I agree with this.. the instant gratification is absolutely ruining a whole lot of things. kids now days will never learn patience and with all the ai and crap out there they don’t really have to but it is hurting them in the long run... I’ve brought a few younger kids out hunting that thought they were interested until they found out that you don’t see a shooter every time you go out. It took my girlfriend 3 years to shoot her first deer and after the first season was over and she still had a tag it was like pulling teeth to get her to back out. She shot one one this year and now won’t quit with going out there again haha
I question the data and how the results are derived from the data... I look at data much of my day as part of my work. It always amazes me how you can interpret hard data in so many ways. As for crossbows being the reason for the decline, I guess the #s show some evidence of this, but I am not completely sold here. I know some hunters are disappointed in adding crossbows to hunting in some states, which may be a focus on why then hunter numbers are down. I think there is more to the story here...as numbers have been going down over a longer period of time, not just with the addition of crossbows. They may be a small factor - but there seems to be more too it. Personally, hunting is not easy and forces some to get outside their comfort zone. A big part of adding new hunters is our youth. Are they conditioned to get the prize at the end instantly without much work put in? OR is the hunting community (Myself included) pushing more hunters away than introducing new hunters. It may be both... OR again, its a change in lifestyle. So many things to investigate. Keep it positive!
why not make crossbows so they are no more capable of shooting an arrow better than a vertical bow then. Maybe if they are to be used in archery they should be made so they perform the same as a vertical bow. Then there’s no complaints from either side. Archers can’t say it’s cheating and crossbow hunters can’t get an archery tag and snipe deer with long bombs.. keeps archery hunting as archery hunting.
If you want to be an archer and can’t pull back a bow then go buy a crossbow and set it up the way the bow you wanted shoots. Don’t say I can’t pull my bow back anymore or yet and then replace it with a machine that blows it out of the water. It would be like allowing steroids in sports.
The safety course is a thing of the past. At least here in pa. I took it in 1992 and loved it. Got to shoot, scout, track, etc. I have known a lot of people that have decided they want to pick up a gun and hunt and just head over to Walmart, show their drivers license, and walk out with a hunting license. This has been going on for at least a decade. Scary. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In everything one should consider perspectives. See I, whom shoots a lower end bow with no sights and 49#'s could equate my set up with your perspective to the highend compounds and sights available out there. Now I have killed several deer at 35 yrds with my compound. I am comfortable with pass throughs at that distance. I prefer closer shots and the skill it takes to get them. My lower end cross bow was factory set at 20,30,40. Though I'm not comfortable with anything past 35. Again it's the skill in getting the deer in for the close shots. Perspective, it's me against the animal, not the target. This is why I still hunt deer with my shot gun in a rifle area. It takes skill to shoot long range targets, no doubt at all about that. Though when that target has the potential to see, hear, or smell you close range,well your hunting ,not target shooting. So is your perspective one that because I don't shoot the high end top of the line bow with range finder bow sights out there and others do , I'm more of an archer? If I were to go back to the instinctive recurve shooting I got my first deer with I'm more of an archer than those with compounds or newer faster shooting recurves? Hhhmmm I think I'm just another deer hunter hoping to out smart a creature with superior instincts and survival skills in their element. A hunter hoping for the cleanest fastest kill I can make no matter what the equipment I choose to use. By your perspective I must be a champion rabbit hunter, for I've killed 4 wild rabbits using nothing more than a 1 1/2 inch stone I happened pick up at the time. ...point
I know government agencies do dumb things all the time but this study pushes dumb to a whole new level........even for a government entity.
I was trained as a fast pitch soft ball pitcher. I have always shot bow instinctive, and practice a lot. My hand eye coordination is dang good. So yes knowing that rabbits instinct is to remain still until the last moment. Knowing my aiming ability and the skull structure of rabbits. I can talk quick clean kills with a rock not rocks a rock. If you know rabbits, they wouldn't give one a second shot..lol That said It's too bad that's all you appear to have gotten out of that post. Hoaning in on something you assumed would be ..what disparaging to me? Why, because you didn't like my pointing out a different perspective to the issue? Thats too bad,really.
I think the state of hunting safety classes is on us, we have let the younger hunters down. I had the same experience and it was even associated with our junior high and the local rod and gun club. We had a target shooting with 22's, skeet and trap, the local conservation agent spoke, and the list goes on. I taught hunters safety from '01-'03 in Oklahoma City. It was at a gun range and it was more "book learning" than a fun learning experience. We went through firearms safety with a single shot 22 and they got to fire three shots. I was as creative as I could be but always felt like we could have done more. Now that being said, the youth here are fairly easy to get hunting if they want to and out Wildlife Department does throw a three day youth expo and they get after it. But crossbows ruining hunting!? Nah, chitty hunting shows that are nothing more than 30 minute infomercials for a product that is marginal at best is what's ruining hunting. Whether it be a call, scent or whatever else "magic beans" that a hunters buys and learns the hard way that it's all bs, ends with disappointment and the lack of any desire to hunt again. That and the fact that most hunting shows just end with the kill, like it's all that matters. You end up with a lot of hunters that have little to no idea how to prepare venison or any wild game for that matter. And for the record, I cant stand crossbows being a part of the regular archery season unless you have a disability or age. If you really want hard facts on crossbow hunting it should have it's own season like muzzle loaders. In Oklahoma we have that pedofile Ted Nuggent to thank for crossbows being included in the regular season. We had it all ironed out and ready to go to the house of Reps when the grease ball fouled it up with his pro hunter status and a pickle smoocher legislator.
