I gave up guns for the compound to put the "hunt" back into hunting. It was a good move. A few years later I hung up the compounds and took up Traditional bows , again to put the "hunt" into hunting. Success has gone down, but the hunting experience has grown by leaps and bounds.
Bow Hunting has been good for me, I practice a lot , and enjoy it .
I work in the Industrial Construction sector, on very large projects. The Shell upgrader peaked with over 11,000 workers , many of these are hunters. Not all are my type of hunters. Any conversation at breaks about hunting always brings in comments from gun hunters about how they wish Xbows could be used. This is always followed by coments on how it is
..hard to shoot a bow,
..a crossbow is just like a gun.
.. You don't need to practice with a crossbow
..can shoot farther than a bow
..They are perfect for sneaking into places that you can't hunt because
they are quiet.
..You can ride in the back of the truck on private roads and just whack
a moose in the ditch and noody will ever hear you shoot.
...They are great at night because nobody will know you shot.
Ok these are not my type of hunters, and I don't hunt with them, but these are the the ones that will rush out and get a Xbow for the very reasons stated above. There are lots of them, and we don't need them in archery seasons. they are uncontroled in Rifle seasons with the noise of the gun , so you can just guess what they are going to be like if they can tote a cross bow.
Yes they are poachers and slobs, and this province has lots of poachers and slobs. I am sure some already have thoughts of Quad cruising with a loaded crossbow on the rack like the old show Rat Patrol for those old enough to remember it.LOL
There is no reason any able bodied person that wants to hunt the archery seasons can not learn to shoot a bow. If you don't have time, then make a choice , make time or get over it. If you spent half the time practicing archery as you do lobying for crossbows in Archery season you would be quite proficent with a bow.
The Bow hunters do not want to keep you out , we want you to join us, and take up the bow, and bow hunting. Our seasons are there because we do it the hard way, it takes more woods time for a harvest and our success rates reflect this.
If you believe that you can not shoot a bow, then an hour at a shop with lanes and some instruction will show you that you can shoot a bow. Many folks try a friends bow that is to much draw weight for them and give up, concluding they can't do it. The answer is easy get a bow in your hands you can handle, and then try again. You don't need 70 pounds and 300+ feet per second.
We are also getting a loby for allowing muzzle loaders in Archery seasons and Zones. Where does it stop?
Look up the bad Bull Muzzle loader, it has more power than the 338 Win Mag.
http://www.badbullmuzzleloaders.com/
There are always people that want to make life easy, The X bow is to archery what the Bad Bull is to Muzzle loaders. Perhaps the Primitive Weapon / Muzzle loader regs need to reviewed and put back to what the original intent was.
Keep archery for seasons for what they were intended . Bows and arrows, not Stocks scopes and Bolts .
Bow hunting is about getting close, not shooting far.
Pete
.