The truth is BigJ, it doesn't. Just as it doesn't affect me if 2 county's away that person has a shotgun, ML or rifle. If there were to be a Crossbow Season and it over lapped with Archery Season, that would happen. Just as it happens when I hunt with my bow during ML season.

As far as splitting the archery season and allowing 1/2 for crossbow use, if that allowed for the management of the deer by that states DNR, then so be it. I'd hate to see it go .. in fact would probably buy a crossbow to be allowed to hunt during that time. I guess I don't see it though. I've never seen a guy hunt with a crossbow .. even during rifle season when they are allowed. I've never been to a bow shop and heard a guy "want" to hunt with a crossbow and not a bow. I also have never been to an archery shoot, 3-D match or shot an indoor league and had 1 person say they'd rather shoot a crossbow if they were allowed. If the big PLUS to crossbows would be they attracted "new" hunters, not hunters who already hunt, but true "New" hunters .. and they could populate a season with guys who choose to use crossbows over bows .. then I could and would see the benefit. But if they don't get people into hunting who wouldn't go if they can't use a crossbow .. then the group who benefits most is crossbow manufactures, as they are milking more money from hunters who would shoot them ONLY to get into the woods. Which is why I say allow for overlapping but seperate seasons ... so that you don't force hunters to have to buy new equipment to hunt. You see, I don't think a crossbow is a bow, and because of that it's not archery. They have similar characteristics to be sure, but they are different. I also think a person who hunts with crossbows deserves and should be able to hunt with them. Factors determining their season should be on their popularity AND the goals of the DNR since those 2 things are intimately tied. More Crossbow hunters means more deer killed, and that needs to be factored. It's exactly the same way they work the ML and rifle seasons in the states I hunt. They know the approximate harvest details and use time as the controlling factor. Crossbows work exactly into that scenario, and depending on participation and harvest data they should control the when and how long they are allowed in the woods. If that happens to mean they absolutley don't add hunters and they kill at the same rate as archers, their season would be exactly the same, essentially a wash. If they add new hunters and success varies at all from archers, they should be adjusted accordingly ... even if that affects archers, ML hunters and rifle hunters, because that is most fair.