Kansas hunters express your concerns!!

[Keb]

The commissioners are;

Gerald W. Lauber Topeka [email protected]
Robert Wilson Pittsburg [email protected]
Don Budd Kansas City [email protected]
Tom Dill Salina [email protected]
Randall Doll Leon [email protected]
Debra Bolton Garden City [email protected]
Roger Marshall Great Bend [email protected]

Please voice your concerns in a professional manner. Let them know your concerns about the changes beeing made.

Unless you have been under a rock, there are more proposed changes coming, xbows during archery season, any caliber center fire for gun season, more non resident tags.

I am a non- resident and love kansas, I do not want to see it go down the tubes, if you feel the same, know is the time to send some emails, make phone calls,ect.

Thanks

[Jake Fr]

I told Roger Marshall my thoughts and conserns but it has already passed and in effect for the next year I think its crap crosbows in archery season is a big mistake unless handycaped is only exception and any centerfire rifle with a 50grn bulit or biger is a horible mistake as well

[Cold Weather]

wonder why you think its crap xbows in archery season.  after all, they are archery equipment.

wont comment on the centerfire concern.

[dnovo]

Crossbows are only considered archery equipment by the manufacturers.
If it has a stock, and trigger, scope and is held to the shoulder like a rifle, shoots a bolt, how is that considered archey?

[Cold Weather]

actually the US Government considers xbows archery equipment-it's listed there for tax reasons.

a bolt is just a short arrow-regarding how it is shot, its shot like a xbow.

xbows predate firearms by 1000 plus years.

I am seeing xbows now in leading archery magazines.

it's a bow.  really dont understand why you, or anyone has an issue with them in archery seasons.

[Soonerlongbow]

Strictly speaking from an observance POV, I've seen the majority of the anti-X-bow postings seem more like the anti-high cap magazine speeches. Or like the rifle hunters that say only muzzle loaders with iron sights and flint lock actions. The analogy continues into infinity, however, it remains snobbish. Thats because we use trad gear because we have the CHOICE to do so. Many people on here seem to take away the choice not to.

Not that I'm totally convinced X-bows are the way to go, don't own one & don't intend to. Does not change that it is still a bow, as are compounds.

If we are going to say no x-bows then whats next? Now compounds, only trad gear? No recurves or take downs? How about only self bows you made?

Frankly, though I've read on other postings here that it's not helping the number of hunters afield, that does not jive with most state DNR agency numbers. I don't care how a person hunts as long as it's ethical towards the animal.

[Jake Fr]

The only reason I dont like crossbows in archery season is in my neck of the world is most of the gun Hunters I have talked to are runnin out and buying them up so they can hunt in archery season and all they seem to talk bout is how far out they are able to shoot their deer at 100 yrds and I think we are gonna have a lot of crippled deer cause of this law and the same with the centerfire deal I dont care that they hunt but I know alot wont be ethical about it and it will give all a bad name

[Soonerlongbow]

Absolutely! I work with a guy who thinks any bow shot beyond 25yds, trad, wheel or X bow, is unethical. Yet we know that's not the case. Fred Bear took many of his animals at distances wheel bow guys would scoff at. On the other hand, my grandfather thinks all archery hunting is unethical because he used to help on a trad only draw hunt here in OK. Says he saw hundreds of deer at the MCAAP hunt routinely wounded. This is pre/early wheel bow times.

Point is, unethical shots can be made by any hunter regardless of method or distance. It is up to that hunter to determine their personal max effective range.

Personally, I would like to see a special trad only early season in many states.

[Cold Weather]

dont really see why there should be a specific trad season.

should there then be a specific compound season?  then a specific xbow season.

towards 100 yard shots, obviously these guys are clueless.

massive drop-but incidently there were 100 yard shots plus reported by likes of Saxton Pope/Art Young.  Read Howard Hill's Hunting the Hard Way to learn about an elk reported to be shot over 100 yards.

[Tater]

I just sent in mt Kansas Deer application,fortunately the area I hunt does not get alot of pressure during Archery season and I hunt private property.
     I think this will affect the Eastern part of the state more, where the population is greater. I personally do not believe crossbows should be in Archery seasons. If you choose to hunt with a crossbow hunt during rifle season.

      If it has a stock, sights and a trigger, I do not believe it to be a bow. If you wish to extend your range to 60-70 yards and beyond why not just use a rifle? I thought bowhunting was supposed to impose limits, and encourage woodmanship skills.

