can you tell me how crossbows being legal in your archery season has affected the archery season as a whole? good, bad, increase kill, decrease kill, etc?
is there a quota on tags or just a general tag allowance?
thanks in advance for your time.
That said, there are currently only two years of harvest data available to draw from. The 2014-15 results have not yet been released. Here is what we know so far:
Prior to full crossbow liberalization in 2012, the annual crossbow harvest by disability permit averaged roughly 1,000 animals.
The 1st season of crossbow liberalization produced a harvest of 8,500 animals.
The total deer harvest dropped 8% in 2013, which included lower archery, shotgun and ML harvest...with numbers falling between 12%-15%. In contrast, the crossbow harvest jumped 17%.
Those are the facts. This is my opinion:
Crossbow harvest percentages will continue to climb. It would not surprise me to see the crossbow harvest eclipse the archery harvest in the near future.
I don't believe our deer herd can sustain both generous firearms seasons and full crossbow inclusion over the long haul.
At some point in time, Indiana will have to decide whether to shorten/move the crossbow season or shorten/move the general firearms season....or both. Given the fact it was primarily firearms hunters that pushed crossbow liberalization over the top in this state...that could get quite interesting.
Pass the popcorn!
That's my two cents.....
You are far too kind.
The one undisputed fact is that our deer numbers have dropped to the point that it is nearly not worth the time or effort to go deer hunting in about 2/3 s of the state. It matters not what you hunt with if you do not even see a deer. I spent over 250 hours hunting in 2014. I saw a total of 8 deer. 3 was seen from my stand, the rest were along the roadways coming or going in the darkness.