Originally Posted by
DIY_guy
No. Crossbow hunting is crossbow hunting. Because its crossbow hunting is isnt also bowhunting just because of the distance and just because you want it to be.
Bowhutning is bowhunting because it is human powered, crossbow hunting is crossbow hunting because it is a stored energy/cocked machine. They are close but not the same. As such they carry a different name. Both are good. One is just bowhunting and the other is not. If distance was the key then spear hunting would be bowhunting too.
The great thing about opinions is that you can have yours, I can have mine, they can differ and we could both be right or we could both be wrong. In the overall scheme of things it just doesn't matter.
Using your logic, traditional bowhunting should be "bowhunting", using compound bows should be called "compound bowhunting" and then, as you say, we would have "crossbow hunting".
Also, if you want to split hairs, crossbows are "human powered" also. A human has to draw the string back, right? Yes it's "stored energy", but all bows operate on a stored energy principle.
It seems that your sole argument against a crossbow being considered a bow is that it's locked in the drawn position until ready to fire. I get that. So, if I install a "draw lock" on my compound bow, does it then cease to be a "bow"? What would it be called then?
Meh, none of this matters at all. It's all semantics. Oh, and yes, that's just my opinion.