I read the article in the magazine and agree mostly. Somethings that have changed are unquantifiable. Bow season (at least in the areas I’ve hunted) used to mean no one else in the woods except for hardcore hunters. Now it seems that archery season resembles gun season culture. A much more relaxed group of hunters in the woods. Still not the crazy hordes of hunters I see during gun season, but considerably more than before crossbows were legal. Not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing, just changes I have observed. When hunting our land in WV it doesn’t really affect me at all but when I’m on public land in WV or NC I do have to plan for a backup spot more often than in previous years. It does worry me though that this could end up requiring reduced harvests during archery season. In NC not so much, as you get 6 tags valid for any season, but in WV the tags are allocated by season/weapon and I like spending as much time as I can in a tree with a bow.
I will say, archery companies aren’t helping themselves. Crossbows are becoming cheaper and compounds seem to just keep going up. I wanted to upgrade my 2010 Bowtech Sniper but can’t justify it. Even for an entry level bow. A lot of local bow shops around us have been put out of business.
