A Cry for Crossbows

Daniel Preiner

 

           People who participate in bow hunting are beginning to face a new issue.  With crossbows becoming more and more popular, there is beginning to be a push to allow the use of them by all people during the archery season. Current laws restrict crossbows to only people who are older than the age of 65 or have a disability that would not allow them to use a vertical bow (compound, recurve or long bow).  Many bow hunters are against having people use crossbows in the archery season because of two major reasons. One objection people have is that they think that crossbows give hunters an unfair advantage over other types of bows.  The second reason is that current bow hunters are concerned that the allowance of crossbows will increase hunting pressure.

It is a little ironic when modern bow hunters complain about crossbows making hunting too simple because the majority of these people use compound bows.  When compound bows first were invented, they were frowned upon by traditional archers (archers who use long or recurve bows) because it made archery 'too easy’.  Now, these people who spoiled the spot in the eyes of the old timers, are complaining; but why?  Modern compound bows have nearly as much range as crossbows.  With practice both are capable of killing deer out past 40 yards.  I do realize that it takes less time practicing to become proficient at further distances with a crossbow than with a vertical bow.  However, most archers don’t realize that bow hunting for whitetail deer is not a long range sport.  The average shot distance on a record book buck is roughly 19 yards and less than five percent of those record book bucks were shot further than 40 yards.(Adams)  So although a crossbow may have an advantage on further shots, rarely will that give the crossbow hunter an edge over vertical bow hunters in the field.

 If crossbows are allowed there will be more people in the woods during the archery season, but is that really a bad thing?  Most bow hunters cringe at the idea of having more people out in the woods during the archery season.  More people means more pressure on the deer, which makes hunting them more difficult.  However, us hunters have to become less solely fixed on getting our trophy deer and become more focused on sharing the sport with others.  Modern trends in the overall sport of deer hunting are showing that there are less and less people participating. We need to do all that we can to get people involved in the sport, even if it means sharing the woods with others.  If hunters do not begin to look at the big picture and see crossbows as an opportunity to get more people involved in the sport, we may be hurting ourselves.

  There will be an impact on the archery season if crossbows are allowed to be used by all bow hunters.  On an individual level more people participating in the season may be a negative, but for the overall hunting community getting more involvement is a strong positive.  Current bow hunters do not need to worry that crossbows will give hunters an outrageous advantage over all other bows either.  There is no question that crossbows are more user friendly, but with practice, modern bows can perform to the same level.  I’m like most bow hunters out there and enjoy the challenges of the sport and will continue to use my compound bow even if crossbows are allowed.  Being accepting of this potential new form to hunting is what is important to me.  Let us encourage more bow hunters to keep this age-old sport active, regardless of the type of bow, for generations to come.

 

 

 

Adams, Chuck. "Shot Distance on Deer." Bow Hunter Magazine. 04 Nov 2010: n. page. Print. <http://www.bowhunter.com/huntingtips_shot_distance_on_deer0410.html>.