Are blacked out pop ups and tree stands not part of bow hunting? If your set up is good you shouldn't be detected drawing your bow???? I'm guessing you have never used a crossbow! And for all you big bad bow hunters(vertical that is) they make draw locks for compounds that make it where u don't draw! Guess just a naked long bow is a "real" bow by y'all's own standards!

The debate about archery equipment goes back further than many on the forum have been alive. Traditional bow hunters wanted the compound not to be included in the archery season they had fought to get. The belief being compounds with 50% letoff offered advantages over the recurve and longbow of more speed and less effort to be held at full draw. Fast forward about 40 years now the debate is crossbows offer too much advantage......

I have and hunt with recurve, compound and crossbow and with today's bows and hunting methods there is very little difference in effectiveness between compounds and crossbows each have their advantages and disadvantages.

Through practice, learn and know your limitations with it and stay within those limitations. Then get out there and enjoy the great outdoors for that is what it is really about.

Anyone who equates a bow and a crossbow is not a bowhunter. Period. LOL all you want.

Booner what great experience would using a crossbow teach me? Not jack crap. You load a bolt, aim, and pull a trigger. Kinda maybe sorta like the guns I've been shooting for 45 years? Geezus......

Again, I don't hate crossbows. But I'm not going to stand by and let them be equated with bows. That dminishes the challenge and accomplishments of every bowhunter.

Effectiveness? They are closer now for sure.

Skill and ease of use? Big difference. The only advantage a bow has over a crossbow is weight. Everything else is big advantage crossbow.

Lol for sure. Your an expert at something you have never done. I have hunted with both and for me the compound is easier, thats why I sold my crossbow.

Nog do use a naked long bow? If not then are you diminishing the skills of other archers by claiming to be an archer yourself? I dont think so myself but it sounds like your in that camp.....

I have hunted with a bow for over 35 years. I have shot a crossbow. You pick it up, you aim, you pull the trigger. No experience needed-that's why disabled folks, kids and first time hunters use them. It's a stupid argument.

Wow! You really do have IT all figured out dont you. Who knew hunting with a crossbow was so easy. Dang I guess I should just take your word for it and buy another one. I guess my first 700$ one was defective. Maybe if I spend 1500 this time it will be just as easy as you say. I know lots of kids and first time hunters that use compound bows so I guess it must be easy also.

Man where is the love? I've killed deer with both and prefer using my compound over the crossbow. The one (and only) advantage, which is significant, of using a crossbow over a compound is that the crossbow is already cocked and ready to go, and if you are in a scenario where you are lucky enough to see your prey coming from say 75 yards or better, then you can slowly raise to the ready position un-detected. And then if you can maintain your composure and allow the animal to get inside of 30 yards it really is something of a chip shot, provided buck fever doesn't allow you to lose your mind and use the wrong pin/reticle. To me I feel like that is where the advantages end. Outside of that I feel like a crossbow is NOT advantageous for me. Hell they sound like a someone just pole axed a tree when fired. VERY loud in comparison to ANY compound. I witnessed a doe duck what otherwise appeared to be a well fired bolt at about 32 yards. In my opinion she had the advantage due to the noise the crossbow made when fired. IMO until you get above 700fps there is no substitute for stealth/quietness.

I have to say crossbows are easier too. I have a hunted with a compound bow for 20 years and a long bow a few years before that. Now my shoulder (titanium plate and screws) bothers me more than it used to lately. I just got my first crossbow last December. I picked it up, guy showed me how to ready it and took it to the test bench hit the balloon on the first shot and bought it. I let my stepson, age 11 fire it while at the store, he hit the balloon first try. My buddy only rifle hunts did the same. Now I don't feel all that awesome anymore. I'll still use my compound bow ( which they can't shhot yet) on good warm days but when it gets cold and my arm stiffens up I'll go to the crossbow. There are some hogs that wish I never got it but me and the kids love it for now.

So all bowhunters are not happy about crossbows during bow season?

