The Dueling Duo: Crossbow Controversy

The Dueling Duo

Crossbow Controversy: Do Crossbows belong in the Archery Industry

CON by Scott Grange

When I was a kid, if you weren’t good enough to make the baseball team you either looked for another way to spend the summer or you spent the next year practicing so that you would be good enough to make it the next season. Today, if little Johnny doesn’t make the cut, big Johnny threatens the coach with a lawsuit if the coach doesn’t put his little sweetheart on the roster. As a result, little Johnny makes the team, actually plays (it’s a requirement you know) and everyone is happy. Well, perhaps not everyone…
This example is typical of our society today and it certainly doesn’t end at the little league level. In this fast-paced world we live in, we demand instant gratification. If our computer takes longer than ten seconds to produce a response we contemplate throwing it out the window. If traffic slows our commute by five minutes, road rage sets in and everyone is at risk. Technology has elevated the passing of time to unimaginable levels and, as a result, we find and implement ways to circumvent the almighty element of time. It takes time and practice to hit a fastball or turn a double play.

It takes time and practice to drive a golf ball 300 yards straight down the fairway. And, heaven knows, it takes a ton of time to become an accomplished archer. I know, I once was a good archer, but I am no longer – I don’t have the time.

Even though crossbows date back centuries doesn’t mean that they belong in today’s archery-only big game season. The North American Bowhunting Coalition hit the nail on the head when they said the crossbow is a “weapon looking for a season.” Crossbows are nothing more than a way to avoid the necessary time and skills it takes to proficiently shoot a stick or compound bow. I can hear it now, “Compound bows are no different.” Baloney. Those who spew such nonsense have obviously never picked one up. Shooting a compound bow requires all the same skills as its ancient predecessor.

Proponents argue that allowing crossbows during archery-only seasons brings more newcomers into the sport. Hey, no one is more for bringing more folks into our sport than me; however, data shows that significant numbers of hunters who hunt during newly established crossbow seasons come from the ranks of rifle hunters. In reality, few new hunters are recruited. Spare me the line about being too old or physically incapable of drawing a vertical bow. If you are not capable of drawing a 45- pound compound bow with a 65% let off, you probably shouldn’t be in the big game hunting field anyway. Remember the story of little Johnny? He didn’t belong in the field either. Whether it is oversized drivers with enlarged sweet spots, threats of lawsuits or allowing crossbows in archery-only seasons, the truth is that, once again, our society is looking for the easy way out. Allowing crossbows in archery only seasons is just another example of substituting time and practice with technology and, with it, the true spirit of the hunt.

PRO by Ron Spomer

Wanna start a fight? Shout, “Let’s legalize crossbows for archery deer seasons!” at a sportsman’s club meeting. You might as well advocate poisoning waterholes. The crossbow has been the devil’s tool for so long that most hunters can’t even examine the issue rationally. But let’s try anyway.

Essentially, this shooting device is a bow held at full draw in a gunstock. That’s its big advantage over traditional bows. Thirty years ago this was a fairly significant advantage, but since the perfection of the compound - no contest! That’s correct. The compound is the superior tool by far. A compound bow shoots farther and hits harder at a distance. A crossbow requires 150-pounds of pull to equal the trajectory, range and energy of a 70- pound compound bow because the draw length or power stroke of the average crossbow is roughly half as long as the average compound. The crossbow’s bolts (arrows) are shorter (16 to 22-inches) and lighter, thus they lose speed and energy sooner than do longer arrows, limiting a crossbow’s effectiveness to about 50 yards. This being the reality, why is anyone afraid of legalizing crossbows? If we can hunt the bow season using compounds with 65 to 85-percent let off, mechanical releases and scope sights, why the crossbow phobia?

Part of the fear is, perhaps, jealousy. Someone who’s taken the time to learn effective compound bow shooting might not appreciate some neophyte crossbow shooter who invests a few hours in honing sufficient accuracy for pinpoint bolt placement out to 40 yards. Yes, a crossbow shoots more accurately than a compound with less practice out to 40, or perhaps even 50 yards, primarily because it can be steadied and aimed like a rifle. Rest the stock on a support and, without the muscle strain and potential tremor inherent in the two-armed, traditional bow technique, pull the trigger. But a compound with sights and a mechanical string release is easier to aim and shoot accurately than a longbow or recurve, too, and serious compound hunters are taking deer at 70 to 100-yards these days. Pick your side. Most accurate: crossbow to 50 yards. Longest effective range: compound. Easiest and fastest to load and shoot: finger-released longbow or recurve, no sights. Easiest to carry: longbow or recurve.

Some see precise shot placement with crossbows as a problem, others a solution. It’s the old argument laid out by anti-hunters against both archery and firearm hunters. Bows are bad because they’re too inaccurate, leading to wounding loss and suffering. Firearms are bad because they’re too accurate and deadly, giving an unfair technological advantage to the lazy, incompetent “hunter” too fumbling to stalk within touching distance of game. Cry me a river.

Another complaint often voiced against crossbows is that they’ll wipe out game herds. Are you serious? We’ve been hunting with centerfire rifles for 100 years. Harvest is controlled by season limitations and tag distribution. Ohio has permitted crossbows during its archery whitetail season for thirty years and the herds are still thriving. About half of these whitetail are taken with crossbows each year.
Okay, another argument, crossbows are a deadly poacher’s tool. Huh? A poacher would want to lug around a clumsy, slow-to load, nearly-impossible-to-stick out- of-the-truck-window, single shot bow limited to 40 yards effectiveness when he could use a .22 rim fire? Get serious.

Yeah, but crossbows will lure archers away from traditional archery. Oh, and compound bows haven’t? It’s a free country. Who cares what someone else shoots? Longbow hunters try to outlaw compounds, flintlock shooters whine about in-line muzzleloader shooters, open-sight 30- 30 hunters grouse about scope-sight 300 Magnum hunters. Why don’t we all stick together and fight the anti’s instead? Or, expend our energies rehabilitating wildlife habitat?

Crossbows help women, children and old geezers to start or continue bowhunting, and that’s a good thing because hunting needs all the supporters it can recruit. Look, the selfish side of me wishes that no one else hunted, leaving all the wildlife and best hunting spots to me, me, me. The practical side of me knows that without millions of other hunters competing for the best spots and biggest trophies, the anti’s would outlaw hunting. Period. It’s time to stop quibbling over minute differences in hunting tools. We hang together or hang separately.

Tags: HI31, Ron Spomer, Scott Grange

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