Starting in 2019, Kentucky is going to liberalize its crossbow season.



For more details, read here:

http://kentuckycrossbow.org/2018/06/19/major-changes-to-kentucky-crossbow-season-for-2019-2020/



I see this as a good thing. I've been shooting crossbow under a medical exemption for a decade. I had a shoulder go bad on me in 2007 and had to give up bow hunting.

Why not just run rifle/muzzleloading etc continuously too?

This is outstanding news! Anybody that thinks a crossbow is as effective at killing deer as hunting with a firearm is vastly uninformed and has obviously never hunted with a crossbow...I have (and still do) hunt With both vertical bows and crossbows and while there is a slight advantage when huntng with a crossbow it is minimal and much less than many hunters conceive it to be, IMO a crossbow will add 5 to 10 yards to the average archery hunters effective range, I consider My effective hunting range with a vertical bow to be out to 40yds ( many vertical bow hunters have much longer ranges than Me) and My range with a crossbow increases to 50yds. Take a look at the harvest numbers from states that have introduced full inclusion for crossbow's during the archery season, the fear that the harvest numbers would skyrocket has not come true, there has been no sigificant increase in the harvest numbers in these states, so dont worry about the deer numbers in Kentucky declining on account of the "hoards" of new crossbow hunters invading the woods with rifle like killing power. In most states hunting license sales have been declining for many years, we need new hunters and It might encourage a few new hunters to join our ranks and that will be a good thing.....Good hunting...Hb

Again, two seasons for deer. One is OPEN the other is CLOSED. Use whatever you wish.

Maybe more licenses would be sold if rifle season was 3 months long instead of 2 weeks.

If it were up to me, it would be.

The problem is the archery snobs want it all to themselves. The KYDWR tries to make everyone happy.

Zone 1 in KY is now an all-out war on antlerless deer. You can take as many as you want. However, even with those limits, the herd keeps growing.

We should see shortly that a new September antlerless modern weapons has been added as well.

I agree about the archery snobs, for the most part they are a very intolerant bunch......Hb

This is what makes sense to me. I wish Michigan did this or something similar instead of catering to bow, and now crossbow, hunters.

That same attitude extends across the sport; also appears in fishing. Everybody wants what they want, which is mostly to have the woods all to themselves. I've heard some claim that a special season "belongs" to them because they lobbied to get it established and when it gets expanded to include new technologies, they get a case of the ass. I can understand that somewhat, but everyone needs to keep in mind first that the game belongs equally to everyone, and second that hunting is a conservation tool designed to manage the resource while offering hunting opportunities to the folks who foot the bills. Those who want to have a special "experience" can usually find an area or season that suits their notions if they look a bit.

I picked up my first crossbow not long ago and I feel confident to 40 yards at present, the farthest I've shot it. Most of the deer I've killed with guns in the last decade or so have been within that range and there are few places where I hunt that will alow shooting farther, considering the high trajectory. I plan to take it a bit further, but not much. The big draw for me was the extra hunting time I'll have, especially before the rifle season, because on the public land I hunt the deer, especially bucks, make themselves very scarce once that starts.

I’d like to see traditional handguns thrown into the mix also. At least include them during muzzleloader seasons.

Me too!

Va Hillbilly good post,,, common sense,..... I own a crossbow, it is used for predators, and during gun season.... archery season I use a long bow.... I have no issues with cross bows, never have. Anyone wanting a long rifle season, well, its just a dumb idea, no need to say more

Deer season OPEN, or CLOSED. Period. Fugg all the special interest crap.

+1

I sometimes wonder how much, if any, influence the number of farm crop damage tags and deer/vehicle collision insurance claims has on increasing the length of hunting seasons, adding more 'special' seasons and higher limits on deer taken by licensed hunters.

Your approach has always made sense. But you don't sell as many licenses, stamps, tags, weapons, etc... if you do it that way IMHO.

Not that I care.

I hunt with what I want to hunt with when I want to hunt with. Have probably killed more deer with a bow than anything else, but doesn't keep me from using about any legal weapon and that might be(obviously I follow season rules) the first day or the last day to hunt with the most primitive. Or in between.