a) "Sixty-one percent(of bowhunters) actually got out in the woods last year, and half of those people said they hunted with a vertical bow and a crossbow, she added."
b) "According to the survey, 95 percent of archers said they own a crossbow, and three quarters of them said they'd purchased it since 2009, when the commission legalized them for use in the archery season."
Now I know we tend to be a bit more committed than the "average" bowhunter here on Bowsite, but only 61% of licensed bowhunters got out last year? Even for one day?
And half(50%) of that 61% used both a crossbow AND a vertical bow?
And this was the real shocker...........................95% of all archers surveyed actually owned a crossbow?
Now don;t get me wrong- I am not making any judgements here. Crossbows are legal and I have accepted that. Don't want to get into an Anti-crossbow debate. Just really surprised that the numbers are so high, and that so many have BOTH a vertcal bow and crossbow.
Did the survey reflect how large the sample population was compared to the total number of archery licenses sold?
Frankly, if only 10% or so of the total number of bowhunters responded to this survey, I wouldn't put much merit in the responses...that 95% figure leading me to believe the survey is tremendously skewed.
LOL Stick n string! :)
Would be interesting to see the "data".
And no I didn't get a survey either.
Mike
With only a 17% return rate, they should have either re-polled the archery/bowhunter population, or just scrapped the survey altogether. I start questioning credibility and whether there isn't some sort of hidden agenda going on when results such as those posted by Rut are disseminated.
I looked at the article with similar skepticism when I saw those numbers. (not at all what I have found talking to bowhunters I know) I'm not sure the results were even published anywhere. I'm gonna try to find out if the results were made public, or just reported to PA Outdoor news. The nature of the article made it seem like it was an interview with Coren Jagnow the PGC's Human Dimensions Specialist, since he was the one quoted when the statistics were given.
The article said "Commissioners had asked for the archer survey because they wanted to know whether the people hunting with crossbows were veteran archers just choosing to use a new tool or if they were rifle hunters joining the ranks, said Commissioner Brian Hoover of Delaware County."
Well duh...I would think that could be determined simply by tracking the sale of archery licenses.
Example...you average 25,000 archery licenses sold prior to 2009. Crossbows are legalized for all and the average for archery licenses sold in 2010 and 2011 increase to 27,000.
Hmmm, let's spend some funds on a survey, that by the way garners the interest of less than 1 out of 5 to figure out if rifle hunters are hunting with crossbows. Sheesh!
I e-mailed the PGC and was sent a powerpoint of the "data". If anyone is interested, send me a PM and I will forward it to you. Don;t think I can post a powerpoint on here.
One thing I noticed was that 95% figure was a mistake. It was 95% of all CROSSBOW hunters owned a crossbow(not 95% of archers).
Also, it says surveys were sent to 2,811 licensed bowhunters. They used 461 responses in the "analysis".
IF, IF, IF, the survey was well worded, and IF, the survey was truly distributed randomly and scientifically, and IF, the return of those surveys was as random as the distribution, a SMALL NUMBER of respondents can and frequently does give a rather accurate representation of the larger group.
Interestingly, I have read that the GALLUP poll typically only surveys 1,000 people and their results are usually born out when reality can be measured, such as in a national Presidential election.
If I remember my training, biased distribution (either deliberate or accidental) is often one of the major factors in skewed results.
