RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

You're showing your age there Pawildman! Only those of us getting long in the tooth can remember those times

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

I know the pros & cons and effective ranges of X-bows, but I don’t feel that everyone who enters the woods with one will. Case in point. Guy I work with is pondering buying a Xbow to hunt with because of his perceived ease at doing so. He doesn’t want to have to track a deer, and he wants the Xbow for its knockdown power?! You’ve GOT to be kidding me?! You will have hundreds more like him if they are introduced into the general archery season. And yes I tried to tell him how bows & Xbows actually kill by bleeding, but he thought he knew more than me.

My contention is not about denying people opportunities to hunt, but preserving what little quality time afield is left in this state. Already experiencing a unit with Xbows legal thru out the general archery season, I know first hand the surge in hunter numbers from it. I don’t want that all over the state. I say after the gun season ends, give it a week then bring back in bows, xbows & flintlock season again for a longer period of time, rather than waiting to after Xmas. That would give a lot more opportunity for people at a time when the woods can handle it. (meaning they wouldn’t be WAY overcrowded) We have too many hunters to support the influx of Xbowers in the general archery season. Plain and simple to me.

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

..........Yeah....I guess you're right. Short time memory retention can be a problem sometimes, but I can sure remember back to the "good old days" OK, it seems......

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

Your point about the false perceptions of the xbow attracting the wrong people are right on IMHO. I wouldn't want to see them without mandatory bowhunter ed. That alone will deter the Joe six pack types looking for an easy way to shoot another deer. We all know at least one of those who has gone to the doc and got his xbow permit based on a sore elbow or some other lame BS excuse.

I would also be OK with them getting their own season and it would be a good way to evaluate the impact before letting them into real bow season.

As you know, I hunt 2B a lot too and I havent personally seen an explosion of xbow use but I don't presume to say it aint happening in some spots. A lot of my 2B hunting is on private ground that I don't have to share with many.

Overall, even the parts of 2B that I hunt that are open tothe publichas seen a substantial drop in hunting pressure in both archery and gun season and the deer are still there. Havent seen many crossbows there either but as I said before, one mans observations don't mean much in the big picture and myexperience may or may not be applicable to the whole WMU. It sounds like your experience has been quite different. That makes the idea of caution and starting out with a seperate season make sense.

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

yea the PGC goes ultra conservative for other seasons(archery bear). Jumping straight to a full Xbow would fly in the face of what they normally do.

Yea I know things can vary a great deal. In my other hunting spots, many things people observe I have never seen. And vice versa. I actually think there would be a larger spike in the influx of hunters in the rest of the state because there is much more accessable land compared to SRA's. I'd hope I'd be wrong, but I am not willing to gamble that chance.

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

I think we've all heard guys talk about the misconceptions of the xbow. Most people think they have a greatly extended shooting range over the compound bow, need less practice, etc... I guess that's where my hangup is as well.

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

I'm saying you probably would see an intital influx, but hunting is hunting. Deer, aim , shoot! 1st got to find that deer. I am not convinced by overcrowding If that is the case then the deer are probably not there anyhow. I am not convinced by the shooting practice ethics as I can match story for story w/compounds, recurves, rifles , etc.
If you look at the people on this forum and probably most of our peer friends/hunters we go above and beyond the usual hunting scheme. I spend a ton of time preparing, studying, reading and practicing the sport I love. I'd like to beleive most or the majority put in hours but sadly I don't think that happens.I quit bow hunting for a while because I could not give the timeI needed.I've tracked those deer Life today, is too fast and demanding for that commitment, you have to give things up to do it right. Open the season, forget the" I want " mentality and let's hunt.

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

They've admitted the bow season will most likely be shortened with the introduction of x-bows.

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

I'm not going to get drawn into a gigantic debate over this thing again but will only say that I will NEVER be in favor of X-Bows in the regular archery season and will lay out how I feel about it one big fat rant.

You want to see 270,000 Bowhunters turn into what?.......maybe 5-600,000 "Bowhunters" in a shorter season?
There's a win win huh? We'll start Oct 1st or so be done by 3rd week in Oct, lose the rut and every Remington 760 toting yeehaw will be scrambling for any crossbow they can afford.
Oh yeah.......and we'll be wearing orange while we do it.[:o]

You guys in crossbow states currently have ZERO clue what PA is truly like. Spend a lifetime hunting here as a resident on anything but a family owned posted to the gills property and you'll understand why this is a bad idea.

And this comes from a guy who is a rep for a company currently producing 2 of the most advanced and currently the most powerful crossbow on the market.
You guys who think rifle hunters are going to take a close up archery style mentality into the woods with them are BONKERS. :eek:Have you shot a new Bowtech Stryker? I can clank bolts together at 75 yards and still over 350fps at that range.

This is NOT archery hunting fellas and I don't really want to hear the crap about compounds being not much less than a crossbow. I shoot both.(Hell I shoot EVERYTHING.....flintlock, inline, rifle, pistol, compound and longbow and recurve)
There is no comparison to a bow you must draw, and hold back (I don't care about let off either, you still must draw and physically hold the bow out and there is a finite amout of time it can be done) VS cocking a 350-400fps weapon and resting it on a shooting stick until you flip the safety off look through the scope and shoot.

I can go on and on and on..........this united we stand devided we fall crap doesn't fly in this case, it doesn't. It's not a bow and is not an equal.......Crossbows do not fit in a season and state where we have the numbers of particpants that we do already sharing the same 2 months. We have small game seasons, turkey season, youth rifle season a week long early muzzleloader season all already cutting into the archery season and flooding the woods with people.
You do NOT want archery season turned into something resembling our general firearms season in the name of "Lets not bicker amongst ourselves" Don't get fooled into that logic.

It's hard enough to find any peace in what should be a peaceful season, so lets most likely double that participation in one season and see what happens?

If shooting a compound is so friggin easy.......that's the big argument. Compounds are so technoligically advanced and simple to master then put the 760 down and pick up a compound and give it a whirl, then pick up a scoped 350-400fps crossbow and tell me how they compare.
If a crossbow is NOT a bow, not held by hand,or drawn by handthen it doesn't belong in an ARCHERY SEASON forsame reason a rifle or pistol doesn't.
IF you want to participate in the archery season simply pick up one of these super easy to learn and master compounds I keep hearing about and welcome aboard. I can be the first person you seek for advice.
How can someone in favor of crossbows use the argument that a compound is so much like a crossbow.......I've even heard people say a compound is EASIER>[:-]LOL If that's the case pick one up and show me how easy it is. Why do you need to have your 175# 400fps shooting cocked and locked crossbow if my compound is so easy to use?

Crossbows might be a viable TOOL for management in a state where there are low hunter numbers yadda yadda but PA is, has been and always will be THE single most dysfunctional state in the country with respect to its hunting regulations, population and the general mindset of the hunters within it's boundaries. YOU simply cannot use ANY state as a model for what will happen here. It's a zoo now so lets screw it up even further if we can.

So who's with me!? Yes PA Game Commission please , please allow us to add another couple hundred thousand don't have the skill to use a "Simple" compound hunters to our season and while you are at it feel free to shorten it by 2-4 weeks to compensate and while you are at it can we also wear 250 square inches of orange too? I can't get enough of an orange blob behind every tree having to "Get their buck" for 2 weeks in December so please bring that joy to us a little earlier in the season where at least I won't be freezing my butt off. :eek:

RE: Crossbows introduced for regular archery season in PA
 

Darn, here i thought that Pennsylvania was just another state and not another planet[&:]