If the crossbow poll in the right side panel of this blog is anything to go by, then crossbow hunting during the archery season has become more acceptable. This is refreshing news for everybody wishing to use a crossbow as a hunting tool. In the poll 79% of my readers voted "YES" to the question, “Should crossbows be legal during archery season?" Only 21% voted "NO". What a turnaround in opinion. If I would have set up this poll a year or two ago the majority of hunters would have voted a resounding "NO", and likely would have spawned a slew of hate emails and comments to the Crossbow Controversy article I wrote on June 28 of this year.
It seems that finally the majority of bow hunters realizes that a crossbow is yet just another archery tool adding variety to our arsenal of hunting choices. Anti crossbow advocates tried hard for many years to slander the crossbow as some sort of gun that has no place in archery. In my article Where I Stand on Crossbows I have listed some of the biggest myths about the crossbow and debunked them with the facts.
I will leave the poll up for a while longer. Keep your votes and opinions on this subject coming. Your voice counts!
Crossbow, Crossbow Hunting, Bow Hunting, Archery
5 comments:
missed a spot
I'm suprised by the results. I assumed that there would be more 'no' votes, although I'm glad to see that the majority supported it. I personally don't hunt with a crossbow but don't see the point in trying to prevent someone who does.
To be honest, I was a bit surprised too by the results. Having said that, it has not passed me by how popular the crossbow has become in the last two to three years. I still can remember some archery hunting magazines, that shall remain nameless here, that in the past years have left no opportunity pass by to blast crossbows. These very same archery magazines, and often the same writers that would bad mouth crossbows, are now writing and printing crossbow hunting tactics and crossbow gear articles.
Looks like you and I have the same opinion on the choice of hunting styles. A few years ago a hunting buddy and avid bow hunter asked me with wide-open eyes, “Do you hunt with rifles too?” after he overheard a conversation I had with a rifle hunter buddy. I said, “Yes I hunt with firearms too”. To which he replayed, “But I thought you’re a bow hunter?” My answer to that was. “During archery season I am a bow hunter, after that I am a rifle hunter and after that I am a muzzleloader hunter. I am all of it and none of it, I am a HUNTER and will use what ever is legal, moral and ethical to extend my time in the woods in the pursuit of my passion, which is HUNTING PERIOD.”
-Othmar Vohringer-
I was very nervous when Virginia started to allow crossbow hunting during the state archery season but now I have realized that anything that gets hunters in the woods more days is a good thing. I have never even fired one as I love my mathews bow way too much, but I am sure someday I will get the chance to fire one.
Here in Virginia we have a very strong overpopulation problem so the more hunters in the field the better!
Thanks for the comment Paul.
You know you’re not alone being nervous about crossbows. Generally there is a huge misconception, spread by people with an agenda, about crossbows.
The fact is that crossbows are the same, as far as efficiency and range goes, as compound bows are. The only notable difference, apart from the fact that on a crossbow the string is held back by a device, is the speed. Although looking at how much speed some of the modern compound bows can generate I think this statement soon will be outdated.
The basic bottom line is that a crossbow any way one looks at it is still a short range weapon, requiring the same hunting skills and methods as archery hunting, it is for this reasons that I firmly believe that the crossbow does belong in the archery season.
Besides as you stated correctly. Getting more hunters into our ranks only can be a good thing.
-Othmar Vohringer-
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