turkeyriver said:
I'm not speculating on the effects to the deer herd or hunting habits, etc. What a big increase in crossbows will do, I believe, is cause a decline in archery clubs and 3-D shoots, "the brotherhood" if you will. Maybe someone from a state where crossbows have become common can ease my fears in this regard? Please?
Ill try to help here.
Indiana legalized crossbows for the first time in early archery last year. What most bowhunters have gone through is an initial excitement of a new product, followed by a harvest of one or two and the. A return to normal vertical equipment.
They are deadly accurate WITH a rest(I'm more accurate off hand with my bow), but certainly they feel much different than a bow.
The big move is seeing gun hunters buying crossbows. You won't see many archers make this switch and stick to it.
In terms of harvest we had about 9000 of our 130k killed by crossbow. This was up from around 1500 the year when it was late archery only. Now here's the unexpected number. Our buck harvest DROPPED by 10%! I believe this is due to the fact that 70% of hunters kill 0-1 deer and the new crossbow guys wanted to test their new toy on does and the. Held out on bucks.
I certainly had the impression that crossbows would "ruin" my hunting because of all the "idiot" gun hunters buying them and trouncing through the woods. I honestly didn't see this happen. Even the gun guys that buy a bow still don't hunt very much. That's usually why they gun hunt because its less work and less time. They are not going to morph into deer killers immediately and still spend the same amount of time in the tree.
I used to hate the thought of crossbows, but I've cleared that hurdle. It allows me the ability to teach my wife and get her more into hunting during warmer weather along with youth hunters.
The biggest complaint I have is that people selling crossbows are pitching these things as 100 yard weapons. Yes, I can hit a grapefruit almost 10 out of 10 times at 100 yards by using a gun rest. I can't hit the blind side of a barn past 40 off hand though. The other thing is that these bows are like jet engines taking off. String jumping at distance is a MAJOR concern.
Hopefully this helps ease your concerns a little bit.
