First of all, I have bowhunted since 1981, added muzzleloader in 1987 and shotgun in 1990 so I am not biased against the weapon used. However, having hunted with all 3 weapons for the past number of years and I am very much opposed to the concept of party hunting for archery and muzzleloader.
As noted above, if it were truly a party hunt, then it would not be a viable method for harvesting a deer with a bow (running animal) for virtually all archery hunters. That means it would be ripe for abuse - e.g. using other non-bowhunter friends & family tags to enable a single hunter to harvest more than the "legal" limit of bucks.
For muzzleloaders, the concept was to introduce another primitive weapons season for those who enjoy the one-on-one aspects of the hunt (as you noted above). Let's leave well enough alone - between the traditional December gun seasons and the January late seasons, there have been ample opportunities for party hunting with a gun.
Even though I hunt the shotgun season, I am very much opposed to deer drives. I know they are effective in terms of killing a lot of animals but I think they are very dangerous to the participants and also make it difficult for the hunters to harvest the "right" animals - lots of small bucks & buck fawns are taken that would not be if hunting from a tree stand or blind.
As noted above, if it were truly a party hunt, then it would not be a viable method for harvesting a deer with a bow (running animal) for virtually all archery hunters. That means it would be ripe for abuse - e.g. using other non-bowhunter friends & family tags to enable a single hunter to harvest more than the "legal" limit of bucks.
For muzzleloaders, the concept was to introduce another primitive weapons season for those who enjoy the one-on-one aspects of the hunt (as you noted above). Let's leave well enough alone - between the traditional December gun seasons and the January late seasons, there have been ample opportunities for party hunting with a gun.
Even though I hunt the shotgun season, I am very much opposed to deer drives. I know they are effective in terms of killing a lot of animals but I think they are very dangerous to the participants and also make it difficult for the hunters to harvest the "right" animals - lots of small bucks & buck fawns are taken that would not be if hunting from a tree stand or blind.
