The Crossbow Question
Please review and post your vote / comments.
Presque Isle Field Archers
On Jan. 27, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners gave final approval to a regulatory change that will expand the use of crossbows for the 2009-10 license year. The proposal was amended before receiving final approval, and there have been some questions about these changes. To better explain what has been put in place for the 2009-10 seasons, the Game Commission is offering this list of frequently asked questions.
The United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania remain steadfast that the crossbow is a superior weapon to a bow and should not be permitted in archery seasons other than by those hunters who qualify as physically unable to draw and hold a bow. We also feel that the recent decision by the PGC Board of Commissions for full six-week inclusion of the crossbow represents a departure from the limited and incremental approach historically utilized when providing new or expanded hunting opportunity. Additionally, with the decision makers omitting any accurate means by which to determine participation and harvest, and their disregard of the objections of a significant percentage of Pennsylvania sportsmen, depicts an overall deviation from the scientific, biological, and social concerns of conscientious wildlife management. Therefore we feel that any hunting license increase package must include a crossbow license to accurately track harvest and participation.
The United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania posts the following.
Our Question to you is this:
Although the Pennsylvania Game Commission has made it legal to use crossbows during our regular archery season despite the fact that nearly 95% of the archery community was completely against it, they can not control what we do at the PIFA club on our property. We need to make a decision as to whether or not the PIFA club will allow crossbows. At the last member/board meeting a vote was taken and it was split both ways. We would like to have your input before the next vote. As it is now, there is no policy but rather it was just assumed that only people with a handicap are permitted to use the crossbow during shoots. Our first 3D shoot is April 19. There will NOT be a crossbow class for this shoot, however we still need to define a new policy for future shoots. It is my opinion that the biggest issue the club has with bringing a crossbow class into the club is safety. The issue seems to be that the crossbow is a much higher powered weapon and most do not have a safety mechanism. One can just load it and walk around with it loaded. While some newer crossbows do have a safety mechanism, most do not. When shooting on a range or hunting in the woods with a gun, you would trust that your fellow hunters were using the safety mechanism that was put on the gun from the manufacturer. Since most crossbows do NOT have this safety mechanism option, you are merely trusting that one walking around at a shoot with a loaded crossbow is not going to trip or bump up against anything which might trigger the arrow and God only knows where it might be pointed at that moment. This may not be an issue for you while you are out on a real hunt during hunting season, hunting at your own risk, but it remains the responsibility of the club to do everything possible to keep our shoots safe. If the club votes "yes" than we would see an increase in crossbow users, thus putting traditional and compound bow users at a higher risk and this might discourage some from attending our shoot due to the increased threat of accidental injury or death. A "no" vote by the club would discourage those who do want to use a crossbow on a shoot and we loose those people. The delicateness of this decision is that either way someone wins and someone looses. Perhaps it could be an option that we allow crossbows, but only newer ones that do in fact have a safety mechanism on them. This decision would allow them, but limit users to using only the newer models. Some would say that this is not fair either and will upset someone somehow. We obviously do not want to loose any existing members and are always looking to pick up new members and we know that our decision could sway the pendulum either way. This makes it even more difficult for just a handful of people to decide the fate of the club. With your opinion and your thoughts this decision could be a little easier for us to make.
So it looks like we have several options. We do allow them, we do not allow them, or we allow only those that have a safety on them. What is your decision, what is your opinion? If you have taken the time to read all of this, then please take a moment more and fill out these forms below. You can view results and other comments before making your own. You will be able to enter multiple comments, however your actual vote is limited to only ONE submission per computer.
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March 24th, 2009
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