I haven't read this entire thread, but I did read 3/4 of it. Both sides make some valid points. One thing that I do agree on is that NO group should have any influence on deer seasons, limits, weapon uses, etc. other than the biologist hired to do their job. Here in South Carolina we are the laughing stock of the United States when it comes to deer "management" because here it is 2009 and we still have no limit on the number of deer that you can kill and still have a FIVE MONTH LONG GUN SEASON. In 95% of the state there is no bow season, period. This is because our state DNRis ran by politicans, not the biologist that were hired.

Okay, now lets get to bow vs. gun use in these counties. The orginal maker of this thread swears up and down that letting hunters use rifles would wipe out all of the deer. How so? If you set limits and enforce them, it doesn't matter what kind of weapon you are using. A set number is a set number. If your logic was correct then SC wouldn't have any deer left and infact in most of the state we have 45+ deer a sq. mile. Sure there would be more hunters, but that doesn't mean there would be more deer killed. It would increase pressure

It is interesting that I am making this post because I have been "fighting" for a real bow season here in SC (I don't gun hunt) for years now. The bow hunters in SC would be happy with a 50/50 split of our season because that is fair. Now I am sitting on the other side of the fence (even though I don't gun hunt) and defending it.

It seems to me that the "bow hunters" in the area want to keep their little slice of big buck heaven to a point where they are showing their greed. Again, you can have plenty of deer, big bucks, and a good age structure through limits and seasons, NOT banning a specific weapon.

If these areas have been bow only since the 70's and aren't grossly over populated something isn't right. It sounds to me that the LEO's probably aren't doing there job because there is no way that you can show me an area that has been bow only for over 25 years and still isn't over populated unless there is some X factor that throws the natural breeding equation off. Or you guys have A LOT more bow hunters than you think you do.