By David Figura/The Post-Standard
June 04, 2010, 9:33AM
Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardBob Ripberger, back in 2008, with a crossbow in the backyard of his Syracuse home.
Beloved Syracuse sportsman Bob Ripberger died recently at the age of 92. However, the last major cause of his life — the passage of a state law allowing the use of crossbows by hunters for deer and other big game in this state — is alive and appears to be gathering momentum.
I first met Ripberger three years ago at an Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs banquet. He impressed me right off as a giver, one of those guys who constantly gave time, money and seemingly endless effort for a variety of local conservation causes and organizations.
He earned the respect of many through his involvement in such organizations and boards as the Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, the Oneida Lake Association, the state Conservation Council, the Central New York Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, the Onondaga Resource Recovery Agency and the Central New York Bowman.
Ripberger was a long-time hunting safety instructor. He helped organize the first annual kids fishing derby at Syracuse Hiawatha Lake, and was instrumental in convincing the state Department of Environmental Conservation to open up Onondaga Lake in 1987 to fishing on a catch-and-release basis. The lake had been closed to all fishing since 1970 by the state Health Department.
He was also on the state’s Conservation Council, a panel that oversees and advises the state Department of Environmental Conservation on the use of money that state residents pay for hunting, fishing and trapping licenses. Ripberger was on the council decades ago when it initially set up the state’s fall bow-hunting season.
When shoulder and strength problems stopped Ripberger from hunting with his beloved compound bow more than 10 years ago, he began lobbying state officials to legalize crossbows.
It’s a controversial issue. Those who oppose the use of crossbows compare their use to firearms and say they significantly reduce the challenge of bowhunting.
Currently, the state only allows hunters to use long (traditional) bows or compound bows, which have pulleys on both ends that make it easier to draw the bow string back and hold it. A crossbow is fired by cocking it and then pulling a trigger.
Those who support the use of crossbows note their use has caused few, if any problems in other states, including Pennsylvania and Ohio. They argue that making them legal would open or re-open the woods to many hunters, particularly seniors and the handicapped — resulting in more license fees for this cash-strapped state.
In 2008, I visited Ripberger at his Syracuse home, where he lectured me on the use of a crossbow and let me shoot one several times at a target he had set up in his backyard.
He told me then he had talked to DEC commissioner Pete Grannis three times about the issue. That same year, Grannis expressed support for crossbows for seniors and handicapped hunters but was unsuccessful in getting any changes made.
The problem all along has been that use of crossbows by hunters in this state requires a change in state law. Until this year, all the crossbow-related bills have died in committee at the state Assembly level.
This year is different. A crossbow bill by Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston, A924, is gaining steam. It has strong, bipartisan support and will likely be voted on by the full state Assembly by the end of June. An identical bill has also been proposed by state Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, in the state Senate.
At Ripberger’s wake Tuesday evening, a crossbow was put on a table along with all his family and outdoors-related photos.
At his funeral service Wednesday morning at St. James Catholic Church in Syracuse, parish priest, the Rev. John D. Manno, left no doubt about Ripberger’s feelings on the crossbow issue.
Manno jokingly said he felt sorry for those who oppose the legalization of crossbows, noting that “now (Ripberger) is in heaven, the biggest intercessor is there and I’m sure he’s going to lobby the Lord to make sure this takes place.”