RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

The only real difference between a longbow and recurve bow is that a compound has some relaxation(letoff) at full draw. I have shot recurves too Data. You can add a sight and stabilizer to a traditional bow if you wish and some do. Would you tell someone who shoots traditional equipment with a sight, stick-on flipper rest, and stabilizer they are not shooting real archery equipment? No, I didn't think so!

But the difference is much greater with the crossbow! Around the 40 years ago you keep talking about, the debate about allowing compounds into archery season was little to nothing. Remember also at that time very few bowhunters could be found, and the deer numbers were very low.

Silent, your statement about not allowing people with a disability to hunt is invalid. Most if not all states allow those people to use a crossbow. All they need is validation for their physician.

Data......when it comes down to it and you do not shoot a crossbow yourself.....what is in it for you? Why are you so adamant bout allowing crossbows into archery season? Don't tell me the same ole stuff about strength in numbers, bowhunters are increasing in numbers, not decreasing. It is hunters overall that are decreasing. In fact, knowing you as I do, its debating and arguing just for the sake of it.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

I dont know if cross bows would have a bad effect here or not but thats not really the issue. I'd like to see them leagalize it during firearms seasons in bowhunting only areas but dont really think its fair to bunch it in with bow season just because they shoot arrows.
The arguement that compounds are easier than traditional doesn't cut it either. I liken it to saying, regarding muzzleloaders that a cap & ball is easier than a flintlock & its allowed during muzzleloader so why cant I use my 30/06?
Its not the same period. If it ever does happen here I think we can kiss our 4&1/2 month archery season goodbye. Probly see an increase in accidents due to accidental discharges as I'm sure many guys are gonna load their xbow upon entering the woods (something that cant happen with a bow) & likely be pulling them up trees even loaded. Not real easy to unload one without shooting it.
If they do legalize it I'll likely use one but dont think it'll be the same. I have one now, put a lazer sight on it & I can kill my 3d target at 25 yards from the hip. Just put the dot on what you wanna shoot & squeeze the trigger. That with a cheapo Barnett wildcat. Not bowhunting IMO. ;)

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

dude, i want one . seriously.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

Ditto

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

Matching book ends. Catch 'em in a "cross fire".

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

BWAHAAAAAAHAHAHAH !! Whew ! Okay ... uh ...... yeah (snicker snicker)

Virtually EVERYTHING is different, from the way you draw, to the letoff to the mechanics, to the sights/rests/arrows/broadheads and extreme difference when it comes to shooting the animal. You're trying to trivialize those differences - it aint going to work ! If you are correct, vastly more people would shoot trad equipment, wouldn't they since there isn't much difference ?

Ahhhhhhhh so the compound was evil but if it brought in more hunters and the herds could handle the added impact its all good and cool ?

Absolutely nothing. Its kinda like seeing ya'll argue that a cat is a dog. You and the others have adopted the P&Y "hate crossbow" theory hook, line and sinker and when asked WHY you hate them - and I don't mean a simple nod of the head, I mean a REAL argument - ya'll stumble and flounder and your arguments fall flat.

Don't you EVER wonder why you have a certain belief ? Whats it based on ? Is it resonable ? Can it be put to the test and some through wihout fault ?

Every year issues are put to those tests, and G&F and to a lesser degree hunters must decide on where they stand. Do you like hound hunting ? Baiting ? Mechanical heads ? Mechanical releases ? Electronic game calls ? Electronic sights ? > 80% letoff ? Not unlike crossbows the G&F looks at all this and they weigh the good vs the bad and they decide on if something is legal to use in general archery or not.

Now, this doesn't mean that a lighted pin sight using AAA batteries is NOT a sight does it ? It most certianly IS a sight - just not legal. So too is a crossbow a bow - legal in all states to some degree all the way to legal for use in general archery. Funny that Matt / PA is so insistant that a crossbow isn't a bow - uh, wel, it IS a bow, if a handicap person uses it, but it magically changes into a non-bow if a non-handicap person picks it up ? LOL

So I hit the crossbow threads every single time I find one - why ? Becuase I have lived all my life in a state that allows them and they have NEVER been one iota of a negative for archery - ever. They do impact my bowhunting one single bit. You'll notice just about everyone that says the same are also from crossbow states - in other words, we got first hand knowledge and all the fears and old wives tales and P&Y shock tactics - they aren't true, they simply are not. Add that to the fact that every argument put forth against crossbows can be equally applied to compounds (its all about the draw, the drawing in the presence of game, the letoff, the technology etc etc) and the inevitable conclusion is that crossbows are NOT bad, and they are no more advanced and no more advantageous than a compound and in fact LESS.

Oh , geeeez, are you reading what you type ? A crossbow and compound - 2 limbs, a string, the energy stored and released into the arrow ........ same concept. A muzzleloader is NOT the same critter as a high powered rifle (though the gap is closing by leaps and bounds) Its been covered already HOW they are different.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

No it's not. There are lots of people out there they have shoulder problems or back problems that prevent them from shooting yet doesn't qualify them for disabled status. Take a guy that has arthritis. He may be able to shoot sometimes but not at others and the pain that comes from his shooting my be too much to bear and not worth it. Every state is different in the standards that it takes to be qualified for disabled status and therefore a crossbow. Some of those states are VERY stringent. I have researched this on several states for my father so I think I have a pretty good grasp on it. So not it's not invalid are even uncommon for that matter. But what about my arguments about not letting women and children into the sport? Were they also invalid?

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

I love the old "its NOT a bow ! because my State has laws that say so !

yet the same state allows handicap people to shoot crossbows as bows. So which is it ? If its not a bow how can a handicap person be shooting it in archery season ? uh ............. because it IS a bow ? hehehehe the contradicitons abound with anti-crossbow zealots :D

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

I am coming into this late .. and tried to read all the posts but there is one VERY large negative with crossbows.

The NEGATIVE about crossbows is that they can easily be used to kill and take deer outside of legal shooting times without detection. During gun season and ML season there is a very loud BANG!!! when someone shoots after legal shooting hours, and anyone who has hunted much has heard these people and many have been caught by Conservation Officers because of this. If you have hunted in rural areas and hear a shot at night .. you know exactly what is happening, and can call authorities to respond.

With a bow, where you need one hand to hold the bow and another to draw it back, there is no holding a light. You can't see the pins well enough to take a shot after legal shooting hours and even if you were tempted to try and sneak in a silent shot after legal shooting time you would not be able to see well enough to do it. If you were to screw in a flashlight or some other device to your bow, which is illegal in many states ... would at the very least have you answering questions from any CO you met. Now with a crossbow, you can easily sit in your treestand as long as you want .... and just flip on that flashlight and snuff deer with no one the wiser. I am not saying that any good and respectable hunter would do that ... but we have bad apples among us, and we need to be very careful to defend our passion from those types. I don't think allowing crossbows during archery season allows us to patrol our ranks effectively from these types.

There is a reason crossbow's are the "Poachers Choice" and allowing more of them into deer woods in stands during archery season is a bad decision.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

doubled post