What are your thoughts on Crossbows?

[bow101]

I had a previous post on Primitive and Medieval types and styles of bows. I think that most bows on here are more along the lines of Medieval style archery. Lets not be mistaken with the time era the Medieval period covered which was eouropean history from the 5th until the 15th centuries.  Xbows and longbows fit into that time frame.
Steel is not considered a primitive building material.! Having said that I'll just leave it at that. Before we know it "FG" stuff will start appearing on here......    "NOT"

[Outbackbob48]

I hate the darn things No really I'm okay with them except get them out of Penna. archery season. They have triggers, safty an bolts, Thats not archery. I think the bow shops have also shot them selfes in the foot with the crossguns. Before crossbows, guys were buying a new compound every few yrs need all the new whistles. Now that we have crossguns they buy one and it will be good for yrs, just like a deer rifle doesn't get replaced every couple yrs. I am into selfbows an stone points and thats my .02 worth. Wheh, made it Pappy with out getting my blood pressure up to much Later Bob

[Slackbunny]

You make good points GunDoc, and I understand where you are coming from, because a bow is a bow and a crossbow is a crossbow. The two are definitely different, and they can't always be treated the same. I just know that the crossbow gets a bad rap a lot of times for no good reason. Crossbow hunters have just as much right to enjoy their sport as bowhunters and firearms hunters.   

When it comes down to it, I just want to be able to hunt with it all, and I don't really care how they organize the seasons for it. I just want to have the freedom to try all of these different methods for hunting.

[H Rhodes]

I enjoy hunting with a bow,  and to me, that means a lightweight selfbow.  It is the simplicity of it that appeals to me I guess.  I have only held a couple of crossbows in my life.  Both were owned by friends of mine and I respect their right to use them if they want to.  I found them too heavy and cumbersome a thing for me to want to hunt with.  I have found that I can usually keep my freezer stocked up with my homemade bows and arrows.  Push come to shove, and I find my belly growling, I am going to the rifle. I put crossbows, compounds, firearms etc., all in the same category. The new muzzleloaders are a puzzle to me.  Anything that shoots a two inch group at over a 150 yds. is hardly a primitive weapon in my book.  I never understand the fish and game laws about which weapons are legal and why.  It has gotten to the point that you need a lawyer to interpret this rule book that gets thicker every year.  To each his own. If it's fair chase and legal, I say use what ever you please.   I am pretty set in my ways and maybe a real bore to some people.  I only hunt with three kinds of weapons - homemade bows and arrows, an old 30-06 bolt action, and a .22 rifle.  I own several others, but that covers it for the woods.   

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I personally like old crossbows(medieval style, no scope) and consider them on par with a modern or semi-modern(fiberglass) bow as long as you are hunting on foot on the ground.
Now modern crossbows are more or less rifles that shoot elongated bullets of metals with some sort of guidance.
However, as they are quiet, I personally do not like modern ones cause they let people people poach easier.
-Squirrel

[Olanigw (Pekane)]

I personally like old crossbows(medieval style, no scope) and consider them on par with a modern or semi-modern(fiberglass) bow as long as you are hunting on foot on the ground.
Now modern crossbows are more or less rifles that shoot elongated bullets of metals with some sort of guidance.
However, as they are quiet, I personally do not like modern ones cause they let people people poach easier.
-Squirrel

I'm okay with crossbows for the "disabled".  My uncle hunts with one because his shoulder is too damaged to draw any sort of weight.  Other than that they're not legal where I live, so it's a moot point.

Squiggle, do you also dislike .22's?  They are used more by poachers than crossbows are.  How about trucks, since they're used to jack deer?

[Josh B]

I pretty much new what you meant Clint, I was just having a little fun. . 
Slackbunny ,  I don't think our views are really that far apart.  I'm not trying to say that crossbows should be banned from hunting or any other means that's ethical (there's a can a worms for ya) shouldn't be used.  I haven't hunted with a crossbow, but I have used most everything else.  I have no problem with it being used.  Just not during bow season.  I think we're gonna see a lot more pressure on the deer if people don't think that they have to put in the effort to learn the neccessary skills to hunt during bow season.  The states are just gonna view it as more revenue.  but the guys trying to do it traditionally are gonna have a lot harder filling the freezer.  After too many seasons of "tag soup"  the number of traditionalist bowhunter is bound to start slipping.   That would be a terrible price to pay just so people don't have to work for there goal.  Josh

[Holten101]

I loved making my own crossbows as a child....its a tool that has always fascinated me. But weapon legislation were I live (Denmark), means that owning a crossbow will get you jailed....hell, owning a slingshot will get you in trouble.

