riverhillstraveler.com Blog » Crossbows

Crossbows no different than compound bows

Administrator — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:08:20 +0000

by Gary Sales

I really enjoy your paper.
About the crossbows — I don’t kill any more deer shooting a crossbow than I did when I shot a compound bow. You still have to have patience and also know where your bow is shooting and you still have to have a shooting lane. To me it is no different. Everybody thinks a crossbow is faster. It’s not. Compound bows [are] as fast, some a lot faster. I had to go to a crossbow because of health reasons — not my choice. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
Gary Sales
Farmington, MO

An open letter to Bill Cooper

Administrator — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:00:14 +0000

Bill -

As I see it, this crossbow criticism business goes back to your taking up gigging frogs. If you’d gone back to the primitive method of grabbing bullfrogs by hand, like I suggested several years ago, you’d have painted yourself as a purist with lasting effect.

It’s not about doing things the hard way versus the easy way; it’s about making it look harder than it actually is. Nor is it about presenting facts or the honest truth. An opinion is an opinion and a story is a story. The facts seldom stand up to either one when the listener regards them as irrelevant.

Here in Georgia, the crossbow hunters get lumped in with the muzzleloader toters and are granted a deer season that falls between archery and firearms seasons. Nobody complains much, except me. My gripe is there’s no time or tolerance for a fall turkey season of any sort. Biological facts, resource management principles, and minority preferences have no place in the discussion. The bottom line is having a fall turkey season would interfere with “tradition.”

If there’s anything I’ve learned from seven years of living in the South, it’s not to mess with tradition. A progressive culture is reserved for states like the “Show-Me State,” where you can have educated redneck views that may subject you to public ridicule but still know in your heart and mind that you are responsible enough to handle the truth properly–as well as forgive your critics for the way they choose to handle the same set of facts. It’s your story, you stuck to it, and you deserve the level of respect you’ve given others.

— Charlie Slovensky

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They can kiss my lasagna

Administrator — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:13:36 +0000

By Don Rathert

Emery,

Just a short note to elaborate on the reason I had to go to a crossbow.
You can’t get a permit for hunting with one unless one or two M.D.s write a letter of partial disability. Thank God, the Missouri Conservation Dept. is compassionate enough to give we unfortunates permits to use the weapon hence allowing me and others to continue to partake in hunting deer during bow season. I’ve had two shoulder surgeries, two knee surgeries and a back surgery that is still an ongoing chronic problem at times.

As I said,all the other preparation and work is still there for the hunt. Getting out of bed at the wee hours and suiting up, which some times hurts in itself. Making my way out into the hill country of the Ozarks and sitting stoically still for hours on
previously scouted trails for an animal to show. Then the same pitfalls are there as with the conventional bow. Crossbows don’t shoot through branches or brush, so you still have to pay attention to details such as wind direction, concealment and possible longer shots. By longer shots I’m talking maybe 35 yards. Any farther, you are at the same disadvantage as the conventional weapon.

It is illegal to use a crossbow in Missouri if you are not handicapped. These idiots that complain about using the crossbow and have so much sophistication in their own arena with trigger release equipment and bows you can hold forever can
kiss my “lasagna.” Mind you I am not aiming my anger at you I’m just
venting over the silly mindless protest by people who don’t know and
maybe don’t want to know some of us have health issues. Plus the fact
I’ve got 72 summers and winters on my old body, so none of these problems
are getting any better.

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1. There were no conspiracies 2. Compound bows more potent than crossbows

