I don't agree.... If you can't control a deer herd in 2.5 months with firearms, you have to look elsewhere for the answer... The problem is most guys shoot one doe and then try to get their limit of 3 bucks.... A logical solution would be make each buck tag an earn a buck situation...

This has to be some sort of record length thread.

Stealthycat has always been good at keeping the pot stirred andbubbling for a long time. Gets kinda boring after awhile though.

I've reached a point in this thread where I keep getting the same error message on my screen:

Excellent post Chad!! I think in allot of cases with hunter#'s being down in most states is because of laziness. More people these days would rather sit in front of the boob tube with a bag of chips and add to there already oversized gut instead of actually getting out there and doing some walking around, its too much work! The kids these days are being raised much different then we all were. My entertainment as a young fart was working on dairy farms or running around outside shooting sparrows with my little recurve driving my mom nuts hoping an arrow wouldn't hit the house. The kids these days entertainment is Video games or maybe the computer, my folks wouldn't allow it, we did have a Nintendo but mom and dad put strict time restrictions on it!! Hunter #'s will be down in the future because of how parents let there kids sit in the house 24/7 and not actually learn whats going on outside of the walls. And if kids want to try something, they want to do it the easiest way possible and the parents say ok you can. Parents are the ones to blame, at least a big majority of them, not the hunting restriction's of certain weapons!!

brucelanthier what bow do you choose and why ?


Most all compounders don't want crossbows in general archery, they want to limit the crossbow opportunity. But mention taking compunds out and limiting THEIR opporuntity and a hornets nest has been hit with a cannon ball.

A30/06 is a cartridge shell - there is your seperation from most states rules and regs.

A handicap person can't use a rifle in muzzleloader, they can't use unplugged shotguns in duck season, they can't shoot rifle in slug gun only areas ....... why can they use crossbows in general archery season ?

That is a truely baffling and contradictory thing isn't it ?


I don't know how bad your ankle is, I can't really say, but I DO know that if allowed on handicap basis, it opens up things to a whole world of fraud. How many crossbow permit holders really could shoot a compound or recurve ? 75% ? 90% ?


Things changed to allow archery only - you think we shouldn't have done that ? Things changed to allow compound in - bad mistake ? Things changed to allow >65% letoff, mechanical releases, fiber sights, mechnaical broadheads ....... bad mistakes ?


Archery & Bowhutning has changed continually to accomodate compounds - right ? When was the last time a law or rule or reg was changed to accodate a recurve or longbow shooter ?

Accodations happen yearly


Double Creek I can make the same arhument, saying that you can use a compound in rifle season, if you REALLY want to bowhunt, learn how to use a real bow (recurve or longbow) and we'll welcome you with open arms.

Same argument, isn't it ?




Its all about defining what a bow is, and how continually accomodating more and more technology for compounders bridges closer and closer the gap between what is and what isn't a bow. Its also about hutner numbers, and bowhunter numbers, and the impacts of allowing new things for archery and bowhunting.

Its been mentioned how people want their easy - they get it with compounds, and compounds dominated archery and bowhunting ever since the rules and regulations were changed to allow them. States like IL and WI and MI - what do you think the % of compound archery kills is ? 98% ? 95% ? Its almost all of them, so its easily proven that when archery and bowhunting allowed compounds, they took over.

The fear now is, that if crossbows were allowed, THEY would take over. Ironic, those who took over being afraid of being taken over isn't it ?



Question to LBR and Doublecreek = if crossbows were allowed this fall in MS how would your hunting change ? What would the impact to MS archery be ?

Perhaps you should read my posts a little more closely .

It wouldn't effect my hunting.... But neither would allowing guns into archery season.... But it would affect the overall spirit of a special, bow only season.. I don't consider the xbow a bow and neither do about 40+ other states and their related bowhunting associations...

You are saying a line in the sand needs to be drawn.... I draw mine when you no longer have to pull the bow back in the presence of game(ie.. xbow)

Im not saying a guy can't hunt with an xbow, he just cant hunt with it during archery season. You can't hunt with a rifle during primitive weapons season either... EXACT same scenario IMO

The sand to draw that line in got washed away when the baby got thrown out w/ the bath water in '69-'70, when the compound came out. Just a thought: archery has changed more in our short lifetimes than it has in the last several thousand years. Shoot what you shoot well...

Do a little research--you are miles off base. Archery seasons were lobbied for, worked for, and established for........you guessed it--archery! If those before us hadn't done the work, there wouldn't be a season. Seems there were no crossbow pioneers willing to do that for their weapon of choice, either then or now.

Like DC said, nothing was taken away from anyone--they were added on due to the low impact the weapons have (or had at least), and at least here in MS we sure as heck didn't get the pick. Our season opens October 1st--sounds nice, right? Try bowhunting with temps usually around 80 degrees, trying to avoid the snakes (we have plenty, including copperheads, cottonmouths, and several different rattlers--all who enjoy the same woods as the whitetails), ticks, mosquitoes, gnats, deer flies, horseflies, etc. etc. etc. Our rut (where I live) doesn't normally start until late December/early January--well into rifle season. I'm not whining and complaining and demanding that we get our fair share of the rut just for archery season, because not doing so "limits my opportunities".

How bad my ankle is varies--some days I barely have a limp,sometimes I'm on crutches and have to pop a pain pill to get through the day, but it's usually somewhere in-between. A lot of it depends on how much I do. Either way, it has no bearing on my ability to shoot a bow--anymore than a guy missing a leg. Heck, I've shot tournaments on crutches, with an air cast on my leg,and with a hard cast--and I didn't even ask for any special treatment either (and didn't get any, other than someone usually pulled my arrow for me). I've also hunted like that--I've got pictures of me bowfishing for stingray in a hard cast. I still plan to do an elk hunt, and hope to go to Australia for water buffalo before I'm totally unable--but if I don't get to because of my ankle, or finances, I'm not going to cry about it not being fair that I didn't get the same opportunities as some other hunters.

Again, I'm going to leave my thoughts on compounds out of this--hard enough to keep up as it is.

If crossbows were allowed in the archery season, I'd be a heckof a lot more nervous about hunting public land during archery season. I avoid the woods during the rifle opener now--just too dang dangerous. I don't guess I'll ever forget a comment from a debate on a different site--think this guy was from AR also. He was a staunch defender of crossbows--he called his crossbow his "jump and shoot bow". Yep, that's what we need more of. I have no idea how it would affect the season in general.

Back to the same 'ol same 'ol though--the point for me is simple. It's archery season. I don't consider crossbows to be bows. Only bows belong in archery season.

If crossbows are eventually allowed, I won't roll over and die, I won't go on a hunger strike, and I won't send hate mail to the manufacturers. Iwon't agree with it, but I'll adapt like always, and I'll teach my son what a bow is so hopefully he'll grow up with a respect for the tradition, the weapon, and those who workedso hard to get it for us.......even if there is no longer a reason to respect the season .

Chad