Bill allowing crossbows during MT archery

Hunted in 8 states no crossbow kills have used it in Pa personally twice.
deleted deleted my thoughts> really pretty broad statement to try and define eastern hunting as suburban hunting. A safe shot with a bow or crossbow better be a safe shot with a gun,
say you have killed 100 big game animals with a bow. How many more would you have killed if you had used a crossbow on those same hunts? Heck you might not have been on a hundred hunts.

My point was more the context of hunt a whitetail on a 60 acre parcel in PA, Ohio, Arkansas, is different than elk on 20,000 acres of public land in Montana. Different constraints and goals drive the discussion.

The question is not if you or I will kill one or 2 more elk than we would have on 100 hunts; the question is would the 113,976 Montana hunters, if crossbows were to be legalized, have harvest rates of 25% instead of 23% and therefore kill an extra 2000 elk each year. If that was to happen would tags need to be restricted, or more units go to permit only, etc etc.
 
If this is what it took to get my dad back into the bowhunting world, I am all in.
But seeing how crazy new crossbows are is also very scary. 100 yard accuracy better than lots of hunter can achieve with a rifle.
 
Some believe (as commented in this thread) crossbows are already permitted for disabled hunters in Montana. This is false. I would like to see this available for those that qualify as disabled. However, I would prefer the FWP Commission come up with a disabled hunter exemption for the use of crossbows than our legislature.

MTFWPcrossbow.PNG

For sake of a dead bill - I am here to add to the thread count with anticipation for the next great @Mthuntr meme. :D
 
I'm 63 yo and had rotatory cuff surgery in July and really enjoy archery hunting. Idaho allows a disabled hunter to use a crossbow. Had the surgeon fill out a form and got a temporary use for the crossbow, until the end of the year, as no way in heck I could pull my compound. So far, no luck with antelope or deer, but they at least I could enjoy my time, being outdoors and archery hunting. I believe in the right situation, their use is justified. .02
I hunted with a disabled man who didn't have his rotatory cuff. In fact everything from there on down was gone.

He drew his recurve bow with a leather tab on the string of the bow. He layed the bow on the ground, loaded a arrow, picked it up with his only hand, put the leather in his mouth and drew the bow looking down the arrow and shot. Personally saw him take two deer on a drive.

I'd hope that people could try archery in it's base form first. Hope to God I never need to do what he did.
 
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