Originally Posted by
super_hunt54
Well Powder, As long as I have to stuff my load in from the business end, it's muzzleloading! You are following the same logic that a very few archers use against compound bows. You bowhunt? You use a compound? Think it's going to far? Just how far is too far? Rifled barrels? That's not "traditional". Percussion caps? That's not "traditional". If you want to get real technical, anything other than throwing rocks isn't "traditional".
sh54,
Yes I bowhunt and yes I use a crossbow. Why? Because glaucoma has pretty much destroyed my right eye so I could no longer see my sights well enough to shoot right handed. I considered buying a left hand bow and starting over but I injured my rotator cuff many years ago due to the repetitive type of work I did. I didn't have to go under the knife, but I did have to go on light duty and go through a lot of physical therapy to get where I could work again. I thought if I start shooting left handed and drawing my bow with the left arm repeatedly and the injury comes back, then I'll have two bows I can't use so I quit bowhunting for four years.
I considered applying for a permit to use a crossbow and one year later, PA passed the law allowing the use of crossbows state wide without special permit. I'm still not an advocate of this because I believe it allowed anyone to bowhunt without ever having to devote any time to practice... just take one out of the box, sight it in and start killing deer.
I hunt with my crossbow every year because it got me back in the game, but I don't feel like I'm bowhunting when I do. It feels more like I'm hunting with a firearm. I still enjoy hunting the archery season and harvesting a deer with the crossbow, but the adrenalin rush you get when you're patient and wait for the right shot then make it happen with a compound or longbow is not there...at least for me it isn't. It's much the same way I feel about taking a deer with one of my centerfire rifles vs taking one with a sidelock muzzy, especially a flintlock.
BPS