Crossbows did not increase hunter numbers in Michigan, they simply shifted hunters from gun season to archery season.
The rail cars on the way to Dachau were full of people who thought their fate was inevitable. Nonarchery equipment in Iowa’s archery only season is not inevitable.
7 pages in and we finally made the first Nazi reference. Yes, the Holocaust is totally akin to crossbows.
Personally, i don't care if you want to kill a deer with a crossbow during archery season. If it adds thousands of potential hunters that would not previously participate, I'm all for it. Guys that might not hunt gun season because public land is so crowded or that have misconceptions that it's a wild fest could pick up a crossbow and go out and enjoy an October or November day.
My beef with anyone against it is that those opposing it are the same ones that don't want more non-residents, they want LESS gun seasons, they want to do away with party hunting, they want more deer for themselves and htey want to get rid of deer drives. It's disgusting. I'm not saying I'm the model on which on all hunters should be based, but I spend a lot of my hunting seasons taking other people out. I don't mind sharing information with hunters new to the area or sport. I have hundreds of acres of the best ground in the continent to hunt whitetails and I'm just as happy seeing somebody in my group shoot a big one. I pushed a 160" to my dad this year and I was as happy for him as if it was myself. Too many of you are so caught up with this idea that you DESERVE to shoot a big buck, that every big buck you see is YOURS and if somebody doesn't hunt it the way you do, be damned. All you guys shooting brand new Mathews and Hoyt bows, guess what? 50 years ago, longbow and recurve shooters were saying the same thing about your equipment.
Remember when you couldnt enter a deer in P&Y without an asterisk if your left-off was greater than 65%??
I'm so sick of what hunting has become. I see it with our neighbors every year, I see it with other hunters. Most of you are so selfish you don't care about the future of the sport, you don't care that the fork horn some 30 year old guy shoots on a drive makes him as happy as the 150" buck you shoot with your bow during October. I have to deal with neighbors that harass every person that comes down "their" public gravel road every summer because they're protecting "their" deer. That's exactly what's wrong with hunting and you're ruining it for the guy that wants to go out and just enjoy being out there. it's the same with you people that are rabidly anti-crossbow. So somebody whacks a 170" with a crossbow? BIG DEAL. They're hunting. They're in the woods enjoying themselves.
is it the fact they're using a crossbow that makes you mad, or is the fact you might not shoot as big of buck as them? that's what this boils down to and either way, this boils down to pure jealousy.
Forgot to add: YOU HAVE A MUZZLELOADER SEASON IN OCTOBER AND YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT A FEW GUYS WITH CROSSBOWS?
Even since I've become a resident, you Iowa boys make me shake my head with your logic every single day.
Are you kidding Me????