Administrator — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:31:26 +0000

By Tim Huffman

As a writer of one of the controversial crossbow articles, I would like to address the letters to the editor in the last issue. First, “crossbows” was on the list of stories put out by the editor that had been requested by readers for Traveler. I had experience so chose that subject not knowing that my friend Bill Cooper was also writing a similar article or that the editor would challenge bowhunters to respond. Both were fine with me but there were no conspiracies.
Two. Some hunters want to compare a crossbow to a gun. It’s a fact that a modern compound bow can shoot faster, flatter and farther than the best crossbow. Fact.
Next, I guess it’s my warped sense of humor that makes me see something odd about an archery hunter who says a crossbow has an unfair advantage when they are shooting a bow with composite limbs, highly-engineered pulleys and wheels, carbon arrows, expanding broadheads and sophisticated sights.
Final words; I don’t have a problem with your high-tech compound bows. They can give a good, efficient kill. I also have the right to my opinion and I believe that crossbows should be allowed during archery season because they have no more power or advantages over a high-tech compound and both use limbs, a string and arrow.
I respect your opinion to believe how you believe. Your letters prove you are serious about your archery and care about our sport of deer hunting. Don’t bash us too much, or quit subscribing to the magazine, just because we have a difference of opinion on a subject. Keep your letters to the editor coming, stand up for what you believe and keep your passion for the sport. Good deer hunting to you!

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Freedom of speech, press and choice apply to crossbows, too

Administrator — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:18:46 +0000

By Bill Cooper

In my 35 years as an outdoor writer, never have I been the victim of libel until the response of one individual to my crossbow article in the September issue of the Traveler. Libel is a written or printed statement tending to injure a person’s reputation unjustly. This individual strayed far from the issues at hand to attack my reputation and integrity in news print. I totally agree with Editor Styron that it is sad when people who disagree with a point choose to ignore facts as stated and instead attack a person’s integrity. This individual went so far as to cancel his subscription, maybe in hopes of getting me fired.

The individual at hand deliberately changed facts in my story to make me look bad. He changed the yardage figures at which I shot a crossbow at deer and assumes he knows my mental state of mind. He, in fact, knows nothing about me.

I stated in my article that I became proficient with a crossbow at known distances. I used a rangefinder during practice sessions. It is not any easier to be accurate at unknown distances with a crossbow than a compound. Most archers know that range finders are an efficient tool which helps to reduce misses and losses. That is the ethical thing to do. However, range finders are not mandatory by law. People have a choice.

This individual also stated that I am not interested in the hunt, only killing. I have harvested deer with recurves, compounds, rifles, pistols and muzzleloaders. At this stage in my life, I must use a crossbow to continue bow hunting. And $10,000 will not make my war and work injuries go away.

I did not harvest one single deer last year. It would have been easy to walk the 150 yards to my food plots that I love to care for at my own expense. I allowed others to hunt on my plots.

This gentleman goes on to say that I have lowered the bar of bowhunting. Does he not realize that he has lowered the bar of basic human respect one for the other? He went so far as to insenuate that I am lazy.

Sir, allow me to introduce myself. I grew up the a child of poor cotton farmers, worked my way through college earning a Masters’ in Outdoor Education and Park Management and an officer’s commission in the U.S. Army. I fought to preserve our freedoms-freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom to have an opinion and a choice. I intend to keep exercising all of them.

Besides my jobs as a park superintendent and naturalist, I have been an outdoor writer for 35 years with credits in several national magazines, many websites, including Bass Pro and Cabela’s, and numerous periodicals and newspapers. I also hosted my own outdoor radio and TV shows for years. Too, I regularly attend media hunts sponsored by Ray Eye, outdoor products companies and state tourism commissions.

I have dedicated my life to educating people about the outdoors and intend to continue. I directed youth hunting camps for the NWTF and the Land Learning Foundation for 20 years. I have received several awards over the years, including the “Conservation Educator of the Year -2000″ from the Conservation Federation of Missouri. I have taught outdoor skills at church youth groups, scouts, Bass Pro’s Wonders of the Outdoor World Conservation School and NWTF’s Women in the Outdoors program.

My list of memberships would be boring, but I have belonged or now belong to outdoor writers groups which hold me accountable for my ethics as well as my writing.

I studied the history of crossbows long and hard before I ever picked one up. I, too, was once a purist, slow to adapt to the new stuff on the market. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that position. However, I have moved on and enjoyed the experiences. I was flabbergasted to learn that the Chinese used the crossbow in combat well over 2,000 years ago. I was even more amazed to learn
English longbowmen once soundly defeated an invading army of crossbowmen. And our own Special Forces troops fought with Montagnard natives who used crossbows in combat as late as 1967.

