Crossbows

[Ddog]

OK here goes it..i am just trying to get a little response from people who hunt with bows..maybe a little bit of arguement...
I am a bowhunter i use a compound bow and the reason for this is because i like to be upclose and personal so to speak.. i like seeing the animal come to me from distances or sneeking in and getting a shot. i do not like the idea of people buying crossbows because they are gun hunters and get an extra couple of weeks of hunting...or get a shot at an either sex season.
What I Think..
I think in the archery only seasons CROSSBOWS should be dis-allowed unless of a medical reason or a junior hunter or 65yrs of age or older.
I have been going to the Christian and Kettle valleys for the past 12 years and it used to be strictly compound and traditonal bows. the last few years has seen such an increase of crossbows it isnt even funny. and i haven't seen one of them actually go into the bush and hunt..all they do is drive their trucks or quads or snowmobiles up and down the roads consistenly. and taking shots a 60 yards (wich i have witnessed).
I am thoroughly disgusted. I am also disgusted in the elk hunt that i had planned for over a year was the same way, once the regs came out and it was an "any elk" season in the kootenays my buddy (who lives there) phoned me and said it might be bad cause of that.When i arrived the day before the season we ran into at least 8 hunters that bought crossbows within the last few months and a few just a week before and one that bought it two days before to get to take down an elk. When i brought my elk to the butcher up there on day 7 there were a few in there that were all crossbow kills.
So ....tell me what do you think? Should crossbows be diasallowed in an archery only season? I mean after all we are hunting for the love of the sport and to put some meat in the freezer and i don't think a crossbow should be considered archery.

[sealevel]

There not a lot of arguments on this forum except for this topic we had about a 10 page argument a while back so you mite not get a lot of response.

[buckslayer]

So ....tell me what do you think? Should crossbows be diasallowed in an archery only season? I mean after all we are hunting for the love of the sport and to put some meat in the freezer and i don't think a crossbow should be considered archery.

What do you think it should be considered? You hold it like a rifle so it must be one then even though it has the same effective range of a compound bow, you need to be able to estimate ranges like a bow and the arrow drops like a bow. Yes it is easier to learn to shoot than a compound or traditional bow but its stil a bow .

You will find idiots hunting with everything what about gun hunters who dont practice make poorly placed shots miss ,wound and loose game or shoot the sh** out of an animal do they have any more right to be out there than a crossbow hunter? I feel that everyone should have to prove that they are proficient with whatever weapon they choose to hunt with this would lead to a lot less lost and wounded animals out there. So before you go bashing the roughly 1% of ppl who hunt with a crossbow take a look at the whole picture.

Thats my opinion take it or leave it (by the way i hunt with a compound bow)
Buckslayer

[Onesock]

Here Here. I agree. No crossbows in the archery only seasons. I may be willing to bet the any elk season for archery in the Kootenays may be changed next year because of what you just said. It would be shame if this happened but who knows.

[harbinger]

hmmmm what a coincidence, i was just thinking about getting a crossbow so I could hunt region five for the dec archery season For next year. I geuss if your hunting bow only because of all the reasons you listed I can understand being bitter about crossbow hunters. something I have wondered before is why do the archery guys get their own season anyways? Was it soemthing that was lobbied for?
How far can a crossbow shoot?
If i am going to hunt the archery season I would rather get a crossbow, just don't have time for a new sport like archery anytime soon. It is too bad you feel the way you do. Some of the guys you see out there are probably good guys who are just making the most out of a great hunting opportunity. Jeez, if it is any elk in the Kootneys for bow only that is a pretty tempting reason to buy a crossbow and go whack one, elk meat is awesome. I think the crossbow should stay in bow only season.

[J_T]

Seems we only just finish this debate/discussion and it comes up again as so many threads get hijacked to the point of crossbows and their use.

British Columbia is relatively unique in providing crossbows within the archery only season. Many hunters, depending on their background are opposed or in favour of crossbows in the archery season.

Most archery related organizations in BC (primarily the UBBC), accept the crossbow as archery tackle to be used in the archery season. However, due to its efficiency and ease of transition from rifle to the bow season, there is an awareness for concern that an increase in bowhunting/archery only seasons, might be compromised by an increase in rifle hunter transitions.

In Alberta, the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Branch stated that one of the reasons crossbows are not allowed within the archery only season is that it is the primary tool of poachers and they were able to reduce poaching by removing crossbows from the archery season. (His words, not mine)

Most jurisdictions in the states do not allow crossbows in the archery season unless the hunter has a disability.

In British Columbia, we have unique hunting settings, and tend toward managing the hunter through LEH, rather than weapons seasons.

In my opinion, I want responsible hunters hunting. Regardless of the weapon. IF, there is a trend for hunters to buy a crossbow, just before opening day to take advantage of a bow only season, then I support a mandatory IBEP to manage naive hunters.

I do not support LEH as a means of managing wildlife. LEH is becoming the death of hunting. I would rather see weapons seasons implemented to manage harvests and hunters. At this point I'm not very worried about where crossbows sit within seasons.

JT

[oldtimer]

I have to agree with Sea Level--- this is the most discussed topic on this site. My 2 cents; Being a 100 % bow hunter and an avid 3D shooter and a beginner FITA shooter I feel i have some idea about what constitutes a bow. I have seen crossbows at 3D shoots as well as out hunting and my opinion is they are a bow. Period. !!!! I doubt I would ever want one but so what !! I didn't want a big bore rifle when I hunted with a rifle , so what !! My opinion. MIKE

[brotherjack]

i do not like the idea of people buying crossbows because they are gun hunters and get an extra couple of weeks of hunting...

