I only had reservations concerning the impact on archery season by a wave of people that might not have respect for the limitations of the weapon. It has had a major impact in the SRA's where it is already allowed. We all must adjust to new things, like it or not. When Obama makes ammo cost 25 dollars per round, crossbows will become a major harvest tool.

Mandatory bowhunter education will do nothing but waste everyones time! Why not just man up and realize that deer are going to be lost,,and everyone that hunts is going to loose a deer at some time or another,,i've been archery hunting for 24 years and yes i lost a nice doe this year in the early archery season at 5yds,,,wtf happened is still unknown to me but i lost the deer,,,bottom line i probably should not have taken the shot,,,but i did! I practice all summer,,,and i shoot 3 arrows everynight before goin to my stand to make sure everything is right (especially me) and that doe still haunts me 4 months later.

Sproul:
what are you worried about,,,from your posts there are'nt any deer where you hunt,,,all the deer have been killed by the guys using their kids tags!

Losing a deer every once in awhile is a fact of life with all methods of hunting.

The apparent inevitability of crossbows in archery season and having heard firsthand all the misconceptions regarding the capabilities of the crossbow in particular is what drives me to support mandatory bowhunter ed.

Not just picking on the crossbow either, Isimply believe that if bowhunter ed for all new bowhunters prevents even a few lost deer, it would be worth the effort

you think hunt ed will work? i don't,i know people who never had a hunt license or never took test when mandated and bought their hunting license without a single problem. so it is not going to matter if a test is given or not. all you have to say "if" asked is yes i took test or had this license before. i have never been asked for proof. it's not going to matter. i do hope they pass it so all can use crossbows in every wmu. i think it will put more people in the woods. also,with the pgc hurting for money, i don't see a test for this,it will discourage quite a few from taking it and getting their archery license which will mean less $$$$ for the pgc. i been waiting to use my crossbow and maybe this year i will be able to in my wmu.

The potential problem I see is the increased harvests resulting in shortened archery seasons due to outcry from exclusive gun hunters. The same hunters that will be flooding the archery woods with their new crossbow. The GC will simply take back the hunting of deer during the rut. In SRA's the harvest increased by something like 40% when crossbows were allowed. This is not archers switching tools, this is a whole new class of hunters entering the season and a factor that cannot be diminished or ignored for long.

This goes right along with the fact that you just can't fix stupid. Its against the law to Rob banks yet idiots do it every day.
They shoot deer at night ,in the summer and from trucks. We have a part of society that just doesn't measure up,they've always been there and always will be.[:@]

The fair solution would be reducing the length of firearm buck hunting to compensate.
See ya.. I'm getting my gear on and heading out with the flintlock now.

sounds like you are his brother with a trick shot like that. but i guess that shot you took was allright cause the deer was injured allready?how many of your deer ran off in the past? i imagine quite a fwe from your above post.

its against the law to speed also, but idiots do that also........ but i guess some laws are allright to disobey and others are not.. a sportsman would never intentially break other laws now would they????

i say combine all season into one for 30 days. no seperate rifle archery smokepole. use what you choose. do this in october and that way you know the does you see after season are most likely bred.