Next, I began studying the states that have legalized crossbows for regular archery seasons. The long terms studies of some `15 states soundly kills every argument about crossbow hunters decimating deer herds or products companies running the show. Their research also demonstrates that women and kids do pick up the sport. And crossbow hunters tally the same kill ratio as compound bow hunters, 15%.

We all know that our freedoms to hunt are in jeopardy. Our MDC deer biologist made the statement recently that Missouri would lose 125,000 deer hunters in the next 25 years. A former director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri challenged my stance last year on crossbows with the statement that legalizing crossbows would bring 160,000 new hunters into archery. Why would he not want that? One reason. The same reason I read into my critics statements. They do not want the competition. In my 40 years of studying why one user group opposes the other, the bottom line is always competition.

One critic suggested that I not talk about misses and wounding deer. I am under oath to tell the truth. Doing anything else would only hurt the hunting sports.

The guy behind the crossbow, me, is credible. I made a lousy shot and wounded a deer on my own property. I had watched that deer for months. It had fed in my food plots all summer. To wound any animal and not retrieve it brings anguish. I spent the better part of two days looking for that deer. I wounded one deer with a recurve, one with a compound and one with a muzzleloader which I did not retrieve. Many dozens have made it home to my freezer, however.

Anyone who tells me that they have hunted for many years and never wounded a deer, well, I don’t believe. Thus far, no one has ever told me that. Critics, how ’bout you?

Bottom line. The facts are in. Crossbows are not the wicked tool that many believe. Check the facts yourself. If you have a computer, Google the “history of crossbows” or “hunting with a crossbow”. Find the websites of the states who have legalized crossbow seasons. I could list them for you, but if you are as concerned as you state, you will do the work yourself. Too, look at the posts on Traveler’s website.

In the meantime, let’s pull together to preserve hunting. Our MDC is the greatest, but sometimes misguided. If they don’t legalize crossbows soon, they may one day wish they had those 160,000 new hunters in the woods.

As a closing thought: I love the stimulation of criticism. I have been on the phones and e-mails. You’ll not believe where my next crossbow article is going to appear. Thanks for the stimulation!

Forgiving my critic,

Bill Cooper

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If story missed mark, so did respondents

Administrator — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:48:04 +0000

Dear Emory,

If the crossbow story missed the mark so did the respondents. First permit
me an explanation.

I am 66 years old. I built my first bow from a hickory limb, bailer twine
string, early in the Korean War. Around the end of that war an older cousin
from St. Louis gave me a self bow he had made as a shop project. Wow, a real bow. I thought I had arrived.

In ‘55 my Dad bought a 55 lb. aluminum bow, my first venture in the over 50 lb. range. It would throw an arrow a quarter mile, was short on accuracy and noisy on release. In ‘57 I bought a 50 lb. fiberglass bow with which I became very proficient, killing rabbits on the run on occasion. In ‘58 an uncle bought a crossbow. He let me use it at our farm for deer, I took it back to him, I did not like the crossbow, then nor now, preferring the aesthetics of the traditional.

A stint in the Air Force followed by marriage and family put a damper on my bow activities. In the ’70’s I joined the compound craze, frankly I did not like them either. I amonce again fully traditional but arthritic shoulders threaten to prevent me continued enjoyment of the longbow.

I am currently experimenting with lighter bow weights in order to find something my shoulders will tolerate. I also am a black powder enthusiast, black powder not Pyrodex. I shoot cap locks and flint locks having no use for inlines.

Jack Compton was a personal friend and fellow employee with me at Southwestern Bell for years. My father in law, a personal friend of Earl Hoyt’s, introduced me to Earl over forty years ago. A Hoyt Sky Bow was the best manufactured longbow I ever owned or shot. I say all this to emphasize that I possess more than a passing relationship with archery and feel justified an opinion on same. Probably I was using a bow before many of the respondents were even born. I think my love and respect for tradition at least meets, probably exceeds, theirs.

