Help us legalize bowhunting in Norway.

[SveinD]

Bowhunting is currently not legalized in Norway, but the government is currently reviewing whether to change that law.

The problem is that a lot of people opposing the legalization, have a somewhat warped view on bowhunting and the lethality of the equipment, mainly due to a couple of news-stories we've had over the years, where dumbasses have shooting deer, ducks, cats and swans with arrows for fun, ending with nationwide coverage..

What I would like from you guys are reports, statistics and data on the effect and lethality on bows and arrows, preferably both Tradbows and Wheelies, as well as data on things like wounding-shot ratios and recovering wounded animals etc..

I will then collect, categorize and send the data to the Directorate of Nature Management, as well as the key persons opposing the legalization.
I'm guessing the DNM has some data from Denmark and Finland, but the opposers need to read, not just have an opinion..

Remember, I can not just send them random comments and opinions. So a link to an official site, or a document sent to my email ([email protected]). Or tell me what to look for, and I'll look for it!

Here is the link to a google translated, new report on the topic, for those interested.
   NRK - Norwegian News

Thanks for your help on this matter.
Maybe we'll do some hunting in Norway sometime  

-SveinD-

If this is posted wrong, sorry, but it did seem the best place to put it!

[straitera]

Not sure I can help cousin Sven but if you can think of anything just ask. I can say what a blessing it has been to bowhunt most of my life nearly 50 years now. The thrill of getting close enough to these beautiful animals to experience the essence of the hunt at hearing distance. IMO, trad bowhunters especially should know how fortunate we are to be able to cleanly & humanely put hunt-harvest food on our tables with basic stick & string.

[FOXXNTROUT]

I would imagine a bowhunters safety course (8 hours) would be good.

Vermont has one and it is quite good. I might contact them for some documentation.

 http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/edu_hunter.cfm

and Texas.

 http://www.bowhunter-ed.com/texas/index.html

I would push for education and safety first. I am sure there are statistics for educated hunters with Game & Fish departments.

Also, contact other EU nations that have bowhunting and see if you can have someone come up to talk in front of the DNM.

You are also going to have firearm hunters to back you on this. If you have them there.

Politicians also like to hear about REVENUE...they love that as it keeps them happy.

Safety and Revenue are your key issues.

[KellyG]

The internet is slow tonight but put this in google bow hunting statistics
I was trying to loas some of the sites to help weed them out for you but there were some popping but was taking forever to load.

[McDave]

There are a number of articles I have read over the years on this subject, most of which are in magazines I have since thrown away.  In reviewing the material I have on hand, I found a chapter in  Timeless Bowhunting, by Roy S. Marlow, titled Wounding Loss and Distance, that documents some studies that might be of interest to you.

The bottom line is, when a deer is shot with a high powered rifle in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, it will probably drop in its tracks from shock and be dead by the time the person gets to it.  When a deer is shot by a bow in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, it will run off and die somewhere else from blood loss anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour or so later.

People are either willing to accept that or not; I don't think all the statistics in the world are going to change someone's mind who believes it is inhumane to shoot an animal with something that will cause it to suffer for a half hour or more after it is shot.  It doesn't matter that in nature that animal would likely suffer a lot longer than that in the course of dying, or that each of us will likely suffer a lot longer than that in the course of our own deaths.

Each of us makes our own personal choices on what shots we will take and what shots we will decline.  There is no reason more animals should be wounded and lost through bowhunting than through rifle hunting, other than each hunter's knowledge of his own limitations and choice of what shots to take.  I personally declined two possible shots at animals I would have liked to have this season, and so brought none home this year, and I'm sure many of you have the same story.

So I guess if I were in your position, I wouldn't duck the issue that animals shot correctly with a bow don't just drop dead, but that they will die within a short time and don't suffer more than death usually calls for.  Even in a liberal state like California, people seem to accept that, and there is no great call to outlaw bowhunting other than the usual fringe groups.

I would, of course, emphasize the positive aspects of bowhunting, such as its history spanning 50,000 years, the additional effort required, which may translate into an increased respect for the game over slamming it with a rifle bullet, and the relative safety to other humans who might be in the area compared with rifle hunting.

[Bud B.]

The NC Bowhunter's Assn pushed a few years ago to reduce hunting weight of bows to 35lbs. Their study was based on kinetic energy, not pound pull of bow.

Raymon Bell is the current president and Past President Gary Evers helped with this push.

 http://www.ncbowhunter.com/history.html

[Rooselk]

One thing I would do would be to contact a bowhunting organization like the Pope & Young Club. They would likely have the specific studies and statistics you are looking for or could tell you where to find them.

[Ragnarok Forge]

I would do a lot of research on the issues revolving around this online.  Our South African and Australian brothers should have some information.  Africa in particular has some intricate bow hunting laws that had to have been formed thru some sort of research. I know a lot of work is going on in Africa to change the laws from KE to Momementum requirements to set minimums for certain animals.  You should be able to contact their hunting organizations, particularly bow hunting orgs that will have info you might need.

[SveinD]

Thanks for the good advice here, keep the ideas coming! I'll look into Pope Young and African Bowclubs for statistics!

I'd also like to state that I'm not looking for "biased" reports, just to further my own agenda (getting it legal), only real facts and statistics, be they more positive or negative compared to riflehunting!

[njloco]

I have shot deer with both a rifle and a bow, and in MY opinion the rifle is more violent than the bow. The deer I have shot with a bow usually just jump once or twice and then don't seem to know what happened. With a rifle there is always a death call, with a bow I have never heard one.

[Margly]

This is a very good initiative Svein  

Thanks

Ronny

[Lucas K]

Svein you might check with the Pope and Young Club, their original mandate was to show the effectiveness of bowhunting to state game agencies. They may have some literature you could use. Best of luck I hope we can hunt together in Norway someday...

[arrowlauncherdj]

How soon folks who wont legalize it forget that bows and arrows have killed more men, than rifles or bombs will in the next 500 years... through armor no less, and they doubt its lethality on species in the deer family... people who won't recognize this simple fact of history are beyond help in my humble opinion.

That said, I agree with Lucas K... bowhunting in North America has got to be the best time-proven test you could possibly find as groups like P&Y have documented thousands of kills and should be a great resource.

Dave

[Ray Hammond]

There's a very well known wounding rate vs survival study that was called the Camp Riley Study- something like that- which concluded that the vast majority of incorrectly arrowed game ultimately survived- while the vast majority of gun wounded animals ultimately succumbed to their wounds after a time

I believe that is still in the IBEP /NBEF bowhunter education manual and should be able to find it on line

[Ray Hammond]

Svein

I emailed you details on the study just now