Hunting has lasted my entire life because I have enjoyed the process and appreciate the difficulty of archery. I began with a stick bow, A few Buddies and nothing else. It took quite awhile to even harvest my first trophy Doe. I have spent my life honing woods skills, Deer skills, Knolwedge of deer , plants, and techniques by trial and error, I have loved every minute. Now kids need instant gratification. Without the time taken to learn they will not stay in the sport. Also, many kids start hunting in a guided hunt, waking up in the dark in a platform blind s a short distance from a bait pile, Dad tells them when a shooter comes by, They shoot, Guide retrieves deer, proud dad and child proudly crouch for pictures, Guide takes deer for processing, Child see,s packages of deer meat arrive home ( maybe) Next year child says, naw to deer hunt, Wonder why ?
Now that is the first logical explanation made, clearly not the equipment's fault it's the parents to blame for a lack of interest. Though it sounds like mostly the well to do ones. Here I taught the kids, low end Hoyt, homemade camo suits, wooden tree stands and brush in blinds. in this family you gut what you kill and you process what you eat. They grew up at camp during gun and at 12, NYS legal age, bow season at home. Daughter a 6pt and son a doe ...that was the end of their bow hunting, but camp is still a draw. Son still bow hunts but as a "think I'll go out" not a passion. Daughter no hunting for a while career for her and a family and house rehab for son, both in their thirties. Though come gun season both will hit camp this year. Life is what got them, sports and teams in high school, degrees and work in their 20's. Out of school motor cross, skiing and snowboarding. Son travels across the country and Canada to snow board and water boards in summer. Daughter hiking,biking,running ,kayaking and "iron man" competitions. They got their gratification, wasn't instant, but it allowed them to move on to explore other things. I believe that happens to many kids out there and it's why you see older ,young adults, finding their way back or in for the first time. Saying that it's a lack of patients is a bit of a cop out . I have a ton of patients in the woods but there is no way I'd have the patients to be efficient at video gaming. Yet so many young people have honed those skills the military is scrambling to recruit them. I believe the cart is put before the horse when it comes to ALL hunting and kids. It's lets go get a big buck. perhaps it should be lets see how many animals we can sneak in on. How many tracks and beds can you find. Lets go stump shooting. Then hey, lets see if that practice can tag you a wood chuck, squirrel,turkey or DEER. I made being out doors a passion for our kids That stayed with them it just took a different form than mine.
You are an athlete going twelve for twelve at throwing rocks at rabbits to kill them! Man your saying you hit every one square in the head at every throw you made. Never once missed your target. I’m surprised you never went pro with an arm like that. I’m all for other people’s different views. Just didn’t like the smartass way you finished the post then to come back like it was an innocent opinion.. get real you want an argument then be a smartass you want to post your different view then do it with kindness. I’ve killed plenty of animals with a slingshot I’m not jumping on the bunny lives matter bus but to say your all about a quick clean ethical kill and then to say you kill rabbits by throwing rocks at their heads let alone 1.5” rocks that if you missed would pelt the body causing injury and a horrible way to die. Don’t even be so arrogant as to say you never missed one throw.. point
By the way I agree with your post here. I take my kids nature walking and out to blind just to film nature quite a bit they love it. I want them to enjoy nature not just the hunt aspect
Actually 4 for 4 and yep did not miss any that isn't arrogance it just...is. I actually was taught by a pro. they brought him in to teach just two of us girls. Wasn't easy learning because I grew up pitching hard ball and soft ball, fast pitch, is totally different. I was also a soccer goalie so being able to nail a kick to a specific spot on the field while being rushed was a hard earned skill as well. Eye/ hand or foot in that case. Something I have continued all my life. Hell just standing at the lake and skipping stones turns into a self imposed accuracy session. I won't apologize for you taking that post as being "Smart Ass" in nature. I can not control the perceptions of others. I'm seriously not understanding the "unkindness" in that post. I spoke of perceptions and put my comments in the form of questions not accusations. I added my own experience as a base to what leads me to my perspective and to give a better understanding to that perspective. There isn't an "argument " on my end and I see there will not be a discourse to the original subject on yours. So it is what it is, and I'll bow out of this discussion.
Great post. Instead of discussing the REAL reason- land access. Just watch a few of the Bowhunt or Die episodes. You have 1 hunter hunting multiple farms & hundreds of acres. It is called Greed.
Heck, I’ll buy Kazmierski a beer merely for suggesting it... impossible to really prove something like that though - way to subjective in nature - I don’t care what side of the fence you are on.
Title is just troll click bait! While I think shooting a bow is a lot more fun than a rifle or crossbow. A crossbow is still a fun way to hunt and shoot. Just as a rifle or shotgun are. PCP air rifles are a lot of fun too! I just enjoy the physical aspect of shooting a bow but I still shoot a lot of firearm and air guns. I would have a crossbow if they weren’t so restricted in my state. Maybe if I move to Texas I will get one to hunt some hogs!
I think there are many factors. I haven't hunted in 20 years because of life choices that made it impossible with my work schedule. And now I live in Ohio and there are some huge deer here compared to the deer in Alabama that I used to hunt. But the reason I don't hunt now is there aren't many places to hunt besides ODNR land. It's hard to get anyone up here to let you hunt their land and a lot of land is being bought up for subdivisions.