I still fail to see the controversy over the crossbow. I found it cumbersome, accurate to a limit and slow to re bolt after a shot. Why it was classed a firearm is a total mystery to me, probably politically motivated.

Firearm, by definition, utilizes a “powder charge to fire a projectile.” The only resemblance to a firearm is cosmetic; stock, trigger and sight. In my opinion
a good man/woman with a compound is far better equipped to pursue deer
than any crossbow user will ever be. But then, as one respondent opined, it is
the man not the weapon, I agree. In short crossbows are not the deadly demons of deer destruction respondents make them out to be.

Perhaps your respondents should consider a bigger picture. A thousand dollar Black Widow re curve is a technological marvel without equal but is it
primitive? Hardly. Traditional? Maybe. One writer opines it is obvious why
they are classed as firearms? How so? Another feels archery season was
established by and for traditionalists. The list of credits at the end of another
must be intended to lend weight to his opinion against the crossbow.
Ten thousand new hunters running amok through the woods with their newly
purchased crossbows? Doubtful.

And last but not least, keep bringing us good articles but not personal opinions in your articles. Hmmm! I must be confused on just what personal opinions consist of. I have no personal aspersions against any respondent but as a group it appears they carry their feelings on their shoulder straps. This is the 21st century. PETA, ASPCA, the UN, Hand Gun Control, etc. surely wring their hands with glee to see practionadoes of the killing sports at each others throats. Divide and conquer personified.

Animal rights activists care not how you kill they just want you stopped. Your
guns today, bows tomorrow. Think about it fellows. Hunting participation, as
a percentage of population, has been declining for years. License sales are
declining. I only wish those tens of thousands of crossbow addicts would get
started now, so do state license sales agents.

I think I have as much experience, love and appreciation for traditional
archery as any one yet I fail to see the logic against the crossbow. Because
it is not logic but opinion. “Valid reasoning especially as distinguished
from invalid or irrational argumentation”, one of the many Webster defines. I,
gulp, myself, gulp, gulp, may indeed have to take up one of those “horrid”
crossbows if I lose the battle with my shoulders. I certainly do not intend to
have to justify the reason to any self-styled purist as to why. To them I say,
chip your own flint point, mount it on a lance or atlatl, conceal on the
downwind side of a berm of rock, dirt or brush, in leather or linsey-woolies,
and run it through a passing deer. I will then sing your praises as a
primitive, a-la traditionalist, hunter. Until then an modifier like quasi is
warranted.

Frankly I think I detect a tad more concern about all those new crossbow idiots stumbling on to a favorite honey hole more than any real concern with the crossbow per se’. But then what do I know. I would agree to allowing crossbows during the archery season. What ever they are; they are not firearms, no where near it.

Mike Harris, hardomo1@charter.net

PS: Emory my congratulations on the paper. The signatures and folds are neater, layout and print clearer, advertising more prolific and the articles getting superb.

This is from an ex quality control manager for the yellow pages so I know a little about print media. Jo Shaper’s article on Mine La Motte is well done. It is a
little known fact that the old St. Joe Lead Company covered mining costs with
residual and trace metals, primarily silver, gold and copper; lead was the profit.

Keep up the good work.

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Cooper responds to critics

Administrator — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:55:46 +0000

It was with great interest that I read criticisms of the crossbow hunting article I wrote in last month’s Traveler. Of particular interest to me is Mr. Goodman’s assessment of me and the editor of Traveler, Emery Styron.

Mr. Goodman suggested that the article material was unfit to be printed. Must I remind him that this is the United States of America, where freedom of speech and freedom of press are two of our dearest rights under the U. S. Constitution? I intend to continue both for as long as I breathe.

I am approaching my 60^th year and Mr. Goodman provided the first insult I have ever received in regards to being lazy. The two of us have never met. He refers to my wanting to take shortcuts to get an easy deer during bow season.

