Several states allow crossbows to be used during regular bowhunting season.
None of those handful of states have seen any negative impact due to crossbow inclusion.
Ohio legalized crossbows in 1973.....with no issues to date.
Anti crossbow advocates claim that there will be a huge influx of rifle hunters buying a crossbow and flinging at every deer they see. This has not been the case yet, and I submit that it never will be. It takes a certain mindset to have the patience required to get within bow/crossbow range of a deer. Just owning a crossbow does not give the hunter that patience.
Effective range of crossbows are the same as modern compounds. While a crossbow does NOT need to be drawn in the presence of game, they are heavy, cumbersome, and due to their horizontal limbs, tough to shoot behind the hunters treestand.
IMO, a crossbow enjoys only one benefit that a compound bow does not.........it is much easier to become "marginally" proficient with. Again, IMO, this is a good thing. In my many, many years of bowhunting, I have seen literally hundreds of bowhunters set up a bow within a week of the season opener, and then go hunting. They were completely unprepared to hunt, but they did anyhow. If a crossbow will help hunters with that mindset.....how can that not be a good thing?
BTW.....I do not own a crossbow, nor do I have any plans on ever hunting with one. I will not deny my fellow hunters an opportunity to enjoy archery season with a weapon that gives them no definable advantage though.
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