First of all this conversation is not going to contribute to the demise of hunting at. My gripe is that X bow hunters should not be afforded the luxury to hunt early in bow season at all, unless they are disabled in my opinion. Any one can buy a X bow sight it in one evening and be hunting along side of us that have paid our dues learning to be ARCHERS. I have spent over 40 years hunting exclusively with a bow and I have passed on world class bucks because they were not in the ethical killing range. We’ve have developed over the years a love and admiration for the ART. Now we have a X bow hunter that can set up in a rifle blind and plink off dear in a feeder without giving any appreciation to the ART of archery, in my opinion he’s a gun hunter that gets to hunt early.
I don’t have a problem with them hunting during gun season, but leave bow season to Archers. It’s hard enough to harvest an animal with a compound, much less a traditional bow. I think that traditional hunters should get a two weeks head start on compound hunters.

Thanks just my opinion and my opinion only take with a grain of salt.

And Mark thanks for calling me friend, that means a lot to me brother considering what you know about archery!

I agree,words of wisdom right there!

I see the exact same thing hapening every single year with vertical bows. Same Same.

You're making the assumption that everyone else cares about the "art" of archery as much as you or I do. Most people that shoot a bow simply want to know that their arrows hit where they aim and that they want to go hunting and don't have a clue how to tune a bow, what the word spine refers to, etc... etc... etc...

The Rev,
Your tenacity and love for hunting and archery are very well stated and cannot be denied. But laws are laws, facts are facts and what is allowed is allowed. And just like you stated "anyone" can buy a xbow the night before the sesaon started, sight it in and go hunting the next day is as correct for a traditional bow, a compound as it is for a xbow. Will I be as proficient as someone such as yourself that has all that experience? No, but I will be 5 times more dangerous due to my lack of proficiency with that weapon.

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity. One who practises archery is typically known as an "archer" or "bowman," and one who is fond of or an expert at archery can be referred to as a "toxophilite."
Equipment
Types of bows
Main article: Bow (weapon)
While there is great variety in the construction details of bows (both historic and modern) all bows consist of a string attached to elastic limbs that store mechanical energy imparted by the user drawing the string. Bows may be broadly split into two categories: those drawn by pulling the string directly and those that use a mechanism to pull the string.
Directly drawn bows may be further divided based upon differences in the method of limb construction, notable examples being self bows, laminated bows and composite bows. Bows can also be classified by the bow shape of the limbs when unstrung; in contrast to simple straight bows, a recurve bow has tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is unstrung. The cross-section of the limb also varies; the classic longbow is a tall bow with narrow limbs that are D-shaped in cross section, and the flatbow has flat wide limbs that are approximately rectangular in cross-section. Cable-backed bows use cords as the back of the bow; the draw weight of the bow can be adjusted by changing the tension of the cable. They were widespread among Inuit who lacked easy access to good bow wood. One variety of cable-backed bow is the Penobscot bow or Wabenaki bow, invented by Frank Loring (Chief Big Thunder) about 1900.[11] It consists of a small bow attached by cables on the back of a larger main bow.
A compound bow is a bow designed to reduce the force required to hold the string at full draw, allowing the archer more time to aim. Most compound designs use cams or elliptical wheels on the ends of the limbs to achieve this. A typical let-off is anywhere from 65%–80% – for example, a 60-pound bow with 80% let-off will only require 12 pounds of force to hold at full draw. Up to 99% let-off is possible.[12] The compound bow has greatly become the most widely used type of bow for all forms of hunting in North America. The compound bow has only recently become a highly popular form of archery, so much so that it is the most commonly used bow form in archery today. The compound bow was first developed in 1966 by Holless Wilbur Allen in Missouri, and a US patent was granted in 1969.
Mechanically drawn bows typically have a stock or other mounting, such as the crossbow. They are not limited by the strength of a single archer and larger varieties have been used as siege engines.

Well IMHO its bow season also take it with a grain of salt... therefore all types of bows allowed.. you dont see gun season divided between small bore and large bore do you? This is all a lot of fuss over semantics. It might be easier to seperate Longbow, compound and Xbow into their own seasons but them we would argue about which got the first 2 weeks, 2nd and 3rd weeks... Then the Flintlock and In-liner muzzleloaders would start.,... then the small bore vs's large bore.... then the stick and rock bubbas..... oh my........ lol

Its not beating a dead horse becuse if your state doesn't allow crossbows for everyone in general archery I can almost assure you they're considering it.

The Rev

Anyone can shoot a well tuned compound with 15 minutes of practice. They're designed to be THAT accurate.

Alex G.

If in Maryland, the number of bowhunters grow by 500% as the result of crossbows being added, and if that increase results in them harvesting not X % of the deer but 300% more than in years without crossbows ...... if that happened, and the G&F of Maryland decides to shorten the season and or baglimts as a direct results of the crossbow being allowed

would you then agree they need to be removed from general archery season?

i did say i was unhappy about it my point is there is nothing we can do at this current moment

Ranger... "IF" the numbers were THAT devistating, and they were attributed directly to Xbow inclusion, then yes, I would agree. But , the numbers will never get that bad and I dont hunt in Md so I dont have a worry. The numbers in Va did not change that much when xbows were initially allowed.

During the past deer season 256,512 deer were reported killed by hunters in Virginia.
This total included 108,443 antlered bucks, 23,592 button bucks, and 124,477 does (48.5%).
The fall 2009 deer kill total is nearly identical to the 256,382 deer reported killed last year. It is 14% higher than the last 10 year average of 225,550.
Deer kill levels were up across southern Virginia, increasing 7% in the Southern Piedmont and 2% in the Southern Mountains. Deer kill levels were down across northern Virginia, decreasing 7% in the Northern Mountains and 3% in the Northern Piedmont. The deer kill in Tidewater was stable.
Archers, not including crossbow hunters, killed 16,947 deer. The bow kill comprised 7% of the total deer kill. The 2009 archery deer kill was down 6% from 2008.
Crossbows resulted in a deer kill of 9,456 deer or 4% of the total deer kill. The 2009 crossbow deer kill was down 2% from 2008.
Muzzleloader hunters killed 55,900 deer. Muzzleloading comprised 22% of the total deer kill. Lastly, the muzzleloader deer kill was also down 2% from 2008.


WOW, archery totals were down 6% and Cross-bows were only 4% of total Deer Harvest numbers, and they were also down 2% from 2008 numbers.,,,,, seems to me that this entire crossbow debat in null and void. It's SO EASY to kill a deer with a crossbow that the numbers have gone down!

If the number of kills don't go up 300% will you admit you were wrong ?

You must also take into account this....Many of the "new" xbow hunters will come from the ranks of gun hunters as well as some regular bow hunters. So many of these kills will be deducted from those totals. That means that they will simply be getting their deer with a xbow rather than a gun or bow. Sure the xbow may bring in some "virgin" hunters but it will not be an overwhelming number.