HSB 158 Crossbows in late archery season

[Windlooker]

Do in line muzzles have an advantage over traditional muzzies. In line is a single shot rifle not the muzzle loader most think of when they hear the term. Straight wall rifles are legal. Kidding me. I watched a video of a guy put 5 for 5 in a 10 inch pie plate at 300 yards with a 450, but hey there’s no rifles in Iowa. I think it’s a little late to argue method of take in the state.

 

[hillrunner]

Interesting listening to the most recent meat eater podcast. Montana is dealing with some legislation that sounds very similar to some of the stuff going on in Iowa. They made mention of the cross bow company's play book, how it starts, and what the ultimate goal always is.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Do in line muzzles have an advantage over traditional muzzies. In line is a single shot rifle not the muzzle loader most think of when they hear the term. Straight wall rifles are legal. Kidding me. I watched a video of a guy put 5 for 5 in a 10 inch pie plate at 300 yards with a 450, but hey there’s no rifles in Iowa. I think it’s a little late to argue method of take in the state.

So there is no line to be drawn? Where should it stop?

Enough is enough!

The sad part about all of this is access is already tough. Liberalizing weapons further is just going to cause more ground to be gobbled up by folks that have the means to insulate themselves from the stupidity. Little Johnny now has a fancy new crossgun but nowhere to go hunt with it except state land with 100 other people that also have a fancy new toy. Honestly, Sad is the best work I can think of. It's cannibalization of what makes this state the best in the WORLD.

 

[JNRBRONC]

So there is no line to be drawn? Where should it stop?

Attended the 2021 DNR Hunting Discussion yesterday evening. The chat room had people advocating for crossbows and making all rifles legal. The DNR mentioned that they are going to change the wording on the straight wall cartridges to ".350 to .500" and not list cartridges. If it fires a bullet within those metrics, it's good to go. A bummer of a meeting.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Attended the 2021 DNR Hunting Discussion yesterday evening. The chat room had people advocating for crossbows and making all rifles legal. The DNR mentioned that they are going to change the wording on the straight wall cartridges to ".350 to .500" and not list cartridges. If it fires a bullet within those metrics, it's good to go. A bummer of a meeting.

And I bet some of those people were on Raven Crossbow's payroll!

 

[IsThisHeaven?]

Attended the 2021 DNR Hunting Discussion yesterday evening. The chat room had people advocating for crossbows and making all rifles legal. The DNR mentioned that they are going to change the wording on the straight wall cartridges to ".350 to .500" and not list cartridges. If it fires a bullet within those metrics, it's good to go. A bummer of a meeting.

I attended that meeting too. The comments section was nuts. I do not fully understand rifle terminology so I was confused, but did they say centerfire AND straight wall cartridges .350 to .500? As in any rifle (centerfire and/or straight wall) that fires bullets within those parameters?

 

[Arec]

Attended the 2021 DNR Hunting Discussion yesterday evening. The chat room had people advocating for crossbows and making all rifles legal. The DNR mentioned that they are going to change the wording on the straight wall cartridges to ".350 to .500" and not list cartridges. If it fires a bullet within those metrics, it's good to go. A bummer of a meeting.

Considering the text of the law that was passed, they didn’t have much of a choice.

The law is crystal clear: .350 to .500 straight walled cartridges are legal.

 

[ElkFever2]

Most mature bucks in WI are now taken by CB. I think the State is now #1 for youngest avg age class of bucks too.

I am not opposed to CB use in principle. I think it would be fun to hunt with one. In my fantasy world, IA would have Oct archery, Nov stick bow only, and late season crossbows allowed.

Anyone who thinks CB won’t be rolled into the whole archery season in IA within 5 years...well, that’s exactly what will happen. Enjoy the parade of forkies.

At this point, should I email my rep to voice my opposition to this bill, or is the ball in some other group’s court right now?

 

[Fishbonker]

This bill did not make it through the funnel so it is supposedly dead for the year. BUT there is still a chance it could come back around as part of a ways and means bill or an appropriations bill.

 

[Zim]

Wow, I do not understand the opposition to this at all. Opportunities to hunt in Iowa have only expanded over the last 25 years I’ve been hunting, and the quality of the herd has increased exponentially right along with it. I want to respond to some of the common themes I’ve seen in this thread.

First, the idea that this bill is going to lead to a large increase in the deer harvest just doesn’t hold up to me. Maybe a marginally higher harvest, sure. But the people that just want to blast a deer or two are going to keep doing that during shotgun season. They aren’t going to go sit in the freezing cold and snow to shoot the first deer that walks by with a crossbow - at least not very many will. It will be more “hardcore” people that hold out for mature bucks.

Second, I think we have to ask why the quality of the herd has gone up despite growth in the number of deer seasons and the methods of take. I would guess much of that has to do with the idea of harvesting only mature bucks. So I don’t think adding crossbows to the mix is going to hurt that bad.

Third, and I think most importantly, is the arrogance of bow hunters. Yours is not the only method of hunting. Some people can’t hunt with a bow. Some people just don’t want to. So your endless opposition to anything that hurts *your* odds is tiresome, and quite frankly your problem, not anyone else’s.

I hope they open up the entire archery season for crossbow use.

Crossguns were a game changer here in Indiana. It’s been 8 seasons now and there are no longer mature bucks to be seen on my September public land scouting trips. October is flooded with crossguns these days. Still after 8 years the number of gun hunters on public decreases each year, while the October cross gunner numbers continue to increase. The “archery” harvest finally surpassed gun last year. I totally quit hunting here in favor of Illinois, where I have a LL. Don’t ever let anyone tell you xguns don’t make much difference. That’s a lie.


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