55% of CT Bow Kills are with a Crossbow
Connecticut
Contributors to this thread:
So the last Crossbow thread got a fair amount of traction, but I'm still not sure that CT is ahead of MA so ... in a shameless effort to gather clicks. Here we go.
At the last advisory meeting, our head Deer Biologist gave an update: In the first year that they legalized Crossbows in Archery season for everyone (2013), 28% of the Bow Killed deer were killed with a crossbow. In 2018 so far it is 55% (Fairfield County is 60%).
Please discuss. (let's keep it lively but civil). Some possible topics for consideration:
-Crossbows are just so darn much fun that yesterday's compound shooters tried one and can't resist switching.
-A large number of former compound shooters suddenly have sore shoulders and cannot draw a vertical bow.
-Former firearm hunters are buying crossbows and suddenly: They're Archers!
-Something else entirely.
-Is this good for hunting in general? -Are numbers of hunters going up, does the state sell more licenses and Archery tags?
-Are wounding numbers up? -Is poaching up? -Are these things tracked?
Have at it boys! Make sure that you tell all your friends about this thread, so we drive lots of traffic to the CT Page, we'll beat those MA guys yet!
Make crossbows a disability weapon for all of archery season and have a separate, short (2-3 week) crossbow season for anyone wanting to use one who doesnt qualify for disability.
The number of times I have seen rather young guns walking around the woods try to drive deer during archery season is dumb founding. They may have a legitimate reason for using one but generally its just a short range rifle to me.
Other states allow crossbow use only for hunters with proven medical disability younger than 50 and anyone over 50. Sounds fair. Others have late season for crossbows. Sounds fair. Crossbows are just another weapon in the collection running the gamut from stone to bullet. The crossbows have a long history in the weaponry implements created by humans and they deserve to stay. Let's make it an olympic sport, have tournaments, and in general allow the young generation to go from big screen to big woods with excitement. Last but not least some crossbow shooters can hit an 8" plate at distances of 100 yards and more, but they miss a deer at 30 yards. Go figure.
I know a few guy's that put the compound down and use crossbow exclusively now . Both guys are great shots with the compound but got hooked on the fun and speed of the bolt. That haven't shot anymore or less deer than they normally would and neither lost a deer they shot yet .
None of it really others me, I use a bow, my dad uses a xbow, that being said I also enjoy gun and muzzloader hunting. Hunters need to be together nowadays not worrying about little petty stuff
I don’t really care what the next guy shoots a deer with. I use my compound 95% of the time. Dilly dilly!!
If it wasn’t for the Xbox I would only be abel to hunt with the gun and I haven’t shot a deer with that in 20 years I don’t see the big deal I don’t shot anymore or any less than my compound I shot them a lot closer with the Xbox than my compound as far as making the season shorter for them maybe we should just have long bow season too lol. If guys guys tell the truth I bet lost deer is down too with Xbox I only heard of one one here compared to a lot with the compounds and if you could only show x amount of deer who cares whet you used ! How was the Ace Lol
I shoot both and don’t care what someone else shoots I love my Matthews I bought the crossbow do to shoulder injury last yr and so my kid who in my opinion was not effective or I should say efficient enough at 20 yrds for my liking so I figured if he put the time in with compound and couldn’t get to where he needed to be he could use the crossbow and well .....we all know how that turned out so now I have a crossbow and I went back to muzzleloader this yr for first time in almost 20 yrs. today is the last day of muzzleloader and it’s just to windy for me to be in the tree. So I’ll be heading out tmrw with my compound. Besides I’m a much better shot with my bow than I am anything else it’s what I practice the most with and shoot the most . I feel that deer harvest numbers r so high because of way to many tags not because of the weapon ;)
Ford Chevy ...ten point matthews
No difference
There is a difference between ford and Chevy. Fords suck !! Lol
At least I didn’t start this thread. I was actually considering trying out an xbow. It’s probably much more accurate and easier to use. Why the heck am I grinding it out with the compound? And Steve you’re too old to play Xbox! Lol
Steve do you just beat them with the unit or dazzle them with the up up down left up combo melee attack...lol
Go to the science and stop the opinions. Field and stream tested the lastest xbows and latest compounds and the stats tell the story.
