"Are there any posters on this topic who are are employed by, sell for, or are sponsored for crossbow manufacturers?"

I dunno why this question always comes up in these discussions but i guess its valid....wouldn't want someone just pushing a product to get sales up. I was told last year when i argued this on the ABA forum that i must be making money off of it?:rolleyes I said no(and i am not)....but now i'm thinkin i should maybe open my eyes and see if there's an opportunity here? Lol, i am simply argueing my opinion and man if you could ever find the thread that went off last year on the ABA forum...there were a few guys that came aboard that could educate it 10x better than i ever could. They had the data, the patience, the wording etc. etc. there were some extremely good arguments worth reading on that thread. I have more of an agitating and abrasive style....the kenny linsmen of this forum i guess.:lol

"Blake if you don't sell xbows to vertical only guys, you should, you're probably the one guy who could do it..."

I will certainly take that as a compliment...thanks.

I read alot of these very arguments and visualized the tool in my hands a whole bunch to think the way i do on this. And i'm good at visualizing things through before they happen, generally i'm aweful close. Anyhow, the first thread i ever saw on this topic was on a u.s. forum somewhere and it was a monster and very heated....much like this one. When i first started it i was against the crossbow but by the end i was starting to doubt my first impressions and had to admit i didn't really know jack about it. So i then sourced out as much info about crossbows as i could, not just the arguments about their inclusions but general chit chat (much like you'd see about compounds etc. on any archery forum) just to see if what the guys argueing 'for' it were actually being truthful.

All it took was an open mind and a ton of reading through the lines learning about the tool itself, its limitations, and the data of what happens when added in with the compounds etc. and voila....its just another bow choice we can safely add. Sure, there will be differences here and there...but very minute...as compared to the overall gain.

Thats just my opinion. I'm a born and raised Calgarian, nothin special, grew up huntin/fishin...stopped to chase girls instead for about a decade and i've been back to huntin/fishin hardcore ever since. When i was a kid i used a gun but when i got back into it after chasin the girls...the bow sports interested me the most, the leaps and bounds in technology made the bowhunting so appealing to me and now its in my blood for good. Because of its difficulty and the time/work/dedication that goes into it...i personally can't find a more 'rewarding' type of hunting. I may find the predator calling more 'fun' but certainly not more 'rewarding'. Oh, and i don't do the target thing at all, never been to any kind of a 'shoot'...bow or gun...i think anything to do with our sports is all good. I love shooting my bow and guns and do both alot, i love to know my weapons limitations and my limitations with the weapons...and work on increasing my limitations with the weapons....as ultimately i only care about hunting. Thats it. I don't care about some definition of some equipment as being the sole reason its not allowed, i don't care if it competes with it in some shooting tournament etc. I only think about this crossbow inclusion for hunting and thats it. It just makes sense to me.

In all the animals i've drawn on there is only one in 4 years staight that the crossbow would have helped me on...it was the second day of opening season on my first season with a bow and the first chance i had at a deer with a bow ever. I was so cocky shooting gophers to 40 yrds no prob all summer...that i didn't think i needed to practice with headnets/gloves etc. on....i was cocky enough that i might have mucked it up with the crossbow too? Missed my first deer by a foot, as i found out shooting the bag first thing the next morning with all the gear on. Other than that...the crossbow would not have helped me in the number of animals or the size(i've tagged out in the bowzone from my first season till now). Granted i don't hunt the same game in the same country as everyone else so i can see some of the arguments when it comes to trophy's etc. like the spot and stalk on the big mule deer etc. but their mostly draw now anyhow so...AND...i still don't see the 'draw' factor as being that big of an advantage. And...the trophy argument is a selfish one anyhow, i'd still rather see them taken by a bow of anykind than a gun...if i can be so hypocritical :lol .

I'm just guessing we're near the end of this particular thread? Who know's there could be some points/questions not covered yet.

B