Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting New York Bowhunter Poll.

ribka why not have ml(a real ml) and long bow archery at same
time as they are both primative weapons (no in line) and just
# 11 or musket caps that is how we do it. YMMV. Cheers NC

New York bowhunters as a group are the most selfish bunch of cry babies I've ever seen. I'd like to see them end up with a muzzleloader AND a crossbow shoved right up their a$$ ! If I had anything to say about it, muzzleloader {traditional} and crossbow season would run concurrently from mid October to mid November and bow season would be 1 week in the middle of January.

Been bow hunting for over 30 years and I agree. I have used self bows, recurves, long bows, compounds to take deer, bear, moose elk, cariboo. I agree should be primitive weapons. Compounds today have made it so much more easy to take game. Now the lazy idiots want to make it easier by allowing crossguns? Reflection of our indolent immediate gratification culture now in the US.

Same with ml. Now can use 209 primers, sabots and scopes. Can shoot out to 300 yds. I am for real ml and #11 primers

The cross bow industry have epople that come on bow hunting web sites and push their agenda. Guys are getting kicked off bowsite.com all of the time for doing this.

You can't introduce crossguns into archery season and expect to have the longer seasons. More and more people are getting into archery and out west elk and deer populations are down overall.

If people want to shoot a cross gun can do it during ml and modern firearms in most states

ribka-why not use a flintlock instead of that modern #11?

I have hunted with a flintlock, roundball in PA. Lot of fun. Would say a crossgun is more accurate, dependable than a flintlock though and should not be allowed during regular archery season

Yes sir flintlocks are fun. In-lines should only be allowed during the rifle season. Muzzle loader season should be traditional cap and ball and flintlock only. Archery should be stick and string to compound. IF there should even be a crossbow season it should be during the regular firearms season.

I started bow hunting with a recurve in NYS many years ago. Eventually got a conpoung. Thought they were to heavy and noisy..went back to a recurve. The product got much better over the years and I went back to a compound. Much debate raged in the early years over the use of compound bows during archery season..many thought they should only be allowed during gun season(sound familiar) but they became legal and popular..not much has changed in the current debate, I have tried both. I find the compound easier to shoot well as the xbows are too heavy and clumsey and I see no advantage to them in terms of killing power or accuracy and distance uasge. In fact I don't think they have anything over a good compound as a deer killing machine. When I was injured I was given an exemption to hunt archery season with a xbow but I just could not shoot it well and needed some sort of rest in the stand to make it work at all. Too much troble in a tree stand for me. I had an old hunting friend that used his successfully however I always had better penetration with my compound than he did with the xbow. Personally I have no issues with their use in archery season as I do not see any large advantage to them in terms of killing power or distance and find more disadvantages to them. Second shots are acomplished much easier and faster with recurve and compounds than xbows and accuracy is not improved to any degree so as to give the xbow an advantage. YMMV

99% correct lonerider. it appears that many opponents of xbow have limited or no practical experience with xbow. put a compound and xbow on the range. make them as similar as possible. shoot,shoot more then shoot again. i believe that the proof will make itself apparent. the xbow is not a more efficient tool for harvesting game. it really is cumbersome in a treestand.. difficult to shoot accurately without rest. try shooting a contender in a tree stand without rest! so let choice be the most important issue. allow others the freedom we each demand for ourself. focus on a united organization to protect all our rights not just the ones that are of personal or self serving.. IMO respectfully.

I have shot a cross bow quite a bit and I was able to shoot consistently out to 80 yds off hand with a scope. From a rest out to 100 yds. and it is always ready.Shooting heavier bolts and penetration was no problem . I have missed so many shot opportunities on game with a bow because they were looking at me and could not draw. If I had a cross gun I would have easily harvested them

If you want to use the United We stand/choice argument then allow any weapon during archery to include 270's 30-06's 300's etc.

If X guns are so ineffective why are so many people x gun manufactures touting 10 plus yard shots
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gly3bafUhcU


Ny is such a screwed up state anyway might as well allow them there

ribka I have a question 4 you. When did crossbows enter the
world I believe they precede every thing but the long bow there
fore I would think they should be considered as a primitive
weapon.what say you to that. Just my observation and 2cents worth. Have a great day. Cheers NC

