I agree with your assessment. I still think there is a place for both, but it would require structuring the season differently. An example could be:
missoulacurrent.com
Indiana started allowing crossbows for everyone recently. They quickly found out that overall harvest wasn't affected very much but the harvest shifted to more in archery and less in gun season.
I agree. Seems every handicapped person wants to climb Mt Everest. So someone needs to put in an elevator? A lot of us older guys have arthritis issues that prevent us from engaging in bow hunting. So be it. We had our time in the saddle. Anyway, anyone who can shoulder a crossbow can certainly shoulder a rifle so hunting is not out of the question. Being able to jump the gun (pun intended) on rifle season without all the physical effort and practice necessary for traditional bow hunting is what the proponents are really after. I don't agree with further dumbing down hunting.
I wonder if the original guys that got the archery seasons established, who shot exclusively longbows and recurves, ever wondered how a compound bow got classified as archery?
Did you oppose compounds? They weren't traditional at all at the time.
Maybe that isn't a bad thing either as it spreads people out more. Those killing a deer with a crossbow, traditional, or compounds aren't out there during rifle season.
At the time I could certainly predict what would happen. Because of ease of operation there was an exponential increase in bow hunting after compounds came along which certainly impacted the rifle season. Game was a lot more riled up. Also because bow hunting became physically easier there was an exponential increase in bow hunters who could not or would not take the time to become proficient. By and large, traditional bow hunters had the time to devote to a lot of practice and were physically conditioned to deal with the demands of the recurve. Mind you, probably most compound users today are equally in tune (practice is cheap compared to rifle) but there are a lot of folks slinging bows who don't put the time in. Lazy/flabby people don't mix well with heavy draw weight so they usually stayed out of the bow hunting game when recurves were the only bow in the game.
I know a couple old-timers in MT that fought tooth and nail against the archery season. They didn't see any reason why a select group of hunters should get to hunt elk in the best time of the year based on a self-imposed "handicap." Hunting season is hunting season. Archery hunters have been whining for their own season forever, yet bemone others for doing the same. The only thing lower than a self-righteous bowhunter is a fly fisherman.
Selfishly, it is bad if one of the reasons you started archery hunting was to get away from the crowds...lol. I see more guys with crossbows now that compounds. Out there I wouldn't think there would be too many people willing to lug a crossbow around elk hunting.
