Author Topic: crossbow during archery season  (Read 8800 times)

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Offline GooseCommander

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #30 on: December 16, 2019, 07:53:47 PM »
Does anyone know how many deer were taken with a crossbow last year in NY?

It was 10,829 - a drop in the bucket to what is taken annually in NY of a five year average of 220,000. The thought that the woods will become filled with crossbow hunters if the season is extended more is ridiculous. Crossbow hunters in the southern zone already have the ability to hunt the heart of the rut yet only kill 10,000 to 12,000 deer annually. Allowing them to hunt starting October 1st I doubt will substantially increase that number. Even if it doubled, it would still be less than/half of the 40,000 deer bowhunters harvest annually. Our mission as hunters is Conservation. The DEC using science (whether we agree with it or not) sets take objectives and uses hunters as the tool to harvest the resource (deer to us) for the people of NY so both can live in harmony. If any effects from increasing/decreasing any season length/use of implements/etc, would be lowering or increasing the amount of DMPs to achieve total harvest goal.

When I first started out with archery tackle, I was chided for using a bow with training wheels. A group of local sportsman prided themselves in using just a stick and string - they nicknamed themselves the WOFW club (Without F'ing Wheels). Now having grown older, some of them have turned/forced to use the advanced vertical bow while I myself am working towards using my father's recurve to hunt with. Their effective range grew and mine is shrinking.

To me, a crossbow has more in common with a bow than does a firearm. Both a crossbow and bow propel a stick with a sharp head on it to cause a death due to a low-energy impact that kills by cutting vital tissues while bullets kill by high-energy impact that crushes tissue and bone. Yes, you can shoulder an already loaded crossbow and use a scope but the fact of the matter is you can't take shots at animals with a sharpen stick like you can with an object propelled with gun powder. Like someone pointed out, archers now have the ability to incorporate a range finder into their sight and hold 80% of the draw weight - I'm sure that isn't anymore effective than instinctive shooting with three fingers under a nocked arrow pulling back a full 50 pounds. Your effective range and shots you can take (regardless of weapon) is a personal one based on your practice regimen and experience and not that of someone else. At the end of the day, you endure the successes or consequences and how you handle each is more on how you are raised than what is said in a manual. In my mind, most people are good but yes some people exist that never shoot their weapon before hunting with it.

Generalizing that only bowhunters are the ones who spend time scouting, practicing, taking ethical shots or any other malarkey is just down right near sighted, ignorant and presumptuous. Many gun hunters exist that have great woodsmanship and hunting skill - they spend time hiking the mountains/woods looking for sign and food, running trail cameras and understanding the lay of the land just as any hunter would/should. The best ones (hunters that is) understand more finer details like thermals, how they shift morning and afternoon and how that interacts with the prevailing wind of the day and topography. All these things make a good/great hunter - not just an archer, gun hunter, muzzle load hunter or cross bow hunter.

Yes, the gun season is long in NY and I agree it could be shortened. However, I'm really not sure if shortening will have any effect as for the most part only opening weekend/week is the busiest time of the year. I was out the last Saturday of the gun season - saw 0 hunters and 9 deer on state land that opening day had many hunters. I hunted the last Sunday of the season on pressured private land - saw 10 deer and no hunters. Both days, the deer were on their feeding/bedding pattern and looking to survive the winter. One of my favorite methods of hunting I like to do is cutting a fresh buck track in the snow and running it down. Shortening the gun season would lessen the possible days of this endeavor.

My concern as a hunter/fisherman is not changes of implements/season lengths that cause minor fluctuations/adjustments, but habitat and access and recruitment/retention of hunters and fishermen. More than 90% of my hunting partners/camp/gun club members are older than me (I'm 40) and I'm not talking about a few years either. We are nearing a point where our conversation model funded by dollars from hunters and fishermen (as our demographic shrinks) won't be sustainable meaning we'll lose our voice and possibly our privilege to hunt (it isn't a right). Government bodies will turn more and more to sharp shooters and the ridiculous methods of deer sterilization to manage the herds. Given the choice between these methods or allowing some more hunters in the woods - I choose the latter.

