You are on page 1of 9

Running Head: CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

Crossbows Should Be Illegal in Archery Season


Lauren Raker
UNC CHARLOTTE

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

Crossbows Should Be Illegal in Archery Season


Crossbows have been around for centuries. During the reign of King Henry II (1154-89)
in England, crossbows were used by soldiers in the military. The soldiers that used crossbows
were called balistarius, meaning crossbowman. Soldiers really liked crossbows because the bow
was ready and cocked so all they had to do was pull the trigger when intruders were near
(Bachrach, 2004).
The first regular production of crossbows was under royal control in England began in
1204. King John recruited crossbow makers to provide a sufficient supply of weapons. Later,
with the help of advanced technology, crossbows started to be made with different materials such
as wood and steel. Once the production of crossbows picked up and they began to become
popular, King John and Henry III came up with legal documents dealing with military matters,
production, purchase, distribution, and permits. Crossbows were called one-foot weapons.
This was because crossbows have a stirrup on its backside. To load the crossbow you put one
foot in the stirrup and bend over to pull up the firing string into position using the strength of
your back and legs. Shortly after the production of the one-foot crossbows, the two-foot
crossbow was introduced. The only difference between them was the stirrup size was larger, so
the crossbowman could fit two feet instead of one into the crossbows stirrup. Soon after, a
crossbow with a crank system mounted on the side of the crossbow was invented. Permits and
crossbows started to be sold in stores around 1261 (Bachrach, 2004).
Crossbows are more commonly used as a device used for hunting in this day and time. A
crossbow consists of a horizontal bow mounted on the stock of a gun. About five years ago,
many states passed laws saying that crossbows are legal to use in archery seasons. Since the
invention of the crossbow and new technology, there have been many debates on whether or not

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

crossbows should be allowed in archery season, or if crossbows should be considered firearms.


Crossbows have caused overcrowding in the woods, give unfair advantages to those that hunt
with them, and do not fall under the definition of archery; therefore, crossbows should be illegal
in archery season.
The legalization of the use of crossbows in archery season has caused overcrowding in
the woods during archery season. In the article Relaxed Crossbow Regulations Mean More
Hunters Will Be Squeezing a Trigger Sunday, Dave Orrick states that some non-archery hunters
have been spotted buying crossbows to extend their hunting seasons without having to learn how
to use a vertical bow (2014). This means that there will not only be bow hunters in the woods
during archery seasons, but also gun hunters. In the article Demonized Archery Tool Actually
Has Hand in Increasing Hunter Numbers, author David Hunter Jones interviews Merle Shepard,
a board member of the Congressional Sportsmans Foundation, to get his opinion on crossbows.
Shepard believes that the crossbow is the best tool for recruiting young hunters because it is
easier for kids to shoot. Shepard says he wants the sport to grow, and no one can argue with a
good, clean kill with a crossbow or a vertical bow (2013). The recruiting of young hunters is
important; however, recruiting implies that more hunters will be in the woods during archery
season, and this may cause overcrowding.
An increased number of hunters in the woods during archery season is going to increase
the number of animals harvested. Ed Wentzler trusts that the legalization of crossbows in
archery season will only lead to an increase in harvest (McKean, 2009). In the article MDC:
How Adjusting Hunting Regulations Will Impact Deer Herds, Paul Hackbarth writes that
according to the Missouri Department of Conservations (MDC) crossbows are now legal in
archery season because of the rapid growing deer populations. This was one of the ways the

