Crossbow - revsisted

[mattd]

Hey D, were you at this event?


http://www.mcall.com/sports/outdoors/all-c1_outdoors-2.6760199jan27,0,318559.story

[Sean B]

''You'll see the rifle hunters coming into our ranks, and it's going to decimate the herd,'' said Joe Basile, who also identified himself as a member of UPB.

Herd? What is this 'herd' which he speaks of?

Yo Joe... we already took care of that decimation thing with the concurrent seasons and unlimited antlerless allocations.

Hey Matt, if you see me prowlin' around behind the Hotel Hershey after sunset with my new crossbow, just look the other way, would ya?

[Susqyman]

I couldn't make the meeting because I was visiting my new grandson. I did however send emails to all the game commissioners as requested by the UBP. I got the standard responses from all of them. IMHO it's a done deal. The only thing I am worried about, and this is why a proposal was made to track the number of deer shot with a crossbow, is that rifle hunters who didn't want to take the time to learn and practice how to shoot a conventional bow, will now be able to purchase a crossbow and take it out in the woods and just start shooting it---much like people do with guns. I was shocked at the mentioning of a crossbow being able to put 4 arrows within a 1" circle @ 100 yards. I didn't think they were that accurate or could shoot that far.

Bottom line is the crossbow manufacturer's are pushing this bill through. It's all about money. The 3rd largest hunting market will now be available to them. Yippee-Skippy.
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Daryl

[mattd]

[Sean B]

No Matt, you didn't mention it but I used to hunt the general area with some friends and we'd always go past it on the way home.

D, I get you concerns and I mean no disrespect or insensitivity towards the traditional bow hunting crowd. Our household fills a maximum of two tags a year (we filled zero tags in the last two years) so we'll likely never make more of an impact with or without a crossbow than we ever previously have. I do understand the whole 'doing the homework to outsmart the deer with a primitive weapon thing' and that's a very rewarding aspect of hunting but it takes a back seat to feeding the family in our house.

Again, and this is just one man's opinion, it seems we ought to be more alarmed by the targeted deer harvest numbers and pressure to keep those numbers high from entities that don't even fund the PGC than the means with which we harvest game. To argue about the latter only seems to divide us as hunters.

[Susqyman]

I understand what you're saying Sean and I do agree with it. As long as the PGC tells us we're allowed to shoot x amount of deer, there are hunters out there who will do it. I've always bought a doe tag or two if I could get it---just to take up the allocation. However, I won't shoot a doe unless it's a big one all by itself. I don't think the majority of hunters are like that. If the PGC says go ahead and shoot, they're going to shoot.

Just my $.02.....
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Daryl

[Tom Boyd]

Daryl... Good article in the Lancaster Sunday Newspaper today regarding this issue. Hope you get a chance to read it.

Nice seeing you yesterday. It was good seeing all the guys again. I even got to see Old Crow for the first time.

dadTB
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"March 20, 2009"... Springtime!" dad