Five Seasons

This is the crown jewel that gets all the likes. Like somehow our disagreement on what should be a legal implement during archery is going to end hunting. Give me a freaking break. This isn't red state blue state. This isn't a bunch of archers joining PETA. It's an internal debate that does nothing to hurt hunters in our fight to protect our sport. I would give every single one of you the shirt off my back or help you track a deer even if it was with a crossbow. I'm a hunter first. Recruitment is up with our without crossbow and you and I feeling different about it doesn't somehow change an ounce of legislation for the NY state hunters that would do anything to take away or limit our rights. I'd go so far as saying this. Instead of giving your hard earned dollars to the NYCC or NYB, why not give it to the NY BHA? How about giving it to SCOPE? Better yet, volunteer at one of the public land trail cleanup events. Even better, mentor a new hunter. There's a few members here who run farm to table programs and practice the 3 R's. If you're so worried about "divided we fall" and unfounded claims of a dying sport, then that should be your focus. Not the f'n crossbow. Tell me how giving money to those organizations whose sole intent is to recruit and protect the lands and sport isn't better than giving it to a bunch of lobbyists who are backed by billion dollar corporations intent on selling crossbows or compounds so you can hunt "differently". I'll wait and tell me if i'm missing something please let me know.

use a different legal hunting implement? That's the point dude, until recently it wasn't legal and that's the whole debate here. Should it be legal. Can I spear hunt too? What about atlatl? air powered bolt guns? Those are all "legal" in some states. Why are they out and the crossbow in? Why is it confusing for you that the argument is over "if" it should be legal? Now lets move on to your claim of this dying sport. here are the statistics: https://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/26368.html License sales have actually increased 30k in NY since 2006. So help me understand how the sport is dying? Over 150k hunters bought an archery tag last year. Last year the pandemic tripled the sale https://www.dec.ny.gov/press/121334.html

i've answered this and similar questions 100 times. You just don't like the answer. I'm not going to rehash it. Let me be clear. It was not my intent to imply that archery hunting was some extremely difficult and impossible thing. I'm comparing it to gun hunting and crossbow hunting. We've had this debate and except for a few odd balls, it is agreed upon that archery is the hardest of the 3. So when looking at deer hunting as a sport in its entirety, the successful archery harvest is generally revered as the most challenging. Now this is a very broad general statement and I understand that taking a deer with a rifle in the Adirondacks is probably harder than a LI bow kill. Public vs private, etc. etc. But I'm trying to make a general case and I don't think anyone disagrees. One of the great things about hunting is that there are so many variables. I'd also say this, I baulk at your claims that guys just pick up a bow, start shooting bulls out of the gate and then kill a buck from a stand first try. Sorry, but unless they're hunting some primo unpressured land I just don't buy it. Did I shoot a buck my first year archery hunting? Yes. Did I practice for months prior? yes. Had I already been hunting 6 or so years? yes. Did I liver hit that buck because of my novice misjudgment of POA? yes. Was that buck a yearling 7 pointer? yes. To say that anyone can just pick up a modern compound and walk into the woods and become a buck slayer is irresponsible and bs. And if you've been archery hunting for 10 years, then yes it's not hard to start flinging arrows a few weeks before the season and feel comfortable. It's not exactly riding a bike, but it's not like you start from scratch each season either.

had no meetings from noon till 4 today so I snuck out for a few hours. Put the turkey blind in and finished some trimming on a stand with my oldest. Beautiful day and already getting hot out.

where did you get that from? I don't want xbow in the archery season. I didn't want what we have now, but I accept it.

this is a real good point grampy. I do believe many hunters start bowhunting as a way to spend more time in the woods. I would even guess the majority do it for this reason. That doesn't mean to me that it should be made easier just because more people want to be in the deer woods though. Hunter recruitment is important, but also to be an archer, you need to be the right hunter who is truly dedicated. If you're not on board with this than it's not the season for you. Yeah, yeah here comes the elitest again. But a sloppy archer isn't good for the sport. The deer in NJ with the arrow in her jaw hurts all of us.

If my post came across that way, it wasn't meant to. I don't ever try to shame or demean a legal hunter. But right now we're talking about opinions on a law change and I've expressed mine (more than few times lol). I've said before that if it became legal it wouldn't really change much for me. I would not ridicule those who chose to use a crossbow just like I don't now. If I knew the hunter well, i might bust balls, just like a bust balls for killing bb's. I think that's different though. This is a place to share opinions and if there was a magical world where we voted to include them or not, I'd vote not to and for the reasons I've outlined above and thousand other times.

I'm 37 and feel like my role as an executive has already eaten away my soul and spirt. I work with guys in their late 50's and to think that they've been doing this for twice the amount of time I've been employed post college... I can't imagine or fathom keeping this going. I have buddies who are seemingly happy plowing driveways and cutting lawns. Then they head out on their own to start their own business and the freedom from punching out and just being done fades. Now they're always taking calls and searching for new business. I never truly punch out at my job and that comes with a price, but I'm also compensated for that. These are the trade offs. I think everyone is wired differently and everyone should find a career and job that works for them. Which is what I think swamp is doing and I applaud him for that. Money is not everything, especially if the route to achieve more of it makes you miserable.

