Crossbows for "Seniors"

I really don't understand why people of all ages can not use a crossbow in the manner that they would like, but I really don't know about the issue either. I just don't see the other side of the argument to disallow crossbow use.

Just like PCR's.
There will not be very many EXTRA hunters, mostly ALREADY established hunters simply adding another option to their hunting.
I won't be one of them, but thta have my full support, as also like the PCR issue, there isn't a valid reason to ban them either.
Some people really need to get a better hobby than trying to outlaw everything THEY don't like other people doing.

Define?
K.
Just my opinion of course, but I do not see adding crossbows to our legal archery season drawing any SUBSTANTIAL number of NEW hunters.
Of course it will attract some, and some of those will be from out of state.
To quantify, I would hazard a guess that we will see less than a 5% increase in archery hunters over and above the NORMAL yearly increase.
What I expect to see mostly is CURRENT Indiana deer hunters buying a crossbow, which will not increase the number of hunters or the deer harvest in any way.
As I said, that is only my opinion.
I have nothing to back it up other than my own personal take on it.

My 78 year old dad has been talking about getting a crossbow. He's never bow hunted in his life, but thinks he'd like the early (warmer) season, and he can't hardly get a compound bow pulled back anymore.

Glad to see he still has the spunk to hunt, but it kind of scares me .... I'm gonna duck behind a tree when he gets that thing out.

I kid him, if he drops dead on one of our hunting trips, I'm just gonna give him an indian burial and leave him in the woods for the possums to eat. He said .... that's the way he'd like to be be lucky enough to check out.

OK, since nobody else seems to want to present the other side of this argument, I'll give it a whirl.

One of the arguments against allowing the crossbow into archery season for healthy folks is that it places the hunter with a bow at a disadvantage without his choosing to do so voluntarily. The main disadvantage is not, as many presume, in range or accuracy. The modern compound with sights, shot with a release, is probably as accurate as the best of he crossbows. And the range advantage really isn't very great, if it exists at all. The compound shoots a longer and usually heavier projectile, and will kill game effectively as far as the archer can responsibly shoot.

The main advantage to the crossbow is that there is no movement required while the animal is within range of the hunter. In this regard the crossbow is very much the equivalent of the firearm. This trait permits the crossbow hunter to take advantage of such natural cover as blowdowns and brush piles that would require considerable trimming or modification for the person using a bow to have clearance for limb movement and the bowhunter would still have to draw his weapon back while the animal is nearby.

Some of you may not have bowhunted. The ability to shoot without drawing the bow in the proximity of game may seem like a minor point to you. It's not. It's the drawing action that gets a bowhunter busted the majority of the times when the game spooks before he can shoot.

Another more minor point along the same lines is the ability the crossbow hunter has to remain ready to shoot for as long as it takes for the deer to step out from behind that last tree. If you do bowhunt, you've likely had those experiences many times.

These are real advantages in very common hunting situations.

The viewpoint of many bowhunters is that if the crossbow is ready to shoot like a gun, without drawing first, and can be held indefinitely like a gun, without having to let down, then in it's usage it's closer to being a gun than a bow.

True, the killing range is shorter for the crossbow than for a gun, but the other hunting advantages are all there.

As to that range advantage of the gun over the crossbow......much depends on the hunting location in determining the importance of that factor. Certainly the crossbow won't reach out and tag the deer across the beanfield the way a ML or that rifle will, or even the way a standard slug from an ordinary shotgun barrel will, although that comparison does get somewhat closer. But much of the time for most of us, hunting is done in the woods, and you're usually doing well to SEE a deer that's out of range. More frequently, the opposite is the case, and the deer is right there within bow range before you know it's coming, and the trick is to get the arrow drawn back before he notices the motion and leaves.

