Originally Posted by DougE

Sure,I'll explain.First,I oppose the use of crossbows but it's for purely personal reason.Crossbows will not increase the number of deer killed in any appreciable way.Anterless harvests are controlled by allocations and buck harvests are controlled by rifles.Chances are,most deer that get shot in archery season,would have been shot in rifle season.I killed a buck and 4 doe last year with a bow.Had I not hunted in archery season,I nguarantee you that I'd have filled those same tags with a rifle.Money has very little to do with it.No one was paid off that I know and I haven't seen any evidence to suggest differently.The adds in the digest would add up to insignificant change used to offset the cost of printing.Besides,crosbow manufactures have been advetising for years.Any increase in antlerless lisences would be nice but again,not all that significant.If they sell another 25000 archery stamps,that's only $375,000.That's chump change in a budget the size of the PGC's.

Crossbows really won't impact the resource at all.What it will do is make it easier for people to participate.Making everything easier puts a sour taste in my mounth but this is clearly a social issue because some people(me included)disagree with making everything easier.This isn't a way to get more deer killed or to make more money.The bottom line is,no solid arguments from the anti-crossbow side were able to overcome the fact that so many able-bodoed hunters wanted an easier way to hunt.

You have to remeber,over the past decade,we've lost probably more archery hunters than crossbows will bring in to the woods.The resource will not be greatly effected.In all honesty,I ain't too concerned about the small number of guys who I know bought crossbows.These guys can't kill deer with rifles.I don't imagine they'll raise much hell with a crossbow.