RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

No it won't be destroyed, it would be shortened. If that many new archers were to embrace archery, I would gladly embrace the change and the shortened seasons. If they were to allow a new and different weapon to take up 30% of the allocated archery harvest, I would have an issue with that.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

But shouldn't those folks have that chance and wouldn't the sport be better for it?

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

I guess I'll jump in while I have a spare 30 seconds at work.

Silent assassin; Yea, I can tell you can type fast and overwhelm with words. I can type fast too. My problem is I have people coming in and out of my office all day asking questions, so it took me ten minutes to finish this sentence. :D

MA Jay; I will use myself as an example of a gun hunter who started bowhunting. I use to bowhunt back in the 80's and got away from it and gun hunted for about twelve years. Yes, I did learn on a recurve back when I was a kid growing up in the early 70s. I got back into bowhunting a couple of years ago.

I considered a crossbow, but opted for a compound because I saw more advantages to it. I still pick up a gun during gun deer season in Arkansas and Texas and archery hunt before and after gun season. My situation is anecdotal evidence but I don't think you can automatically assume that gun hunters wanting to hunt during archery season will use a crossbow.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

Silent, yes we sometimes do have large winter kills, and they do adjust ALL seasons accordingly.

If you want a quote, I'll give you one....

"I don't want to share the 20% archery allotment of deer with a completely different weapon, because I am an ARCHER and I do not consider crossbow hunters archers.

I do think Crossbow hunters should hunt, and they CAN hunt. Their numbers are lumped in with the firearms season. Has it become clear yet WHY we archers, at least in my area, do not think expanding the definiton of archery to include crossbows is a good thing? We accept that they have similar effective ranges as bows, we accept that some guys love them .. and they DO GET TO HUNT. What we want, and what has been granted to us is 20%. Well that 20% has NO ROOM FOR CROSSBOWS. So, and quite correctly I add, our state has lumped them in with firearm season. If ML's get 20% and archers get 20%, then maybe crossbows deserve 20% .. well you can debate that with the Fish and Game guys .. I believe they realize the weapon lacks the following to reach that number and as such it gets added to firearms season.

For those who are disabled and can not archery hunt.. we make an exception and allow those disabled people to use crossbows during archery season. Women and children are asked to practice with their bows if they desire to hunt archery season just as every other healthy person is. But they still can hunt in a firearm seasone .. or they may have to wait till they are strong enough, or proficient enough to shoot with a bow. But nowhere do we tell them they can't hunt .. in fact there is some animal they can chase from September 1st through December here.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

Well, lets look at that fear.

If that is true .......... how has your archery season been effected in the past 5 years simply with the fluctuations of deer herds ?

Also, you and I both know that your archery hunters numbers have increased over the past 20 years - every year more and more hunters. Have ya'll ever had a decrease in archery season ?


Ever ?

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

What sport??? The SPORT of Crossbowing? The sport of Crossbowing is allowed during hunting season in NH. Trying to make Archers call Crossbowing archery is helping the sport of Archery how? It is not allowed at Archery shoots, they are not part of the records we keep, it does not require the same skills Archers practice ... how does that help Archery?

It doesn't. It only helps Crossbowing. So instead of trying to stretch Archery to accomodate a weapon that doesn't fit .. call it what it is.. a Corssbow, and manage it accordingly.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

Yes, while Archery hunters have steadily increased over the seasons; buck and doe allotments have been decreased to reduce archery harvest.

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

Last year, archery hunters took 1,854 deer, the third-highest number ever recorded in New Hampshire. "Archery hunting is growing in popularity in New Hampshire," said Pete Lester, Hunter Education Administrator for Fish and Game. "The extended either-sex season offers more opportunities for bow hunters in much of the state."

Welcome to the world of bow hunting. Your hunting season can be expanded by joining the ranks of archery enthusiasts nationwide. Right here in New Hampshire, bowhunters have increased in numbers 10 fold during the last decade alone. The New Hampshire increase (slightly greater than the national average) is due to various reasons:


WOW - is this TRUE ? Because what you fear has already happend and the result ?


Nothing. You have 10 times MORE archery hunters than 10 years ago. Why ? Its not the recurve, and it isn't the longbow - its the compound, isn't it ? Using your argument that crossbows lead to more hunters which lead to drecrease in seasons - its easy to see that compounds have increased archery participation in NH 10X and yet, still long season and liberal bag limits.

What say you on that ?

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

No, the sport of ARCHERY


Well, it unites all archers for one thing, plus its putting perspective on what bowhunting is - and isn't. Crossbows in archery season are not bad - you've seen the facts.

You don't think there are crossbow shoots that probably don't allow compounds ? I go to some trad shoots - and we don't allow compounds.

The weapons DOES fit - look no farther than AR, OH, GA, Canada etc etc. - and it IS manages easily by looing at how our states include them and the effect they have on archery season (which is NOT a negative)

RE: please tell me just one negative to crossbows
 

I say exactly what I have said before. With 1,854 deer taken by archery it was still only 20% of the total harvest, or slightly below. If next year all of a sudden Archers took 30% of the total harvest and the total harvest number was greater than desired, or if there was a bad winter .. they would reduce the taking of does and limit archers in other ways to allow the taking of 20% of their harvest goal.

ARCHERY is not CROSSBOWING. Crossbows in no way shape or form make better, enhance or improve archery. For every person that picks up a crossbow instead of a bow, a person is lost from archery. They are not the same, they do not promote archery ... they promote Crossbows and Crossbowing and Crossbow hunters. ALL TOTALLY different from Archers, Archery and Bowhunting.

You meatball.. there are NO archery shoots that allow crossbows!!!! They are NOT considered archery. Just like BOWS are NOT ALLOWED at crossbow shoots.