Well this is the main point of contention though. Archery season was started way back in the day to create a challenge for hunters looking for it. Yes the compound has grown in technology quite a bit since the archery season began, but the essence is still supposed to be about hunter challenge. What's lost by many (outside elderly and disability) is that archery is just another season and it's only intention is to fill harvest quotas. That's not the original intent and shouldn't be now. For many the crossbow tips the scales in an already challenging world for what is increasingly a gray area where food plots, gps, trail cams, cell cams, tree stands etc have vastly changed the archery world as it was when I started just 15 years ago, let alone what it looked like decades ago upon inception. As difficult as this is for many to digest, the reward of for an archery kill, especially a mature kill is that it's really freaking hard. Keep diminishing the difficulty and the "I shot a nice 8 during archery" isn't as special anymore. This is labeled as elitest, which is a tag I've gladly accepted in past discussions because that, in my opinion is what archery is supposed to be about. The elite wanting to challenge themselves to bring a deer within 30 yards without being winded, draw without being seen and release an arrow that hits its mark. Within the rules archers can challenge themselves further with recurves, with hunting public land, with raising the floor of what they are targeting. This is hunter choice. The crossbow however for me swerves outside of the yellow lines into the oncoming traffic lane that is gun season because the range is significantly greater and there is no draw and considerably less practice to be able to hit your mark in a high pressure situation. These difference vary significantly from the differences between compound and recurve.

you just stated the whole argument from the anti-gun crowd. Their feelings are that you not being able to own a gun doesn't hurt anyone. Basically our entire legal system is based on feelings lol.

This statement has always struck me funny. When I was just out of college all my mom's sisters would ask me if I loved my job. That it was important to love your job. No I don't love my job. I've never loved a single job that I had. I've quit jobs that I didn't like but mostly a job is a means to an end. I enjoy many of my coworkers and I don't hate what I do. It does pay well and I do love to hunt, fish, new tech and supporting my family. And so my job allows me to "love my life". That's how I look at it anyway.

Love your choice and plan. Best of luck to you and thank you for trying to make a difference.

last summer my wife and I went out on my father in laws boat. I was in the 1000 islands and had been toting my pocket pistol (lcp) in pocket holster. Anyhow I had left it in the car which is something I don't like to do. I was sitting on the bow where just about anything could fall out of my pockets and did the little wallet/gun tap that we all unconsciously do and it wasn't there. I panicked thinking it had fallen into the water or maybe it was on the cushion where I was sitting before. This whole scenario described above went through my mind. Thankfully it was back in the car where I had left it, but it was one of those moments where I was second guessing if I left the iron on. Had I come back to the car and it wasn't there I'm not sure I would have reported it, given being out in a boat... but maybe I should have?

counter point. How is a crossbow user not inferior to an archer?

I only asked because I'm not a big fan of anecdotal evidence. Your logic is sound and probably accurate, but many people will mistake their first hand observations as applying large scale, and thus why everything is super political and why so many are uninformed these days.

obvious troll is obvious

shameful

yeah that's what i assume too, but i think road scouting is very deceiving. The 3 spots I hunt you'd never see a single truck, yet I know gangs hunt and push them both. When I hunted state land i even had a spot where it'd be hard to find my truck. And 1 truck could hold 5 or so hunters. Just not a big fan of anecdotal evidence.

which is what 90% of anti-crossbow hunters support. But in todays age we focus on the loud minority.

I'm curious how you know who and where hunters are when orange isn't worn during archery.

If I could eat them... maybe haha. You sure as shit will be prepared for the next civil war though and I hope you're on my side

i'm still not touching that shit with a 10' pole haha. good luck though

I mean even I'm tired of this debate. Nothing has changed but the new members. Isn't that telling if Belo is tired of arguing crossbows? lol edit to say it's interesting that the last few pages I skimmed seem to be 2 members who don't like eachother and nothing more. One of which doesn't even deer or archery hunt

congrats. be careful how you handle them around the lip and gil area unless you're going to eat them. They're super susceptible fish. I'm not saying you did anything wrong, just a friendly reminder to all reading this. here's a good site https://www.luckytacklebox.com/blogs/fishing-tips/8-tips-to-properly-handle-trout

2 oldest boys and I got out Saturday. Could see the rainbows stacked up in the darker pools but they wouldn't hit anything we threw at them. Then I see this guy with a fly rod "jigging" at the same hole I was in for a good 15 minutes. He reels in a real nice rainbow, takes a few pics and let it go. A few minutes later as I worked towards him I asked what he got him on. Very nervously he replied that he was jigging. Now I'm no expert and I'm not saying he didn't jig a rainbow in at 4pm in the afternoon, but I'd bet a good chunk of change that the bastard snared him with a treble hook. These guys piss me off. PS kids had a blast and it warmed my heart that my oldest said he loves to go fishing and it doesn't even matter if we catch anything.