Two weeks ago while I was a vendor at bowfest, I took part in a 200 yard crossbow novelty shoot sponsored by Ravin Crossbows. Bowfest would not allow crossbows to be used on any of the 3D courses but they did have the Ravin Novelty shoot.This event was held at Mont Du Lac ski resort on the WI/MN border near Superior WI.
I was the first to shoot the 200 yard novelty shoot. 3 shots for $5 with the winner getting a ravin crossbow package. The bulls eye at 200 yards was a 3 inch dot inside a 9 inch circle. Each time you hit the 3 inch dot you got 3 chances to win the Ravin, a hit in the 9 inch circle earned you one chance to win the ravin. I earned 4 chances by hitting the 3 inch dot at 200 yards and the 9 inch dot with no practice and having never held a ravin before.
Man after man and women after woman used this same shared ravin and were hitting the bulls eye at 200 yards.
This amazing machine is no doubt the reason that the article below was put out by arrow trade in their July 2018 issue.
"Reigning in Crossbows
Arrowtrade has long seen the potential crossbows had to introduce non-archers to bowhunting and enable older bowhunters to keep in the field. Now, after attending the April ATA Board of Directors meeting, I will admit some reservations.
At that meeting, some board members were concerned that powerful new crossbows were far outpacing vertical bows in performance and would be difficult to consider as primitive weapons entitled to long seasons. The surprising data from the 2017 Wisconsin hunting season, during which crossbow hunters tagged more deer than vertical bow hunters for the first time in history, also drew a lot of attention from the board. Crossbows were just legalized for all Wisconsin deer hunters in 2014 and that is pretty dramatic evidence that modern, high-performance crossbows are easy to use and highly effective.
Comments from retailers and a distributor on the board also indicated anecdotal evidence that crossbows are not serving as a gateway to other forms of archery. Since little practice is needed to stay proficient with them, that can hurt sales of arrows, releases, sights, and many other accessories that retailers depend on to stay profitable.
The board voted 15-2 to study whether the ATA position statement on crossbows, adopted back in 2008, should now be revised. The existing statement reads, in part, "The ATA believes that crossbows are viable shooting and hunting equipment that provide opportunity for a segment of America's hunters and recreational shooters...The ATA leaves the seasons and regulation governing the use of crossbows for hunting to each state wildlife agency. ATA believes that when populations of wildlife, like deer, are overabundant, state agencies should make use of every type of hunting equipment to help control and manage those populations." A study group consisting of staff and board members has formed, has met once and is in the process of gathering data, Arrowtrade was told by the ATA early in June.
In the meantime, I would suggest major crossbow manufacturers declare a halt to the speed race. Speeds in excess of 400 fps and advertisements claiming the accuracy potential at 100 yards and beyond are only going to draw more negative attention from game departments. Nobody in the bowhunting industry will benefit if archery seasons are reduced as a result of the perception that crossbows are morphing into crossguns.
Major sports typically set equipment limitations, from the characteristics of golf balls to the types of engines used in NASCAR. The eight major manufacturers that sponsor the North American Crossbow Federation could consider a 400 fps limit: nothing to be advertised or warranted beyond that. Existing models that exceed that could be packaged with heavier arrows to fit within the new guidelines. With the speed limit in place, manufacturers could still innovate in ways to improve accuracy, comfort, reliability, and ease of use.
Setting these voluntary limits on crossbows would help them be viewed by the public and state game agencies as equipment that is not radically different in performance from a compound bow
-Arrowtrade, July 2018"
The WI NRB is in the process for setting the crossbow season Duration due to the success rates of the crossbowers in the trial years of data gathering. The crossbowers had a higher buck kill success rate than not only bowhunters abut also higher than gun deer hunters. The final crossbow season setting will have the crossbow season duration set to longer than the 9 day gun deer season but less than the length of the archery deer season. Already WI has a separate crossbow license and registration and season because WI was smart enough to separate crossbowing from bowhunting from day one.
