Post by Woody Williams on Apr 17, 2007 20:28:23 GMT -5
www.newjerseyhunter.com/article17542.htm
A proposed crossbow season for deer has some hunters more concerned than they are about anti-hunters.
The Fish and Game Council had a committee check with states that allowed crossbow deer hunting and got positive reports, so that, coupled with hunter requests, led to the Council voting unanimously on Oct. 10 to put statewide crossbow seasons into the Game Code.
That's the first step. After publication in the New Jersey State Register and a public hearing by the Council, there would be 60 days for written comments, then the Council would have to vote before the Code is final. Because it's taking longer than ever for the Division of Fish and Wildlife to be allowed to get a Code published, crossbow hunting couldn't start before 2008.
It's allowed now by permit for hunters who can't draw a bow if they have a permanent disability and get a physician to sign an application form the state has to approve.
United Bowhunters of New Jersey, an effective, beneficial and organized group of about 600 hunters, including me, has a policy against crossbow hunting and allowed only during the firearms seasons because it "considers the use of crossbows during bowhunting seasons to be a serious threat to the future of bowhunting."
The controversy reminds of when I moved to Mendham in the early 1960s and joined the Farmers and Sportsmen's Game Assn., the local gun club formed in the 1920s. Out of about 65 members, only two of us hunted with bows, which was as unpopular locally then as crossbows are with the United Bowhunters today, and for reasons equally without merit. By 1980, most gun club deer hunters used bows.
Hunters may be experts at the sport, but amateurs about public relations, appearing greedy for not wanting crossbows used in archery seasons, and rumors of threats about them withdrawing support of the bear season would be a bonus for anti-hunters. Crossbow controversy is a bit like when compounds replaced longbows and purists thought it was unfair to use a bow with pulleys, wheels and strings. Nobody complained when muzzleloaders became more like modern rifles than old-fashioned smokepoles.
Maybe Ohio has some archers worried. There, a young archer with a crossbow bagged a monster non-typical 33-point buck on opening day that will score well over 200 on Pope & Young and crossbows have become very popular. Despite all the deer in our state -- most of them on posted property -- firearms hunters have dropped to 78,000 from 150,000 and bowhunters from 55,000 to 31,000.
Studies in other states have shown that older hunters who drop out aren't being replaced by new ones, and some may have stayed bowhunting if they had been able to use crossbows. Who knows? Maybe crossbows would attract hunters.
A proposed crossbow season for deer has some hunters more concerned than they are about anti-hunters.
The Fish and Game Council had a committee check with states that allowed crossbow deer hunting and got positive reports, so that, coupled with hunter requests, led to the Council voting unanimously on Oct. 10 to put statewide crossbow seasons into the Game Code.
That's the first step. After publication in the New Jersey State Register and a public hearing by the Council, there would be 60 days for written comments, then the Council would have to vote before the Code is final. Because it's taking longer than ever for the Division of Fish and Wildlife to be allowed to get a Code published, crossbow hunting couldn't start before 2008.
It's allowed now by permit for hunters who can't draw a bow if they have a permanent disability and get a physician to sign an application form the state has to approve.
United Bowhunters of New Jersey, an effective, beneficial and organized group of about 600 hunters, including me, has a policy against crossbow hunting and allowed only during the firearms seasons because it "considers the use of crossbows during bowhunting seasons to be a serious threat to the future of bowhunting."
The controversy reminds of when I moved to Mendham in the early 1960s and joined the Farmers and Sportsmen's Game Assn., the local gun club formed in the 1920s. Out of about 65 members, only two of us hunted with bows, which was as unpopular locally then as crossbows are with the United Bowhunters today, and for reasons equally without merit. By 1980, most gun club deer hunters used bows.
Hunters may be experts at the sport, but amateurs about public relations, appearing greedy for not wanting crossbows used in archery seasons, and rumors of threats about them withdrawing support of the bear season would be a bonus for anti-hunters. Crossbow controversy is a bit like when compounds replaced longbows and purists thought it was unfair to use a bow with pulleys, wheels and strings. Nobody complained when muzzleloaders became more like modern rifles than old-fashioned smokepoles.
Maybe Ohio has some archers worried. There, a young archer with a crossbow bagged a monster non-typical 33-point buck on opening day that will score well over 200 on Pope & Young and crossbows have become very popular. Despite all the deer in our state -- most of them on posted property -- firearms hunters have dropped to 78,000 from 150,000 and bowhunters from 55,000 to 31,000.
Studies in other states have shown that older hunters who drop out aren't being replaced by new ones, and some may have stayed bowhunting if they had been able to use crossbows. Who knows? Maybe crossbows would attract hunters.