   JMHO, Pat

[joe ashton]

Hi I agree with Tater.  It has a stock, trigger, safety and scope.  It is  not a bow!  You don't have to draw it in the presence of the animal.  You don't have to practice endlessly to be good with it. Shoot it few times to sight it in.  Shoot it a few more times to get used to the trigger pull. You don't have to get close to the game.  I'm sure they are fun to shoot.  So are ARs, 7mm, 870s, .357s, sling shots and muzzle loaders.  Xbows and the bulk of the people that like them are OK but leave them in the gun season....Lock, stock and barrel the crossbow has absolutely no place in archery seasons..
Joe

[snakebit40]

Originally posted by joe ashton:
Hi I agree with Tater.  It has a stock, trigger, safety and scope.  It is  not a bow!  You don't have to draw it in the presence of the animal.  You don't have to practice endlessly to be good with it. Shoot it few times to sight it in.  Shoot it a few more times to get used to the trigger pull. You don't have to get close to the game.  I'm sure they are fun to shoot.  So are ARs, 7mm, 870s, .357s, sling shots and muzzle loaders.  Xbows and the bulk of the people that like them are OK but leave them in the gun season....Lock, stock and barrel the crossbow has absolutely no place in archery seasons..
Joe

x2

[Cold Weather]

sorry, but its a bow.

dont have to get close to game?  really?

not a gun, so it doesnt belong in gun season.

[joe ashton]

Yes, really.  I see them  'sighting them in' at 80, 90, 100 yards.  Shooting them off sand bags on a bench rest (try that with a 'real bow').   Cock, lock and load the thing, lean it against a tree and  when a deer steps out at 100 yards, range it, take the safety off, lay it across the shooting sticks put the cross hair on the kill spot and pull the trigger...sorry, I don't mean to be hard to get along with....but...not a bow.
Joe

[Cold Weather]

sorry Joe

definitely a bow.

thats why they are called crossBOW

hint:  the last three letters give it away.

I own an xbow and to sight in with my Excalibur at 100 yards would create such an high trajectory it would be useless for closer shots.

we are talking here of speeds of 300-400fps at the very most.

you didnt know its possible to shoot a bow off a rest?

one can steady their arm against a tree-a rest-.

but anyway, its definitely a type of bow.

[Mitch H]

I shot my compound bows at 80-100 yards on a regular basis. Groups were consistently better at that range than the "average" compound shooters groups @ 40 yards, and the "average" trad bow shooters groups @ 20 yards. With well over 200 big game bow kills under my belt, my average shot distance……..well under 20 yards.

Crossbows have just as many drawbacks as they have advantages over compounds. Compounds have shooting sticks to brace from the ground up, and drawlocks to hold them at full draw.

Resting a crossbow is nice, but not often possible under normal hunting conditions. Crossbows absolutely do not have a longer effective range than a compound, nor are they any more accurate…….but they are easier to be marginally proficient with for rookies.

IMO, crossbows are an overall inferior weapon compared to compounds…….for physically healthy adults.

Also, no worries where former gun-only hunters are concerned. Kansas is not the first state to include crossbows. There will be an influx during year one, but when the former gun-only hunters find out that they need to be serious about scent control, movement, and deal with limited yardage just like a compound bow, they fall to the wayside very quickly. If they had the resolve to play our game, they would already be doing it.

Much worry about nothing.

[dragonheart]

When you take away the element of having to draw on the animal, it is just not archery hunting.  The special seasons are for the challenge, crossbows eliminate the ability one has to learn to draw on an animal.  That is why it does not belong in archery only seasons.

[Mitch H]

The argument of drawing in the presence of game is as legitimate as the anti-crossbow argument gets.

As a bow hunter who has absolutely zero desire to ever hunt with a crossbow, I still say that drawing in the presence of game is an art easily learned. I have been "busted" drawing on an animal I decided to shot 3 times in nearly 40 years of bow hunting. I have successfully gotten to full draw and sealed the deal about 98% of the time I tried it. I honestly feel that if I had used a crossbow on every one of those hunts, the horizontal limb configuration would have gotten me busted more than three times.

Scent control, including trying to always hunt downwind of your quarry, and patience are much more important, IMO, to a successful hunt.

Ohio has had full crossbow inclusion since the mid 1970`s-they have a super healthy herd, and world class trophy deer. My home state of PA went to full crossbow inclusion maybe 3 years ago now…..it has literally been a non-issue other than the fear prior to the first season of inclusion. Most of the new hunters gained because they could use a crossbow are already out of the game, and the one`s who have stuck with it are using a short range, quiet weapon that launch`s a stick with a broad head attached to fill their one buck tag.

[jon boy]

In Michigan many years ago, a bow was defined as something that was hand drawn and hand held.  It was illegal to have devices that held the bow at full draw.  Somewhere along the way that definition was forgotten.  Just follow the money.

[Cold Weather]

the old draw argument is just that..an old argument.

now we have blinds that one can draw from and the animal cannot see you.

frankly never have had problems getting drawn on an animal.

regarding "hand drawn" as the definition of a "bow".

never been.

there is just no legitmate reason to be opposed to xbows.