Originally Posted by DougE

That's true to an extent.However,advances in technology have greatly increased the success rate during archery season.As it is now,most crossbows don't offer any advantage in range.They're still a close range weapon but they don't have to be drawn in the presence of game and they take far less time to become proficient.However,like I stated earlier,crossbow technology is at it's infancy and great strides will be made as demand increases.I've played around with several low to mid range crossbows and I don't feel that they offer much if any advantage,except that they don't have to be drawn in the presence of game.I've also played with some higher end crossbows and the advantage starts to be significant.Last year I shot a scoped scorpyd that shot exactly 350 fps at 125lbs.With a Hawke scope,that was easily a 60 yard weapon.Scorpyd has a 160 lb version this year that shoots over 400 fps and does PSE and bowtech.These weapons are easily effective past 60 yards.When you start increasing the effective range of a weapon by more than 100% with very little need to become proficient,a line needs to be drawn in my opinion.That less experienced hunter that struggled getting a shot at 20 yards now has a significant advantage.

In the end,a dead deer is a dead deer.Harvest are usually controlled by the number of tags issued so for the most part,I could really care less someone used to kill a deer with.However,when you hunt in a state like Pa,with so many hunters,when that harvest takes place is a concern.I'm not against crossbow usage.I just want their use to be monitored.

Originally Posted by DougE

I don't know squat about deer management or any of the political issues concerning hunting in New York.We just went through the same battle in pa and that's why I'm giving you the perspective of another viewpoint.So far it hasn't caused any negative issues and honestly,the way we're losing hunters,I don't think it will.

Originally Posted by DougE

In Pa,we have around 800-900k hunters.As more and more people started to bowhunt,a higher percentage of the buck harvest was prior to the does getting bred.Biolologists were afraid that this could effect the breeding ecology.They warned that is the harvest got much higher,we could lose the two weeks of the season that fell during the rut.Add more people with a more efficient weapon and this is a real probability.