Archers protest Pa. Game Commission vote on adding crossbows to hunting season By Gary R. Blockus | Of The Morning Call January 27, 2009 HARRISBURG | - It didn't take long for the hot-button issue to surface during the three-day Pennsylvania Game Commission quarterly meeting at the agency's headquarters.

Archery hunters united Sunday and Monday to give the assembled commissioners an earful on the proposal to allow the use of crossbows statewide during regular archery season.

The commission will render a final vote on the proposal today, but members of the United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania were vocal during two days of public comment prior to the voting, which also will give preliminary approval to 2009-10 hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits.

''It could lead to the ruination of the sport of archery hunting in this state as we know it,'' Don Heckman, an archery sales representative, said to the nine game commission members present to hear testimony in the over-filled auditorium that spilled out into a makeshift seating area in the foyer of the commission headquarters.



[/align] [/align] [/align]Archery hunters have enjoyed a six-week archery-only deer season in the fall and see the addition of crossbow hunters as unfair competition for trophy bucks and a threat because of a crossbow's superior distance and accuracy over recurves and compound bows.

According to the PGC, there were 924,448 licensed hunters in 2007, but only 266,841 licensed archery hunters. In states where crossbow hunting is concurrent with other archery big-game seasons, numbers buying archery licenses jumped dramatically, said Bill Chalfont, who testified that he saw statistics from other states that claimed 40 percent of rifle hunters bought into crossbow hunting when crossbow season is allowed to run concurrent with archery.

''You'll see the rifle hunters coming into our ranks, and it's going to decimate the herd,'' said Joe Basile, who also identified himself as a member of UPB.

''[The crossbow] has no place in archery season,'' said Tim Jeffcoat. ''It requires no practice and no knowledge of the sport.''

Crossbows, like compound and recurve bows, were allowed during firearms season, turkey and spring gobbler seasons, but also during archery season in Wildlife Management Units 2B (Pittsburgh area), 5C and 5D, which include Lehigh, Berks, Bucks and Northampton counties.

Members of the UBP, who identified themselves as such but said that they were testifying as concerned citizens, cited a crossbow demonstration at the Archery Trade Association show in Indiana, where someone placed four arrows in a one-inch circle from 100 yards away, which is rifle-like accuracy. Compounds and recurves are generally used for shots within 40 yards.

While many of the UPB members were quick to characterize nonbowhunters as lazy and unethical, other members of the group asked the PGC to consider separate archery and crossbow seasons.