Calling All Bowhunters!

[Zradix]

Just more crowded in the public woods...

[BEN]

Die hard anti-x-bow folks are not going to change their views no matter what argument there is.......however:

Not all x-bow users are "lazy, slob hunters". After a motorcycle wreck smashed my shoulder, I was able to hunt for 3 years using a x-bow even though I could not draw ANY LEGAL vertical bow...nothing else in my manner of hunting changed from then untill now, except I didn't climb trees at all.

Not all "traditional hunters" are cream of the crop either-----I've met 3 (not members on here as far as I know) that have wounded more deer than you could shake a stick at because either they felt Trad. hunting was simple because they used to do this as kids, or because "they are naturals and really don't need to practice much" (my favorite, by the way).......

In Ohio, x-bows have been around for along time. I have never seen a x-bow hunter in the woods and I hunt public land!! I don't know hwere they all are, I know they are out there, but I have not been pushed around in my favorite areas because of x-bows-------compounds, yes.

I work 12 hr. days, sometimes 7 days a week. I am a husband/dad who prefers my wife not to have to work outside the home....many times, I don't have time to practice like I want to, or should......does that mean I'm lazy, or a slob, or not a respector of nature?  

If the handicapped, elderly, young, or even those who just don't have time to practice much prefer to head into the woods and enjoy the hunt as we do choose to leagally use an x-bow ----who are we to judge their reasons?

OK........not wanting to start a fight here......but as someone who has used ALL legal hunting weapons in my state for various reasons......just wanted to try and put out some different perspectives...........

(and if this post gets pulled.....I understand that, too!)  

[KentuckyTJ]

Yep KY went for it a few years ago. Pitiful but to tell you the truth I don't see them in the woods. My take on it is the majority of folks that would elect to use them are gun hunter and when they realize it is a lot of work as is bowhunting they simply do not stick with it long.

You can fight it as we did but it's coming and once here really not a painful as you expect.

[Stumpkiller]

Good luck with that.  Hopefully you'll have more luck than we traditional muzzleloaders had at keeping scoped in-lines with jacketed bullets out of the muzzleloading season.

[BradLantz]

Eric I was the same, even though I'm from Arkansas and we've had 'em for 30 years.

I've noticed ... maybe especially since I started traditional hunting, that manufacturers dictate what the G&F allows more and more. Mechanical releases, the 65% let off, mechanical broad heads, sights ..... there seems to be no end.

I noticed Cabela's archery ... 9 pages of compounds, 9 pages of crossbows and once crossbow was a $2,000 package  


Its about the money, make no mistake and while I don't care for them the people who choose them have the same bag limits I do I reckon, and for some people they're nice (if you're handicap etc).


If anyone wants to argue "turning back the clock" you need only take away mechanical releases on compounds and scopes on crossbows .... that would dramatically change bow hunting's landscape. Take out mech broadheads too, I got no use for them anymore.

[stiknstringer]

I was just wondering, if I could figure a way to launch an arrow from a gun, could I use it during bow season.Oh wait,that's a cross bow.  

[Hoyt]

Crossbows are flooding the market because of one thing...$$$ and lobbist..just too much money to be made off them and no stopping it.. All these TV deer farmers and shooters all of a sudden are lugging one into the woods. They  were all against baiting yrs ago and now you see most of them taking jugs, and sacks full of all kind of bait to pour around the stands outfitters put them in. All about the $$$.

I don't really care what anybody else hunts with, I hunt with flintlocks during modern gun season and will continue to hunt with my recure during bow season.

[Stumpkiller]

See what happened when we didn't nip aluminum arrows in the bud while they were young?  It's all been down hill since then.    

[cjgregory]

Just because legislation passes a law does not mean it's bright, intelligent or even just.  It just means the power of legislation overroad the existing viewpoint of those who are presently involved with the activity.

Democracy: The ability of 51% to eradicate the rights of 49%.  A failed experiment.

[Mojostick]

Not to play devils advocate, but the reason this is happening across the nation is actually pretty simple.

We have falling hunter numbers, hunter demographics are aging, the baby boomers are starting to drop out of deer hunting in larger numbers due to age, poor youth recruitment, state DNR's are broke and deer herds are growing and deer disease possibly impacting livestock is growing.

I hate to be the one to break the news, but in the next 20 years, we'll probably all be seeing more early antlerless only firearms seasons, either before or mixed into archery seasons on select weekends.

Those are just the unfortunate facts.

[TRADSTYK]

Ohio has had crossbows for a long time and are getting very popular. With that said, I will not let that change the way I hunt. I have the blessing to hunt private land that is traditional only to a large degree. I hope many hunters have this paradise too. I feel many who begin with the crossbow will need a greater challenge and switch to a different hunting tool of choice.

[WhitetailHtr]

The new Cabela's 2011 archery catalog has 26 pages devoted to crossbows.  In fact,more crossbows listed than compounds.

These aren't going away, that's for sure.  

Remember the argument for wheels that most hunters are too busy to practice, and that is why a wheel bow is more humane?  Well, now you have that argument in spades for crossbows!  Oh, and the weak and the elderly can hunt now, too.

One of the yucks on TV calls it "horizontal archery".  Yeah, right.  It's all about "the easy factor", make no bones about it.  And "the easy factor" means money for the crossbow manufacturers.

Tom.

[Mojo Rising]

The traditional community understands that success and consistency with our method depend on practice. "Easy factor" as stated above for sure!

[Killdeer]

Ben, I can't imagine why you would consider the possibility of your post being pulled. You stated your salient points quite well.

Stumpkiller, dead on, again.
The hem of the tent is the disabled hunter, and if there are a few camels that come in afterward, well, it was worth it. We make our own choices, and motivation matters.

Killdeer  

[Ryan Rothhaar]

FYI - go read the original post on the legislative forum.  This AIN'T about handicapped permits - that's already here and nobody's griping about that - this is about full inclusion AND about more gun seasons in an already over gunned state to "control" an already overgunned deer herd.  This is about MIS-use of the resource in the name of politics.

Of course the discussion about personal choice, one's philosophy on life, zen and the art of "getting what I want" etc etc etc....is A-OK, but the original point has been lost....

Ryan

[Zradix]

Originally posted by Ryan Rothhaar:
FYI - go read the original post on the legislative forum.  This AIN'T about handicapped permits - that's already here and nobody's griping about that - this is about full inclusion AND about more gun seasons in an already over gunned state to "control" an already overgunned deer herd.  This is about MIS-use of the resource in the name of politics.

Of course the discussion about personal choice, one's philosophy on life, zen and the art of "getting what I want" etc etc etc....is A-OK, but the original point has been lost....

Ryan

I agree with all you said Sir.
The only thing I'd like to hammer home is the "MIS-use of the resource in the name of politics." part.

Personally I believe it's in the name of money...or at least for those spending the money to buy...oops..I mean lobby the politicians.