Bill introduced to allow crossbows during Wisconsin archery deer season

[Jameson]

...Yes. It will be considered a bow, which it is and therefore be allowed use in the archery season....

This is NOT correct. They are not allowing the crossbows to be used with an archery license. You must buy a separate crossbow license good for the crossbow. The crossbow will have a separate season. At this time the season dates for the separate crossbow and regular archery are the same dates.

[Jameson]

...Try holding back a modern 75 lb compound bow with 85% let-off for 2, or 3, or 4, or 5 minutes when a deer is facing you at 15 steps and tell me how easy it is!...

Since 35 lbs is the legal minimum, can I try with that instead?

[monstermoose78]

For those who say they use a 75 pound draw weight with 85% let off you are only holding back 11.25 pounds come on practice holding that back. When I shot my bow before my injury I would practice holding my bow back for as long as possible I think I built up close to 10 minutes. If you can't hold that back lower your draw weight. Like someone said the legal minimum draw in Minnesota is 30 so you could turn your draw weight down.

[sticknstring]

Quote:

And personally, I don't know anyone who hunts with a bow (crossbow or otherwise) during gun seasons. WAY too dangerous. I know I won't sit in a tree with slugs flying around. Plus the fact that deer are much more paranoid and skiddish during gun season means you'd be lucky to ever get one in close enough for an arrow, even in a ground blind.

You must not know very many bowhunters!

[SmellEsox]

There may also be the risk of losing season length if we start to harvest too many deer during archery seasons. Our gun hunting brethren might get peeved and lobby to shorten our seasons.

[PFUNK]

There may also be the risk of losing season length if we start to harvest too many deer during archery seasons. Our gun hunting brethren might get peeved and lobby to shorten our seasons.

Yep. My thoughts as well. There have been others that have established a crossbow season totally separate from archery. However, not long after, bows and crossbows were lumped together and follow the same season dates and are treated altogether as "archery". There is wording in the legislation I don't like. Things like "if an archery season for animal x is adopted, the department shall also establish a crossbow season for animal x". It ties the two together as one, and they should be kept apart as they are very different.

[JPenny]

I can understand the concerns about loosing rights to hunting grounds. It has happened to me as well and hunting ground permission is certainly not easy to obtain. As to hunting in a tree stand after gun season starts, I hunt in Iowa and have never seen a person in a tree stand during gun season. It might be fine where you guys hunt, but I doubt you'd want to do that here. I suspect it is much different where you hunt. I hestitate to call my fellow Iowans idiots, but every year I can hear slugs smacking into tree branches and no intellegent person is going to sit in a tree with that going on. Even on private ground, because nearly every section has hunters on it and nobody can control what goes on with a neighbors ground. We presently have crossbow hunting only for medical reasons or senior citizens. To my knowledge, crossbows are licenced to hunt only during deer and turkey archery seasons.

[Wanderer]

There are some good corrections in here by guys who DO bow hunt.

And I'm sad to hear it's not safe to hunt from a tree in IA during the gun season. I've slug hunted from a tree in Western MN and heard slugs whizz past. At that point I hugged the tree even closer.

Here's the deal I see:

People who want more opportunity and more people in the woods for hunting in general are for legalizing cross bows. You can't hardly saturate the landscape with hunters any further during the gun season.

Those who chose archery more than likely did so to get away from hunting with the crowd and as mentioned have found access to places that otherwise wouldn't happen. This isn't as much about the weapon as it is the experience.

Over pressure will be an issue long before over harvest will. People against legalizing cross bows just want to preserve an experience that goes well beyond harvest. If you don't understand that, that's fine, but it's not fair to cast dispersions onto others saying "If you don't hunt like I do, don't hunt". What you are saying is if you don't see it my way then you're just being selfish and wrong.

I like the idea of keeping a potential cross bow season running concurrent with ML season OR offering a shortened cross bow season earlier but not the entire length of the regular archery season. That's as close a compromise as G. Kahn can get out of me. And yes, it's all about access and crowding. We're already bumping heads with the rise in regular archery popularity. I'm also one who's experienced an impact.

