Saw an ad with Jim Shockey for these. Anyone seen one? Are they legal for deer hunting?

Depends on your state, some places they are legal as an air gun, others as a bow.... it's ahead of the regs technology does that

They are a neat contraption. Not legal most places...but that may change. See the map at the bottom of the page

http://www.crosman.com/airbow

I was in the adjacent booth (shooting lanes area) two years ago at the ATA show when they were first introduced. They are LOUD. Sounds a lot like a 38 special being fired. In my opinion they do not belong in the archery classification for hunting regs. They are a gun that shoots an arrow.

How does it compare to a crossbow?

Not legal for elk or deer in colorado.

It's certainly ugly enough to scare stuff to death.

Since it operates in roughly the same velocity range as high-end compounds and crossbows, and is anything but silent, I don't see a reason to forbid it on ethical grounds as "unsporting". Lots of people will be against it because it will bring a few more hunters into the woods during "their" season, but that's just human nature. Just like compounds, crossbows, and inline muzzleloaders, these won't ruin hunting, and might bring some more people into the fold. In large areas of the country, whitetail deer and now pigs are in serious need of control, and this is just another tool for that. With a few exceptions, game departments do a pretty good job of managing things, so I'll leave it up to them to figure out where this fits in.

I don't want one (but I might want a crossbow someday!).

agreed



lets see,,,,,

rifle stock - check
shoots an arrow - check

any other factor,,,no comparison

as John Harvard mentioned,,,,it's a airgun that shoots arrows as the projectile,,,,much like a dart gun on steroids,,,,
a crossbow at least has a string to propel the arrow,,,,,

How about dimocrap thugs in NY?