2024
You had me at "Accommodation to use crossbow"
- Thread starter mtmiller
- Start date
2024
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
Following the 2023 doozie of a legislative session passing the all weapons, all year, all species on all lands private and public comprehensive Molnar Mega MOGA bill.
Season setting is in 2023. They'll just change the regs.
MThuntr
Well-known member
Lol it's likely a lost battle but I'll fight as much as possible. I'll bet 2024 after the 2023 session but they'll just modify the regs whenever
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
That's your choice and I am staying out of that side of who is right. I am surprised you all think its going to be that soon. I guess it's coming no matter if we like it or not.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
Should I start a meltdown thread for the 2023 crossbow apocalypse in MT?
BucksnDucks
Well-known member
ADA and crossbows. This is another "don't do what California does". I have firsthand, in the field experience with this and that has formed my opinion. It's a mess.
Let's let the current one die first. No need to duplicate effort.
MThuntr
Well-known member
There are just enough in legislature that will swap votes for something. With Giantfart and his cronies it'll happen
I started hunting 5 years ago with a compound bow in Ohio. Two years later my father-in-law bought a crossbow in hopes of culling deer from his Christmas Tree farm...but within a year he had been diagnosed with ALS, and can no longer hold even a crossbow. So he gave it to me, and hoped that my sons and I would get some deer with it. So we've used it. We get a few deer every year. And now I've torn my rotator cuff...so the crossbow was my only option this season. But in a nutshell, I think there's a bit more challenge to a compound bow, no doubt, but not much. Enough to probably move me back to the compound bow once my shoulder heals, because I think mastery of a challenge is part of why I hunt. Hard to draw the line, though, between where it becomes "too easy" and where it's a fair hunt...and what honors the "sport" and what doesn't. It all depends...on a lot of factors.
Shangobango
Well-known member
Disclaimer: I have been using a crossbow during archery season in my home and neighboring States for 3 years due to a shoulder injury. I think I am almost there as far as being able to go back to my upright.
This is an issue that I always am torn on and also always amazed by how much misinformation and scorn is apparent on both sides. Not saying that is the case in this thread, but it is out there I promise.
Crossbows offer an advantage over compounds in 2 main ways. Not having to draw with an animal in or close to in range and a scope. When I see or hear " may as well use a rifle" I just shake my head and think, there is a person that has never used a crossbow in a hunting situation. The lethality of a crossbow cannot compare to a rifle, even an old Hawken smokepole.
The main drawback with allowing crossbows in archery seasons from my experience is that it puts a lot more people in the woods who won't take the time to learn to use a compound. The last thing the public land around here needs is more pressure.
All that said, my personal opinion is if you won't allow disabled people to use crossbows and you are letting disabled people use a lot of the accommodations I see on their rifle hunts, I don't get the logic in that decision.
If I was king of hunting for a day I would make it so that disabled folks with proper documentation and vetting and also older folks could use a crossbow during hunting season and no one else.
I am not king and I do not live in Montana so if I want to rut hunt elk with a crossbow, ( I'd much rater use my old trusty Matthews) I will just go to Wyoming.
This is an issue that I always am torn on and also always amazed by how much misinformation and scorn is apparent on both sides. Not saying that is the case in this thread, but it is out there I promise.
Crossbows offer an advantage over compounds in 2 main ways. Not having to draw with an animal in or close to in range and a scope. When I see or hear " may as well use a rifle" I just shake my head and think, there is a person that has never used a crossbow in a hunting situation. The lethality of a crossbow cannot compare to a rifle, even an old Hawken smokepole.
The main drawback with allowing crossbows in archery seasons from my experience is that it puts a lot more people in the woods who won't take the time to learn to use a compound. The last thing the public land around here needs is more pressure.
All that said, my personal opinion is if you won't allow disabled people to use crossbows and you are letting disabled people use a lot of the accommodations I see on their rifle hunts, I don't get the logic in that decision.
If I was king of hunting for a day I would make it so that disabled folks with proper documentation and vetting and also older folks could use a crossbow during hunting season and no one else.
I am not king and I do not live in Montana so if I want to rut hunt elk with a crossbow, ( I'd much rater use my old trusty Matthews) I will just go to Wyoming.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
You may hunt deer with a crossbow from Sept 4th through Jan 15th and hunt elk with a crossbow from Sept 4th through Feb 15th (absolutely during the archery and rut season) in the large Weapons Restricted Area HD 309. You have similar crossbow hunting opportunity in other WRA's.
Shangobango
Well-known member
I get it.
Disabled people who want to use crossbows during archery season can hunt in a few areas in the State of Montana.
That is better than nothing.
Are disabled people who want to use say a wheelchair mounted rifle also restricted to certain areas of the State?
I am not looking for an argument here. Like I said this effects me not one iota. I am just curious about the logic in the disparity in opportunity between disabled rifle hunters and disabled archery hunters that is all.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
No, I think just as you may in your blind or tree stand, one may shoot from a chair, disabled or not, wheelchair or not. You just can't shoot from the public road.
Furthermore, disabled hunters may access otherwise closed roads on public land to hunt from a vehicle. A disabled friend once checked out the gate key from the USFS office in Ennis and I drove him all over behind the locked gate and we had a great day of hunting ... albeit not shooting or retrieving. I was permitted to go along as his driver, gutter and dragger.
Admittedly, I am opposed to use of crossbows during archery only season in most places, but I am even more adamantly opposed to those who advocate for crossbow use by saying there is no hunting opportunity for the disabled. It is disingenuous and effectively works against disabled causes.
Shangobango
Well-known member
Ok thanks for the info.
I am not quite sure how advocating for more hunting opportunities for the disabled, no matter what the weapon, could possibly work against disabled causes though. As someone who has experienced the inability to shoot a bow for a few years, I can't imagine being in a position through a permanent disability where I was facing very limited opportunities to hunt during archery season as a result of that disability when the disabled person who chooses to use another weapon does not face the same restrictions. I don't think there is anything disingenuous about that either. My view on this doesn't come from some deep seated love of crossbows, it comes from a deeply seated love of experiencing the outdoors through hunting.
There is something very polarizing about crossbows to the point where the debate coming from both sides gets a little irrational at times. I never have grasped quite why.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
Unfortunately so true. It is not due to hunters like you who are legitimately disabled and struggling with the challenges of how to continue doing what they love.
It is due to those who advocate for that weapon merely because it is easier to shoot accurately and at longer distances and they don't want to put in the time to hone archery skills.
They are the most outspoken who get on their soapboxes under the pretense of representing the disabled.
Disabled persons I have known don't want to be looked at differently, so they figure out how they can overcome challenges and continue hunting. I applaud them.
Some of them worked with Montana Bowhunters and were able to get the archery equipment modification rules in place, as well as the special provisions to hunt behind closed gates, and often permission to hunt places with access for disabilities.
Shangobango
Well-known member
No doubt about it.
I am hardly disabled at least physically lol. Just tore some stuff in my drawing shoulder. I can still pull back 70lbs fine. It was the few days after shooting where my right arm was hanging limp and was useless that was the issue.
I am hoping to be back to shooting the old Matthews regularly this season. I am going to have to make some adjustments to my arrow weight to make up for the reduced draw weight I am having to shoot I think.
