New Jersey 2010 Archery Survey: Crossbows

[Esox]

FYI- Some interesting survey results

... The full survey is available in the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife website

New Jersey 2010 Bowhunter Survey- Summary
Following is the Executive Summary for the Assessment of NJ Resident Bow Hunter Participation survey conducted in 2010. The full document is on NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife website.

Background In late 2007, the NJDFW conducted a random survey of resident New Jersey hunters regarding the inclusion of crossbow to the list of legal hunting weapons. Hunter support, in addition to research on crossbow ballistics and success rates, and a review of other states' crossbow seasons led the NJ Fish and Game Council to approve the crossbow for inclusion as a legal hunting arm during all archery seasons beginning in the 2009-2010 deer season.
In 2009, the NJ Legislature legalized bow hunting on Sundays on private property and state-owned Wildlife Management Areas. It offered a tremendous opportunity for bow hunters by adding 12-21days to the archery seasons, depending on the deer management zone hunted.
In response to these new opportunities for bow hunters, the DFW conducted a survey to gather information on bow hunter participation in the new crossbow and Sunday hunting regulations. The survey, conducted in May 2010 was mailed to 1,900 resident bow hunting license holders, randomly chosen from the Division's automated licensing system. A total of 890 surveys were returned (46.8%) indicating a very strong interest in this subject. Resident Archery license buyers, 16 years or older who purchased a Resident Archery License, Resident Senior Archery License or All-around Sportsman license were surveyed. Firearm license purchasers were not included in this survey.

RESPONDENTS WERE ASK:
Which deer seasons they participate in with bows and with firearms. 78% percent of participating deer hunters use bow and guns; 14% hunt with bows only; only 7% of respondents did not bow hunt in 2009-2010. and 4% hunt with guns only.

TYPES OF ARCHERY EQUIPMENT UTILIZED
• Hunters were asked to identify all types of bows used in 2009-2010. Compound bows were the most commonly used, by 85% of respondents; followed by crossbows at 25%; recurve bows at 4%; and longbow at 2%.

• When asked to identify the primary bow used, 78% of respondents answered compound bow. Crossbows were the next popular choice at 19%, recurve bows 2%; and longbow 1%.

INFLUENCE OF CROSSBOW LEGALIZATION
• Eighty-eight (88%) percent said that the legalization of crossbows had no influence on their decision to hunt. Those respondents who attributed a return to bow hunting due to crossbow legalization numbered 11%, and less than 1% said that crossbows influenced them to start bow hunting. Three percent of the participants did not respond.

[sumner4991]

Interesting. It will be more interesting to see the responses from the same group in five years. Also, it would be interesting to see how Virginia hunters would respond or Georgia or Ohio . . .states that have been crossbow legal for a few years to several years.

Attitudes toward the use of crossbows change after they have been legal in a state for a while and "non-crossbow" hunters see that crossbows have not negatively impacted their hunting experience.