Perhaps I should provide Mr. Goodman a little of my background. I grew up a member of a poor farm family in the swamps of Mississippi County. I learned firsthand the value of placing wild game and fish on the dinner table. Hunting and fishing were our primary source of outdoor recreation as well. My father taught us to follow the rules and to respect our quarry. We offered thanks at the dinner table to the Creator who gave us the skill and the opportunity to harvest the bounty He had provided.

I worked my way through college washing dishes and cooking. I completed a Masters’ Degree in Outdoor Education and Park Management and simultaneously earned an officer’s commission in the U.S. Army, all with neither loans nor help from my parents.

I have worked as a park superintendent, park naturalist and worked on the side as an outdoor writer for thirty-five years. I have credits with Bass Pro, Cabela’s, Turkey Call, Turkey and Turkey Hunting, North American Whitetail, Women in the Outdoors, Missouri Conservationist, Game and Fish Publications, Traveler, Outdoor Guide, Springfield News Leader and many others. I hosted my own outdoor radio show for 8 years and my own TV show for two years. I am a regular at Ray Eye’s media hunting camps for deer and turkey. I have rubbed elbows with and learned from the finest outdoor writers in the nation.

I just completed a 20-year volunteer career with the National Wild Turkey Federation. I ran youth (JAKES) hunting camps. Juniors Acquiring Knowledge Ethics and Sportsmanship is one of the finest youth programs in the nation. The NWTF recognized my efforts with several awards and the Conservation Federation of Missouri recognized me with their “Conservation Educator of the Year Award” in 2000.

I have spent thousands of hours and thousands of dollars of my own money to promote outdoor education, ethical hunting and enjoyment of the outdoors in Missouri alone. Much of time has been spent as a volunteer, the most rewarding work of all.

I am approaching my 60^th birthday. I love my country and the land where I live. I carry life’s scars from the battle field and the work field. I fought for Mr. Goodman’s freedom to express himself, even if he chooses to call people, whom he has never met, lazy. That is his freedom, but reflects poorly upon his character.

Mr. Goodman, it seems, would choose to limit my opinion, freedom of speech and freedom of press, if he could. The blood of my compatriots says he can’t.

I did not harvest a deer with my crossbow last season in spite of my hours of practice. I found the crossbow to be just as challenging as my old compound and my recurve before it. I suppose I don’t have the agility I had at 45. Hate to admit that.

I slung no mud at MDC. I admire our greatest of all conservation organizations. I carried petitions to pass our conservation sales tax and would proudly do it again. I just happen to disagree with the agency’s stance on crossbows. It is still legal to disagree, too.

I have widely researched the crossbow issue and have written numerous articles about the subject. I have reports on my desk from many states that allow crossbow hunting. Almost all have long term research that indicates that crossbow hunters enjoy a 15% success rate each bow season, the same as users of compound bows. That is the end of the arguments about crossbows wiping out deer herds, unless someone out there has research that they have not sent to me.

The push to legalize crossbows in Missouri is coming from hunters. Of course manufacturers are pushing for the same. Do all of the compound bow manufactures push for bow seasons? Of course they do. They fought the same fight against recurve enthusiasts when compounds first came on the scene. All manufactures of outdoor products are in the business to make money. They are the hunters’ friend, not our fore. If they destroy the resource, they destroy the source of their income. So, the money motivation argument proves, too, to be a bad case against crossbows.

It is an established fact that hunters are declining. Missouri is one of the very few states that are actually holding their own. However, Lonnie Hansen, our MDC deer biologist, recently released information, based on studies, that indicates that within 25 years Missouri will have 100,000 fewer deer hunters than we have today. Does that scare any of you hunters?

Denny Ballard, a past director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, blasted me in Outdoor Guide magazine last year because of an article I had written regarding crossbow hunting. He stated some of the same arguments Mr. Goodman mentioned – manufacturer greed, easy hunting styles. Ballard also stated that legalized crossbow hunting in Missouri would immediately bring 160,000 new archery hunters into the populace. I rebutted with the question of why Mr. Ballard would not want 160,000 new archery hunters in the field. We never heard from Mr. Ballard again.