[mrklean]

I like the idea of keeping a potential cross bow season running concurrent with ML season OR offering a shortened cross bow season earlier but not the entire length of the regular archery season. That's as close a compromise as G. Kahn can get out of me. And yes, it's all about access and crowding. We're already bumping heads with the rise in regular archery popularity. I'm also one who's experienced an impact.

Couldnt agree more

[harvey lee]

For those who say they use a 75 pound draw weight with 85% let off you are only holding back 11.25 pounds come on practice holding that back. When I shot my bow before my injury I would practice holding my bow back for as long as possible I think I built up close to 10 minutes. If you can't hold that back lower your draw weight. Like someone said the legal minimum draw in Minnesota is 30 so you could turn your draw weight down.

Yes, you could turn down your draw weight but you would loose alot of energy down range shooting that low of poundage.

[eskay]

AB bill 194 passes Assembly 95-0. On to Senate.

[DonBo]

AB bill 194 passes Assembly 95-0. On to Senate.

95 - zip? I knew this was pretty much a done deal, but jeez.

[Wanderer]

Ooof!

Wonder how much money was behind that push?

I saw the results of the Outdoor News poll regarding crossbows in the regular archery season and it was split 50/50. I'd like to see the results of a poll of only people who have purchased an archery license, and even better yet, purchased at least 5.

[skee0025]

If people want to shoot these things, they are legal during the gun season. If it were up to me, they'd be included in the Muzzy season. Those weapons are much better matched than are Xbows and REAL bows.

From Outdoor life.

"It turns out that, from a ballistics perspective, crossbows aren’t that different from modern compound bows."

[harvey lee]

Ooof!

Wonder how much money was behind that push?

I saw the results of the Outdoor News poll regarding crossbows in the regular archery season and it was split 50/50. I'd like to see the results of a poll of only people who have purchased an archery license, and even better yet, purchased at least 5.

Well, I have been bow hunting for close to 45 years and I would be all for allowing crossbows.

Does not bother me one bit if someone wants to shoot a deer with a gun, bow, crossbow or ML. If it is legal, fine with me.

The last few years I have gun and ML hunted in Mn as the ND tags are getting harder to get at least the gun tags for a few years now.

Yes, land access is getting tougher but I can still find numerous pieces of land to hunt both archery and gun without to much of an issue.

Now, it may take 8-10 stops at farmer's or phone calls but I do find them. Last summer I got permission to hunt 2 farms in a heavy hunted area and there was noone else but me. Not saying this is possible in every area but if one gets out and talks to farmers, sooner or later, one will score a nice piece of land.

[Wanderer]

Now, it may take 8-10 stops at farmer's or phone calls but I do find them. Last summer I got permission to hunt 2 farms in a heavy hunted area and there was noone else but me. Not saying this is possible in every area but if one gets out and talks to farmers, sooner or later, one will score a nice piece of land.

Yeah Tom, I get it, there's still opportunity out there and to an extent there will be for the foreseeable future, but when you take your ONE and turn that into 3,4, or 5 looking for the same spots, those places become exponentially harder to find. It's just a mathematical rule.

[skee0025]

Your assuming there is going to be 3 to 5 times the hunters taking the field just to hunt with a crossbow? IVe been doing a lot of study on the issue since this popped up and no state that I can find has had that size increase. Some doubled for a few years , but dropped back down after the novelty wore off. Some stayed at the 2x level, but the numbers of hunters overall decreased. In Many states traditional bow hunters made up a good percentage of the crossbow licenses sold as they aged or became physically unable to use traditional equipment. Simply put, your fears are unfounded.

[Wanderer]

2x is plenty...

Everyone weighs their "fears" from personal experience moreso than what info is presented from other regions. It's just how we operate when dealing with things that have emotional value. For me, I do personally know several people who do not currently bow hunt due to the amount of time and effort the sport takes - no other reason. They would all gladly buy a brand new X bow and a license and sit for the archery season as well as the regular firearms season and muzzleloader seasons. They've flat out told me they don't have the ambition for regular archery, period.

