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Crossbow bill tabled

Looks like the House Fish & Game committee listened to what Montanans wanted on this bill. It went down by a vote of 18 - 1. :)

Not surpised it went down, but the vote should be count is surprising. Your legislators listen when you speak. Democacy is participatory. Get in the game. It's your country & state.

Well done.
 
Not looking for an argument. Honest question from a guy who doesn't bow hunt. What's so bad about crossbows? From my uneducated view point, it seems like I see a lot of wounding shots on game with compound bows that would be minimized if a more precise weapon were used. Anecdotal stories and videos anyways. It is also my understanding that they don't add that much range.

Again, looking for honest education why some are so strongly opposed.
 
Not looking for an argument. Honest question from a guy who doesn't bow hunt. What's so bad about crossbows? From my uneducated view point, it seems like I see a lot of wounding shots on game with compound bows that would be minimized if a more precise weapon were used. Anecdotal stories and videos anyways. It is also my understanding that they don't add that much range.

Again, looking for honest education why some are so strongly opposed.

I don't think many people are opposed to crossbows. It's that using them during archery season creates an unfair advantage. A cross bow your cocked and ready to go a moments notice. Where as a compound or re curve you're not. There's a few other things but I think that is the main reason. Here in MO I like how we handled the cross bow situation. We renamed out muzzleloader season to Atlernative Weapons. They then allowed muzzleloaders, crossbows, and a couple other things to be used in the new Alternative Weapons season. And we still have our regular archery and rifle seasons. Now everyone has their season and are allowed to use their weapon of choice so to speak.
 
Effectiveness its like comparing apples to oranges, you dont have to draw it back in the presence of game, there is no form, so no matter how you twist and turn its always on target, there is no learning curve none, anyone can pick up a crossbow and go hunting that same minute. Some states are starting to look at the increased harvest in their archery season due to the inclusion of crossbows.
 
Not looking for an argument. Honest question from a guy who doesn't bow hunt. What's so bad about crossbows? From my uneducated view point, it seems like I see a lot of wounding shots on game with compound bows that would be minimized if a more precise weapon were used. Anecdotal stories and videos anyways. It is also my understanding that they don't add that much range.

Again, looking for honest education why some are so strongly opposed.

Sabot, 'don't mean to be offensive but where have you been? This has been vetted, discussed, hashed, rehashed, debated, and deflated ad nauseum on this forum and elsewhere. Your questions and points have been beat to a pulp. You must be trying to make a joke. Please tell me you are joking..
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Effectiveness its like comparing apples to oranges, you dont have to draw it back in the presence of game, there is no form, so no matter how you twist and turn its always on target, there is no learning curve none, anyone can pick up a crossbow and go hunting that same minute. Some states are starting to look at the increased harvest in their archery season due to the inclusion of crossbows.

Link?
 
Sabot, 'sorry if you were offended by my reaction to your inquiry, but it's been a ticklish legislative issue for several sessions in Montana. A more respectful response is shown below in the message which I sent to the Montana House Fish & Game committee. 'Hope it helps clarify.

Please oppose HB 176, the crossbow bill.
Crossbows are already approved for hunting during the general season and before and after in Weapons Restriction Areas, thus a long season of opportunity is available for crossbow hunters.

Physical limitations of disabled hunters allow those hunters to acquire a Permit to Modify Archery Equipment to let them modify conventional archery equipment to hunt during the Archery Only Season. In fact, Montana Bowhunters Association assists disabled bowhunters in modifying their archery equipment and going afield to hunt.

Crossbows are more closely akin to rifles than archery bows. Crossbows shoot a short metal bolt, rather than an arrow. Crossbows, much like firearms, are mechanically cocked, then fired pulling a trigger. Crossbows employ a sighting system much like a rifle and often are equipped with optical scopes. The crossbow is much easier employed as a hunting weapon and, if allowed during the Archery Only Season, would significantly transform the challenging aspect of "archery" hunting.

No problem exists regarding opportunity for crossbow hunting. Please refrain from crafting legislation to solve problems which do not exist.
 
I find it hilarious every time crossbows come up. It's like an instant test of who has and has not failed to reach adulthood. Once you've had a couple kids you realize how many people get stuck at age three in their conflict resolution skills.
 

Thanks for the link.

It will be interesting to see if states are forced to change the seasons. But I don't remember the seasons changing when compound bows (or any other hunting technology for that matter) were allowed either. My guess is that most states won't make any changes specifically for crossbows. There are enough who have allowed crossbows for many years and they would have likely made changes by now if it was really a problem. But i'm sure each situation is different.

Looked it up. One article showed 25 states allowed crossbows last season and that number is growing each year. Link to each state's info.

http://www.cabelas.com/category/Crossbow-Regulations/107361180.uts
 
Do any of the states that allow crossbows have general archery season that last 6 weeks and special archery areas open for 4 1/2 months?
 
I find it hilarious every time crossbows come up. It's like an instant test of who has and has not failed to reach adulthood. Once you've had a couple kids you realize how many people get stuck at age three in their conflict resolution skills.

Great point, have always enjoyed this forum for its primarily intelligent discussions, a good baseline level of accepted courtesy and a good dose of both appropriate and inappropriate humor. I don't know if its the time of year or what, but starting to look more and more like MM, which is too bad.
 
Sabot, 'don't mean to be offensive but where have you been? This has been vetted, discussed, hashed, rehashed, debated, and deflated ad nauseum on this forum and elsewhere. Your questions and points have been beat to a pulp. You must be trying to make a joke. Please tell me you are joking..
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Not trolling and not joking. I have shot a compound bow exactly once in my life and have never shot a crossbow. I'm a firearms junkie and rifle hunter, so I've largely ignored the many debates that surely have raged. Having said all of that, I'm not stupid and I clearly see that there is a big difference in the two weapons and obvious advantages to the crossbow.

If having those advantages diminishes the hunt for you or seems unfair, I think that is personal preference. If it leads to over harvesting of game during archery season, I think that could be a HUGE problem and I would probably line up opposed to crossbows in Archery season but for them in the general season as someone else mentioned. I just love freedom man, I just do....But I truly am humbly uneducated on this and appreciate everyone's thoughts as I have a wife who wants a crossbow.

2B59B1CC-8327-461F-B1C5-0A36E78F8E9D-481-0000004B9E552225_zpsb4029770.jpg
 
Sabot, the most important thing to understand is that crossbows and bowhunting are two very different things. That is why crossbows are often legal during rifle seasons (such as in Montana) but not archery seasons. If your wife would rather shoot a crossbow than a 7mm/08 during a gun season and it works for her that is a great freedom to have.

To confuse shooting a crossbow with an actual bow and to expect to get to hunt the archery season is the rub. I think that compounds with draw locks would be as easy to kill with if they were legal but of course they are not because that would go against the whole point of bowhunting. It's supposed to be kind of difficult.
 
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