Hows this:

Crossbows allowed in any firearms season to get residential area deer close to houses.

Crossbows allowed by disabled hunters in any season.

Crossbows allowed by any senior hunter in any season.

No crossbows allowed in bow season by able bodied non-senior hunters.

Did I forget someone?


In PA, you can use a crossbow in special regs areas that have an overabundance of deer in suburban areas. Disabled can use them statewide in bow season.

I'm not an engineer or anything , but to me a xbow is a mini compound turned sideways and mounted on a stock.
Isnt this just a modified version of a compound ?

Your opinion - but actually yes, its still a bow in the way it works. When you add drop away rests, sights, stabilizers, one cam technology, cam and a half, carbon risers, mechanical releases, 85% and more letoff etc etc .......... theres a strong argument that you've breached what "is" a bow already, isn't there ?

Absolutely 100% the opposite Arthur. If its a short range pimitive weapon and its a bow then why NOT allow it in archery season ? As reylamb posted above, its not an easy weapon to use - a gimmee - to kill deer with. Its not advantageous any more than a compound is - so whats the big deal with allowing them ? YOUR made up definition of what a bow is and isn't ? LOL

PETA doesn't scare me if they're peeping in here. We're discussing in our own ranks what is and isn't good for hunting and that is that. Actually, some bowhunters with compounds DO take 75-100 yard shots and they make them. You never here crossbows being shot that far because simply enough - they aren't designed for it.

If its a stupid argument, why are more and more states allowing crossbows ? Isn't your argument the very one traditional bowhunters used against compounders 25 years ago ? Who has the weaker argument here, hmmmmmm ?


Hows this:

Compounds allowed in any firearms season to get residential area deer close to houses.

Compounds allowed by disabled hunters in any season.

Compounds allowed by any senior hunter in any season.

No compounds allowed in bow season by able bodied non-senior hunters.

Did I forget someone?

Oh, and I'm basing it on the EXACT same reasons your'e using. Prove me wrong ?



Vertical Limb Technology - the vertical crossbow

Alright stealthy, just to answer a few questions.

We stood, we fought, we lost. DNR did not hold public meetings on this bit of legislation, it was snuck in the backdoor. Maybe it was the big parties thrown by the crossbow manufacturers for legislators and DNR officials? Who knows, all I know is we had no knowledge of the proposed legislation until 1 week prior to the vote. Many of us turned out to attempt to head off the legislation, but we lost that one. I have accepted it and moved on. Now that I have gotten past all of that I am attempting to educate as many as possible through NBEF courses on the limitations of the weapon.


As I said previously, the typical answer is that compounds are: a. too difficult, and b. do not shoot far enough out.

I was told by a wildlife biologist in the DNR that the season was decreased specifically for archers in that there would now be more bowhunters in the woods, so fewer days were needed to achieve the same harvest numbers. Also, include the antecdotal evidence that the year they were legalized, we lost one week to rifles.

Whatever floats your boat man!!!!!

On a side note, why a Widow? I thought the Adcock was all that and more?????? I do not keep up with this forum much anymore so I may have missed that, I am semi-protesting the big buck contests......

from Sav Widow

Sav- I am running a thread in here that disputes this. The vast maority say they would go traditional. Maybe your peer group is different than these posters, or maybe those posting won't admit that they would pick up a gun. Interesting.

With "hunters" like you and Arthur around we don't need anti's because it looks like you guys are doing your best to make hunting illegal for no reason other than greed and self righteousness[:'(][:@]

Hunters lobbying against hunting?????[:'(]That makes sense[&:]

dkeener - saying it and doing ti are two radically different things.

reylamb - I'm a sucker for changing bows ! I still think OL builds the premier bows in this country - his old style 3 piece TD's are soooo sweet and the ACS is something else. I have somehow migrated to recurves - Widows particularly for some reason. I buy/sell/trade a lot - who knows what i'll be shooting next week ?

Who is this "we" you're talking about ? I'm very curious who is included in that "we" and who isn't ?

He said, she said for the reasons a season is cut by one week isn't proof of anything, is it ? More info is needed really, isn't it ? I doubt that archers harvest enough deer by archery means in GA compared to rifle to really make any difference at all. Realisitcally, if there are too many deer being taken, whack rifle season by only 3 days and there would be more come from that than to reduce archery by 2 weeks - right ?

Making some mighty tall assumptions there SA. We did not fight to make crossbows illegal, we fought to keep crossbows out. Nowhere have I, nor Arthur ever stated or made any attempts to make hunting illegal. So when legislation appears to privatize the deer herd, make baiting legal, eliminate archery season, or any other changes tht I do not agree with, what should I do, stand by and do nothing? I have never fought to make hunting illegal, I fought to keep crossbows out.

BHD, guess what, I will do it again. When the legislation was proposed last year to privatize the herd, I fought against it. You see, for whatever reason the legislature proposed legislation last season that stated that landowners with over 300 acres were exempt from any hunting regulations, there were no limits, nor seasons on their property if they owned more than 300 acres. I lobbied against it as it was a horrible idea for the future of the herd in Georgia. What would you have done? Stood by and watched? They have proposed in the past to make baiting legal, guess what, I lobbied against it and will do so again this year when it is once again proposed. Just because one stands against certain practices for the future of hunting and the future of the herd, does not make one an anti-hunter, and yes, it does make sense.

Finally, stealthy:

The we I am referencing here stealthy is the Georgia Bowhunters Association, a political organization that fights for the rights of Georgia's bowhunters, all bowhunters. While the Association is officially against the use of crossbows in archery season, by default, simply standing to maintain an archery season we represent all hunters that participate in archery season, whether we care for their weapon or not. Greedy? Selfish? Self-righteous? Hardly, I am more than willing to share the woods with those with archery gear, in my opinion (take that for what it is worth) crossbows are not archery weapons. Primitive, definitely, but archery....no. When the archer is no longer holding the force of the string back at full draw it is not an archery device. Since it is archery season and not bow season, I personally do not feel that crossbows belong. As I said, I have accepted crossbows into archery season and harbor no ill-will towards that hunt with them. Whatever legal means they choose to use, so be it. I fought the battle against them and lost, so be it. I now hope to educate through the NBEF, and helping out at the local archery shop.

Granted, everything is he said/she said, but is that not how politics works surely one is not so naive as to believe that the politicians would share private emails and memos with the general public? As long as our Golden Domers determine the hunting seasons, limits, etc how else should I go about things? DNR makes recommendations, the legislators determine whether to ignore or adopt those recommendations. Currently, I feel rifle season is entirely too long, and the limits are entirely too liberal. Talk to any Georgia hunter and ask them how the season has been. 90% will tell you they are seeing fewer deer this year than ever before, and the numbers began decreasing when the state went to 10 does per year about 3 years ago.

Ideally, I would have a 1 week gun season, 4 week primative weapon season, and 4 weeks of archery season, but that will never fly.

And that's differnt how............................. You have to be kidding me. It's the SAME THING. You fight to make somehting illegal or you fight to keep a group of hunters out of the woods and out of hunting it's the same thing. How can you be see naive or obtuse as to not see that?