Bows are still untouched:-)

Cheers

[ionicmuffin]

In my honest opinion, i think primitive archery(bows made from natural materials not glass and such) should have an extension to the archery season, maybe a few weeks more. Then a week or two of non compound but still not primitive. Then crossbows and compounds should be able to join for the rest of archery season. It wouldn't be a big deal, just gives an edge to those who choose a harder method of hunting.
I also figure that those who are doing that type of hunting in earlier seasons could be restricted to 1-2 deer until all "archery" season is in full swing. that way theres a way of getting to the deer before the others and yet leave plenty for the rest

[Thesquirrelslinger]

In my honest opinion, i think primitive archery(bows made from natural materials not glass and such) should have an extension to the archery season, maybe a few weeks more. Then a week or two of non compound but still not primitive. Then crossbows and compounds should be able to join for the rest of archery season. It wouldn't be a big deal, just gives an edge to those who choose a harder method of hunting.
I also figure that those who are doing that type of hunting in earlier seasons could be restricted to 1-2 deer until all "archery" season is in full swing. that way theres a way of getting to the deer before the others and yet leave plenty for the rest

If someone did that, I might actually start hunting.
-Squirrel

[ionicmuffin]

it would give insentive for those primitive hunters, and then those that want to shoot compound wouldnt have any changes.

[Roy]

I believe crossbows have been around for thousands of years. Long before anyone posting here has been alive. I don't own one, never want one. I did shoot one twice and they do nothing for me. I fought the anti crossbow wars here in Pa when the crossbow folks were trying to get them into our Bow Season, and they won, because money talks. Far as I know the crossbow being made legal in our Pa Bow Season has not had any major impacts on our Bow Season. I am for all hunters first and if a Man wants to hunt with a crossbow then that is his God given right as long as it is legal. Is he a Bow Hunter? Hell no he is not a Bow Hunter. But who are we Traditional Guys to say what other Hunters should hunt with? If I am in a tree or ground blind with my selfbow and a guy with a crossbow or a compound is a 100 yards from me, how is he going to hurt my hunting? Be no different if there was a guy  a 100 yards from me with an Osage Selfbow.  If we trad guys are so pure and good at what we do, why do we need a special season? You want a special season? Come to Pa and hunt the second week of rifle Buck season, you will have the woods almost to yourself. Come to Pa and hunt the late season and you will have the woods to yourself. The deer adapt, they might change their routines after a few gun shots, but they still gotta eat and they still live out there in the woods. Real Hunters know how to kill deer. I'll not sit back and cry in my beer because some guy is hunting with a crossbow, a compound, a flintlock, or a rifle. I'll just hunt smarter and kill deer while those other guys use their high tech weapons. But when the anti hunters are trying to take away our hunting rights, I'll stand side by side with all other hunters and fight the anti hunters.

[Eric Krewson]

I was a rabid anti crossbow guy when these contraptions first came on the scene. Next thing I knew they were legal during bow season in Alabama. I kept waiting for the backlash of allowing such a travesty into bow season, it never came.

I know a few crossbow guys, met a few more. Some are just intrigued with these contraptions, like having a new toy, some are completely kill orientated instead of hunt orientated, some (most)are just taking the easy way out, no skills necessary to be successful.

Bottom line, does these people's choice affect me and my osage bow mentality, not one iota so I could care less.

I do get a tinge of disgust when I hear someone say proudly on a hunting show that they got a nice buck with their "bow" and then proceed to haul out a scoped crossbow.

[Slackbunny]

In my honest opinion, i think primitive archery(bows made from natural materials not glass and such) should have an extension to the archery season, maybe a few weeks more. Then a week or two of non compound but still not primitive. Then crossbows and compounds should be able to join for the rest of archery season. It wouldn't be a big deal, just gives an edge to those who choose a harder method of hunting.
I also figure that those who are doing that type of hunting in earlier seasons could be restricted to 1-2 deer until all "archery" season is in full swing. that way theres a way of getting to the deer before the others and yet leave plenty for the rest

  1 or 2 deer. Ha, all anyone ever gets here is one deer maximum, and your lucky (or skilled) to get a chance. But I shouldn't complain, at least I can hunt, and I don't like venison enough to eat more than one per year.

[Buckeye Guy]

I don't have much of a thought about crossbows
Spend my time with selfbows don't have time for other stuff !!
I am glad to see anything that gets folks away from the junk and into reality ,and get some fresh air into their lungs !
Ohio allows all kinds of things called bows to be used from the end of sept.-the first of feb.
several weeks of various gun seasons and passes out nuisance permits by the dozen where they can use their ar15 s to fill their tags and still have to many deer to suit the insurance people so I don't think we have hurt the population to much yet !
Have fun and take a kid hunting you may save a life or a country !!
Guy