Hunting Sense

Republican State Senator George Maziarz has reintroduced legislation seeking to make hunting with a crossbow legal in the state of New York. You would think that Mark O’Brien, a disabled Iraq War veteran who lost his right arm and leg in a rocket attack in Iraq in 2004 and would like to bow hunt again, proves to be a good example of why the laws should be changed, but that isn’t the case. The same ol’ rhetorical prejudices against crossbows have already reared their ugly head once again.

“Mostly the bow hunters don’t want crossbow users in their season, hunting their deer in their woods,” said long-time sportsman Bill Hilts Sr. “I always thought it belonged to all of us, but apparently not. The big objection is you can cock this. It takes away the challenge of pulling the bow back.”

My mother, who is an avid hunter, suffers from severe arthritis and is able to use a crossbow and is able to hunt with a crossbow in the state of Oklahoma. We often hunted in Arkansas as well, where it is legal for anyone to hunt with a crossbow. Between helping her with sighting in her crossbow, and actually using it to hunt with in Arkansas a couple of times, I’m able to distinguish between the facts and the myths of the crossbow that seems to be the driving force behind the type of prejudices the above quote highlights.

Yes, you can cock a crossbow, but by no means does it give a real advantage to a hunter over one who is using a compound bow. Except for the simple fact that the string is held in full draw position by mechanical means, every other challenge of shooting and taking an animal with a bow and arrow is still the same. What amazes me the most is people don’t realize that with the technology of today’s compound bows and the amount of let-off when pulling them back, making it easier to hold them in a full draw position, the issue of cocked versus drawing and holding becomes very minute.

What bothers me the most is the fact that most of the bow hunters who scream in protest over the use of crossbows are misinformed and ignorant to the facts of their limited abilities. Because the bow is mounted horizontally and attached to a stock with a trigger, they automatically assume that it is just like shooting a rifle and has the same lethal ability. Such assumptions are a big pile of steaming crap that needs to be shovelled up and tossed away.

If a person doesn’t want to use a crossbow, they have every right not to. They even have the right to not agree with their use, even though they do provide hunters, like Mark O’Brien and my mother, who aren’t able to hunt with normal bows that require being drawn back, a way to continue enjoying the sport of archery hunting. But if they want to argue their use, they should at least take the time to educate themselves on the limitations and abilities of the crossbow before they start trashing them.

You know where I stand on the issue, what are your thoughts?

hunting, archery, crossbows, New York, legislation, prejudice, myth, fact, George Maziarz, Mark O’Brien