Bowfanatic,

I believe I answered your question. If you are asking about what the hunter is doing at the moment of the shot then be more specific. I will try to answer what you are getting at and that is (I think) that only one of the three have to be drawn at the moment or slightly before the moment of the shot.

I agree that the compound is the only one that needs to be drawn at the moment of the shot but that in it's self does not mean a crossbow is MORE like a firearm and less like a bow...do you understand what I'm trying to say? I think this is where we differ in our thoughts. My feeling is just because a crossbow doesn't have to be drawn at the moment of the shot dosen't mean it's still not a bow.

Below is the Webster's New World Dictionary Modern Desk Edition's exact definition of a bow as it pertains to the shooting kind.

Bow: a flexible curved strip of wood with a cord connecting the ends for shooting arrows.

Nowhere does it say that it must be drawn at the time of the shot. In fact if you notice it says WOOD and not fiberglass or carbon or any other type of material other than wood. So according to the dictonary unless your compound bow is made of wood it's not a bow at all.

My point is you can add all you want to the definition to make it fit your criteria of what you think a bow should be, but the bottom line is, the fact that you have to draw a compound back at the time of the shot and you don't with a crossbow does not make the crossbow any less a bow.

As I see it, it's as much a bow as the compound is and that's NOT AT ALL according to the dictionary.

Feel free to make up what you want, I will stick with the facts.