I have studied outdoor recreation interests for 40 years. The primary problem between user groups is competition. Mr. Ballard simply did not want the competition of more archers in the field. That seems to be the unspoken foundation of most arguments against crossbows.

Mr. Goodman also seems to be in favor of hiding facts. He asks the Traveler editor to refrain from running articles which mention missing and wounding deer. Both errors are a fact of hunting. All of us work hard to minimize both, but it happens. Hiding or covering the truth is the worst information we can provide anti-hunting groups. That is exactly what they do. And if Mr. Goodman has never missed or wounded a deer, I am ready to invest money in a hunting school run by him.

I have worked long and hard to promote the enjoyment of our great outdoors in Missouri. Now, I watch middle age men drop out of bowhunting because of wrist, elbow, shoulder and back problems. Crossbows come with cocking devices and users are not subjected to the painful rigors of holding a bow back. These people are eligible for medical exemptions which allow them to use crossbows. What about the young and women and the other men who would like to use a crossbow? They cannot legally do so in the state of Missouri. Research from a dozen states indicates that legalizing crossbows brings thousands of women and children into the sport. Those states need the hunters and the revenues they produce. Too, those states have sufficient deer herds to support additional hunters.

Missouri, too, has a sufficient deer herd to allow crossbow hunting. Do the math. If we did get an influx of 160,000 new hunters from legalizing crossbows, at a 15% success rate, that would amount to 24,000 deer, which would be scarcely noticeable.

So, what is the basis for the anti-crossbow sentiment? Competition? True but absurd! We need those hunters more than ever. They just might help us hold on to our hunting rights a little bit longer. Let’s pull together rather than fight among ourselves.

Mr. Goodman, only a few years ago, I agreed with you totally. However, I have done the research. The facts are in. And I am not slinging mud at MDC, but I have never seen factual, long term research reports from them documenting that crossbow hunting is in any way harmful to the resource.

And as for your habit of insinuating that people, whom you have never met, are lazy, drop the habit. It makes you look bad. I still work 80 hours a week. Oh, I would love to have commanded you in one of my combat units. Lazy we weren’t. However, we would still fight for your right to call us lazy! Crazy American ideals.

Bill Cooper

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Bowhunting intended to be challenging

Administrator — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:44:47 +0000

To the Editor,
It was with great disappointment that I read Mr. Cooper’s article about crossbows that you saw fit to publish in your magazine. Mr. Cooper obviously wants to take as many shortcuts as it takes to get an easy deer during bow season. Mr. Cooper wants to skip all of the hours of practice that is necessary to become proficient with a bow and instead rely on a crossbow and his misplaced rangefinder, and then has the nerve to sling mud at the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for denying him and everyone like him the chance to take the easy way out.

I have not met any archers that would deny the exemption to use a crossbow to anyone that has a legitimate disability. The MDC use to list 40 lbs as the minimum poundage for a bow to deer hunt with. I just looked through the regulation pamphlet for the 2008 and could not find any reference on minimum poundage for a bow. Another article in the RHT listed a 120 lbs crossbow as the “accepted” minimum. I just wonder how it could be easier to cock and load a 120 lbs crossbow instead of drawing and shooting a 40 lbs bow? I have seen archers with disabilities shoot a bow by drawing and releasing the bow with their mouth (with the aid of a chew strap). I know of an extraordinary archer that is blind (John Rook) that has had tremendous success hunting. John has a very good friend that sits behind him to aid John in aiming. I mentioned these examples to show what motivated individuals can do. I find these people inspirational.

Bowhunting by its very nature is supposed to be challenging. I and many, many other bowhunters want to keep the challenge in our chosen outdoor sport. Bowhunting seasons are in existence today because 60 years ago some dedicated men and women lobbied the forerunner of the MDC for the separate season. This was a grass roots initiative. Today, our Archery season is under assault to allow crossbows the same consideration as real bows. This push is coming from the manufacturers of crossbows and from the outdoor retail sector. This push is profit motivated! If these groups are successful they will reap huge rewards at the expense of our archery season. Let’s say no to this. If a person wants an easy deer then there is Firearms season, Muzzleloading season, and also the Antlerless season. Missourians don’t want or need crossbows!!