Xbows shot a 400 grain bolt an avg of 385 fps, some exceeded 400 fps. The compound shot a 364 grain arrow 289 fps on average and only exceeded 300 fps by cranking it up to 70 lbs.
Point 2: shooting a compound is far more difficult than the xbow. Being able to anchor the xbow on your shoulder AND use a rest like a rifle provides a far more stable shooting form than holding a bow with an out stretched arm.
Xbow mfgs are trying to make their product sound like a compound to allow more hunters to use them and increase sales.
I say xbow should NOT be allowed in the archery season unless medically necessary, or a separate season, because of the facts stated above.
Opinion - I believe xbow hunters are more likely to be slob hunters and shoot beyond ethical distances and just looking to kill something, anything. Why? For the same reason I got out of gun hunting. I saw another Hunter get shot in the nuts pheasant hunting,....over a freaking bird. This same guy would do worse for a deer.
This is not meant to say all gunners or xbow guys are slobs but I think the easy kill attracts that type.
X2 Steve, my thoughts exactly on your first post. Sorry on the second, Loved my two Ford trucks. Stephen.
Steve i wasn’t going to chime in but..... thems fighting words !
I was talking to a friend of mine last night. He's gone 100% Xbow.
"Take it out of the closet, take 3 shots, good to go!"
No, thanks.
And if there are idiots out there conducting shotgun-style drives with crossbows, I guess that would tell you about all you need to know about whether the wounding rate is up or down...
If they were only allowed in areas where bait is permitted (for the specific purpose of quickly reducing the herd size), I wouldn't care. And I DO think they should be legal during firearms seasons, or for use by those who are physically incapable of using a compound or other vertical bow.
But public land archery season? Hell, NO! Public ground gets pounded hard enough as it is. There's no need whatsoever to artificially increase the harvest in most of the state - public OR private land, but where there IS a need, it needn't be conducted in public areas.
And I will reconsider my position on that when the public-land ML season success rate reaches double-digits...
And FWIW, if an able-bodied youngster can't yet draw (and be effective with) a #40 vertical bow, then they're young enough to be able to wait a few more years.
You all need to learn to play together or we will all lose!
Smoothdraws thread regarding this topic at the beginning of the month seemed to have caught ALOT more backlash in defense of crossbows.
I think if you want to have a separate season for xbows, than I think their should be a separate season for all bows. Perhaps have traditional & recurve bow hunters have the entire season, Sep 15 - Dec 31. compound bows, Oct 15 - Dec 31 and xbow Nov 15 - Dec 31. I was reading a blog on Facebook the other week where a guy took a 75yd shot with xbow, hit buck's shoulder and was wondering if it would still live. I left a comment saying he should sit out the rest of the season for taking that shot to begin with. It is bothersome to know some hunters think they can hunt same way with xbow as they do with gun.
Excuse me, I'm trying to watch the voice.....lol......next I'll be hanging with BBB at the senior center and how I got some tools to share ... Wink wink.....or hang with not me.... enough said....
