Post by cambygsp on Oct 23, 2005 5:43:41 GMT -5
www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051022/NEWS01/510220329/1002
CHURCHVILLE — It's a hybrid of high-tech materials and medieval design, optics and archery. It balances the bow's stealth with the convenience of a firearm — a weapon it predates by centuries.
It should come as no surprise that the crossbow's first mainstream entrance into Virginia's bowhunting season has mixed reviews.
Until this year, crossbow hunting was legal only for people with a documented inability to pull and hold a regular bow. It filled a niche: Cocked with a crank or a pulley, a crossbow allowed the older or disabled hunter to simply aim (usually through a scope) and pull the trigger.
That advantage is now granted to all hunters — although the many other challenges of deerhunting still await them.
"The crossbow is still a short-range weapon," said Capt. Mike Clark, a state game warden with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Clark and other experts agree that both types of bows have a maximum effective range of 40 yards.
Jim Hegedus, of Dominion Outdoors in Stuarts Draft, said that the skills required for hunting with a crossbow are virtually the same as with a conventional bow. The single greatest difference, he said, was the reduction in game-spooking movements with the former.
"Once you've got your scope dialed in, it's all set," Hegedus said. "It can sit next to you, cocked and ready."
That advantage has riled some "regular" bowhunters.
"You can't keep a recurve or compound bow pulled for three hours; you have to make that extra movement to fit an arrow and draw it back," said Bob Seltzer, the president of the Virginia Bowhunters Association. "And you usually have to stand up to shoot. You have to prove your mettle as a hunter."
Seltzer said his organization lobbied against the introduction of crossbows in Virginia.
"(The crossbow) is a gun that uses cables and strings and bolts," he said. "It belongs in the gun season, because that's what it is.
"There will be too many people shooting at movement in the woods at a time when hunters are not wearing blaze orange," he added.
Few facts have emerged to support either side of the controversy, said Matt Knox, Virginia's Deer Program Supervisor for the game department. The number of crossbow licenses issued, for example, is still unknown. But he rattled off the deer kills for the season's first seven days.
The tally: Of the 3,228 deer killed in Virginia, slightly more than one-third of the harvest was taken with crossbows.
Mike Rexrode, the owner of Log Cabin Taxidermy and Archery, near Churchville, describes himself as a "die-hard bowhunter" who sells and services both conventional bows and crossbows.
"A guy doesn't have to spend a lot of time practicing (with a crossbow)," he said. "Four or five shots after it's sighted in and you're on the money; you're ready."
Last year Rexrode sold two or three crossbows. This year's count is 40 — and rising. Most of the crossbows have been bought by seasoned bowhunters, he said.
Rexrode has hunted with a standard, or vertical bow since he was 7. He's not about to change now, but said that down the road, he'd consider it.
For Rexrode, and with many hunters, the distinction between the weapons remains blurred — and maybe inconsequential.
"I don't care what you shoot," Rexrode said. "It's never going to be easy."
CHURCHVILLE — It's a hybrid of high-tech materials and medieval design, optics and archery. It balances the bow's stealth with the convenience of a firearm — a weapon it predates by centuries.
It should come as no surprise that the crossbow's first mainstream entrance into Virginia's bowhunting season has mixed reviews.
Until this year, crossbow hunting was legal only for people with a documented inability to pull and hold a regular bow. It filled a niche: Cocked with a crank or a pulley, a crossbow allowed the older or disabled hunter to simply aim (usually through a scope) and pull the trigger.
That advantage is now granted to all hunters — although the many other challenges of deerhunting still await them.
"The crossbow is still a short-range weapon," said Capt. Mike Clark, a state game warden with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Clark and other experts agree that both types of bows have a maximum effective range of 40 yards.
Jim Hegedus, of Dominion Outdoors in Stuarts Draft, said that the skills required for hunting with a crossbow are virtually the same as with a conventional bow. The single greatest difference, he said, was the reduction in game-spooking movements with the former.
"Once you've got your scope dialed in, it's all set," Hegedus said. "It can sit next to you, cocked and ready."
That advantage has riled some "regular" bowhunters.
"You can't keep a recurve or compound bow pulled for three hours; you have to make that extra movement to fit an arrow and draw it back," said Bob Seltzer, the president of the Virginia Bowhunters Association. "And you usually have to stand up to shoot. You have to prove your mettle as a hunter."
Seltzer said his organization lobbied against the introduction of crossbows in Virginia.
"(The crossbow) is a gun that uses cables and strings and bolts," he said. "It belongs in the gun season, because that's what it is.
"There will be too many people shooting at movement in the woods at a time when hunters are not wearing blaze orange," he added.
Few facts have emerged to support either side of the controversy, said Matt Knox, Virginia's Deer Program Supervisor for the game department. The number of crossbow licenses issued, for example, is still unknown. But he rattled off the deer kills for the season's first seven days.
The tally: Of the 3,228 deer killed in Virginia, slightly more than one-third of the harvest was taken with crossbows.
Mike Rexrode, the owner of Log Cabin Taxidermy and Archery, near Churchville, describes himself as a "die-hard bowhunter" who sells and services both conventional bows and crossbows.
"A guy doesn't have to spend a lot of time practicing (with a crossbow)," he said. "Four or five shots after it's sighted in and you're on the money; you're ready."
Last year Rexrode sold two or three crossbows. This year's count is 40 — and rising. Most of the crossbows have been bought by seasoned bowhunters, he said.
Rexrode has hunted with a standard, or vertical bow since he was 7. He's not about to change now, but said that down the road, he'd consider it.
For Rexrode, and with many hunters, the distinction between the weapons remains blurred — and maybe inconsequential.
"I don't care what you shoot," Rexrode said. "It's never going to be easy."
