Syracuse.com - The battle over crossbows in this state has been waged for two decades and it hasn't been pretty

[HuntingNY-News]

The emotional, occasionally insult-laced debate has been over when, where and how they should be used. Watch video Mike Greenlar/The Post-StandardMichael Hacker, a team leader in hunting and archery at Bass Pro Shops, takes aim with a Excalibur Phoenix crossbow inside the archery range at the Fingelakes Mall store in Auburn.It’s an emotional, occasionally insult-laced argument that’s been going on in this state among outdoorsmen for more than two decades.It’s the debate over crossbows — specifically when, where and how they should be used.“I went to a recent meeting up in Buffalo and there were hundreds of people against the three of us. We got bushwhacked,” said Avon resident David Kosowski, legislative chairman of the N.Y. Bowhunters Inc., a group that has been at the forefront of keeping crossbows out of the archery season since its formation in 1991. He said he’s been going to similar meetings for years.“You get called a communist, told this is a free country and that everyone has a right to hunt the way they want. ... a few years back I even had one outdoors writer come across the table and challenge me. Guys had to restrain him,” he said.Crossbow advocates say their critics are selfish and condescending and that the abuse goes both ways.The issue boils down to this: Crossbow hunters want to hunt during bowhunting season, which precedes the firearms season. Bowhunters say they’re not against crossbows — they just don’t want to share the woods with them during that time.The debate is coming to a head again with the Dec. 31 expiration of a two-year law drafted by Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, in 2010. Valesky’s bill allowed the use of crossbows in this state for the first time during the fall hunting season for big game (deer and bear). However, it restricted their use to the regular firearms season and the muzzleloader season that followed. They were banned during the regular bow season. The final decision of what to do next won’t be reached by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. It’ll come down to state lawmakers —downstaters whose numbers and positions carry the most weight in the state Assembly and Senate and the governor’s office.Advocates for both sides say that these are often folks who don’t hunt themselves and often react to whichever side sends in the most letters or emails, or makes the most calls.“This kind of thing is not instinctive for most of the leaders in the Senate and the Assembly ... not terribly high on the priority list until it shows up on their desk, with those stacks of letters,” said Assemblyman Don Miller, R-Clay, who favors the use of crossbows.The Crossbow Coalition is a recently formed, 480-member pro-crossbow group led by Pulaski resident Rick McDermott. McDermott said support for crossbows is growing and he cited hunter polls conducted by Cornell University and the endorsements of several large outdoors-related groups, including the New York State Conservation Council.Lately, McDermott has been in Albany lobbying, and his group has organized a special demonstration in Ballston Spa on Tuesday so state lawmakers or their aides can try out a crossbow.But the clock is ticking as this year’s legislative session ends in about a month.On one side of the issue are the traditionalists, led by the nearly 3,000-member N.Y. Bowhunters group. They feel strongly that crossbows are not the same as regular bows. They worry about safety issues, noting a crossbow would usually be cocked and carried loaded in the woods, and must be fired to unload it. Meanwhile, a regular bow can be drawn back and then “drawn down” without releasing the arrow.They note the DEC requires regular bow hunters to take a special safety course, while crossbow hunters need only read a page in the DEC hunting handbook, clip and sign a coupon saying they’ve read it, and then carry that coupon on them when they hunt. They see many crossbow hunters as lazy, unwilling to put in the time and practice to shoot a regular bow.“It’s like that PGA golfer with the bad leg who wanted to ride around the course in a cart while others had to walk,” Kosowski said. “Some things in life are just meant to be more challenging than others.”On the other hand there are those who favor crossbows because they feel hunters should have the right to use the hunting instrument of their choice. They say crossbows are good for younger or weaker hunters, as well as older hunters and those suffering temporary or permanent disabilities. They note that having more hunters in the woods is good business for this state, plus it would help keep the state’s deer population in check.“I’m 77 and no longer able to draw a vertical bow like I used to. I could just join a hunting camp, cook breakfast and tell stories of yesteryear — but I want to hunt,” said Phil Stewart, of Clay, who said he’d like to use a crossbow.Crossbow advocates paint their opponents as selfish and arrogant because they want to keep others out of “their woods” and away from “their deer” during the bow season.The DEC recently released its five-year deer management plan, which recommends the use of crossbows during any hunting season in which other bowhunting equipment is used.Gordon Batcheller, the DEC’s wildlife bureau chief, attended a recent town meeting hosted by the Crossbow Coalition in Brewerton. He said the DEC’s position “comes down to getting people outdoors.“If we don’t have people out there hunting, bird watching, looking for snakes and reptiles, fishing ... we will not have a future generation of dedicated conservationists,” he said.The DEC’s hands are tied, though, until legislation is passed giving them the power to set the regulations.Valesky said he’s been dealing with the crossbow issue since he was elected in 2005, and before that as an aide to then-Assemblyman Michael Bragman, handling fish- and game-related legislation.Valesky felt that his 2010 bill, dedicated to Syracuse crossbow advocate and outdoorsman Bob Ripberger, of Syracuse, would settle things.However, due to lobbying by N.Y. Bowhunter officials and others, he said, his bill got revised four times. The final product, he said, was an effort to “come up with a reasonable compromise that all sportsmen could live by.”Earlier this year, another bill, S6747A, penned by Sen. Patrick Gallivan, R-Depew, proposed legalizing crossbows and giving the DEC the authority to regulate where, when and how they should be used.That’s the bill that the Crossbow Coalition is supporting and the bill Valesky said he now wishes he had authored. Will it pass?“Anything can happen in the next six weeks,” Valesky said, adding that if Gallivan’s bill stalls, hunters can still use their crossbows this fall and the state Legislature could just pick up the issue again at the start of the 2013 session.Kosowski predicts another outcome.“They’ll end up rolling over (Valesky’s bill) for one more year to give it another year to ferment ... (and) on and on we go,” he said.WHAT’S WHAT? Long bow: A straight piece of wood that’s bent and strung up on either end. Recurve bow: Has an additional curve at each end to increase power. Compound bow: Has a pulley system at either end that enables the archer to pull back the string and hold it for longer periods of time. The pulleys decrease the poundage (the force needed to hold the strings back) by as much as 80 percent.Crossbow: Needs to be cocked ahead of time and uses smaller arrows (called bolts) than regular bows. The arrows are released by pulling a trigger. To unload it, you have to fire it. Crossbows are held horizontally to aim and shoot, as opposed to vertically. The arguments: To read both sides of the crossbow issue, see the N.Y. Bowhunter website and the Crossbow Coalition website .

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[sits in trees]

the anti crossbow crowd (NY bowhunters inc)doesnt want crossbows in bow season because of saftey issues, now thats funny!