbows.

Arthur P

In Texas, we've got most of the month of October for our bow season. I say 'most' because there is a youth rifle season that is concurrent with the last weekend of bow season. We bowhunters actually managed to get that youth rifle season limited to the last weekend. They intended for it the be EVERY weekend of bow season.

For the past few years there has been intensive lobbying by the big hunting ranches to extend general season through October. Adding that extra month will mean at least25% increase to their cash flow. They know they can make a lot more money off gun hunters than they can bowhunters, so we're kinda the vermin of their world.

Naturally, extending general season through October will do away with our bow season and the state will lose archery stamp revenue. But they began preparing forthis losssome years ago when they introduced the Super Combo license that includes all state issued stamps. Now most folks who hunt multiple species or hunt in several special seasons just buy the combo package and not the individual stamps. It's a lot cheaper to buy the combo.

So, now the commission can say that bowhunters aren't supporting the archery season, and have dismal archery stamp sales records to support their contention.And that will give them just cause to discontinue it and includeOctober in the general season. Whatever small number of archery stamps were still being purchased will bemore than offset - by ahuge margin - by the number of nonresident license sales for newOctober gun hunters.

It's coming. No doubt in my mind at all.

Of course, our general season is exactly what CougarMag describes. Bring whatever you want to the party -including crossbows -and hunt...while wearing hunter orange. Most of my bowhunting over the past 25 years has been on public land in hunter orange anyway.

So, with the demise of bow season looming on the horizon, why should anyone in this state be fussed about crossbows?