I have never really understood why so many “bowhunters” hate crossbows so much.Are they the devil or something? It seems to me that most of the crossbow haters have never even used a crossbow let alone hunted with one. Lots of other hunters don’t practice with other weapons so why curse the crossbows so much? I have nothing against any form of legal hunting and I have always said if its legal good luck.How can we say a compound is more “traditional” then a crossbow? Try hunting with a crossbow out of a tree stand and you’ll quickly discover you can’t make a lot of the shots you could with a vertical bow due to tree limbs and stuff.Seconds shots also take much longer and the bolts have more trajectory the a regular arrow. As hunters we owe it to the game we hunt to make clean and fast kills.Is it better for someone to go out hunting with a compound they have shot twice before or a crossbow? Which weapon might have a higher degree of success? I personally think a compound is a far bigger advantage then a crossbow.Is it not better to increase hunter numbers? Or is it better to make hunting more of an exclusive club for the few?Numbers count.

Are scopes the issue? Do they make it too easy? Why not get rid of bows with 80% let offs,stabilizers,release aids and fibre optic pins? Should we all use home made wooden long bows or give up hunting? I hunt with a cross bow and its a great way to keep on hunting.I would much prefer to use a compound but I can’t.Does that mean I shouldn’t hunt anymore until I’m 65? Just because someone else using different gear then you doesn’t mean they are bad guys.In Ontario where I live crossbows are used but thousands of hunters and I can assure you that they don’t have an advantage over the vertical bow hunters. As hunters we should all be on the same side,not fighting with ourselves.Embrace the crossbow,its good for hunting.

  Ben

I don’t hate them. Sometimes I wish I had one for the out of range ones! To me…it’s a personal choice. I know it’s been discussed before, but when compound bows came out…they were the “devil” too.

Ben Evans - 01 April 2012 03:51 PM

I have never really understood why so many “bowhunters” hate crossbows so much.Are they the devil or something? It seems to me that most of the crossbow haters have never even used a crossbow let alone hunted with one. Lots of other hunters don’t practice with other weapons so why curse the crossbows so much? I have nothing against any form of legal hunting and I have always said if its legal good luck.How can we say a compound is more “traditional” then a crossbow? Try hunting with a crossbow out of a tree stand and you’ll quickly discover you can’t make a lot of the shots you could with a vertical bow due to tree limbs and stuff.Seconds shots also take much longer and the bolts have more trajectory the a regular arrow. As hunters we owe it to the game we hunt to make clean and fast kills.Is it better for someone to go out hunting with a compound they have shot twice before or a crossbow? Which weapon might have a higher degree of success? I personally think a compound is a far bigger advantage then a crossbow.Is it not better to increase hunter numbers? Or is it better to make hunting more of an exclusive club for the few?Numbers count.

Are scopes the issue? Do they make it too easy? Why not get rid of bows with 80% let offs,stabilizers,release aids and fibre optic pins? Should we all use home made wooden long bows or give up hunting? I hunt with a cross bow and its a great way to keep on hunting.I would much prefer to use a compound but I can’t.Does that mean I shouldn’t hunt anymore until I’m 65? Just because someone else using different gear then you doesn’t mean they are bad guys.In Ontario where I live crossbows are used but thousands of hunters and I can assure you that they don’t have an advantage over the vertical bow hunters. As hunters we should all be on the same side,not fighting with ourselves.Embrace the crossbow,its good for hunting.

  Ben

I recently had an injury to my collar bone and qualified for a crossbow permit .after researching and buying a Barnett ghost bow I went to the range and shot it three times it was so loud it sounded like it broke fortunately it did actually not crank back evenly and the sporting goods store refunded the money.I then researched and found that my belief that I could shoot flatter further was wrong and the noise the bow made would give the deer that much more time to duck the bolt .the vertical bow according to research shoots flatter and further and with less noise,so there really isn’t much of an advantage to the crossbow if you don’t have to use one save your money. Jeff the plumber