silentassassin

Yea but my point is that, if you will go back and re-read you compared bows to bows. You said bows are easier to use than bows are. Did you mean crossbows or was there supposed to be some distinction made there. I do think crossbows are easier to use than compounds and compounds are easier to use than trad equipment and compound kills deserve more respect than gun kills and they should all be legal. I don't have any problem with someone criticizing or debating a particualr hunting method. I am all for it and I will jump right in on which ever side I happen to be on. What I have a problem with is when people try to take that opinion to the extreme and support laws that are bad for or could potentially be bad for hunting.

Double Creek

The fact is that bowhunters ARE put on a pestadal in the hunting community and that makes us the target of the "other" weapons users.

Gunners believe that we are successful b/c we get extra time, which in my state is the worst time to be hunting. They fail to realize that our sport makes us better hunters.

Most of the bitching about crossbows I hear is from gunners wanting to get into bow season. It's my opinion that even if allowed, they would be unsuccessful for the most part, not due to weapon, but due to lack of hunting skills.

SCRIDER1

SilentAssassin & Double Creek...
Silent: OK, I re-read that other post of mine and I meant to say "bows should be illegal because they are easier to kill a deer with than spears". Now all that was said in such an admittedly outrageous way just to make a point that by some peoples' logic (that gun hunters are less respectable than bow hunters, for example), bow kills should be considered less respectable than spear kills (where legal).
DoubleCreek: unfair to throw all bow hunters into the "better hunters" category just because they carry a bow. You and I both know there are plenty of gawdawful hunters out there who carry bows. Heck, dozens of them post here every week talking about how they wounded animals with marginal shots (at best), or lost them due to non-existent tracking skills. My point is, excellent hunters choose to use all types of weapons--including crossbows, and so do others who have no business ever taking aim at an animal with anything.

adams

I started reading this thread thining it may be an inteligent debate but man, I just barely made it through the second page. ROTFLMFAM! Post season depression setting it. You are all killing me. Work picks up and I miss out on all the fun.

ash2042

My feelings are, to each his own. I hunt with what I want, you hunt with what you want. I must ask a question, why in some states is it illegal to hunt with a crossbow? Being illeagal in some states says alot about that weapon. If it is leagal and you choose to hunt with it by all means go for it, hell, it wouldn't matter to me if you tried to scare a deer to death. How do you guys feel about fishing with dynamite.

m.t.hands

i can't believe anyone would kill a deer with a bow or a spear, don't seem very sporting to me all i ever use is a four foot switch (four and a half on big bears), i mean with the switch at least theres some action, shoot'em or hit'em with anything else and they just run off and die, with a switch sometimes you can fight a good size buck for the better part of a day, even a doe will fight for a couple of hours.

now thats what i'm taking about, thats sporting

vc1111

I admire your spirit.

Blakleyboy, yours was an excellent post also. Well said.

rewhaley

when most people even non-hunters hear cross bow they think of someone that can't pull a compound back and hold it , there for cross bow that remains cocked. i think that if an arrow is used then thats bow hunting. as far as gunners....... every city boy with a gun is in the woods and that week or ten days is the only time that they are in the woods. bow hunter are held to a higher standard. the thing that gets me is most hard core gunners hate bow hunters (in the woods way to early and mess up the gun hunting)