According to www.dictionary.com

Archery--\Arch" er*y\, n. [OE. archerie.] 1. The use of the bow and arrows in battle, hunting, etc.; the art, practice, or skill of shooting with a bow and arrows.

2. Archers, or bowmen, collectively.

It takes some skill to use a crossbow, as a compound, recurve, longbow.

They also all use arrows, so in a true sense, crossbows are in fact archery. They are more similar to guns than compounds, but they still require you to get much closer to game, practice, shoot arrows, and use kinetic energy to take down game.

We' re all bowhunters whether crossbow or compound, and I wish that hunters wouldn' t bash each other over differing methods, when there' s people out there willing to get rid of hunting all together.

I shouldn' t bash someone for using a crossbow, just like someone who shoots recurve shouldn' t bash me for using a compound. I say to each his own, if someone wants to shoot a crossbow and it' s legal, more power to em. Many hunters get into archery because of the easier use of crossbows.

I myself got an old PSE Foxfire crossbow from my grandpa, and that in turn...got me into archery and I decided to buy a compound.