posted on August 11, 2009 10:42
As hunters who pay hunting license fees and game managers whose programs come from those licenses, we are blessed by the ability of the whitetail deer to adjust to the continued encroachment on its habitat by man and still multiply. If it I were not for the far sighted sportsmen who preceded us and insisted upon scientific management practices, most modern deer hunting today would be very costly and conducted on preserves, behind high-fences.
However, this magnificent animal’s ability to multiply, coupled with conservative management practices, have resulted in whitetail populations at an all-time high. In some areas deer populations are so high that property damage as well as safety and health concerns have arisen. The game manager’s job today is rapidly becoming more sociological than biological. Heaped in the middle comes the issue of creating a new opportunity with a new and misunderstood hunting tool – the crossbow.
MYTH: Crossbows are a poacher’s tool.
FACT: Crossbows, like vertical bows, have short range capabilities, are too cumbersome to discharge from a vehicle, and kill by hemorrhage, not shock. Where legal, violations are minimal. If crossbows were efficient poaching tools their use would be wide-spread by game thieves. The poachers weapon of choice is still the .22 caliber rifle.
MYTH: Crossbows are unsafe.
FACT: Based on thirty years of statistical data, accident rates involving crossbows are identical to those of vertical bows. Both, considering hunting hours involved and numbers of hunters, are considered among the safest forms of hunting.
MYTH: Crossbows are too easy to shoot.
FACT: Experienced rifle shooters can expect to quickly achieve tight arrow groups on targets up to forty yards (the effective hunting range of a crossbow). Is that bad? Isn’t accurate shot placement the goal of all ethical hunting? Does the difficulty of shooting a bow accurately deter people from participating?