silentassassin

Actually data is from a state that does allow crossbows, as am I, though he spends most of his time hunting with trad equipment. The fact is that very few deer are taken out of the herd with Xbows in our state and it has been an absolute non-issue on our hunting with the exceptions of increased revenue for our G & F div. and our sporting goods stores.

datamax

Cougar - if its so obvious, don't you know I live in Arkansas, a state that hsa allowed crossbows for close to 30 years ? I can't want for them, they've been here all along.

But back to your response, lets look at it like this.

Crossbows in archery season have resulted in _____________________

Fill in the blank. More hunters ? Hey, thats a good thing. Greater archery kill ? Again, a good thing because it means more hunters which means more numbers. I'm looking for shortened archery season or fewer tags or something along those lines.

Kinda like this


Liberal rifle does tag in rifle season have resulted in the overall deer herd declining. That indicates that liberal doe tags were a NEGATIVE thing to do.

I suppose automatic weapons would result in some negative. High capacity magazines for waterfowl hunters. Lead shot. Using the POD. things like that. Things like rifles can't be allowed in archery season because they are rifles (meaning they have gunpowder propelling bullets etc)


I mean, if crossbows are that obviosuly bad for archery, it should be an easy thing to point out, shouldn't it ?

GRIZZLYMAN

Sorry I don't buy that for a minute. Arkansas has made crossbows legal during archery season for several years to my recollection. There haven't been any of the above effects on the herd or on the archery season.

Cougar Mag

I know Data is from Arkansas and that they are legal there........good for Arkansas. But he hunts elk in Colorado and whitetails in Kansas as well. I don't know about Kansas, but I do know that crossbows are not allowed in Colorado during archery season. Just curious as to why he is pushing them.

Matt / PA

A crossbow is a gun........the only difference is that this gun shoots arrows.
It belongs in firearms season for all but the people who are truly physically unable to draw a bow.
An open sighted .44 mag has what sort of effective range for the average person? How about a flintlock muzzleloader? They're both similar to a bow or a crossbow.......maybe we let handguns into archery season too?[:'(]

Archery season = Archery gear
Firearms seaons = guns.........a crossbow is a gun.

There's no point in debating this with me because you will never convince me that a crossbow is not a gun. It is. It is loaded and cocked ahead of time, can be scoped , does not require drawing , shooting or letting down at the time of the shot, and is ready to fire at all times.
It is a gun and I don't give a crap if it doesn't use gunpowder. Neither does a high powered air rifle but that's still a gun.

You crossbow guys.......you want to join the archery season? Would you support a law that prohibits you from pre-cocking your crossbow while in stand? You'd only be allowed to cock it in the presence of game at the moment that it needed to be shot.
Didn't think so.

Don't for a second try to compare drawing on an animal with ANY hand drawn bow VS a crossbow. There is no parallel.

So after all that, the negative to a crossbow in the archery season is that it is a gun. Treat it as such.
I have nothing against a crossbow, they're kinda fun to shoot, but put them where they belong........firearms seasons.

datamax

That could be how YOU define it. I could throw an arbitrary definition like "a crossbow has a machined riser, sights and shoots non-wood arrows" but you and I both know that isn't the REAL definition of what a bow is nor what historically archery is.

A crossbow most certainly IS hand held, and IS hand drawn. It has a trigger, but then by and large most compound shooters use triggers too. A stock is what the limbs attach to. A machined aluminum riser is what the limbs are attached to. Held differently ........ but the bow still functions the same, doesn't it ? Still got limbs and a string and the energy that proiduces propelling an arrow. Single shot, short range weapons.

Cougar Mag

Why can't the same then be said about fully automatic rifles during rifle season of which you mentioned in a previous post?

datamax

Crossbows use primers and gunpoweder, a magazine and shells ? I didn't know that !


Well, of course they don't, you and I know that. There is a LOT of difference between guns and crossbows, probably about the same number of differences as a compound. Ans of course, a .44 mag is a gun, shoots bullets, uses primers and gunpowder, vastly different than what archery is.

Matt / PA - you are a die hard anti-crossbow zealot, I can tell. But you and I both know what IS a gun and what isn't a gun as they are defined. IF you are correct, then Arkansas, Ohio, and states like that are allowing guns in archery season ? No, c'mon man, you and I know thats not accurate. Or better yet, they allow guns for handicap people only ?


And yes, I CAN parallel someone shooting a deer with a crossbow and a compound. Neither draw when the deer is in the presence of the shooter, both use triggers, both use sights, both use cutting edge technology, both likely use carbon/aluminum arrows, both have high letoff or no letoffs ......... see how easy that is ?

datamax

Cougar - because # 1 fully auto rifles are illegal

But seriously, they would be dangerous. In fact some states rifles are considered dangerous because of the population or the numbers of hunters and slugs are all thats allowed. I suspect fully auto would also get a reaction from the Ethical police, on how unfair it would be to have the ability to rattle off 30 shots at a deer.

Cougar Mag

So now it comes down to definitions and how each individual perceives them?

No....wrong. A crossbow's forearm is held by one hand(I will give you that), but its shouldered like a firearm and is not hand drawn before the shot. Maybe cocked, but not hand drawn or hand held by most correct definitions. Example: Illinois classifies a longbow, recurve, and compound bow as being hand held and hand drawn. Illinois does not classify a crossbow as either. I am guessing that most other states define these in the same way.