Personal experience with crossbows destroys any notion of "wrong vs right"

I call BS on anti Xbow perpetuating other hunter's laziness. They know right from wrong. By the time a hunter gets his license he's already had some kind of formal training. Hunter safety courses teach the importance of becoming proficient with your weapon. They already know this. They don't need to be told. The laziness is on the individual. They don't need people to educate them in this area.

Besides, with all the anti's howling these opinions across the internet.... they are being "educated". LOL

 

How much time does it take to learn to shoot a compound? I'd bet most people could have a bow dialed in at 20 yards in a handful of shots. I know some need their ego stroked by doing it "the right way" , but shooting a modern compound bow isn't very difficult.

 

Sorry man, I call BS on that too. Hunting out of a tree stand and shooting at a live deer presents more difficulty than dialing your bow in with a hand full of shots and you're ready to hunt.

 

Greg, people are talking about "slobs" grabbing a crossbow and hitting the woods. Do you think they are any less prepared than the same guy that grabs a compound, shoot it ten times and go hunt? I don't like shooting crossbows at all, but I don't get the hate that people have about other people hunting with one.

 

First, let's agree that there's lazy hunters in EVERY facet of this sport. There's plenty of guys who fling a few arrows out of the old compound the night before season, screw on some broadheads and head into the woods. Being lazy isn't a product of the weapon you choose to hunt with.

However let's not kid ourselves that the very strong message of "using a crossbow doesn't require practice or skill" which is shouted by the anti-crossbow agenda has a very real effect on people's perception of how much practice is required. It may not effect you or I, but I can guarantee there are people out there who have read this or heard this from someone and who believe it to be true. My point is that instead of the anti-crossbow folks continuing to pass along this false pretense they should be shouting instead that we all need to practice more in order to become proficient with our weapons no matter what they are. At least this way you're pushing a positive message rather than which only promotes people to be lazy.

 

And we just took a 90.

Misinterpretation.

 

Agreed. Crossbows are undeniably gaining support. May as well educate instead of giving false pretenses.

 

Here is another thing to consider. Crossbows may allow some people to practice more. I think that would be the case for me. Let me explain. I just don’t like to shoot my bow. I want to like it. But I can’t. It is not because I am lazy as some on here would have you believe about someone who doesn’t want to practice. You see, I have a case of target panic. The more I shoot/practice, the worse it gets. It’s to the point that I almost dread shooting my bow. I have tried all the solutions I can find including several here on this site and the method Ted Nugent said he used to overcome it. It will not go away. Even when I can control it, it’s always there and I am always fighting/struggling with it. It makes shooting a bow very unpleasant. When I try to practice in my backyard, I end up inevitably pulling a shot that misses the bag and hits my privacy fence doing damage to it and usually breaking the arrow when I try and remove it. That gets expensive. Oddly, I seem to control it better when shooting at a deer or even a squirrel. As a result, I practice very little actually shooting arrows. I will draw and let down my bow repeatedly before the season to strengthen my arm. I draw with no arrow and aim at objects and play the shot in my mind. But I do not shoot nearly enough arrows in practice as I should. I just started back into bow hunting in the fall of 2012 after a long hiatus that I took mainly due to target panic. I thought if I stepped away for 10 years or so and bought a newer, better bow I could come back and it would be gone. It wasn’t. I killed one deer that year and 2 deer in the fall of 2013 with my bow. I missed about 5 each year besides the 3 I killed. The misses were mostly due to range estimation errors but there were a couple of them that target panic played a small role in. I do not have any form of target panic when shooting a gun. I shot expert several times with a M-16 when I was in the Army. I can shoot a .22 or my .308 and shoot nice tight groups without any kind of flinching or target panic. I have shot my Dad’s crossbow and there is no target panic. He lives in Ohio where they are legal and I live in Missouri where they are not. So for me, a crossbow would bring back the enjoyment of archery and I would shoot it in my backyard a lot more than I do my compound bow. I wish I could just take a pill and cure this but since I can’t then I guess I will continue to hunt with my compound and just continue doing it like I have been. But if Missouri were to make crossbows legal during the archery season, I would sell my compound and never look back while enjoying shooting in my back yard again.

 

Imo it dosent matter, people who are going to hunt already due. most people aren't going to be like OMG crossbows are legal here now better start hunting, deer pressure......get over it. if it gets more people in the woods enjoying the outdoors legally im all for it.....that's like saying using a bow to fish isn't fishing. a crossbow is a archery tool. still gotta get um in close. I hunt bow, shotgun, rifle, muzzle....its all hunting takes a set of skills in each period.

 

When you say your drawing with no arrow and aiming at things, are you using fingers or a release? If your using a release that could end very badly.

 

atlas, so glad to hear you get to spend more time with your dad out in the woods, THAT is what it's all about!

 

We can tell someone to follow the game laws, will they? Not always. The same goes when telling someone to practice or to make a good shot at an animal. They might nod their head but it goes in one ear and out the other. Some have already made up their mind to be ignorant to such things.

 

I agree, anyone opposed to using a rifle, shotgun, smoke pole, grenade launcher, howitzer or any other weapon during archery season is basically taking sides with the anti-hunting crowd. What do I care which method someone uses?

 

Discussions like this thread are the reason I never wanted to hunt with a bow, until the day my boss changed the work schedule and I was going to miss the entire rifle moose season...

I had to look at an alternative and archery season was 3 weeks earlier... exactly during my time OFF.

So I took bow hunting and now prefer it over rifle any day of the year.

Atlas 's story with his dad is great and I'm happy for them.

The reason initially that I wanted nothing to do with bow hunting was because of the ''purists'', the snobs, pretentious, the elite and the ''look at me'' type of persons that seemed to pollute the sport. As I can see from many of the replies on this post... there are still lots of them around...

Fortunately, there is also a good majority of archers with common sense, wisdom and humility, smart enough to realize that it's just another tool allowing us to pursue our passion, hunting.

So, unless you're walking to the woods wearing raw hide moccasins that you're gran'ma chewed to soften, that you are shooting hand carved cedar arrows with a hand carved bow stringed with sinew and moose tendons...... please quit the elitist attitude and respect the fact that not everyone has the same capabilities, interests, and taste in weapons.

Again, great story Atlas!

 

They only pollute the bowhunting side of the outdoors? Like it or not, I think that is everywhere in the hunting world.

 

Easy there buddy. Go shoot your crossbow and calm down. Maybe you can get it out to 110yds today

 

I guess all the crossbow haters are down on Darrell for using one to whack walkers with. My choice if it shot an arrow would be my Bear Kodiak Magnum, lot quicker to re-load.

 

I loved your story atllasman. You guys are out there for all the right reasons. May you and your dad share many more seasons together.

Blessings.........Pastorjim

 

Unless you are joking I'm gonna disagree with you on this. I'm all about using crossbows during archery season, but to want to include everything else, I don't think that I'd agree with that.