Quote:
Originally Posted by packhuntr
Also,,, archery does not need xguns to assure that there is a future for archery. It would appear to be the other way around.
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I am old enough to remember the exact same arguments when the compound bows were invented. Back then bowhunting was a dying sport. The few bowhunters left got very upset when US state after US state and Canadian Province after Canadian Province legalized compound bows as a legitimate hunting weapon. Like the crossbow today, the compound was made out to be an "evil" contraption that would lead to "unethical" hunting, "unsportsmanlike", "to easy" to learn and on and on. The Pope & Young Club refused to accept compound bow kills. Then the bowhunting community realized that in order for the sport to survive they had to accept the compound bows.
Today we're faced with a similar situation. According to the latest news from the Archery Trade Association bowhunter numbers are stagnant. In the next five to ten years numbers will drop significantly due to babyboomers "retiring". You and some others may not like crossbows, just as our fathers hated the compound bows, but you better get used to it because in very near future the crossbow WILL become the accepted norm in bowhunting just like the compound bow did.
Just for information, the crossbow is NOT modeled after the gun. If anything firearms are modeled after the crossbow. Crossbows are in use for over 3,000 years, long before the first gun was invented. That makes crossbows more traditional then compound bows.
You said that Alberta is not Tennessee which of course is true, but bowhunting is bowhunting no matter where in the world. If other jurisdictions across North America made crossbows legal without experiencing any of the predicted negativity why would Alberta be different in that regard?
I am neutral to crossbows. What I can't understand for the life of me is what the big deal is with the opposition to crossbows. Going my what I hear from the opposition the main reasons seems to be that crossbows are to easy to become proficient with it. I ask myself since when has the degree of difficulty become the measure of what a true bowhunter is. I am a bowhunter and I take the same care and use the same skills when I hunt with a crossbow or the rifle.
Hunting to me is about providing opportunity and not about limiting others in favour of a few. This to me has never been more important then now. Right now hunting as a sport keeps loosing more people then we gain, in addition hunters face a myriad of problems thrown at us from a misguided society and political forces pushing an anti-hunting agenda. The ONLY way we can overcome these problems is with numbers and as a united front. As it is stands now hunters are on the loosing end because we're to busy trying to figure out what separates us rather than realizing what unties us all.