If The River Hills Traveler wants to promote and preserve bowhunting then please refrain from publishing any more stories about missing deer and wounding deer. Anti-hunting groups would love to get a hold of stories like this and use it in their national campaigns. Let’s not give these groups any more fodder for their misguided work.

Todd Goodman
tggoodman@centurytel.net

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Leave crossbows for truly disabled

Administrator — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:23:50 +0000

Dear Editor,
I for one am opposed to allowing the use of the crossbow in archery season except for those who have a true disability and cannot shoot a bow.
Both writers mentioned the fact of crossbows being heavy and awkward to use and store, but we are led to believe they will be able to be used by women and children? By the time they are able to handle a heavy crossbow, with a little practice they should be able to draw and accurately shoot a bow. You do not need to shoot a high poundage bow to take a deer.
I have helped handicapped individuals enjoy shooting a bow and some of them had tried a crossbow and decided they could shoot a bow easier than the crossbow. Some surprised themselves with the ease and accuracy they found in shooting a bow. There are several different options available for those who wish to shoot a bow. Mouth tabs can be used by someone with a disabled or missing limb as well as some other devices that can help them shoot and hunt with a bow if they really want to.
MDC has done a great job of managing the deer herd in our state without allowing the crossbow in the archery season and I do not believe a crossbow is the answer to managing our growing deer populations. Bowhunters have proven the fact that if they have access to the pockets of deer they can help control the herd. Gaining more access will help bowhunters in the effort to help MDC’s effort to control deer numbers without the use of the crossbow.
I have shot some crossbows so I do some experience with them. I do NOT see them as a bow! Mr. Huffman’s opening statement fits my opinion with one difference. I feel they are already allowed to be used where they should be allowed, in the firearms deer season! His opening paragraph states the reasons they need to remain in the firearms season and NOT the archery season.
I have been a long time reader and subscriber of River Hills Traveler. I would hope you would refrain from using it to try to eliminate the archery season we have been handed. Keep bringing us good, factual stories about hunting and fishing, not biased opinions.

Tom Dickerson
Jackson, MO

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Crossbows, inline muzzleloaders are not primitive weapons

Administrator — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:21:25 +0000

I have been informed that you are pushing for the expansion of the use of the crossbow in Missouri to more than the handicapped. This is just plain wrong.
Archery season was meant to be a primitive equipment sport from the start. Then the Allen compound bow came on the scene and was allowed to be used as a bow. No one ever thought the compound bow would evolve from the original Allen (piece of junk) to the state it has today when it was first allowed.
When the archery season was first opened, tagging an archery deer was a very big deal requiring much effort, and dedication to the sport. Now with the aid of a high let-off compound bow, Hi-Vis sights, etc., anyone willing to spend a reasonable amount of time in the woods can tag a deer with a compound bow with very little practice required.
The crossbow was allowed to be used by the handicapped so that they could hunt during the archery season. I do not have a major problem with the handicapped using a crossbow. I do however have a major problem with the lazy being allowed to use one to hunt with during the archery season.
Why not allow muzzleloaders to be used as well? A crossbow is closer to a 50-yard range muzzleloader than a real bow. I was talking with a handicapped shooter the other day who has been tuning his cross bow, and has his scope all dialed in, ready to go. He is planning on filling all his archery tags this year.
I also have a real problem with inline muzzle loaders. They are not primitive weapons at all. A bolt action rifle with a scope using pellets for powder, a saboted pistol bullet instead of a patched ball, and a 209 shotgun primer instead of a flint or percussion cap is not a primitive weapon by any stretch of the imagination.
The intent of a primitive weapons season was to allow dedicated hunters a longer and separate season to use this primitive equipment to hunt with. The crossbow and the inline muzzleloader are NOT primitive weapons PERIOD.

Bob Roach, President
Big Piney Sportsman’s Club
Houston, MO

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