Care less what weapon someone has in the woods as long as it is legal and they use it ethically both of which are more about their upbringing than laws governing us. The pursuit of fur/fin/feather should be an individual endeavor. As my grandfather told me, Comparison is the thief of all Happiness.
"A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be... time to commune with your inner soul as you share the outdoors with the birds, animals, and fish that live there."  --Fred Bear

Offline goodorbit

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #31 on: December 17, 2019, 08:40:14 AM »
Well reasoned, and said Goose, thanks for posting it.

Quote
Comparison is the thief of all Happiness
<---- That's gold right there!


Offline buck shot

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #32 on: January 14, 2020, 09:42:17 PM »
I think eventually crossbows will be allowed in the regular archery season.  I dont understand why an organization like New York Bowhunters is so adamantly opposed to this happening. They claim that they dont want anything ruining "THEIR SEASON" ! Well its not "THEIR SEASON" its archery season !  I would think if they wanted such control over it, they would've taken the crossbow users into their organization and Incresed their membership and voice in the state !  We are loosing more and more hunters every year, and it does'nt help if one group opposes another. WE ARE ALL HUNTERS !! BOW, GUN, BLACK POWDER, CROSSBOW whatever !  I recomend joining the New York Crossbow Coalition ! Its only  $20 to join , and if you go to their website there is a bunch of information on crossbows and getting them allowed in archery season. Again, we are ALL HUNTERS ! Lets not divide from within !

Offline wardy

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #33 on: January 15, 2020, 06:13:17 AM »
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned about xbows is how loud they can be compared to a regular bow. Longer shots and that deer can jump the string. Seen it happen at 50 yd.  I think that anything that gets hunters in the woods is a good thing . I remember a certain ny bowhunters group crying like  bunch of babies over the youth gun season yrs ago. They’re going to shoot/disturb our deer!!! What a bunch of AHoles. We’re talking about kids here!!!! Hunt they way you want, do it ethically, do it safely. Enjoy it

Offline KillerCrow

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #34 on: January 21, 2020, 07:01:04 AM »
I can’t wait till my daughter can hunt the youth rifle, although I’ll prob watch her shoot a bigger deer than I ever have being I will take her to the fields in stuben where I hunt archery normally that weekend and see many large deer in the field and maybe in the last four years I truely think I have only heard three shots, again humans by habit are selfish and that will not help our cause in the long run
We should be glad that there are avenues to get the older, younger, and not as proficient with certain methods of harvest into the woods

The only issue and I have voiced in past is a/r should be age specific under 18 and over 65 should be excluded from a/r

 if were worried about the loss of deer population
This will get a great responce NO season should be open for November, archery October rifle December 1-15 muzzle 15 till end  which would allow mature deer to bread in a less pressured environment as well as giving a better chance for the sneaky larger deer that only show up during daylight in rut to survive

Offline bandhunter31

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #35 on: January 30, 2020, 06:54:32 AM »
I have to agree with Overland. Crossbows are not bows. As for reasons stated to add to those, a crossbow can beooooed and loaded at vehicle and is in that position until target animal shows up. then shot. Ive always found toughest part of bowhunting is to draw on an animal in range. Not required with crossbow. And there are numerous other reasons that crossbows are not bows. Even NY State agrees they are not bows as they require an individual to purchase a muzzleloader tag to hunt with one. Greensider you are the exception to the rule as far as practicing with a crossbow, from guys I have talked too. The truth is it boils down to $$$, and people can no longer be told no in todays day and age.

NYS only agrees with this because of pressure/lobbying from bow hunting groups which happen to have huge power in this state...... im glad they have that power but they should not be using it against fellow hunters.......
Fast is fine but accuracy is final. In a gunfight you need to take your time in a hurry. - Wyatt Earp

Offline touge30

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #36 on: August 15, 2020, 03:37:13 PM »
Lets get this going again.WILL IT HAPPEN OR ARE WE DEAD IN THE WATER

Offline greensider

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #37 on: August 15, 2020, 04:02:32 PM »
I wonder how many negative responses towards crossbows here were given by people who are members of nyb

