tradgedy is about to strike!

[mullet]

Naaaw, I bet they were too hungry to worry about it. The spear chukkers probably got lazy and let the bow shooters do all of the hunting.

[Josh B]

All this hoopla over crossbows got me to thinking today and I couldn't help but laugh. Do you suppose around 30,000 BC a group of Neolithic hunters were sitting around grumping about the fat lazy buggers that were starting to use these little spear launching stick and string things.

Lol! Very doubtful given the difference in circumstances.  Those folks very survival depended on their weapons and tools.  Any advancement would likely be embraced quickly.  Our situation is very different.  We don't rely on our bows to survive.  Although some are quite proficient at putting meat on the table with sharp sticks, its not our only means of sustenance or defense.  What we do is done out of sense of tradition, dare I say pride in having done it the hard way.  If it were the same situation as our ancestors, I too would be using the most efficient weapons I could get and it sure wouldn't be a crossbow.   It would be a firearm.  I have many modern weapons and I have no hesitation to use them when needed to fill the freezer.  Oddly enough, my favorite modern rifle is still 105 years old.  Lol!  The point is archery season is set aside for folks that want to do things in a more challenging way.  Not because we have to, but because we want to.   When you start incorporating technologies to make it easier, you've lost sight of the whole concept of what archery is about.  At least that's the way I see it.  Josh

[H Rhodes]

I guess if more money was involved in "primitive archery" we'd all have more clout. As it stands now we are just those other guys.
 Oh well, I've been one of them all my life. 

+1!  Me too Pat.

[Marks]

I'm of the belief that the more people involved in hunting the less likely it will be taken away from us. If you made archery season for primitive/traditional bows ONLY like some of you would love to do then you will cut out 97% of the archery population and 99.99% of archery profits.  While I can see through my screen at a few of you grinning ear to ear when I say that, I don't think this is a good thing. The antis would outnumber hunters significantly. These "lazy" hunters and their millions/billions of dollars spent are helping to fund the furtherance of our sport. Money talks. I don't like the "if it isn't how I do it then ban it" mentality.
I'm fine with archery season including crossbows. It allows kids and elderly who can't handle a hunting weight bow to get outdoors and enjoy hunting. Everybody doesn't have the time or maybe the skill to become proficient with traditional gear. I could care less if the guy on the property next to me has a crossbow or not. I want everyone to have a good time. Its none of my business what you hunt with.
That being said I understand the OP doesn't want crossbows in his archery club. Fair enough. It is a private club and his vote is just as important as the next guy. That is why they take votes and hopefully the leaders will respect the vote whichever way it goes.

[Josh B]

Mark, I fully understand that there are not enough traditional bowhunters to keep the anti's at bay.   Even though compounds are not my thing, I don't believe banning them is in our best interest.   In my area, I doubt traditionalists would even constitute one percent of the bowhunters.  Compound bows have a lot of technological advantages over the traditional bow, but they still share the basics of archery with traditional equipment.  When you add a stock, scope, ability to be locked at full draw and released with a trigger almost every vestige of archery is removed.  I don't have any problem with disabled folks using crossbows, providing its a legitimate disability.  I don't have a problem with crossbows being used to hunt by any able bodied person either.  I just don't want them taking undue advantage of archery season to do so.  I know I've gotten away from the range issue for the most part, but this is the main reason for my own personal bias towards trying to include crossbows as legitimate archery gear.  I know that I won't change any "all in" type's minds.  I'm just trying to explain my own aversion to   crossbows being included in my own semi-illiterate way.  I sincerely hope the members of the club are respected in this matter.   Josh

[Wolf Watcher]

I have an old African xbow that was designed to shoot birds and animals out of trees.  It is remarkable in its design and as primitive as any of our stick bows.  It hangs on my wall and is the subject of much conversation. It does not have a scope, trigger, lazer, or locking device.  It would have been a real challenge to shoot a monkey out of a tree with it! I apologize in not being able to post pictures as I am sure you would be impressed with the design.  I live on a very large ranch with a river and county road running through it.  In the last five or six years since we started seeing xbows here they have become the weapon of choice of the road hunting poachers because of the lack of noise when fired.  Its often miles between ranch houses so the poachers drive along the fields and timber and shoot a deer from the road.  What has surprised me is that a bolt will pass through a deer and that deer can still make it across the river before it dies.  The poachers just let it go!  Now we have a griz or wolf bait.  Two years ago I found 10 white tail bucks that had been shot by a cross bow and got away to die.  Only one had the horns removed and all the meat on those bucks was left to rot.  For me its the same old story we have with guns and killers, as xbows seem to attract bad people!  So my 2 cents is I place them right along with the 1000 yard shooters as not being "fair chase hunters"!  Joe

[jayman448]

Thankfully my club is the exact opposite. We are all traditional or primitive. We have compoinds but the majority is glass recurve shooting aluminums (pretty good for todays club standards) we have been chastized for not joining the national association by some out of town compounders. Says "our problem is we r all rednecks and hippies". Mind you thats true... but we sure have fun! Haha. And frankly the club is run by traditionalists, compounds dont botger to come to meetings, and thats kind of the way we like it. To be totally honest i think we are cliser to allowing atlatls thenwe are to allowing crossbows.

[Pappy]

Man this site amazes me, I have been following this just in case and it is still going and not fights. Yep great bunch of folks , by the way well said Josh my feeling also.Pappy