^^ Well said.
And I hunt in all the seasons (early bow, rifle, mid bow, muzzleloader and late bow) if I or my hunting buddy still has a tag.
I think the big "fear", from other hunters is, that all of a sudden if you open things up a little that everybody and their brother will be all over the woods shooting everything up.
In Ontario we are fortunate that a crossbow is considered "a bow" for the archery seasons. The argument in other provinces/states against their inclusion is exactly that "everyone will buy one and be all over the woods shooting every deer they see".
And I will say when any "new method" first comes into being there will be a percentage of guys/gals who jump on the wagon. I can say it's been my experience that in any given year myself and the guy I hunt with are the "only two" out bow hunting, on the crown land we hunt (in eastern Ontario, so not like we are way up in the sticks) in the early bow.
Yes, the woods fill up for the two week gun season and this year there were a couple of guys in the muzzle loading season because the gun hunt "sucked" and many didn't fill their tags.
This year our sales of bows and muzzle loaders was up at least 500% compared to the average year, but those sales occurred after the gun season. And I would suggest that 95% of those will be for sale in the used market in a year or two. Once you get away from modern rifles/shotguns, most just won't put in the effort or work to actually get good enough with those "somewhat limited" weapons.
They think because a crossbow "looks" kinda/sorta like a gun it will be easy - and the shooting part is easy, it's just getting their mind wrapped around having to get Bambi to stand still broadside at 25 yards that they don't have the patience for in many cases - or the total cleaning that is required every time you fire your muzzle loader and take if home for the day - or the no quick second shot etc etc etc.
So in the end it always is "only the diehards" that are passionate about their specific weapon that will continue to hunt outside of the regular gun hunt - the rest fall off the wagon when they realize it's really not their "style" of hunting.
And I hunt in all the seasons (early bow, rifle, mid bow, muzzleloader and late bow) if I or my hunting buddy still has a tag.
I think the big "fear", from other hunters is, that all of a sudden if you open things up a little that everybody and their brother will be all over the woods shooting everything up.
In Ontario we are fortunate that a crossbow is considered "a bow" for the archery seasons. The argument in other provinces/states against their inclusion is exactly that "everyone will buy one and be all over the woods shooting every deer they see".
And I will say when any "new method" first comes into being there will be a percentage of guys/gals who jump on the wagon. I can say it's been my experience that in any given year myself and the guy I hunt with are the "only two" out bow hunting, on the crown land we hunt (in eastern Ontario, so not like we are way up in the sticks) in the early bow.
Yes, the woods fill up for the two week gun season and this year there were a couple of guys in the muzzle loading season because the gun hunt "sucked" and many didn't fill their tags.
This year our sales of bows and muzzle loaders was up at least 500% compared to the average year, but those sales occurred after the gun season. And I would suggest that 95% of those will be for sale in the used market in a year or two. Once you get away from modern rifles/shotguns, most just won't put in the effort or work to actually get good enough with those "somewhat limited" weapons.
They think because a crossbow "looks" kinda/sorta like a gun it will be easy - and the shooting part is easy, it's just getting their mind wrapped around having to get Bambi to stand still broadside at 25 yards that they don't have the patience for in many cases - or the total cleaning that is required every time you fire your muzzle loader and take if home for the day - or the no quick second shot etc etc etc.
So in the end it always is "only the diehards" that are passionate about their specific weapon that will continue to hunt outside of the regular gun hunt - the rest fall off the wagon when they realize it's really not their "style" of hunting.