Offline bandhunter31

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #38 on: October 13, 2020, 10:12:40 PM »
I have been hunting for almost 20 years now....... I started crossbow hunting 2 years ago when i realized i wanted to expand my opportunities more than just rifle season and small game hunting. It amazes me how many bow hunters i have known for years had negative things to say about crossbows. I feel like they all have the same incorrect talking points as well. It amazes me how far they think a hunter can/should shoot a deer in the woods with a crossbow. Im a big fan of hunting channels on Youtube. I watch some of the more prominent bowhunters shoot 75 yards with a compound bow all day long while practicing in a wide open area. those hunters would never shoot anywhere near that distance at a live deer for obvious ethical reasons. the same goes for crossbows...... just because i can hit a target at 60 yards doesn't mean i will shoot a deer at that distance.

it really frustrates me when they compare a crossbow to a muzzle loader or even a rifle. i practice a ton with a crossbow (contrary to what bow hunters think) from an elevated position at different angles......and honestly, where i hunt, i would have reservations shooting a deer with a rifle at 75 yards..... its a very selfish point of view they have taken......

reminds me of a time about 15 years ago i was goose hunting in a corn field. had a bow hunter who was apparently several hundred yards away in a wood lot (unbeknownst to me) get out of his stand and walk up to me in the corn field questioning what i was doing....... i explained to him i was goose hunting and he arrogantly asked if it was possible to wait until bow season was finished before i come back out again. i angrily explained to him that goose season that year started after bow began and ended before bow ended..... i also explained to him that waterfowl hunters look forward to our season the same as bow hunters look forward to theirs...... he didn't care for my answers and walked away........ so began my experience with bow hunters....... and honestly nothing has seemed to change......
Fast is fine but accuracy is final. In a gunfight you need to take your time in a hurry. - Wyatt Earp

Offline walkabout

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #39 on: October 14, 2020, 06:22:37 AM »
I feel your pain i was harassed on the river this past weekend by an elite fly fisherman. He diddnt like me centerpin fishing and told me to go fish the salmon river and that i kill the fish i catch using bait.
My liberty and freedoms are not yours to give or take!....They didn't make us free, we were born free and as long as we have the 2nd amendment we will remain free..
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Offline ATS1755

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #40 on: October 14, 2020, 07:38:59 AM »
I feel your pain i was harassed on the river this past weekend by an elite fly fisherman. He diddnt like me centerpin fishing and told me to go fish the salmon river and that i kill the fish i catch using bait.
I'm sure you told him wear he could take his opinion!! ;)

Offline Austinbailey975

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #41 on: November 20, 2020, 07:15:49 AM »
I highly agree on sharing the woods but some folks need to learn better woods etiquette and I agree with cross bow but I still want my early bow unaffected

Offline greensider

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #42 on: November 20, 2020, 08:42:59 AM »
That’s the problem it’s not your early season it’s all of ours

Offline MountainHunter

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #43 on: December 06, 2020, 09:04:11 AM »
I haven't been active on this forum for a couple of years. Between business commitments and family commitments I had gotten away from things like participation here. A mistake on my part because Hunting and Fishing and all the things related to them are the things that kind of ground me.
As a formerly avid archer I was against cross bows. I still love archery but I haven't practiced nearly as much as I used to or archery hunted nearly as much as I used to. Fortunately my comfort level and skills are sufficient enough to bring me back to form reasonably quickly.
I now have no issues with crossbows, I own one and hunt with it when our crossbow season opens. I would have no issue with crossbow season being included in the entire archery season. It is still a close range endeavor regardless of the capacity of some of the super duper crossbows that are now available. my crossbow is maybe 125 feet per second faster than my bow. My ethical additional range for my crossbow is 10 to 15 yards beyond my maximum archery distance. You still have arc, you still need the right set of circumstances with a non alert non moving animal.
If it increases hunter participation that is a good thing, if it decreases wounded or lost deer that is a good thing. I don't know what influence it would have on hunter recruitment, I would think all things considered it would be positive.

Offline greensider

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Re: crossbow during archery season
« Reply #44 on: December 06, 2020, 10:05:24 AM »
 +1

 

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