No offense hook n line, but balloon targets and live critters are worlds different. That balloon could care less how loud that crossbow is, it isn't going to have any reaction to the noise. As far as being easy to shoot accurately once sighted, I have no doubt they require less "skill" when target shooting than does your compound. But I am speaking from a purely "effective on game" basis. You may send a perfectly fired bolt, but, if the sound of the shot is so startling that the animal has time to react then you could be in trouble with shot placement. I've personally witnessed that on whitetail myself. All that said, I neither advocate for crossbows or diminish their uses. Just in my experience they are not quiet fast enough to overcome how noisy they are in respect to whitetail deer, especially at ranges beyond 40 yards. In windy situations with the animal upwind of your location I would assume the effect of the noise would be less apparent. But on a cool crisp fall morning when the deer can seemingly hear you blink your eyes........aim low, certainly if the deer is beyond 20 yards.

Just to get a little perspective here. I do not consider any legal means of taking deer cheating.

Agreed sir.

I used to hunt with a compound bow until my rheumatoid arthritis got so bad in my shoulders and hands. I now enjoy hunting with a crossbow. Its not the same as hunting with a compound but its the only way I know how to get up close and personal with the animals. I enjoy it so much that its hard for me to want to hunt with a gun anymore.

Amen.

Im not trying to toot my own horn at all, but I got a compound bow for Christmas one year went and got a target set of the cheapest carbon arrows I could find cheapest field points I could find and a $9 release from academy. My first group was the size of a tennis ball at 20 yards and only about 6 inches off the bullseye without even being tuned. I adjusted the site and took it to a bow shop and had it tuned... bam that was it. There is no "experience" needed to me other than a steady hand and knowing where to shoot and how to blood trail. The only differences to me between compound bow and x-bow are physical.

I still think if you want to challenge yourself then challenge yourself right along with all the other hunters in the woods, why do you need a special season all to yourself to challenge yourself? I bow hunt because its fun. Most of the time I don't even get around to it till regular season because it is so crazy hot. People want to challenge themselves so much that they get to start early before everyone else???? sounds remotely like hi-fence hunting to me.

Getting one for my wife(me) to try to get her into deer hunting. I shoot a compound and I guess I rubbed off on her because she doesn't want to shoot one with a riffle. Im sure I will hunt with my new...I mean her new crossbow a couple times this year. I don't see anything wrong with taking deer with a riffle, crossbow, compound, traditional, sling shot, or potato gun. As long as your out there doing it and not sitting on the couch more power to ya.

I've found riffles to be better for fishing than hunting, anyway.

They are fine with me as long as it is on someone else place.

Let's not overlook the fact that the first bow seasons required hunters to pay an additional license fee. In fact, many states still do. So needless to say, it didn't take much arm twisting to get state wildlife agencies to create an early season just for bow hunters. And of course, the bow manufacturers loved the idea as well. If you wanted to hunt before everyone else, you had to buy an archery permit and a new bow.

And we wonder why commercialization has taken over the sport.

I never took the bait.

How many people do you think would ever get into bow hunting if there wasn't an incentive for a longer season? Do you think that introducing more hunters into a new style of hunting is a bad thing, or just look at it as commercialization?

Early humans were using bows to take wild animals long before the invention of the first firearms. So the argument that the first bow seasons were created to introduce hunters to something new is totally without merit.

Commercialization is a term that describes markets created to drive revenue. And that is why state wildlife agencies first began selling archery permits, and why bow manufacturers began tooling up their production lines.

If only the primitive firearms makers had not missed their opportunity to push for an early season. The general season might have been pushed back another month to early December.

Most the early humans put away the bow when they learned to use a rifle. I am not talking about the origin of bow hunting, I am talking about modern day bow hunting...the argument does have merit.

I know what commercialization is, don't need WikiDan for that..but thanks

There is no doubt that it has helped the bow manufacturers, but how many bow hunters did you know 25 years ago? The sport has exploded. If they canceled the bow season and made it part of the general season, how many bow hunters do you think would switch to a rifle and never pick the bow back up? My guess is about the same as put the bow away when general season starts now, which is a bunch.

Actually that ain't right at all. You can get up close and personal with deer using any weapon. Heck, you can even do it without a weapon!

Hard to shoot them that close with a 20x scope