Crossbow Deer Harvest Numbers

[Woody Williams]

Pennsylvania doesn't track by crossbow. I read something that they're only tracking via archery and that includes both horizontal and vertical bows.

I saw where they stated that the "archery take" was up 13% to 30% in given areas. How much of that can be attributed to crossbows is unknown.

[Woody Williams]

I got this back from the PGC

Last season in Pennsylvania, archery license sales climbed 5.7 percent.

" In those 19 WMUs outside of the three urban areas (2B, 5C, 5D), the 2009-10 archery harvest increased 13 percent (41,230 in 2008-09 to 46,470 in 2009-10). The proportion of the archery harvest taken by crossbows in the 19 WMUs increased from 15 percent to 30 percent (6,184 of 41,230 in 2008-09; 13,940 of 46,470 in 2009-10). Crossbows have been legal in urban WMUs of 2B, 5C, and 5D since 2004."

So, PA is tracking crossbow kills. Crossbow kills more than doubled in Pennsylvania since the full inclusion. My prediction is that in the not so distant future Pennsylvania will rival Ohio in number of archery deer kills - crossbows and vertical bows.

Then this from the man that almost stopped crossbows in PA..

"Clearly, crossbows had an impact last season," said Ron Weaner, a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners, who was among the minority to vote against full inclusion of crossbows in the archery deer season last year.

[ThomThom]

I just finished hunting Wisconsin...They do not track which type of bow is used just the total archery kill at the end of the season.