posted on October 23, 2009 00:43
The “dark ages” of crossbow hunting, starting in the latter half of the nineteenth century, lasted around a hundred years. The final straw that ended their limited use for small game hunting in Europe was the advent of cheap rimfire rifles. After that, there was really no reason to own a hunting crossbow till in the late 60s when Ontario allowed their use in the new bowhunting deer season that the MNR had just created. Crossbow use was extremely limited at first, but soon enough a few other brave regulatory districts like Ohio, Wyoming, and Arkansas found it in their heart to let crossbows play in the same sandbox as the vertical bows.
This is about when I came onto the crossbow scene. I was just out of high school and positively ballistic about hunting, so becoming part of the horizontal side of bowhunting was a marriage made in heaven! My first crossbow, a Daco Hornet, left a lot to be desired. It was slow, clumsy, and ugly, but it made up for it by having really crappy sights. It took me five years to harvest my first whitetail. Back then deer were scarce, and decent information on crossbow hunting was nonexistent. Somehow I survived all that and my interest in these ungainly machines blossomed into a lifelong passion.
The world of crossbow hunting hit the doldrums in the 70’s though. No new states were interested in including them into their bow seasons. They had just gone through the big controversy as to whether compound vertical bows would be allowed, and they didn’t need any more conflict with the purists! Everybody sat on their hands while the pendulum swung all the way to the dark side, and there was a quarter-century of status quo.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, get ready, that big pendulum is a-comin’ back!
Six years ago Georgia suddenly, and without being influenced by the evil crossbow makers, went full archery status! Georgia was soon followed by Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia, as well as very positive partial seasons in other states. Things were looking up. This year already we’ve had Louisiana, Quebec, and South Carolina jump on the crossbow bandwagon. Three in one year, an all-time record!
Until now, all the real “Mega” archery states have been on the sidelines. Pennsylvania and Michigan are now looking towards major changes that could very likely include crossbows with the vertical bows within the very near future. Michigan’s House of Representative have unanimously approved full archery status, and a similar movement is underway in Pennsylvania.
I think that we can all celebrate that in spite of the concerted efforts of the elitist minority, the golden age of crossbow hunting is about to dawn! I can’t quite see the sun yet, but from my viewpoint we’ve had shooting light for some time, and when that sun finally clears the horizon, I, for one, will be jumping for joy!