Some opponents want to make much of the training required to hit with responsible hunting accuracy with a bow, and see the crossbow as being too great a shortcut to that accuracy. I suppose there's still some justification to that as well, but to be honest, most anyone capable of drawing a modern compound can be hitting pretty well using a release aid with just a few hours practice, so the difference in that aspect isn't as great as it once was. That new archer won't win any tournaments, but he can have decent hunting accuracy and be ready to go if he's capable of drawing and holding a hunting weight bow.

Most of us who have opoosed crossbows in archery season have not opposed them for use by any truly handicapped hunters, and in fact some of us have helped handicapped hunters in bow season using crossbows.

Nor are most of us opposed to the use of crossbows in their own season. We do tend to feel that allowing them in early archery season is the wrong answer, and totally ignores the considerable advantage in use that the crossbow user has in hunting situations.

I think the current Indiana treatment of the situation is very realistic in that it provides the crossbow shooter with the same season as the gun hunter with a single-shot historic weapon, plus an additional time during the late archery season, which should at least partially compensate for the range differential between the weapons as mentioned above.

A possible season change that would involve the separate crossbow license, might be to include a little more time during the first archery season for their use. I could see maybe adjusting it so the crossbows could start a week or two before the end of early bow season, to adjust the advantage a bit more. To totally ignore it by allowing the crossbow the entire early archery season is to tread heavily on the bowhunter.

The crossbow is NOT just a bow that looks different from the handheld versions. It's closer to being a gun that makes somewhat less noise, in the way that it's used.

I wish everyone who uses them a good season and much success, and I welcome anyone just getting into hunting to join the fun and use the weapon or weapons of their choice. But I still feel that putting the string-gun in bow season is just wrong. They might just as well open it to all firearms.

It's not a bow, and it's not a gun. It should have it's own season, and the starting date should be adjusted, after a few years experience, for a similar success ratio to the archery season. That would be the fairest answer to the problem, IMO.

Very well said, and very matter of fact.
But . .
I hunt with a bow, and I love it.
I do not wish to hunt with a crossbow.
Nothing against them, but I really enjoy hunting with my bow.
I will not feel slighted, nor at a disadvantage, if you use a crossbow though.
As you yourself said, while it has advantages, it also has its drawbacks.
I just don't get the part where everyone today seems to be afraid that someone else will have an 'advantage' over them.
If you honestly feel it gives you an advantage, then use one yourself.
I mean, OBR is artificially enhancing the chances of scoring a big buck by antler management itself, so if any advantage is wrong, there goes the OBR forever.

Just my thoughts here.

I understand what your saying Russ, but don't some of those advantage-disadvantage already exsist? I am thinking that a traditional bow shooter is at a disadvantage when comparing him (the traditional shooter) to a tricked out compound shooter?

The tricked out compound, set up properly, offers a much higher advantage than the traditional bow. The tricked out compound shooter can draw and hold for a very long time, thus allowing him to draw before the deer gets close enough to pick up the movement. Heck, many times when your 20-30 foot up a tree, the deer will never see you. The same applies to those enclosed pop-up blinds, movement is not an issue there either.

With the advancement of modern archery gear, some of your points are null. I'd say 10-15 years ago they were more prevailant, but with all the advances archery has made in the last decade, those old arguments just don't hold water anymore.

Welcome to the club..

I have seen a lot of graphs showing what ages the hunters start dropping out. They really take a nose dive in the early 60s.

Bowhunter numbers take a big dive even earlier than that.

Russ,

You make a lot of 3D shoots. How many old timers are there compared to the youngsters ( less than 60 )

If we can keep just a small perecentage of these guys in the woods it would be to ours and hutning's benefit.

One of the only people that I have heard that want to make hunting a contest of one person against another was Larry Wieshion (spelling). But he did not want to give money as a reward, only things. But then again he said that he was on the board for that group.

Lets see if you want a season for cross bows then there should be a season for the stick and stringers, then one for compounds because then give several advantages, easier to install sites, easier to use a release with, wheel, eccentrics, ect reduce holding poundage while allowing the ability to increase the total shooting poundage which in turn allows for longer, flatter shots.