Crossbow or gun?

Of you could make the choice would you rather have people hunting with gun or crossbow of they just couldn't manage to user a regular bow?
After hearing about Illinois passing this crossbow law for this season. I started to think about it and i would rather get rid of the deer fire arm season all together.
I really think a crossbow with the right supervision and responsible adult could help get kids into hunting alot sooner.
It would also help people who just simply can not shot a regular bow get out there now.
What do all of you think?

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The IDNR needs the firearm season to get the harvest numbers required. Plus, its a cash cow, its not going anywhere. I don't have a problem with anyone using a crossbow. I have one and like all weapons, it has its pros and cons.

 

I agree with the fire arm season being a cash cow.
But they could have a higher rate for a "crossbow tag".
I think that it would
1. generate more revenue
2. Keep some of the people from just grabbing a croosbow and a archery tag and running into the woods who have never hunted before.

I hae noticed a huge increase of kids buying bows these days at my buddies shop. I think these movies that have come out recently have really had a big impact on archery.

 

Whats wrong with that? Everyone has to start somewhere.

 

Oh come on you know what i mean? (dont you)
I am talking about the people that go out to the woods who have never even thought about ti before and do no home work on how to hunt and just go out and shoot at anything that moves.

I personally was thinking about getting a crossbow to take my wife out this year for her first time hunting.
She can shoot a bow but just does not have the strength to be able to draw the minimum 40lbs. ( i would preffer it to be more but that is what is required here)

 

Sounds to me like hunter education is more of a concern than the weapon, right?

 

I know a lot of people out there that treat a crossbow like a gun. They think they can just fling the bolts out there and drop the deer in its tracks, they have no consideration for ethical shots. While I think that the same problem occurs with guns, I feel that the number of injured or unrecoverable deer would go up with out a firearms season. I would much rather keep the firearms season than have a bunch of firearms hunters in the woods with crossbows and no regard for the deer. I would rather put the firearms season later in the season though.

 

That is true too. I really think that they should make out a mandatory for all ages

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I agree.

 

That is a good point too

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I am a die hard bow hunter, have been for years. But i started hunting with a rifle then migrated to a bow. My son took his first with a gun. (missed with his bow a couple weeks later) If they took away guns youth like my daughter who is not big enough to pull a bow back could not not. Crossbow or gun or blackpowder. Its all hunting. I get sick of people trying to segregate it. My two cents!!

 

I think thats in large part due to the marketing used to sell crossbows and what people see on hunting shows. I have no problem with crossbows at all, but people need to relize they aren't rifles.

 

I really do not care what anyone else hunts with. I most strongly believe that we do not need to get rid of anything especially in regards to firearms. What we need to get rid of IMO are the powers that be and a bunch of silly, arbitrary regulations that they continue to shove down our throats that have no bearing on true conservation. Hunter education courses are a great thing, however I also do not think that we ought to make an invitation to the powers that be to make more things mandatory. That is a dangerous and slippery slope.

 

Without a firearms season states would be hiring sharpshooters to keep the deer population in check. As far as crossbows are concerned, I feel that elderly and disabled people should be able to use them during the archery season.

 

I have no problem with crossbows with the right education for them. I guess what I am saying is if you put a crossbow in someones hands, make sure they know that it isn't a rifle. I don't care if its a government education process or just a father to a child thing.

 

1/2 the deer that are killed in pa are killed on opening day of gun so if there was no gun i dont know what the #s would be

 

Right on Greg!