Those who are avid bowhunters tend to be advocates of ARs, whereas, those who typically only get out a few days of the year during gun season, don't wish to see it.
Most bowhunters I know don't want mandatory AR
Bowhunters already have an unfair advantage over the gun hunters with lengthy seasons during prime rut time when the deer are least disturbed
But gun season accounts for approx 80% of the kill
The bucks are too spooked during gun season and go noctunal so you will not have to worry about gun hunters killing all the young bucks that you pass up during archery.
They are spooked about an hour after 1st light(or before) on opening morning of gun, and yet gun still accounts for the overwhelming majority of the kill. When gun starts, or how long it runs will not change this.
Bottomline: Bowhunting is harder than gun hunting, but due to the long season, they have much more opportunities than gun hunters have on undisturbed deer.
Counting muzzleloader, we had 32 days of gun this year, and yes 31 7/8 of these days were at disturbed deer BECAUSE most gun hunting disturbs the deer! How would you change this?
I do know for a fact, a lot more deer in my neck of the woods are wounded by bowhunters than gun hunters.
I found 3 dead gun shot deer on my 60 acres next to an 800 acre piece of state land - 2 more on the state land itself. Also did find one arrow killed one also on another property. Every year see and hear of hunters shooting guns at dear and never going to check for signs of a hit if they don't drop.
I could say this means that gun hunters wound more then bow in "my neck of the woods". But I won't because slob hunters can use any weapon to be irresponsible - neither gun or bow have a monopoly on this.
We need to get back to the topic - continuing this will do us no good. And I (primarily a bowhunter) agree with you on NO to mandatory AR.
Steve