suggestions?

[gfdeputy2]

Any suggestions on where I should start with my state to try & get crossbows allowed for hunting?

NH only allows crossbows during our rifle season

I would like to see there usage extended even if it were for for coyotes & maybe spring Turkey season

I just don't know where I should start

[moog5050]

Contact the NY crossbow coalition.  I think they were the driving force in NY and could explain how they lobbied.

[gfdeputy2]

will look them up Thanks!

 

[gfdeputy2]

UPDATE:

after researching though the state & other sites I found the contact for the state rep. that has an LSR on the books RE:Crossbow season

for 2015. I contacted him & asked what it was about. He wants to expand Crossbow Use to any season that allows Modern rifle & shotgun. He sent me a copy of his 1st draft 

I think this would be a great start to get Crossbows into their own season in the future & didn't see why this change would not go through 

however there will be another License fee ( OK with that) 

thing I didn't like & seems NH does not know where crossbows belong.It sounds like there will be another Hunter Education class that will need to be taken to be able to hunt with them. I have taken Firearm & archery Hunter education & both are cover a small amount on crossbows.

I will admit I know very little about them as I just purchased one a few weeks ago. I never had been against them. Now after playing with one this is just another great tool for a hunter to use.

It is exactly what it's name say's it is a cross between a rifle & a bow 

but so much closer to the bow end (on performance) Just don't know why they would been another Hunter education class 

But if it passes Iooks like I am heading to class

 

[RickF]

I also live in NH and feel your frustration with the stance that NH takes on crossbows. The fact that we can only use them during rifle deer season, for deer only, is not based on any scientific data. When I have discussed this with officials they tell me that archery groups fight crossbows every time they come up for discussion for possible rule changes. I think it is a bit absurd that I can't use one for bear or coyote and that I am restricted only for deer. The other piece that is troubling is the fact you have to pay a fee to use them during rifle season. Why? The fee doesn't extend the season or give you another tag, it simply restricts you to hunting only for deer unlike using a bow or a rifle or a muzzleloader which allow you to take other game as well during the deer season. So where does the $ for the crossbow permit go? It doesn't extend the season or give us an additional tag and we don't have crossbow education programs.....

I am a long time NH hunter but I now spend more time in other states such as NY and Wyoming to hunt. A game warden in Wyoming said it best, "When you have more game than hunters you manage game. When you have more hunters than game you manage hunters". Guess where we fall in NH?

Good luck with your efforts.

[wolc123]

I too wish you luck getting the crossbow into NY. I think allowing it only during gun season is some kind of cruel joke. It was tough for us in NY to get them into the early archery season at all, and we only got the week prior to the opening of gun season. Fortunately, that included the peak of the rut, which allowed me to fill my buck tag without too much trouble. What I would really like to do with the crossbow is to fill some antlerless tags, and getting the other 3 weeks of early archery season would help a lot with that.

Here also, a small, but extremely well politically connected group of archers has fought ferociously against the x-bow. They may be on the ropes now, but are definitely not finished. Only when the crossbow is allowed throughout archery season, as is the case in most states now, will they be down for the count. Or, when they individually get too old to pull back their vertical bows.

[gfdeputy2]

RickF

I am actually in contact with the NY crossbow coalition & NH Rep Jim Webb (who is drafting the LSR)

& doing as much research as possible to see if at this time it would be worth pushing for the use of crossbows during archery season. 

this seems like the first step towards that

by the way what part of NH are you from?

 

[RickF]

I am in the Lakes Region of NH. Good luck with your efforts but just be prepared for the lobby of the bow hunter groups.