So ....tell me what do you think? Should crossbows be diasallowed in an archery only season? I mean after all we are hunting for the love of the sport and to put some meat in the freezer and i don't think a crossbow should be considered archery.

I think a bow is a bow is a bow, and crossbows, recurve, stick, and compound, and any kind I'm forgetting here should all be allowed. Putting a bow on the end of a stick doesn't change the fact that it's a bow - limbs, string tension, arrows, broadheads, etc. It maybe it makes it a little easier to get proficient with, and it definitely makes it possible for people like my wife to hunt in the bow season because she can't comfortably pull even a 40lb bow (minimum legal to hunt with). But it's still a bow.

Here's some facts about a crossbow.

40 yards is still the longest ethical shot you can take, and all the crossbow makers I'm aware of recommend 20 yards or less as the preferred range. So you get no advantage of distance. People who think otherwise are uneducated.

The whole 'movement spooking' issue. Unless you sit there with the bow pre-aimed as the critter approaches, you still have to bring the crossbow up to shoot the animal (which involves moving). Just twitching your nose is enough to spook a critter that's within bow range. So whether you're just bringing up the crossbow, or coming to full draw with your u-pull-it - you're going to spook WAY more critters than you get to shoot (at). I spook probably a dozen for every one I got a shot at.

Skill at shooting. Some people have told me that high end bows like the Excalibur's and such you can take home, sight in, and go hunting with. I haven't ever owned an Excalibur (and on my budget, I probably never will), so I don't know about that (though I also know guys who own Excal's and said it was not at all a slam-dunk to shoot straight with them back when they started). I shoot a little bottom of the line Horton, and I had to put in a lot of practice, learn a lot of little tricks and tips, and do a good bit of trial and error with arrow weights, heads, and the like before I could just pick it up and thump an arrow right where I wanted it. Now that it's tuned, and I know all the tricks, I could probably coach someone into shooting it pretty straight in an afternoon. While we're on this topic - a buddy of mine got me shooting 2-ish inch groups with his compound bow in an afternoon of coaching too. I think a crossbow is probably a little easier, but if you got a pro-shop to tune up a compound for you with an advanced sighting system, that's pretty darn easy too.


Anyway, I could go on about how you still have to know how to estimate your yardage, still have to watch out for twigs and such, you still have to worry about string-jumping by the critter, and all the other issues - but you get the point I'm making - there is not really much if any advantage to using a crossbow over a regular bow - despite what uneducated people may think and/or say.

If I read between the lines of your post, I see your real problem. Your real problem is that you've seen people with crossbows behaving unethicly, and heard lots of stories about people with crossbows behaving unethicly, so in your mind, you've connected the weapon in question to the behavior you detest. Newsflash - me, and every crossbow hunter I know - we all would have the same problems you have with unethical behavior! And yeah, you probably don't notice a lot of guys deep in the bush wearning camo and being still and quiet with their crossbow in their lap (because they're deep in the bush in camo being still and quiet!), and yeah the moron's driving up and down the road are easy to spot. But BEHAVIOR is not a problem of the weapon in question. Behavior is just a problem period.

I personally think anyone who wants to bowhunt (be it crossbow, or otherwise) needs to be required to take a course or challenge a test, so they're aware of things like effective ranges, how to place a shot with an arrow for a clean kill, why anything other than a broadside or slightly quartering away is a unethical shot, etc, etc, etc. The reason you get uneducated people out in the bush making poor choices is because they're uneducated. If you want to change the behavior, you have to educate them. And even after the education, some people will do whatever unethical thing they want, no mater what weapon they're using. That's why we have law enforcement.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

[rrfred]

hi, been there- done that; successfully hunted with several types of archery tackle including the xbows. no issue about the use of xbows in archery season - my complaint is for those crossover people who do not understand the functional limits of archery tackle and expect to go drop an animal with an xbow,sometimes at at ridiculous ranges.
Archery hunting(pick your choice of tackle here)by its nature requires time, patience, commitment; plus hunting and tracking skills. Yes - its easier to get on target with an xbow but the ranges; limitations are the same as regular bows; and the follow up requirements after the shot are the same. My vote is for IBEP- mandatory bowhunter education and seperate archery licensing. Let's not bash the use of the tackle, lets look at the real issues... cheers rrfred

[Onesock]

No ofeence to you Harbinger as I only use you as only an example. You stated you would buy a Xbow because it was easy to use and you don't have time to practise with a real bow. This complaint is the reason this topic is so hot. It is people like yourself we are trying to keep out of bow only season's. I agree 100% about the IBEP course being mandatory for bowhunters, but this probably isn't going to happen. As alot of hunters have said we are regulated to death now and not very many guys want to
take more courses. The only other alternative is to take Xbows out of archery seasons.
All archery seasons have been lobbied for for many years. Bowhunters have fought the long hard battle to get these seasons. Bowhunting is supposed to be a short range sport (pardon the word) and with uneducated newbies trying to shoot 50-70 meters we could be in danger of loosing what we have fought so hard to gain.
Once again no offence to you harbinger I only use you as an example.