its with the personal feelings toward the nature of archery hunting that gets guys like myself fired up.
I use to be there, I know what you mean. However, do you remember when compound fired people up ? 65% letoff ? Mechanical release ? mechanical broadheads ? 34" ATA bows ? One cam technology ? etc etc ?
Plain and simple, hunting with a crossbow in archery season is too easy. Compound gadgets , releases etc don't make any difference.........the physical act of shooting a compound bow accurately and a crossbow, as well as hunting with either are vastly different.
I'll not totally disagree that they're different and in some big ways .......... but we must continue your lines of thinking and look at the differences between compounds and recurves. the physical act is vastly different from the full pull of the weight of the bow, to not using sights, to the limited range, to actually having to have the animal RIGHT THERE before starting your draw .......... man, I've bowhunted with crossbows, compounds and longbows and I'm telling you, each is different than the other but a recurve ? Vastly different that a crossbow/compound.
On PA and the numbers of hunters. Suffice is to say that if ya'llk have THAT many hunters, that also means ya'll are crammed with archery hunters too, right ? Compound archery hunters ? Every year that # grows ? What are ya'll doing about that ? I mean, the modern compound bow is cramming your archery seasons, isn't it ?
There is no challenge in shooting 6' groups at 30 yards with a compound - I know. I picked up my Dad's Q2, changed the sights to fit my shooting style, shot 15-20 shots and 3 days later single arrow, heart shot a buck. Very easy, very mechanical.
How about this radical idea. Ban all technology from primitive hunts. I mean take muzzleloaders back to cap and ball, loose powder and bullets. Recurves and longbows only. That would really change archery, you could have your solitude, your challenge, you'd REALLY get to know what archery really is, wouldn't you ?