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

MDC has helped stabilize the deer population in Missouri (2014). In another article, Shepard
says, the bottom line on crossbows is very simple: at no point in time have crossbows ever
negatively affected deer populations. Ohio is one of the states that has had the legalization of
crossbows in archery season the longest, and they have some of the most and biggest deer in
North America (Jones, 2013). In these cases, an increase in harvest has been a good thing;
however, if a deer population is too small, an increase in harvest could cause a major setback in
the deer population.
Overcrowding in the woods can also be dangerous for hunters in the woods. Not
everybody wakes up at the crack of dawn to go hunting. Some hunters like to sleep in and then
go out into the woods to hunt. If the hunter that woke up late is going into the woods where
another hunter is, then the hunter that is already in the woods may mistake the other hunter for a
deer or whatever animal he or she is hunting at the time and shoot them. Several stories like this
has been told around the campsite of Boulder Hunt Club. Thankfully, no one has been shot yet,
but some hunter that have come into the woods late have had the crosshairs on them and the
hunter that is already in the climbing stand ready to shoot until he or she realized that they were
aiming their crossbow at another hunter. This could easily be solved by putting up a bulletin
board and having the members of Boulder Hunt Club write down where they are going to hunt so
nobody else goes into their hunting area; however, some hunters are secretive about where they
hunt especially if they think they have found a really good spot. Also, if crossbows had never
been legalized in archery season, this would reduce the number of gun hunters in the woods
during archery season.
Hunting with crossbows gives hunters unfair advantages over hunting with a standard
compound bow. In the article Cross Off: Conventional Compound vs. Crossbow, author Will

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

Brantley performed a field test to prove that hunting with crossbows give hunters unfair
advantages. In his field test, Brantley tested both the crossbow and conventional compound
bows efficiency, accuracy, speed of first shot, and speed of follow-up shots. When Brantley
tested efficiency between the conventional compound bow and the crossbow, the crossbow
dominated with speeds greater than 340 feet per second. When testing accuracy, the crossbow
beat the compound bow again. He shot both of them forty yards away from his intended target;
he shot 3.75 inch groups with his compound bow and 2.63 inch groups with his crossbow.
Brantley then determined which offered the faster first shot on a deer that shows up
unexpectedly. The average crossbow time was 8.3 seconds, and the average compound bow time
was 10.3 seconds. Once again, the crossbow has an unfair advantage over the conventional
compound bow. When testing the speed of the follow-up shots, Brantley evaluated which
weapons could fire three killing arrows in a row faster, crossbow with 58 seconds and compound
bow with 35.3 seconds (2013). This is due to the fact that when using a crossbow you have to
take the time to cock it with a rope cocker and pull back the string cable until it latches into
place, or use a built-in cranking device. A compound bow is much simpler. All you have to do is
put the arrow through the arrow rest and draw the string back. Brantley states, [Crossbows]
may be the heavier, bulkier, louder choice in the woods. But its unequivocally the deadlier
hunting tool (2013). Crossbows have unfair advantages over the conventional compound bow;
therefore, crossbows should be illegal to use in all archery seasons.
Crossbows have out-of-the-box accuracy. Depending on who you talk to, someone
may say that out-of-the-box accuracy is a good thing because using the crossbow would be a
more humane kill; others say that it is an unfair advantage and takes away from the challenge of
archery hunting. Personally, having never shot a conventional compound bow, yours truly was

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

able to pick a crossbow up and hit the bulls-eye every time without any practice with a crossbow.
Crossbows also allow hunters to take shots from farther and farther away. However, many
hunters that like both, the conventional compound and the crossbow, say that with the
advancement of technology hunters are able to shot farther and farther away with the
conventional compound than ever before. With that said, is the advancement of technology
taking away from the challenge of archery, are the tools we use taking away from the challenge
of archery, or were the inventions of the conventional compound and the crossbow made from
the recurve bow because of our advancement in technology.
There is not an archery season for fisherman, but there might as well be. Fisherman have
come up with what is now call bowfishing. In the article Bowfishing 101 author Tracy Breen
states Bowfishing is a cross between fishing and bowhunting. Fisherman go out and buy
crossbows with a bowfishing kit. [The kit] contains a reel with line and a fiberglass arrow
equipped with a fish point (Breen, 2008). Crossbows give the fisherman that use them unfair
advantages. Instead of having to wait on the fish to bite their line, the fisherman sees the fish
and pulls the trigger. The fishing line is attached to the arrow, so once the fisherman hits the fish,
he can then reel it in. This is not fishing and should not be allowed. However, bowfishing can be
harder than fishing with a pole. Breen states I remember bowfishing with my dad and taking
dozens of shots and not hitting fish. They can be difficult to fish because the reflection in the
water makes them appear closer than they are (2008). Bowfishing could have a negative impact
on the fish population. When shooting the fish with a crossbow, the arrow kills the fish almost
immediately, but when using an old-fashioned fishing pole, the hook does little damage to the
fish and does not kill it. This way you can fish for the fun of it and you can throw the fish back
into the water if you want. Fishing with a crossbow is not fishing at all. Although crossbows

