Bow Wars!

SPITFIRE · Post by **SPITFIRE** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:52 pm

I think it's time to renew my subscription! Can't wait to see where this goes. Hoo ray for Outdoor Life. Now we need more to jump in, but it's a good start.

SPTFIRE

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:01 pm

good news hopefully it gets through to some people

animal · Post by **animal** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:11 pm

crossbows rule

one shot scott · Post by **one shot scott** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:14 pm

Gotta love good publicity!

Chris Dillard · Post by **Chris Dillard** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:26 pm

We could use more of that!! Good deal.

Tenn. Equinox · Post by **Tenn. Equinox** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:22 am

I e-mailed the editor of Deer and Deer Hunting a couple of months
ago and he said his mag. was thinking about putting out a crossbow
magazine. He said it would be announced in D. AND D. Hunting.

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:21 am

I always have liked fireworks.

ecoaster · Post by **ecoaster** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:52 am

Glad to hear it.

N8tr Boy · Post by **N8tr Boy** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:54 am

Watched Canada in the Rough Sunday about xbow for deer, good show. In it he blasts the "stick and compound" families for bad mouthing xbows. Very well said and to the point.

Real McCoy · Post by **Real McCoy** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 1:42 pm

I read the article in "Outdoor Life" and while I did not see it as being pro or con, I did think that it made a case for crossbows. It asked the question "Where Do Crossbows Belong" in the archery season, its own season or limited to gun season. with a season.

The article pointed out the war (their) word between compound user and crossbows. They quoted Ed Wentzler the legislative director for United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania who is upset that crossbows have been included in the 6 week archery season. He considers crossbows to be an unwelcome abomination. He says that crossbows simply are not bows and then gives his definition of archery equipment - "Archery equipment shoud be defined as implements that are held by hand, drawn by hand and released by the motion of the hand in the presence of game." He says that if use a crossbow you are not drawing the string in the presence of game and that gives crossbow shooters an unfair advantage.

I am a new comer to crossbows and my knowledge is limited at best but the last time I looked at my Excalibur it fit Mr. Wentzler definition of arhcery equipment. It is held by hand, can be drawn by hand and is realeased by a motion of the hand. (Most compound shooters use a release of some kind, which is nothing more than a mechanical trigger. And even though a crossbow is usually not drawn in the presence of game it can and could be.

Apparently Mr. Wentzler believes that simply because he sees crossbows as being an unwelcomed abomination no one should be allowed to use them.

This sentence at the end of the article really got my attention - "Hunters got a glimpse of the future at January's Archery Trade Association Show, where PSE Archery unveiled its TAC-15, a horizontal bow upper unit that mates to an AR-15 rifle receiver, turning most tactical rifles into crossbows."

It is not only a fight against gun control but also a fiight for our right to own, use and hunt with crossbows.

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:04 pm

they way i see it we as hunters need to stick together against anti hunters and peta, and defend each other not fight amongst ourselves. if someone were to ever try to ban compound bows i would stand behind the compound shooters and support their right( although the more i read about them opposing us i wonder why i should) , why is it so much to ask for them to support us.

. also in my opinion PSE bringing out that tac 15 was a really bad idea that will only add fuel to the anti crossbow fire. i define archery as using limbs and a string to propel an arrow, in which case a crossbow and a compound or recuuve all fit in period. again just my opinion

sits in trees · Post by **sits in trees** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:26 pm

you know down here in NY if they ever wanted to ban compounds for hunting(they are the first on the list for the anti's) i would really have to sit back and think about supporting the compound bow hunters after all the mindless, idiotic bashing they have put on x-bows?

hey what goes around comes around.

i know this goes against the whole stand together belief that i'm really part of but if i can't hunt with the weapon of my choice should i be so concerned about another group and their weapon of chioce especially if they are the group that prevented me from hunting with my weapon of choice here in my home state?

you see this is how this whole thing works and this is the one thing elitist compound bow hunters just don't grasp or care to understand????

