"Is that an eliteist attitude on my part ? Sure it is, and I'm honored and proud to have it and hold every hunter in the US to the same standards. "

Here is the core issue....who sets the "standard"??? In this thread alone I was told that though my crossbow is cool it is "not archery to me". So by that standard I will never be able to use my "bow" in archery season. The guy who pays to be placed in a pen with an animal he could never find in the wild on his own is not "hunting", he is "killing" but most of the TV shows we watch are just that...enclosed areas and guided hunts on bated hunt parks. How many vocal "traditioanlists" use a treestand or a range finder, or scent eliminators and modern camo and lures and modern equipment? Do we now hold them to a "standard" that a plaid shirt, wood arrows, and Howard Hill hat are the only equipment they are allowed to use, and get some good shoes since you will be stalking for your animal?? We are at a point that we either need to blanket "archery" as a multi level sport with various levels of dificulty but all resulting in a more challenging hunt than gun hunting, or we need to draw VERY sharp lines as to what exactly archery is and kick all of the compounds, crossbows, and modern equipment into the gun season (which is exactly what is done in many states with crossbows). I want to be there when the elitiest that sets the standards tells Joe Compound user that his equipment is not "archery" and he has to hunt with orange on or he may get shot...

I think that what standards you set for yourself sets the dificulty level of the sport for you. Unless there is a safety issue, legal issue, or there is a dramatic effect in the deer herds or the quality of hunting, archery is archery...ALL of it, and no one really has the right to impose their "standards" on someone else.

OH...and as far as "loosing what hunting is" (by your standards of traditional equipment) the HUGE rise in people going to traditional archery is a sign that this is not only not true, but just the opposite...people have spent many years doing it the easy way and now desire more challenge. THis alone will help bring the sport back to its roots.

Wyvern