Was wondering what your thoughts were on what I heard about crossbow hunting this year in WI. I heard from my father in law that he recieved a letter from the DNR stating that for an extra $3.00 he can receive an extra crossbow buck tag this season? Now my father in law uses a crossbow so i'm assuming they sent this to him knowing that he does. Not sure on that. but i'm going to imagine that there are guys in WI that will look at this and say, hey now I can shoot two bucks a year with my bow for only $3.00. How are the DNR going to regulate whether or not a guy used a crossbow or not? I'm all for it if guys are using quality deer managment sense, and actually take a buck with their bow, and take a buck with their crossbow. We all know there will be guys shooting two smaller younger bucks a year now, and I'm guessing the DNR aren't worried about the deer heard numbers from the winter we just had. Just curious on what everyones thoughts are on this, and if anyone else had heard about this.
From what I've read the State feels the average age of their hunters is 50 and they are trying to recruit more hunters. That is just what I have read in the past when looking through all of the bills they were pushing. As for the how do they know it was shot with a crossbow its the same as how do you know a guy shot a deer with a compound and not a cross bow. No way to really tell they will only know from checking hunters they see in public places still hard to prove what they took the animal with.
I haven't heard anything about bonus buck tags for crossbow hunters and assuming it was true people would be all over it. I have a feeling he may have earned a bonus buck tag this past season (2013) and it will be valid for next season (2014) and with the new regulations he would be allowed to use a crossbow when filling that tag. I do not believe it's a crossbow-specific bonus buck. Here's a summary of the major changes for 2014 and nowhere does it talk about bonus bucks for crossbows - http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/documents/dtrrulechanges.pdf Here's the bonus buck rules as they will apply for this year. 2014 Bonus Buck Opportunities - Bonus buck opportunities will be offered in the Southern Farmland Zone units only. - Only one bonus buck may be taken per hunter. - No more than 3 bucks in total may be tagged by any one hunter per year. - Only one bonus buck sticker acquired during the 2013 deer seasons may be used during the 2014 deer seasons.
I'm all for getting more bow hunters into the game, but I not excited about them making crossbows legal for everyone. If they feel the average age of a wisconsin hunter is 50 then it shouldn't be a problem for an older person to get a crossbow permit. Anyone who is older and wants to go to their doctor and tell them that they have trouble pulling back their compound can get a doctors note and get a crossbow permit. I just feel like next year is going to be a tough year to find bucks.
I originally thought that as well Justin, but my father in law has never hunted a day in his life in Southern WI. He only hunts in one area of Northern WI. It's not a bonus buck tag.
You have to buy a crossbow tag, but it will not give you an additional buck tag. In 2015 its proposed that in herd reduction areas you'll be able to earn a second buck tag by shooting a doe, but that will be for all archery equipment. That's how I interpret it.
There is supposed to be a separate license for "bow" and "crossbow". This will supposedly be utilized so that WI can track the harvest numbers by each weapon. Once you have a license for one or the other, you are allowed to purchase the other "for a substantially reduced price". This came from reading the text of the legislation that created the approval for an xbow season. I don't think you will be able to take an "extra" deer-state side. Now, having said that, we know WDNR has stated many units are well above population goals-so you never know. They may massage the rules for those units-hopefully not after the winter we have had. The season dates have been published and it still only lists the season as "bow". I have not yet found the 2014 regulations....
There are alot of reasons why a person would not want to go and have a doctor sign off on a disability waiver to be able to use a crossbow. Just look at it as most people work well past their retirement age now due to the cost of living if you are working and you get hurt in no way is workmans comp gonna be easy on you as you are already deemed disabled by a doctor. These are just simple things people should think about.
agreed and I'm on the same page with you there, but I know a number of guys who are perfectly healthy and whom still work full time but choose to shoot a crossbow because they know they are more comfortable shooting farther distances with it and more accurate. I'm not in agreement with this, and i'm not saying its right. But I feel there are plenty of crossbow hunters out there that can perfectly shoot a compound but choose not to.
Ive hunted crossbow the last two seasons late season with no deer tagged. That being said I hunt with a compound bow also for regular season just because some people like to use different methods of hunting doesnt make all careless and lazy Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
Johnwb82, I completly agree with you. My father in law would much rather shoot his regular bow still but because of 4 sholder surgerys he's stuck with the crossbow. I'm fine with guys using them if needs be and I can understand why some would enjoy using them, they're not for me, but that might change for me someday. I just don't like that I do know people who are lazy like you said and don't want to spend the time getting better with their regular bow, so they just grab the crossbow because it's the easy way out. Just my thoughts on it, but I do appreciate everyone who has replied to this and i've gotten some good information from it that i wasn't aware of. Thanks guys.
my understanding is that the state is experamenting with the crossbow for everyone for 3 years. Im interested in seeing how year one goes before judging it. I am totally for the disabled using it but i am diabetic and in the eyes of the state of WI I qualify for using a crossbow. I dont use a crossbow though. Thats unnessacery.
I would think about trying it for something different. I would not change my standards or shoot just to fill a tag, same as I don't now with my compound. This year I'm trying my longbow. Crossbow not in my cards in the near future tho.
You have to buy a license for bow and crossbow if you're hunting with both, but you only get one buck tag. Southern Farmland is the only area you can get a bonus buck tag, which isn't weapon specific. So, no, you can't shoot a buck with a bow and a crossbow in the northern two zones.
I just looked and they are not offering the first time discount either so a non resident crossbow is $160 Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