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

should be illegal in archery season, they are in fact legal in almost every state; therefore, if
bowfishing is going to continue to be a part of the sport of fishing, it needs to have its own
archery season where only recurve or compound bows are used.
Crossbows should not be allowed in archery season because crossbows do not fall under
the definition of archery. In the article Bow Wars: The Crossbow Controversy, Ed Wentzler
states, Archery equipment should be defined as implements that are held by hand, drawn by
hand and released by the motion of the hand in the presence of game. If you are shooting a
crossbow, you are not drawing the string in the presence of game. That alone gives crossbow
shooters an unfair advantage. It is not bow hunting (McKean, 2009). Crossbows are not bows.
True archery hunters use a recurve or a conventional compound bow when they hunt. They pull
back the firing string and release the string from his or her hand which fires the arrow in the
presence of the intended target. When using crossbows, hunters do not pull the firing string back
in the presence of game. Hunters that use crossbows normally pull the firing string back before
they even climb up in a tree to hunt. This way when a deer or the animal that they are hunting
steps out into an clear opening their crossbow is already cocked and ready to fire at shot at their
intended target. In this sense, crossbows are a mixture of a bow and a gun; therefore, should not
be allowed in archery season because it is not strictly a bow.
Some states have passed laws stating that only persons with physical disabilities are
allowed to use a crossbow during archery seasons. In the past, Missouri stated that crossbows
were legal for hunters with physical disabilities in archery season, but only if it was confirmed
by a physician (Hackbarth, 2014); however, this is not the case anymore. Laws based on the use
of crossbows during archery season vary from state to state.

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

Crossbows should be illegal in archery seasons because they cause overcrowding in the
woods, give an unfair advantage, and do not fall under the definition of archery. More gun
hunters want to lengthen their hunting season by buying crossbows so they do not have to learn
how to shoot a conventional bow. This contributes to overcrowding in the woods during archery
season. It has been proven that crossbows give unfair advantages by being more efficient,
accurate, and have a faster first shot. Crossbows take away the challenges of archery and
fishing. The overall topic of crossbows being legal or illegal in archery seasons is based on
personal preferences and opinions, and it can be debated until you are blue in the face. The fact
is that the use of crossbows are legal in archery season in most states in the United States of
America.

CROSSBOWS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IN ARCHERY SEASON

References
Bachrach, David S. (2004, January). Crossbows for the King: The Crossbow during the Reigns
of John and Henry III of England. https://www-jstororg.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/40060582?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Brantley, W. (2013, October 2). Cross Off: Conventional Compound Vs. Crossbow.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/whitetail-365/2013/10/cross-conventionalcompound-vs-crossbow
Breen, Tracy. (2008, July 2). Bowfishing 101. http://www.biggamehunt.net/articles/bowfishing101
Hackbarth, P. (2014, June 20). MDC: How adjusting hunting regulations will impact deer herds.
http://www.therolladailynews.com/article/20140620/News/140629933
Jones, D. (2013, October 29). Demonized archery tool actually has hand in increasing hunter
members. http://outdoorchannel.com/article.aspx?id=2410&articletype=article
McKean, A. (2009, May 7). Bow Wars: The Crossbow Controversy.
http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/bowhunting/gearaccessories/2009/04/crossb
ow-controversy
Orrick, D. (2014, September 12). Relaxed crossbow regulations mean more hunters will be
squeezing a trigger Sunday.
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_26513611/relaxedhunters-will-be

crossbow-regulations-mean-more-

You might also like