Germ

It's a tie so far

I will not vote, because it's a double edge sword. We could not kill enough animals with bow and arrow. Hell in most states we cannot to it with guns[&:]

In about five years the population would be out of control and all the deer would be deador sick

Arthur P

It's been years since I deer hunted with a firearm, but I still want the option. Where I hunt it's only bow, shotgun or muzzleloader and that's already too much restriction.

rybohunter

I think a lot of people voting FOR the bow only, would severely change their minds once they saw the deer numbers explode far out of control and then CRASH.

Justin

I live and hunt in one of the bow-only counties here in IL and I like it for one reason only - I can continue bowhunting while it is gun season everywhere else. If they would open the entire state up for bowhunting during gun season, I would be a happy man.

At the end of the day we're all here to kill deer, whether it be by gun, bow, or whatever other legal means you may find. Closing counties for gun hunting only does one thing, which is create too many deer like rybo and Germsaid. I'm not a selfish hunter, I want people to kill enough deer to maintain a healthy population. And if that means I don't see as many deer or that big buck I"m chasing gets whacked by another hunter, then so be it.

GMMAT

I'd like to know what this means. I mean....the herd where I hunt is taking care of itself in ways people wouldn't "think" possible. I'm betting we have a VERY high fawn abandonment rate, here. I'm also betting our fawn mortality rate is over 60% (due, in part, to the above). I'm betting we have does that don't get bred.....due to the sheer numbers of said and the lack of bucks (in this immediate area) to breed them. Not "pretty".....but not to the level of being "ugly",.....yet.

I asked the above question with complete sincerity. What does "crash" entail?

I had no idea some states didn't allow this.

Rick James

I live in a bow only county and drive 4 hours to hunt where the PA orange army marches. [8D]

fletch920

ol' munster mouth aint gonna like that....

quiksilver

See, I don't buy the population explosionargument one bit.

The only areas that will be overpopulated will be the areas with limited access (city suburbs and POSTED land). These are areas thatALREADY allow gun season, and are STILL overpopulated. It's not a question of weapon efficacy - the problem is land access and low hunter presence. Hunters just can't kill what they can't access. Classic case would be the proverbial "city deer."

If the population densities do get too high, you'll see more MV collisions and more willingness to welcome bowhunters into areas where the deer are actually becoming a major problem.

There are already tons of bow-only areas throughout the US and Canada, and none of them have any overpopulation problems that didn't predate the bow-only designation.

I can say with 100% confidence that my area has enough bowhunters to drive deer into extinction. While eliminating gun season would help get the deer densities back into their normal limits, it would certainly not put us at risk of being overrun by starving deer.



So what's the moral of this story? Are we saying that bow-only zones should only be implemented in areas of the country that are thick with bowhunters, so as to ensure that the deer populations don't explode?

killadoe

My State dont have counties, we have parishes, haha anyways it would bother me because I like to have the option to take my rifle..

jackflap

Even though I haven't gun hunted in years and do not have a desire to do so, I would not be happy with this type of intrusion unless there is a good reason such as safety concerns in a populated area.

Would I benefit with more mature deer still running around? Probably, but that is not the real issue.

The real issue comes down to individual freedom and rights and while I don't want to gun hunt my neighbor doesn't want to bowhunt. That should be his choice to make, not someone else or the government making it for him.