I'm no bow hunter, but i have always been amazed at many bow hunters attitude about crossbows. The compound bow that they love to shoot and say is more traditional then the crossbow was invented in 1966. The earliest records on the crossbow show it being used in seige warfare around 305 b.c.

Now taking that into consideration, wouldn't that put the crossbow into the "traditional" catagory of bows, given the historical age difference between them?

If you can understand the arguement of the compound vs crossbow with over a 2000 year difference, please explain it to me.

I personally have no problem with crossbows, its just another tool at our disposal. I believe the "compound is more traditional than xbow" argument is due to the fact that you still have to draw and aim roughly the same as a traditional bow. However, crossbows are more "modern" only in that they take less skill to aim and shoot than compound or traditional bows do.

My argument against the Xgun is not about whats traditional or not.It's the fact that you can keep it ****ed ready to shoot and use a rested aim.

Firearms are much older than compound bows also.

I have no problem with crossbows. I just have a problem with them being put into the wrong season. Call them what you want, they are not "bows". Some ancient models were designed to hurl rocks instead of bolts. You can fire an arrow with a slingshot (there's a bowfishing rig designed to use a slingshot to fire the arrow), you can fire an arrow with a converted rifle, you can hurl an arrow (dart) with an atlatl--that doesn't make any of these devices a "bow".

IMO, crossbows belong in the "primitive weapons" season, not the bow season.

Ok, with that being said, couldn't the same arguement be used in the role of the different bows, at least to a degree. Even though I no longer hunt with a bow, i noticed that i could hold my compound bow ready to shoot much longer then i could hold a recurve or a longbow. In fact it was much easier to even pull my compound to full draw vs my recurve bow.
Now days with the aid of fiber optic sights, releases, fall away rests, and all the other goodies that people dress their compound bows with, it can be said that it is much easier to aim, and shoot a compound bow vs it's traditional cousins, thus making it also "****ed" and shot with a much more rested and sight aided aim.

Certainly the high let off allows you to hold much longer but that's a lot different than not having to hold anything plus you still have a fair chance of being spotted when you draw a compound.I have always preferred my longbow and recurve over my compound but I have far less against the compound.It wouldn't bother me in the least if I could only use the compound during gun seasons.Fact is for years I hunted with my trad bows during all the gun seasons anyway.Big game,small game,spring and fall turkey.Didn't matter to me.

Thanks to everyone who posted on here. This subject is one that for as long as i can remember has always made me wonder. I really appreciate the fact that everyone who posted did so in a mature manner and gave honest opinions. Thanks to you all for yor imput.

what we use in hunting will be regulated by how we harvest. If an item were too efficient at harvesting, reductions of hunting time would occur. Many states have seen a reduction in hunters and that affects the efficiency of the hunting tool. The tool doesn't rule, if the game hunted starts falling in numbers.

A rifle is more efficient than a compound bow; a crossbow more efficient than a compound or traditional bow; a rifle more efficient than a flintlock musket. The art is to have so much efficiency and not too much to endanger the hunted animal population.

No, problem, I can explain it. Selfbows today are about the exact same was 100's or 1000's of years ago. And are of course traditional. Crossbows of today are nothing like 500AD. If one wants to hunt with a sightless X-gun, with a wooden prod, I say that could be traditional. And I know a few guys who hunt with a medieval crossbow. You of course can't hold the bow at tension very long even with a sinewed prod of elm.

So if a fella has a traditional crossbow, I have very little problem with it. But its a far cry from a 350fps x-gun with laser dots.

kinda like this COMPOUND that can be drawn in the morning, hung by the string all day and shot in the evening? LOL


compound, crossbow,recurve,longbow, selfbow...shoot what ya want, wont affect me in the least.