the problem is that people think that an xbox has way more range than compound. not true. they both have pros and cons. the crossbow is heavier its far less compact its front heavy and tougher to steady it takes more noise, movement and time to load and reload its more prone to a mechanical failure its less safe since its carried at full draw it tough to de-cock it without shooting strings wear out quick ill stick with my compound and respect all archers, compound or xbow
Lately I been hearing more and more debate over the xbow . It’s getting old. I happen to hunt with my xbow my reg bow my shotgun my rifle and my ml. I’m all for if they want to make a separate season for the xbow. I’ve seen some suggest 2 weeks maybe 3 .. really????? The reg bow guys that choose to not hunt with anything else . You don’t like the xbow you don’t like this you don’t like that but let me guess you like the fact that a bow hunter can hunt from sept 15 until Jan 31 in some areas . That’s 4 and a half freaking months that you guys pretty much if you could have it your way it would be bow hunting only and nothing else. GTFO OF HERE ALREADY. How bout we limit it to 2 deer per year instead of being greedy
Git, why don't we just say use ANY weapon from September to January and only allow two deer? Because just about anyone could get two deer with a gun, and most everyone with an xbow. The herd would get screwed. No thanks.
As for a long bow/recurve vs a compound,....I shot as well with my recurve as my compound. The effective killing range had no change and both required the same amount of practice.
I’m just saying why should the bowhunter get 4 1/2 months what if a guy only gun hunts . He gets 18 days
The idea behind longer seasons USED TO BE to give the guys with the shorter-range weapons a chance to score. Where deer are not too numerous, the idea is to have about the same hunter success rate across all methods.
It’s all screwed up now, of course... The State depends on bowhunters to kill excess deer in areas where guns can’t be used. THAT is why bow season is longer than firearms.
If non-Archers want in on the deal, they have to pick up a bow or XB.
Next!
18 days with a gun is equivalent to 4 months with a bow in my opinion and hunting experience. I've seen thousands of deer outside of bow range over the years, but most of those would be dead with a gun in hand. Again, gun hunters are focused on the kill, not the challenge of the hunt.
Crossbows can shoot past 100 yards with tack driver precision. We should have a friendly competition between compound and xbow shooters at 100 yards. 24" by 24" target with 8" plate in the center.
Now seriously guys you should be happy Meghan Markle is not your spouse.
Meghan is against hunting if you don't read the tabloids.
why do they give out so many tags??? i participate in bow, shotgun, and muzzleloader season and between all those i can take 8 deer and more if i head to zone 11 12. thats a huge pile of deer. no one should be taking that many deer. personally i think it should be a two deer max for everyone no matter how many seasons you participate in.
A few years ago there we're guys on this site bragging about Killing double digits deer, so there are guys who are just about the kill.
BBB...lots of compounds are over 300fps.....
My Matthews dxt is at 72. Can't wait for the new one and crank it to 75.....
When i shoot at the range there is very little difference between my x bow and matthews ...
BBB. I hunt with a gun....I s just as hard and its not about the kill at all....I like using a gun.....head up to northern maine or Ontario to woods with no roads and tell me it's not skill just to see a deer. Your way off
... way way off BBB. Yes Meghan is against hunting and that is why I said "you should be happy".
I am willing to bet that most guys who shoot 5 or more deer per year give away a lot of meat...shot less ans stop giving away meat
I dont like shooting a cross bow to me its no fun. They are too heavy, awkward to handle cock and shoot in my opinion. I prefer a bare bow or compound bow any day. After all getting close is half the fun and challenge. That being said Im not judging, just my preference.
“thats a huge pile of deer. no one should be taking that many deer.”
Devil’s Advocate: Why the hell NOT?
The DEEP set it up that way because most private landowners were not allowing anyone to hunt the deer that were congregating on private land. It wasn’t that most hunters couldn’t or wouldn’t take as many deer as was necessary to get the population in check - GIVEN THE CHANCE - it was that only a very few could get onto the property where the deer were holed up.
Then the DEEP would report on “hunter success rates” at say, 20%, when in fact out of 100 bowhunters, often 1 would have filled 10 tags, 1 got 6 and 4 guys got one apiece. Or so it might seem to the other 94 guys... who saw jack-squat all season.
As a card-carrying member of “the other 94%”, it’s really quite easy for me to start turning various shades of green because I don’t have access to a half-dozen pieces of private land all to myself, but the truth is that if the guys who DO have that access won’t take deer in the numbers that the DEEP has provided for, we will never see the end of the population and distribution problems that we have here.