MANY people who take up archery just want to get away from the masses, another period. That's why I'd like to see a poll of archers only rather than just the general populus. Heck, I've skipped buying a firearms license in MN several times just because its not the experience I'm looking for anymore. I go out and set stands for our kids and sit with them but rarely have a weapon with. I offered to get both kids involved in archery and only one did but only lasted 1 year because it was too much work. I'm not including them in the "several people I know" comment above either.

Some of us still value the purity and serenity of a tough sport. Imagined or not.

I couldn't help but think of this when the X bow debate flared up again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=48-tcRiBNj4

[DonBo]

Some of us still value the purity and serenity of a tough sport. Imagined or not.

Exactly.

This is a debate I've mostly chosen to stay away from. The fact is, archery is not an easy sport to master, and to say xbows are the "same" for whatever reason, is a slap in the face to those of us who choose to take the extra time an effort to become compitant with a verticle bow.

Xbows may have their place in todays hunting world, I just don't believe it belongs in the archery season.

[Down2Earth]

I for one had never understood the bow hunter mentality of "holier then thou" until it happened to me. I don't mean to offend anyone because I was once one of them. A bow hunter for 15 years and I had just purchased a new bow a year ago when I started having shoulder problems. I needed to have surgery and then the doctor told me that even after the surgery he would recommend me not hunting with a regular bow. Guys that I hunt with prior would talk about the cross bow debate and where like "Not in OUR season buddy". Now I hunt with a cross bow and my attitude has completely changed and so has the guys I hunt with. They new my passion for bow hunting and they and now I would welcome others to the sport with the same passion for hunting if it took allowing cross bows to be legal for the archery season.

[DonBo]

Down2Earth, don't get me wrong. If you have health issues and can't draw your bow, then I welcome you and your Crossbow to join us during the archery season. That's never been an issue for me. Just don't throw them into our season simply beacuse the tool that actually gets the job done happens to look similar to the same one I use.

[Down2Earth]

Down2Earth, don't get me wrong. If you have health issues and can't draw your bow, then I welcome you and your Crossbow to join us during the archery season. That's never been an issue for me. Just don't throw them into our season simply beacuse the tool that actually gets the job done happens to look similar to the same one I use.

Nope would never take you wrong and value your feelings on the subject. I bet though that is the exact thing people with recurve and long bows were saying before compound bows were allowed. I also think, but don't know as I've never tried to take an animal with either a long bow or recurve, but I bet the skill level going from that to a compound is heads and tails then going from a compound to a cross bow.

[Down2Earth]

I also remember my first time shooting a compound (16 years old). My buddy purchased one and had been bow hunting for a couple years. I had driven over to his house and he was out shooting. He asked me if I wanted to and I was like no way I shoot deer with a gun. He then taped a $5 bill up on the target and told me if I could hit it I could have it. He explained the pins, the peep sight, and the release. Very first shot I hit the upper right hand corner and thought this is easy and hit it again on the next shot (both shots were at 20 yards). Then from there we shot a bunch more and I was hooked.

[surewood]

I helped my Dad, and step dad sight their crossbows in a few years back, and it can be argued effective range may be the same , but a crossbow is easier to shoot. Just prop it up and pull the trigger. The experience for me was like shooting a close range gun. Other then a disability of course I don't think the crossbow belongs in our "Archery" season.

[psepuncher]

after many polls were established and surveys tallied....

most MN hunters still tag one deer per season

I took bow hunters education {BHE} and the profeciency test for sharp-shooter. didn't have to but wanted to enhance myself and my son's

experiences togther. I bet there's more like me that have yet to punch their tag because of selective harvest. Weather it's personal preference or point restrictions. Nowadays with modern scouting cameras

it's exciting to know what the possibilities are when wating for "the one".

Crossbows don't enhance the brown it's down mentality, that's just fear mongering. And one thing's for sure...I can reload my compound faster than anyone using a crossbow, and without less detectible motion to boot. So to keep it humane , I say keep your broadheads sharp and aim small from whatever string you're pullin.