MA Jay

You are partially right. Yes Arkansas does break out crossbows seperately from other archery, but in the AGFC definitions of archery equipment there are two categories;
Long, recurve, and compound bows and Crossbows. The only difference I can see in these definitions is the minimum draw weight (40 for the first category, 125 for the second category) and the requirement for a mechanical safety on the crossbow.

The deer harvest numbers for crossbows is approximately 3,000 per year compared to a total harvest of around 110,000 per year for all methods. I don't know what the numbers for total harvest run in your home state. We had our archery season shortened last season by two weeks, but it wasn't because of crossbows.