I do not think that any of the guys or gals posting on this thread are arguing. I think it is a discussion amongst hunters expressing their opinions. Again, I am not opposed to crossbow hunting and like I said, I own one and take mine hunting. I also said that to each his/her own in the selection of which weapon they decide to hunt with. I am simply saying that I have witnessed more injured animals walking the woods and have witnessed conversations where people clearly do not comprehend the limitations of a crossbow and the responsibility to not only the animals they hunt but to the sport and fellow hunters as well. There was an individual arrested recently poaching a deer in the early hours one morning with a night vision scope on a crossbow. Not sure if there is a way to install night vision on a vertical but the point here is that there are "idiots" as someone in this thread called them, that can do stuff like this with a crossbow because they are more silent and have scopes. I also said that yes I think it most certainly is easier to hunt with a crossbow than it is to hunt with a vertical, be it traditional or compound. It is for this reason that I feel that there should be a designated season for crossbows. Again, and please understand, this is just my opinion.
Why is this being brought up so much for crossbows... It obviously happens every season with compounds and no one has an issue. (Would be willing to bet more people do this with compounds than crossbows each year) Within this thread it's been determined that shooting a vertical bow is much more difficult that shooting a crossbow - Yet there is no mention of issues with new archers buying a vertical bow suddenly and hitting the woods. Trying to understand why crossbows are being looked at the way they are.
Currently bowhunters buy a bow and work within the parameters of existing laws, the crossbow hunter wants the law changed to suit their desires rather than putting forth the effort to learn to use existing legal equipment. This is my opinion on Minnesota crossbow usage only not any other states.
So kids any age can get out and hunt unsupervised without any training or certification? What could possibly go wrong with that?
I believe your interpretation of the law is wrong. Kids have to be 10+ to hunt big game with any license.
Right now they are limited strength wise to a certain age of development, I don't know any 10=13 year old pulling back the minimum legal requirement. I also believe anyone buying any hunting license should have state mandated safety training bow or gun.
The minnesota gun safety training requirements for age are pretty clear, what age it is valid and supervision requirements.
Yes. But so are the license codes. Show me a Youth under 10 license and how much it costs. For instance, Archery Licenses are as follows: Youth 10-under13 (code 246), Youth 13-18 (code 209), Adult (code 213) Doesn't matter if they're not required to take firearms safety, they still can't buy a license and hunt. First requirement for big game is that you need to be 10 years or older.
Upon further review you do have to have a gun safety certificate to buy a big game tag either archery or gun at age 12, before that no need to buy a license. In Minnesota.
Sota, youth under 10 cannot hunt big game in MN. pg. 66 of regs. Bottom line doesn't get any clearer.
Right I understand that I was not clear ages 10 and 11 are not required to have gun safety. Under age 10 you can't hunt.
I think you do starting at age 12 till age 15 must take and pass gun safety to buy either firearms or archery tags.
Honestly, I don't think their motives have anything to do with it. There are only so many tags available per person right? Why would the choice of weapon matter how they fill the tags? Crossbows open up an archery opportunity to people that may not have the ability or knowledge to hunt with a bow. I would much rather a novice that will never have time or ability to become proficient with a bow, take a crossbow and go fill a tag and then get out of the woods. Bow hunters have always been the most selfish with the time in the woods. Most of us get nearly all Fall and half the winter to hunt with a bow. And, they don't want anyone else in the woods with them, because its so darn hard to kill a deer and such a noble purpose to chase deer with a bow. Interruptions from others are largely frowned on. Gun hunters get but a few days in some states. Did gun hunters throw a fit and protest the advent of range finders and scopes that can be adjusted to kill deer at 1000 yards or more? Because really, that's not fair to those that use iron sights and we all know those guys are a bunch of crippling fools.
In Minnesota you can start to hunt big game at 10 years old. You still have to get them a license even though it doesn't cost much at all. By 12 you have to have your hunters safety certificate unless you pay for a apprenticeship tag which allows you to hunt without gun safety training as long as you hunt with an adult. It is good for 1 year and you can do this a maximum of 2 times. My son shot a doe with a bow when he was 12 years old. Even though MN has a legal limit for draw weight I told him mine was 8 pounds over that and he could not hunt if I didn't think he was proficient enough and he had a maximum distance allowed.
Are we really worried that a child can hunt with a cross bow at an early age? I know plenty of people b***h about the youth waterfowl and whitetail hunt here in MN. How someone could really be so jealous that a child might shoot "their" animals is beyond me. If you haven't taken a kid out hunting and see their reaction when they are successful you are truly missing out.
