Do Crossbows "ruin" archery seasons?

My cousin in Ohio has an 87 year old neighbor who has been an avid archer since Fred Bear was making the sport mainstream.

He no longer can pull a bow back to full draw because of a shoulder injury many years ago; he finds the crossbow to be a suitable alternative. This enables him to get out to hunt deer and put some venison in the freezer at his age. He still has his old hunting bows along with the arrows that he fletched himself but simply can't use them anymore.


But yeah, the fellas who buy the latest compound bows (with releases, and mechanical broadheads, vibration dampeners, carbon fiber arrows, etc) are the archery purists. And this old hunter is the one "cheating" or has an "unfair advantage".

That mentality makes me sick :puke:


The anti's don't have to do a thing.
We are our own worst enemy, its a real wonder that any shooting sport still exists anymore
 
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The antis just love internal bickering........easier to divide and conquer .......sucking it up means you have given in and could care less about, that doesn't effect you directly. Complacency kills .Harold
 
The Barnett recurve crossbow I borrowed in the 80's wouldn't group under 4" at 50' so that was the range I kept for a self imposed limit. It was far from easy as described by some .Try stalking to within 50 ft or sitting in a tree for 1/2 a day for two weeks straight.When deer spot your outline ,you can't move for sometimes 5-10 min much less raise the crossbow to shoot.I've had them under the tree I was in and could hear them peeing and dropping raisins while the target deer is in front staring at you.......can't move...it's hunting....Harold
 
I'm gonna say I agree with it not being equal to a bow at all. It's a short range gun the propels an arrow. It does create more opportunity during bow season which I'm all for, and does get more people involved in the hunting. I believe like some states the season should be during bow season but shorter. There is pros and cons.

Let's say ontario legalized the shotgun that fires arrows? Would that also be legal during the bow season. Propels an arrow

Not to stir the pot, but I'm all for sticking together but facts are facts. Your never gonna get a Pontiac Firefly (Bow) to drive like a Ferrari (crossbow)no matter how much you practice out if the box.
 
They have it pretty well balanced out here in Saskatchewan. archery season,-xbow/bp season ,and rifle season.I also like the fact that you can use your primitive weapon in the following season, it is not restricted to "rifle" only or "muzzle loader" only

Can get 3 months of deer season if you hunt archery, 2 for bp and cross bow.

Nobody seems to complain out this way.

Folks are saying things about not pure and tradition hunters that use rests and accessories and such, maybe we should take away your in vehicle nav units and DVD players and fuel injection. ;)

It isn't meant to be equal to compound or traditional bow silly people.
 
While they're at it how about taking away the tree stands, ground blind tents, bait and bait station, attractants and camo clothes and so on since the winers are bashing xbows... Go the way of ground and pound, spot and stalk....Yah.... Didn't think so. "Hate them xbow users but over my dead body you'd take away my ground blind and treestand from me cause them deer will have a better chance of smelling and seeing me. I need that advantage over the deer and my fellow hunters. "
 
The ROC said:
While they're at it how about taking away the tree stands, ground blind tents, bait and bait station, attractants and camo clothes and so on since the winers are bashing xbows... Go the way of ground and pound, spot and stalk....Yah.... Didn't think so. "Hate them xbow users but over my dead body you'd take away my ground blind and treestand from me cause them deer will have a better chance of smelling and seeing me. I need that advantage over the deer and my fellow hunters. "
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Where is the like button!!
 
I have hunted deer with a crossbow since I got my hunting license why because I like a quick and clean kill a vertical bow leaves room for error I can instinctively shoot a recurve no problem but im looking to fill a freezer im not looking to spook every deer that comes my way or mess up the shot and have to track for hours. now that said I would much rather use a rifle or shotgun for deer hunting but its bows only in my zone
 
I find it interesting the number of compound bow hunters who hate crossbows. 1st of all the percentage of crossbow users are small. 2nd their range is even or less effective than a compound bow. I could write a book on the number of game I've seen hit and lost with a compound bow including mule deer, whitetail & moose. So knowing that why do compound bow hunters feel so threatened by such a small number of crossbow users when in fact they wound & lose a lot of game. As far as I'm concerned all this does is divide the hunting community and for what. So you feel swell because you won the argument & meantime the anti's don't have to do anything but watch us destroy ourselves. People that say crossbows take a lot of game & or destroy the sport of archery are simply put, (ignorant).
 
For the compound shooters that say a person can buy a xbow and be hunting a hour later, I've seen compound shooters that sight in their bow during the summer and come hunting season screw on a broadhead for the first time and head out hunting..... Who is more apt to wound an animal?

I shoot both and enjoy both, two different toys but both require similar hunting skills to get within range of a deer.

You can sure tell someone has absolutely zero experience with one when they spout off about how a xbow is just a silent rifle, capable of taking animals at rifle ranges... Lol...idiots. Probably the same guys that drop huge bucks at 500 yards (offhand) with their favourite rifle. I always find it a bit amusing when you hear these stories.
 
I am a compound bow hunter and I have a bow with all the advantages (trigger release, fiber optic sights, whisker biscuit etc). Over the course of the summer I have attained reasonably good proficiency with it that I would take a 30 yd broadside shot in the tree stand with a high degree of confidence of making a kill shot. A few weeks ago I went out practicing with the neighbor who hunts with a higher end Matrix X bow with optics. We used my 3D foam deer and practiced from our tree stand at different yardages, 30 yd being the maximum we both felt comfortable hunting with.

Although I am a reasonably good shot with my compound, I shot much better at all ranges with his X bow and it was only the second time I'd ever fired it. For me his X bow hits harder (arrow penetrates further) and was more consistently accurate than my compound (63 lb draw weight). That being said his max range would be the same as mine. Also, it is definitely louder on the release and slower to reload.

What am I trying to say here is that while my neighbor gains on one end - accuracy and penetration he loses on sound signature and reload speed.

While I have no desire to rush out and buy a X bow since I shoot 3D competitively with mine, I can see that if Joe Average Hunter is thinking of taking up hunting with a bow and has limited time to practice which seems to be the bulk of the hunting population than he will get proficient a lot quicker with the X bow than with the Compound. Shooting it builds confidence quickly.

If this translates into more people taking up hunting, than how can this be a bad thing. To me it fills that niche between a bow and a rifle (without the legalities of the rifle). This same hunter is also probably less lightly to wound animals in the process.

It takes a lot of practice to get good with a Compound - not so much with a X bow.
 
I use both compound and crossbow, you still have to get deer to be within range. The crossbow is nice that you don't have to hold at full draw while waiting for the deer to be broadside for a good shot.
 
Aries- said:
About the same as muzzle loader/ shotgun season. The muzzle loaders and sabot slugs these days are far above what were originaly intended. Both are faster than an average 45-70 theae days.

I have no problem with crossbows they really arent any easier or harder to use than a compound bow.
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I hunt with flint lock or percussion, both load and shoot the same as they did 265 and 186 years ago......
 
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