Identity of Archery?
Pennsylvania
Welcome to Pa and the new "archery" identity. Don't you know you can kill them out beyond 100 yards now? Saw it on TV, 100 yards you betcha....
I went to that circus years ago. King Of The Mountain still carried Bighorn recurves and Jim Rebuck had his traditional archery booth. I didn't see much else that interested me.
Last time I went the X-gun craze was beginning. The so called "Archery Hall" had nothing I recognized.
I sat in a 45 minute traffic jam for this?
Never again.
There has been a resurgence of traditional archery lately. Old guys are going back as well as younger folks giving it a try. I have been to some events that had greater attendance than those that involve compound bows. It appears to me that the x-bow guys don't even bother getting together to do stuff. If they are they are keeping it a secret. Too many loaners out there on all aspects of the sport that think they don't need anybody else.
We can't change the world.
All we can do is hunt our way.
I don't even worry about crossbows anymore..
Remember guys, The NRA told the PGC that it would be the best thing for them to have crossbows in the archery season.
I don't give a hoot about what someone else wants to hunt with. It's a free for all these days, and bow season has become a joke. Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours.
I do cringe however when a X-gun user claims to be a "Bowhunter".
Whats the true identity of firearms? Flintlocks? Make it whatever you wish to make it. Hunt however you wish to hunt. Use whatever you wish to use.
Some States Are now considering reductions in cbow seasons. I believe it may number 8. Some states are also considering primitive season for trad bows and flintlocks. :)
The true identity of archery is in the eye of the beholder. You can choose cross gun, training wheels, or stick with a string and go out and enjoy your hunt and time afield. Or you can spend your time worrying if the other guy identifies archery the way you think he should. Its all up to you.
I haven't been to a hunting show since circa 1999 when I was 11 years old. I will probably never go to one again. Don't care for all the hoopla I just shoot and hunt. I guess I would consider myself part of the identity of archery. It's not really a social thing to me. I shoot a compound for now, have since I was a tot, but I am really interested in picking up a trad bow. Tried making 2 selfbows so far, tried being the operative word. Those hunting exhibition shows are dying faster than magazines and that has nothing to do with crossbows or bowhunting it's just an obsolete concept of the soon-to-be past.
The loss of hunters in general will outpace any increase in archery effectiveness and unfortunately, I don't see that trend being reversed. It may be possible to slow/stagnate the loss of hunters due to new opportunities, especially geared towards new/young hunters but, the overall trend towards technology, re-urbanization, etc. is pushing the "hunting" lifestyle more and more to the fringes.
My identity: finding a maple branch, and some string. Taking the reed shafts of whatever plants looked suitable enough to make arrows. Getting pieces of slate and chipping them into points. Somehow fastening all of this together, to create my own bow and arrow set. This was the mid-late 1960s. Other than someone making my recurves now, that's MY Archery identity.
My point is that many of the observational analyses about crossbows are inaccurate. Me being one of them dreaded millennials I just don't see my cohorts doing the shows and shoots thing. We socialize through hunting differently. Crossbows are wildly popular, sure, but it's mostly among aging baby boomers and converted rifle hunters. I know dozens of guys IRL (in real life) my age group that bowhunt and one of them, one, uses a crossbow. Trad is cooler than ever among my peers. But few of us do the shows and shoots deal. Most just bowhunt and mind their own business. I think a lot of the older guys fail to account for that, the visibility is way different than what is actually happening.
I just do my thing and don't worry about others.
I hear the X-gun stories all the time. It's hard to smile as I listen to their stories.
"Shot a nice buck first night. Laid my "bow" on the crossbar and squeezed the trigger. Done!"
"I should have ranged it first. After I shot under it I found out it was 63yds and not 50yd."
"I must have missed, the doe ran away and didn't go down. I couldn't find my bolt anywhere." (I actually found that deer a few days later all bloated)
Ah yes the xbow stories, be careful... They have plenty about "archers" too. We all make mistakes an misses happen, the weapon aside, do we smile when anyone cripples deer or do not recover them? No one wins... Just saying... As a hard core bowhunter, we have all been there.
Bingo. One group throwing rocks at others when the one group has just as many glass windows as the other. No good for anybody....
Gene, well any body except you...:)
Concerning recovery rates. Here is some interesting info from Ohio;
Ohio also recently conducted a survey to study bowhunters’ shooting and wounding rates in 2014-2015, and found few differences between crossbows and vertical bows. Here are some of those findings:
The average shooting distance for all bowhunters was 25 yards, but shots that hit the deer averaged 22.4 yards, almost 30 percent closer than shots that missed, 31.1 yards. Accuracy decreased with distance for all bow types. Most shots taken with compounds and crossbows were 20 to 24 yards, and most shots taken with traditional gear (recurves and longbows) were 15 to 19 yards. The average shooting distance for compound hits was 22.6 yards, and the average miss was 31.6 yards. The average shooting distance for crossbow hits was 22.4 yards, and the average miss was 31.1 yards. Compound bow archers released 1,015 shots and connected on 686, for 67.6 percent accuracy. Crossbow archers released 719 shots and connected on 529, for 73.6 percent accuracy. Traditional archers released 38 shots and connected on 22, for 57.9 percent accuracy. Crossbow archers recovered 60 percent of deer they shot at, and didn’t recover 19 percent of deer they hit. Compound archers recovered 56 percent of deer they shot at, and didn’t recover 17.7 percent of deer they hit. Traditional archers recovered 40 percent of the deer they shot at, and didn’t recover 30 percent of deer they hit. Overall, bowhunters didn’t recover 18.5 percent of deer they hit.
Archery's identity? Anyone with a crumb of common sense knows what archery is and isn't, if they're honest and objective about it.
Archery ='s real bows to me. >>>------------------>
A picture is worth a thousand words... Dat explains everything. (about RC)
The t-shirts from Bob Hildenbrands shop said it all.
"Keepin' It Real"
No explanation needed.
None of us win if the seasons are separated as far as I’m concerned. Hunt with what you wish. A lot of the new regulations are ment to keep deer numbers in check while we loose hunters.
Could careless about your weapon of choice in archery season. My weapon of choice is a stick and a string.