Woody Williams · Post by **Woody Williams** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:35 pm

Tenn. Equinox wrote:I e-mailed the editor of Deer and Deer Hunting a couple of months
ago and he said his mag. was thinking about putting out a crossbow
magazine. He said it would be announced in D. AND D. Hunting.

This is what he said a year or two back..

Editor's Stump: Alabama's Problems Concern Us All

Daniel E. Schmidt

There’s trouble brewing in the Alabama deer woods, and it has nothing to do with weather or disease.

After decades of standing pat with its hunting regulations, the state’s Conservation Advisory Board passed sweeping changes that sent shockwaves all the way from Huntsville to Mobile. Tentatively, starting this fall, hunters in three counties will not be allowed to hunt deer with dogs. Three more counties passed ordinances that will only allow hunting with dogs by special permits. The restrictions come on the heels of years of escalating problems. One report said dog-hunters have burned the barns of uncooperative landowners, while landowners made death threats to trespassers.

That’s not all. Other changes include opening the regular archery season to crossbow hunters and creating a special five-day season for muzzleloading hunters. If the measures pass final approval, Alabama will no longer be a unique deer hunting state, and that doesn’t sit well with thousands of hunters.

A Birmingham News writer summed it up nicely when he recently wrote, “For those traditionalists who believe anything that makes hunting easier is a sin, May 22, 2004, will always be the day Alabama’s great outdoors went to hell in a hand basket.”

The changes came with the retirement of Charles Kelly, who fought against such rules during his 39 years as director of the state’s wildlife program. Although Kelly considered dog-hunting a grandfathered tradition, he opposed regulations that he believed made hunting easier.

The crossbow and muzzleloading concessions have also riled members of the state’s largest bow-hunting organization, because they apparently don’t want to share the woods ... with anyone.

Although these incidents give Alabama deer hunters a collective black eye, they are not exclusive to the Camellia State. Similar clashes between hunters are going on across the country.

I’m not sure what to make of all of this, but I do know at least two things:

1. A few bad apples can spoil the cart, and

2. Bow-hunting’s minority includes some awfully self-righteous individuals.

I’ve never hunted deer with dogs, but I’ve always viewed the tradition as something special for those Southern states that still allowed it. The fact these bans surfaced is testament that privatization of our shrinking deer haunts is the pasttime’s biggest obstacle. It also shows how easily other tactics — or possibly deer hunting itself — could eventually be voted out of existence.

As for the bow-hunting debate, we must remember archers have seasons measured in months — not days. Bow-hunters enjoy that freedom at the expense of gun-toting grunts who manage the herds with heavy doses of soft lead.

A crossbow shot beyond 20 yards is not substantially more accurate than a compound. One of the most ignorant comments I’ve heard actually came from a game warden who said, “Comparing a crossbow to a compound bow is like comparing a semi-automatic rifle to a single-shot.”

That’s nonsense. The average 20-inch bolt shot from a 150-pound draw crossbow drops more than 2 feet at 40 yards and nearly 4 feet at 50 yards. That’s not a long-range weapon. In fact, a 60-pound draw compound bow is more deadly than a 150-pound draw crossbow, because the compound shoots flatter trajectories and produces more kinetic energy at long ranges.

Most important, however, is the fact crossbow usage does not increase overall harvest rates. For example, archers in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina account for a paltry average of 10 percent of their states’ overall deer harvests. The kicker? These states allow the general public to hunt with crossbows.

If crossbow usage causes Alabama’s harvest rate to increase by 2 percent, which is extremely generous, it would add a paltry 8,000 deer to the state’s average annual harvest of 424,000 whitetails.
Sounds like much ado about nothing, doesn’t it?

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:42 pm

“Comparing a crossbow to a compound bow is like comparing a semi-automatic rifle to a single-shot.”

. how does that make any sense?

how dumb could someone possibly be. and to think they give this guy a badge

G Money · Post by **G Money** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:13 pm

I'd say the ones who don't have the correct information are "misinformed."

Those who have all the information and still refuse to accept us are, "stubborn."

I'm hunting with my crossbow from the ground only this fall.
Eye level and 1-on-1 (or more deer).
Anyone who thinks that will be easy is misinformed about a whitetail deer.