Real World Application of Crossbow and Accuracy.

[kfd82]

[ATTACH]96873[/ATTACH]

[WCB]

I feel cheap just reading this...

[tinman]

[ATTACH]96885[/ATTACH]

[Encinal]

So great... crossbows are more reliable archery equipment in skilled hands (at all ranges) and will lead to a greater percentage of humane harvests in bow season overall.

This is great for the sport.

[Encinal]

Oh and as long as we are really having a debate... this is from the North American Bow Hunting Coalition's "mission statement" on crossbows...

With the continued thrust to inject crossbows into bowhunting seasons, the NABC steering committee
feels that it is appropriate to further address the issue as it relates to crossbows and the physically
challenged. In our To Whom It May Concern letter/statement (attached) we intentionally did not include
the disabled aspect at that time because the intent of the TWIMC letter was to solely address the
crossbow from an equipment standpoint and how it is not a bow and thus should not be permitted in
bow seasons or archery only areas.

The press release from the April 17-18 National Bowhunting Summit states in part:

“The organizational representatives at the Bowhunting Summit were unanimous in their opposition
to crossbows being allowed in bow seasons. The position taken is that crossbows are not bows and
therefore they should not be allowed in bowhunting only seasons, except where the states already
have exemptions for qualified physical disabilities.”

Basically this is the equivalent of a PETA member saying that regulated hunting is bad for the environment.

I understand the reason people argue against crossbows in archery season... I just don't agree with them.

[tinman]

Here's something new to chew on...

After a brief spike, Bowhunter numbers have actually dropped in GA, TN, and AL since the crossbow was legalized in these States' archery seasons...

Georgia

Year-Archery Numbers-All Hunters

(2000-2001)-109,008-294,469

(2001-2002)-96,721-292,209

(2002-2003)-97,392-279,863 (crossbows legalized 1st yr)

(2003-2004)-111,682-304,310

(2004-2005)-88,667-211,000

(2005-2006)-81,050-238,383

(2006-2007)-78,640-241,971

(2007-2008)-93,703-291,911

Source for the data on GA numbers.

[Encinal]

Georgia

Year-Archery Numbers-All Hunters-%archery of total hunters

(2000-2001)-109,008-294,469 37%

(2001-2002)-96,721-292,209 33%

(2002-2003)-97,392-279,863 (crossbows legalized 1st yr) 34%

(2003-2004)-111,682-304,310 36.7%

(2004-2005)-88,667-211,000 42%

(2005-2006)-81,050-238,383 34%

(2006-2007)-78,640-241,971 32.4%

(2007-2008)-93,703-291,911 32%

It's really not that different... 1% different from the year before... with a spike up to 5% higher than the greatest total % pre crossbow provided.

1% isn't that big when you look at the fluctuation of total hunters... and archery hunters over the period...

Over the years there is a high of 304,310 and a low of 211,000 total hunters... fully 93,310 hunters...

That's a huge variance to make any kind of statement on bow hunter numbers...

[Encinal]

And... over that period... average deer harvested per hunter... has gone from .5 deer per hunter... to .37 deer per hunter...

So people are killing FEWER animals with crossbows in the archery season than they were without... and it has never gone above .5 even in the spike...

If crossbows were such an advantage... you would think that number would go up...

[tx07]

The only thing I can see about this is what was brought to my attention by a friend.
The crossbow sales will be in gun shops as well and if it does get a trend, the local bowshops could be hurt by this.
My feelings about this article and 100 yards is not convincing enough to me. Crossbows are loud and if your shooting at an animal that far with one there is bound to be a miss or wounded animal. Just because accuracy is greater doesn't mean at that distance it is ethical.
I have owned 2 crossbows my life and personally they are not as fun to me to use as my compound.