[gfdeputy2]

Nice! I am in the Dartmouth Lake Sunapee area

Yes I am preparing for them

I am hoping I will not really have to go far with this

 

[RickF]

Like I said, good luck.  You will find that since all these changes go to public hearings (in NH) the lobby groups all show up.  No one wants to share their seasons with crossbows.  I am hopeful that one day they will at least allow them to be used whenever a rifle is legal, for game that is legal with a rifle.  Like I said earlier it is absurd that you can't use them for bear or coyote and more absurd that you have to pay $5 for a permit to restrict you to shooting only at deer during the rifle season.  Makes no sense to me but what I have learned is that it "doesn't have to make SENSE it only has to make CENTS ($)".

[gfdeputy2]

I agree & that is exactly what Rep Jim Webb is trying to do for starters is getting them used in all modern firearm seasons I will keep you posted

[gfdeputy2]

Well expanded use of crossbows has passed NH house & Senate we will now be able to use crossbows during any modern firearm season Bill has to take affect within 60 days unfortunately it probably will be after Turkey season

[NYBowhunter]

Great news, got your foot in the door. Hopefully they will expand the use into bow season.

[gfdeputy2]

I hope so I think state is testing the waters just jumping in the deep end. I know just like every other state there has been push back from bowhunters so this is why they are going one step at a time

May get another crossbow sometime but as for now I will stick with my compound

[nyslowhand]

One of NY's big issues with getting Xbows officially included was the lobbying groups got crossbows defined more like a muzzleloader than a bow. If you're proposing initial legislation, ensure they are defined as a form of archery equipment. This really shouldn't be in the hands of legislature anyways!

[wolc123]

The biggest issue everywhere for getting crossbows into archery season is a selfish minority of bowhunters who want as many deer as possible for themselves. They especially don't like the thought of "sharing" with children, elderly, women, or the disabled. I find that about 10 - 15 percent of bowhunters fall into this group. They are all extremely passionate about "their" sport. It is unfortunate that this group has been able to hold out the crossbows as long as they have.

It seems that the tide is against them now however as more people, especially lawmakers, realize that they are almost completely driven by selfishness. As far as I know, the sky has not fallen in any of the majority of states that have now allowed the crossbow into archery season. Yet this group still clings to their "gloom and doom" predictions of the beginning of the end of bow-hunting. Regular bows are still legal in all those states.

As far as NY grouping the crossbow closer to a ML that a bow, I agree with that in one way at least. The effectiveness of a crossbow on deer is much closer to that of a modern, in-line ML than a bow. A good crossbow is very effective on deer to at least 59 yards as I learned first hand last season. A bow is good to about 30. Not needing to draw with a deer in close, not needing to "hold" at full draw, being able to shoot from a rest, and using a telescopic sight really adds up to make the crossbow about 10x more effective on deer than a regular bow.

I also think it is selfish to "challenge" oneself at the expense of the quarry. Give me the most lethal weapon that I can afford and the law will allow. I don't want to "give the deer a chance". I want them dead fast with as little "suffering" as possible. The crossbow does a heck of a job at that. Where I hunt the most, the deer pretty much go nocturnal soon after the first shot is fired during gun season. Using a crossbow then would not be effective like it is during archery season.

You should use every possible opportunity to expose the pure selfishness that drives the opponents to the crossbow. That will help win the "folks in the middle" to your side. I have waited a long time to hear just one legitimate, non-selfish reason for not allowing the crossbow into archery season.

[Doc]

I also think it is selfish to "challenge" oneself at the expense of the quarry. Give me the most lethal weapon that I can afford and the law will allow. I don't want to "give the deer a chance". I want them dead fast with as little "suffering" as possible.

Then set down that crossbow, and ditch any kind of bow and restrict yourself to just the best rifle you can buy. You want all challenge taken out of hunting perhaps you should consider one of those canned hunts. Don't be a hypocrite. Let your actions reflect your words. None of that half-way stuff like using a crossbow. You wouldn't want people to think you are being "selfish" would you?

 

What the hell is the matter with people? Here you have a guy that goes on and on ranting about bowhunters in terms of them trying to determine what weapons should go into bow seasons, and now is trying himself to be judgmental on what kinds of weapons that others should use.