And until the DEEP is convinced that the overpopulation crisis is over, we’ll continue to get 4 public-land tags/year.
MAYBE there are enough Public deer out there to support one filled tag/hunter/year; I pretty much doubt it. But if I could make the rules, I’d go to the Colorado system - One TAG for One SEASON for One DEER per year on Public land, with crossbows legal for the handicapped in Archery season or during Firearms, if the Hunter should choose.
No changes to the private-land free-for-all except that no baiting would be allowed within .5 miles or maybe even a mile of any publicly-accessible WMU.
But that’s just me.
And I say head up to Maine with a bow and tell me it's the same as a gun! No way. And the facts show xbows are faster and easier to shoot, yes even better than your Mathews
I don’t think the Xbows are that much of advantage one shot heavy I can only shot in front of me or to me right left handed can’t shoot behind me and my bow shots 285 ft a sec after 40 yards it’s done very nolsry Your advantage is less practice and mor acurate with a rest , less lost deer it’s all about finding the deer and getting close some people can’t do that and complain about the people that can
Wow you guys are almost a antis allie! Who cares! stop fighting among our selves look at the bigger picture. Anti's/ peta/ fruitcake left wing liberals are our enemy. Hunters need to ban together we are getting fewer
Steve, I think you touched upon something that others are confusing with the type of weapon used and that's your "hunting" ability. I'm not talking about your ability to hit your target, but your ability to find deer, get close enough for a shot, know how to move without being detected, tracking, recovery and most importantly respect for the animal. Put a gun in my hands and I will leave the woods with a deer more often. Put a gun in a new hunter's hands and the same increase in the odds occurs.
I repeat what I said before, not all gun hunters are slobs looking to kill anything, however the choice of a gun over a bow is evidence that some want the advantage rather than the challenge. To me, xbows fall into the same category.
a compound with an 80% let off and a mechanical release should also fall in the same catagory.
I've killed more deer with my Damon Howatt 55 lb recurve than my Bowtech 65 lb compound. I agree that let off and release provide an advantage over a recurve, but far less than a gun or xbow. If you doubt this do a test. Take someone who never hunted and hand him/her a compound and one arrow, and then an xbow and one bolt. Let me know where they hit the target for each.
Where do you guys think the arrow/bolt go?
if you were really after a challenge you would hunt them bare handed like this guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUiPmHA7Xqg
Hole - two things. 1- I'm way too old to wrestle a kitty cat, never mind a mature buck. 2 - there's no deer wrestling season and I'm a stickler for following the rules.
Is there any real evidence of a systemic decline in the Connecticut deer herd? I hear a lot of people saying we should reduce bag limits and limit crossbows and put in antler point restrictions because the herd is decimated so pretty soon there will be no deer. At most the rationale is anecdotal reports that I used to have a great spot but now don't see that much there anymore. The fact is we were grossly overpopulated, especially in Fairfield County, 20 years back or so and I think a lot of hunters got spoiled in thinking hunting deer was supposed to be like fishing in a stocked pond. Now we are at numbers for most of the state that most wildlife biologists would say are still too high but just not ridiculous anymore. Statewide take numbers fluctuate but seem to be good and mostly affected inversely by mast crop production. If there is any evidence of a real problem in the deer population that requires radical action I would love to hear what it is. If not it might be best not to continue raising false alarms, otherwise noone will believe you should a real problem arrive.
look at the deer kills this year and that's with a low mast crop back 20 years ago there was a deer behind very tree not any more but should we wait there are none left ???
Bleydon,. The DEEP did a study in the NW corner due to a dramatic drop in the herd. They put tracking collars on doe to determine mortality rate and cause. They did nothing after determining the herd was in trouble.
Google Robert Miller deer decline. The DEEP agreed the herd has declined throughout the state. They offer various reasons but nothing firm, and these are the experts.