Northcountry
You have a good point there about the history of the cross bow. Ribka points out that he can shoot 80 yards with a xbow..I and lots of my chronies have shot at that distance with stick bows and compounds for many years. The shootin ain't all there is to this deal. What happens when the arrow or bolt hits a deer is the telling tale. Xbows are not much faster than the newer compounds and work no more efficently at long distance than a compound. other than the sighting systems they offer no advantage in killing I have shot against several xbow shooters and standing up in a tree they can make no better or longer hits than I. As mentioned some advantage may exist when you are caught with a animal looking at you and you do not have the motion of drawing a compound to spook game..slight advantage though it may be. Other than those with scope sights, which may promote better shooting or shot placement. xbows are no more a mechanical advantage than many other things in the archery world including releases and lighted nocks and all that other stuff we used to argue about in past years. Hell I remember arguments about rifle scopes being outlawed as an unfair advantage in the game fields...old time hunters used to argue of similar differences in comparing lever action to bolt guns. And then it was the semi-auto screech fest of the past. How about the NEVER shoot a doe argument..all have gone up in smoke..and we have all come to a better understanding. If ya don't like one option..choose another and let the other guy use what he prefers..We are stiiiiilllll argueing about caliber choices in rifles and handguns amoungst ourselves...choose what ya like and use it your opinion is gonna be different at some point than anothers opinion. neither is wrong just different..the damn squabblin ain't worth it. YMMV

I stick with my argument.Allow xbows and all technolgy into archery seasons and might as well allow firearms too. I do not 5 day archery seasons. I am well aware of the history of the xbow too.

Ml used to be a primitive weapon too. Look on Youtube guys bragging on 500 yd shots.


All maufacturers of x bows now tout the 100 yd shot.

Try this with a compound on a windy day

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gly3bafUhcU]

Take a look at the anti-hunting web sites like PETA. The big argument against hunting now is that animals stand no chance because of technology.

I give hunting seasons 10 more years before severe restrictions and draw onlyin all hunting seasons on the current path. Heading that way in some Western states. As long as we can dumb down life in the US make every task super easy and make a quick buck at the same time.

I'll stick with my argument that squabblin ain't worth it
But think of it this way. I am old enough to remember my dad and grandfather arguing about horses vs automobile. and mules vs tractor, where would we be today if my grandfather and those that thought like him had prevailed. You be willin to ride a mule to work every day EH? I bet you are all ate up with the new technology regarding cars and phones and electronics. I think tha damn things should be outlawed...how bout that pard. That stuff just pollutes the air and the youngins minds and....and...and OH WELL I guess we best go back to stick bows and make everybody happy..ya reckon..that'll stop alla dis squabblin fer sure

I saw a guy kill an elk from 80 yards with a compound on TV just the other day. Howard Hill shot a duck off a pond from 220 yards with a longbow on a bet and in front of witnesses. Howard Hill, Saxton Pope and Fred Bear all killed deer and elk well beyond 100 yards with recurve and longbows. Just because they could do it doesn't mean your average archer could or has any business even trying to. Same for 100 yard shots with crossbows. The fastest crossbows on the market today launch bolts at 325-375 fps. Exactly the same velocity range as the fastest compounds. To say they are in the same realm from a ballistics/accuracy/trajectory standpoint as even a flintlock, which will launch a patched ball at 2000 fps, is absolutely ludicrous.

Crossbows have a fundemental advantage in that they are drawn well before game is spotted.

The second aspect of crossbows is that true or not, people perceive that anyone can be effective with a crossbow without the lengthy practice (and tuning) that bows require. It matters not that this is true in practice or not.

Frankly its up to the state and a few lobbing groups as whether they become permanente fixtures in the bow season in NYS. Frankly the problem of insufficent deer harvests in suburban areas, coupled with a chance for increased DEC revenue pretty much garrantee its going to happen.

In lines and optical sights radically changed the muzzleloading season in NYS. 30 years ago muzzleloading hunters where few and far between, now they are common, Infact I know folks who once took off work the opening week of the regular season.. now take off the week of muzzleloading up north.

Yeah, those inline muzzleloaders with optical sights are just devastating the NY deer herd. There were 18,000 deer killed statewide by muzzleloaders in 2009 VS 34,000 killed by bowhunters. Get real.

where did I say it affected the herd? I said it increased the number of hunters using muzzleloaders.

Maybe in the Northern zone but I hunt the Southern zone MZ season every year and have NEVER run into another hunter. In contrast, you can't swing a dead cat in the woods during the southern zone bow season without knocking a bowhunter out of a tree. And if the legalization of inlines and optical sights hasn't caused muzzleloaders to devastate the deer herd, what makes you think crossbows would ?

It depends on a few factors down south. The late season cuts hunter numbers down quite a bit. The other consideration is that many of the serious hunters are out of useful tags by then. Its rare that I have buck tags left that late in the year and usually have enough venison I am not looking to bust a doe in the late season. I may go out for a walk around but Its maybe 1 or 2 years in a decade that I seriously hunt the southern ML season. Of the 4 guys that I know that seriously hunt, its mostly the same story.

We have land in the Southern Tier, but I don't hunt it till the gun season opens, so I do my southern bow season hunting on state land and its no where as crowded at the opening weekend of North ML.

If the muzzleloader season ran the 7 days before rifle south I think it would be wall to wall muzzleloader hunters.

So what you're saying is that MORE guys are getting to enjoy MORE TIME IN THE FIELD without any adverse effect on the herd ? Sorry but that seems like a win-win situation to me and I'm having a hard time seeing the downside.