BigJ we are close .. but at the very end we just differ in our opinions.
Well that leaves us with where to put them? Now because they are not firearms we can rule them out of the gun season. Yes I know some states have them in gun season and some states have them in archery season so that’s a wash, fair?
So if not the gun season then where? Well there are only two other choices and that is 1. It's own season and 2. With the archery season.
I just don't follow your logic, and please try and see it from my side. I told you I agree that a crossbow is not a gun, but has some gun like similarities. I see the stock, the trigger mechanism, the safeties and the magnified rifle scopes as gun like. I also see their bow like similarities, the limbs and string generating energy, a bolt that resembles a short arrow, their range and effectiveness .. but as I have said, I don't consider them a bow. I consider them something different.
So that leaves my mind with 3 choices. 1. It's own season. 2. Archery Season 3. Firearms Season.
Now if you factor 3 states have allowed them during Archery season, about 30 allow them during firearm season (rough estimate on checking regs of various states) 5 have "Crossbow Seasons" we have some historical info to draw from. I don't think lumping them in with archery is a good idea and it is related to this point-
I don't know about your state but are you telling me deer populations are in the decline? seems like every other state they are in the incline. The deer population may demand the need for additional hunters in your state in the future and crossbowers could be the answer.
The answer is not on the decline, but steady would be a better description. NH has approximately 10,000 deer killed a season, in total! If you look at the deer harvest numbers here in New England across Vermont, Maine and NH you'll see what I am talking about. Due to the fact one bad winter can kill a 1/4 of our herd, we don't have the huge deer numbers as you down south. You have County's that kill more deer than exist in our whole state. So when you state that 30% of archery kills can be attributed to crossbows, even if that is 10 years from the passing of the law, that would increase the deer harvest significantly enough to lose at least a third of the season. So when I stated that I thought NH did the right thing by allowing them during firearm season it was because I think it did what was right for our state. That being it allowed crossbow hunters an opportunity to hunt with their weapon of choice. It allowed archers the time necessary to harvest approximately 20% of the kill, and ML and firearms season were just long enough to meet the Fish and Game's harvest numbers while providing time to both weapon types. Do I think crossbow hunters deserve more time in the woods? Right now they get just short of a month in the woods, which I feel is fair. As I said before, they are not bows or require archery skills to shoot so to me they are not considered archery. I think many here miss the point of why archery season is so long. It's not because archery is more deserving, it is because as a collective group of "archers" it takes far longer for us to harvest a certain percentage of the deer herd. In my state that is approx 20% of the kill. I believe crossbows in some states, such as a Pennsylvania or New York could sustain a crossbow season on its own as they have the deer herds to warrant the extra pressure, but require the ability to at times to limit kill in certain areas. I think Arkansas has the luxury of just adding the crossbow to archery season as it was not concerned with adding to the overall kill, even though it probably is a more effective deer harvesting weapon. I say "probably" because I do not think that 30% of the hunters in Arkansas's woods during archery season carry crossbows .. based on the remarks of people here, the feedback I have heard while shooting archery with people from Arkansas and the overall popularity of crossbows. I assume that crossbows have a greater harvest percentage than bows .. which we could debate why... but many states could not afford to allow archery season to kill even just 10% more deer than they currently do. Which I think is why you don't see the crossbow being utilized during archery season except in very rare instances, or 3 states.
If you are going to use one states stats to bolster your argument then you must allow them to bolster ours....oh wait that won't be good for the anti's would it now. Because Arkansas is a prime example of ALL TYPES of bows existing just fine together.
So while you may be able to use Arkansas as an example where allowing crossbows is NOT a problem, I am telling you the numbers of deer killed during their archery season with crossbows will cause them to have shorter time afield than archers here in Northern states. There is an actual reason they are not allowed in most states.. it was not anti-crossbow sentiment, it is many factors. That is why I am confident they will not ever be just "considered archery" here where I hunt.