The final statement my friend made was how he actually believes archery is one of the things destroying hunting. Now he is a avid archery hunter also and lives to archery hunt so this isn't coming from someone who hates archery hunters or anything like that. It took me awhile to agree with him but this made sense to me. The only way my friend used to hunt deer before archery hunting was in a gang with 25 guys. 10 years ago they could hunt on any of the gang members property and anyone could shoot any legal deer anywhere they hunted, because they were there to have FUN. Now as archery hunting and trophy hunting got more and more popular this guy or that guy in the gang wouldn't want the 25 guys on his property possibly shooting the buck he watched all through archery season. This eventually led to the end of most of the gang hunting where so many hunters had so much fun for years and years. It sucks to admit but he's kinda right and if archery hunting wouldn't have grown so much in popularity where would we be? Don't get me wrong I will never quit archery hunting or lose my desire to send a arrow through a deer, because I think thats the best feeling in the world, but it is something to think about.
Believe it or not I had the same thought today while plowing snow. It was prompted by Confused's post about hunters needing to find common ground. When the majority of hunters hunted in groups they had similar goals. Now with more archery hunters, the sport has become more a sport for the individual rather than as a group. Even rifle hunters are using more climbing stands and sitting all day in a tree. ARs have also resulted in more posted land with more competition for a few big buck.
Several archery hunters have stated they don't care what is happening in the rest of the state as long as they can fill their tags. That attitude will result in continued division among the ranks of hunters and i don'tsee any solution to the problem.