A crossbow is a gun........the only difference is that this gun shoots arrows.
It belongs in firearms season for all but the people who are truly physically unable to draw a bow.
An open sighted .44 mag has what sort of effective range for the average person? How about a flintlock muzzleloader? They're both similar to a bow or a crossbow.......maybe we let handguns into archery season too?[:'(]

Archery season = Archery gear
Firearms seaons = guns.........a crossbow is a gun.

There's no point in debating this with me because you will never convince me that a crossbow is not a gun. It is. It is loaded and cocked ahead of time, can be scoped , does not require drawing , shooting or letting down at the time of the shot, and is ready to fire at all times.
It is a gun and I don't give a crap if it doesn't use gunpowder. Neither does a high powered air rifle but that's still a gun.

You crossbow guys.......you want to join the archery season? Would you support a law that prohibits you from pre-cocking your crossbow while in stand? You'd only be allowed to cock it in the presence of game at the moment that it needed to be shot.
Didn't think so.

Don't for a second try to compare drawing on an animal with ANY hand drawn bow VS a crossbow. There is no parallel.

So after all that, the negative to a crossbow in the archery season is that it is a gun. Treat it as such.
I have nothing against a crossbow, they're kinda fun to shoot, but put them where they belong........firearms seasons.