So what did it look like? Big, tall, hairy, stinky breath..... [8D]

We shall see. To my untrained political eye it appears to me the bow hunters have not been reducing the herd to the Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlifes liking and they decided to push for additional management tools. It also will mean more revenue for archery and expanded archery tags.

Yea, but I am not absolutely sure it wasn't my brother in law. [:-]

hmmmmmmmm. Good question. A side by side comparison of "bows" will show you which details are big ones and which are little silly ones and those can be correlated to Con's and Pro's. That a crossbow is held differently isn't a huge deal because the way the bow works is essentially the same. Well, no, it isn't, but then neither are compounds and how they work, huh ?

MA Jay -

I think about a lot of things on the stand too - one of the greatest things about bowhunting IMO. I don't disagree that crossbows are different - they most certainly ARE different.

My point is, that as they are different (being the way they're held, the way they're drawn, the mechanics behind the energy in the bow itsself, the way they're sighted, the letoff, the release etc etc) so too are compounds. The analogy's hold true - you love the lion being lose but the tiger you confine because he has stripes that make him look a bit different. He's the same beast with cosmetic differences.

Compounds ARE everything that crossbows are. They bring more people into the archery season, they are easy to use, the have great letoffs, speed, they're quiet, high tech - everything that a crossbow is to a compound a compound is to recurve/longbows.

I'm not the only one seeing this - and oddly enough those who do understand are those who have firsthand knowledge of crossbows and what they bring to an archery season. The ones against crossbows ? They know of wives tales, they know what the PBS and the P&Y Clubs have said, but they have no firsthand knowledge of crossbows in legal archery season.

If they did, they'd realize that crossbows are NOT a negative to archery season in any way, shape or form.

adams - if you're related to Chuck PLEASE tell him thers a guy in Arkansas that has a shrine erected in his name Oh, and if crossbows become legal in Maine in general archery season I can gaurantee it will have NO IMPACT at all on your archery season. There will be a few more hunters - but thats a good thing - we can use all the bowhunters we can add to our ranks.

No, that would be Alice Joella Stanford ........... I date her in high school [:@]

Very well written points there Data. In fact you have won me over that crossbows are NOT evil or wrong, even though I never thought as such. I guess I agree 100% in that a compound and a crossbow are similar if not exact in their effective range and lethality. But instead of calling it "archery" why can't we call it crossbowing? or something else? We agree they are different, but similar. We made the point that their effective ranges are as closely matched as a muzzleloader and a shotgun, as similar and yet as different as they .. but they have their own unique hunting seasons. Why not have their own seasons? They could overlap, like Maryland .. and maybe they do bring in more hunters, a good thing of course. But why do they have to be the same? You want "Archery Season", I say give them "Crossbow Season". I haven't said or asked that they be excluded from hunting, just don't try and call a Tiger a Lion to use your analogy.

This is a point the we differ and I realy have no problems with that. I would only like to say that there are other variables that effect the process and ability to make the actual kill that make the crossbow and compound similar. One would be the limited distance at which you are effective. The other would be the type of broadhead selected for the job. I feel both are very important during the actual kill and both are inherent to bows.

I will try to answer this question.

While I am sure there would not be nothing wrong with a separate season. The problem is when to have it. Would you like it if they shortened the bow season to allow for a crossbow only season? Do you think the gun hunters would like it if their season was shortened for the crossbow only season? I know here in Illionis the slug gun hunters only have two weekends a year to hunt, one three day and one four day weekend that are about three weeks apart, a total of seven days only!

So here in Illinois when would the separate season be? Also add to the mix that in Illinois the hadicapped can use crossbows during the entire bow season. If a separate season is formed it would greatly shorten their hunting time.

So in Illinois as I'm sure in other states when to have the season is the problem and to me is a big Con for having a separate season for crossbows only.

Now that I have answered your question, (and not sacasticlly) please try to answer one of mine.

If you are in your tree stand with a compound bow and two counties away someone is in their tree stand with a crossbow how does this effect you or your hunt?

I have answered the question aready but I will answer it again. I have no problem with a seperate season so long as they are given an oppurtunity to hunt. I would prefer a combined season but if other archers insist on a seperate season then I think the archery season should be split right down the middle and half of it given to crossbow hunters. That way it's seperate but equal. Should compound and trad hunters get more rights that crossbow hunters? It's obvious why archery season is so much longer than gun season because (in my state) gun hunters kill double the amount of deer opening day that bow hunters kill all year. In a roughly one month season gun hunters kill approximately 10 times the deer that bowhunters kill in a 4.5 month season. However, since there is no difference statistically in the number of deer killed by crossbows as their is by compound and trad equipment then they should be allowed as much time as other types of archery equipment. Personally I would prefer to just share but either way I think crossbows hunters have the right to every bit as much access as anyone else does during archery season.

Can we call it compounding then too ? And have compounds in their own season ?

Exaclty - a compound is not a bow compared to a recurve anymore than a crossbow is a bow compared to a compound

silentassassin - why not truly take archery season back to what it was, giving the bulk of what is now archery season back to recurves/longbow and then giving a few weeks to compounds and a few weeks to crossbows ?

Well for one it's not a very effective management tool as it is and it would be even less effective then. I don't have a problem with seperating them by equipment as long as everyone gets equal time. I don't think one group deserves any more time than the others. Again, I prefer we just have a combined season but for those that insist it should be seperate then I say it should in fact be seperate. Have a seperate season for each different weapon and give each group equal time. I personally would hunt all 3 seasons though it would require the purchase of some additional equipment. I would rather see all three seperate seasons than see a group shut out completely.

silentassassin - seasons are set up by how much "impact" they have on the herd while at the same time maximizing the ammount of enjoyment of the hunters.

Trad hunters are not many in numbers comparatively speaking, so they would require the largest chunk of archery season plus their stats are low too. Compounds and crossbows would have large following and their accuracy/succcess rate much greater, thus they each would need a much smaller part of the pie.

Compounders hate that concept but its exaclty what some are asking for - seperate archery weapons seaons based on # of people that use the given weapons and how successful it makes the archer - aren't they ?