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Turf wars over crossbow issue is just plain silly 
By Bill Conners Outdoors Columnist, Poughkeepsie Journal

      October 4, 2007 I got a late start on this week's column - not because I didn't know what I wanted to write about, but because I couldn't quite figure out how I was going to write it.

      The "it" is the opening of archery season for deer. This year, archers will start going afield on Oct. 17 here in the Southern Zone. You would naturally assume it should be a happy occasion. You would be wrong.

      Yet another archery season will come and go, and still folks who can no longer pull a bow back will not be able to hunt again this year because a small but vocal group of bow hunters refuses to get out of the road and let the Legislature legalize crossbows.

      Actually, the Legislature doesn't need permission to make the crossbow a legal hunting instrument here in New York, as many other states have already done. But just as they allow themselves to be bullied on so many other issues, they have not yet figured out how to ignore the ranting of little more than a handful of archers and make it possible for thousands of hunters to use an implement that has been in use for hundreds of years.

      There are persistent rumors that the lead organization in the effort to keep the number of bow hunters down - New York Bowhunters - has fewer members since they started their campaign against the use of crossbows. I suspect there is at least a modicum of truth to the rumors. I also suspect they will say I'm wrong. Show me.

       In the meantime, they continue to argue that the crossbow shouldn't be legal, but if it is, it should be used only during the regular gun season because there is something "un-pure" about it. In truth, it is no less pure than the compound bows that 99.9 percent of them already use.

      If the bowhunters were actually worried about the purity of their sport, they would be shooting bareback bows. That is longbows of the days of old, minus any trappings of modern technology. The longbow has been in use for thousands of years. It is pure. Compound bows didn't surface until 1967, thanks to the ingenuity of one Wilbur Allen of Allen Compound Bows.

      Allen, and a bow maker by the name of Jennings, started producing compounds in 1968. The technology has continued to advance to the point that due to the cams on the typical compound bow today - while it may take 55 or 60 pounds to pull the string back, the "let-off" created by the cams drops the energy required to hold the bow string back by as much as 90 percent or more - doesn't sound pure to me.

       Unfortunately the 90-percent let-off created by the cams does nothing for someone who can't pull the bow back to begin with. Yes, there are devices and gimmicks to help, but a crossbow for most people solves the problem.

      This is a turf war, pure and simple. Legalization of the crossbow and its allowed use during the archery-only season will put more hunters in the woods. When that happens - and I do mean when - New York Bowhunters will have to implement a counseling hotline.

       They do not want the number of hunters in the woods during archery season to grow. The mere thought that it could happen has them placing calls to Albany just to make sure that the chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee, Carl Marcellino, still hasn't figured out that there is no plausible excuse for not letting the legislation come to the floor of the Senate.

       That having someone hunting a few hundred feet or a few hundred yards from you using a crossbow will somehow impact the quality of your hunt is absurd. If two hunters are more than just a few yards away from each other, they probably wouldn't know that the other has even released an arrow. They don't seem to care that the other hunter could be 61 years old and suffering from limitations imposed by shoulder surgery.

      That bowhunters think there is something pure about using a modern compound is amazing. Just comparing a 1967 Allen compound to those manufactured today is like trying to compare a washboard to a front-loading washer. They both get the clothes clean, but they sure don't do it the same way.

      So why not allow the use of crossbows? We need additional hunters out there, and that might help get them there.

Bill Conners of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish and Game Clubs writes on outdoors news, notes and issues every Thursday in Players. He can be reached via e-mail at conners@vh.net, or by calling the Players Hot Line at 845-437-4848.

Posted October 10 2007 PoughkeepsieJournal.com
 

      Sooner or later New York’s seniors and disabled will be given the opportunity to decide if they do or do not want to use a crossbow for deer hunting. Until then they can only envy those in Illinois who recently were given this choice. Illinois officials amended the Wildlife Code to allow seniors 62 and older the use of the crossbow during the entire bow-hunting season with no if, ands or buts. It is expected the number of bow hunters will increase dramatically with the revision of the code. Illinois officials do not expect any harm will come to the ever-expanding deer herd by allowing seniors the use of crossbows.        

      New York State, on the other hand, still insists for anyone to use a crossbow they must be a paraplegic without the use of any limbs or fingers. This disgusting and shameful requirement was enacted with the blessing of the New York Bowhunters who for years claimed the compound bow was a “traditional” weapon. Neither, the crossbow nor compound bow, are traditional. They are both the result of intensive experimentation and development by engineers over the years. If truth were known the crossbow of today looks more like its predecessor than the compound compares to the six-foot, lemon wood bow of yore. The primary difference between compound and crossbow is one is fired horizontally, the other, vertically. Other than that they both have wheels and pulleys to make life easier for the shooter. As soon as Senator Carl Marcellino, the one holding up the vote to legalize the crossbow and pet of NYB, is out of office the bow hunters of New York might be given the opportunity to decide for themselves what they want to use. The world as we know it will not end if the crossbow is allowed in the state.

Joe Ognibene Outdoor Scene
Sunday October 7  2007           

         On Saturday the archery deer season opened and, sad to say, we still are not allowed the use of a crossbow to take deer. For many who at one time enjoyed waiting in a tree stand for a deer to come by day has lost all meaning because the ravages of time or infirmity has robbed them of the ability to pull a bowstring. Recently Bill Conners, outdoor columnist for the Poughkeepsie Journal, wrote that the “turf war over crossbows is just plain silly.”

        Most outdoor writers, and he too, mention that those who can no longer pull a bowstring are forced out of bow hunting because a “small but vocal group of bow hunters refuses to get out of the way and let the Legislature legalize the crossbow.” That small but vocal group Conners refers to is New York Bowhunters. Whenever it appears legalization of the crossbow might come about they organize a flurry of telephone calls to Senator Carl Marcellino, the one holding up voting on legalization by not allowing it to come to a vote. It is obvious NYB is well organized and proves Adolph Hitler was right when he wrote, “a well organized minority will always defeat the disorganized majority.”

        In this ongoing fight over legalizing the crossbow the disorganized majority must realize the most important issue is the right to choose what you want to use to hunt deer and then demand it. I like using a 12-gauge, semi-automatic shot gun for deer hunting. That does not give me the right to deny you using a pump 16-gauge shotgun simply because I like the 12-gauge semi-autoloader. Conners goes on to write, “they, NYB, do not want the numbers of hunters in the woods during archery season to grow.” “That having someone hunting a few hundred feet or a few hundred yards from you using a crossbow will somehow impact the quality of your hunt is absurd. If two hunters are more than a few yards away from each other, they probably wouldn’t know that the other fellow has even released an arrow.”

        In his column Conners mentions what this column has many times, that a modern compound bow is a not a “traditional” bow. It never has been or ever will be. The same is true of the crossbow. The hue and cry against the crossbow is the same that was heard back in the mid 60s when compound bow first arrived on the scene. When the crossbow is legalized, and it will be, many thousands disabled or elderly former archers will gladly pick one up and rejoin the sport. When that time comes, and it will, members of NYB might have to have counseling to get over the shock of having to hunt at the same time with those who disagree with their selfishness.

Read Connors whole column here above

Obviously Young O'Brien is dismembered and a crossbow is his only means to enjoy the sport. 
It is well deserved but for now a special "handicap" permit is needed in New York State.

Thank You Senator Maziarz and Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte for your efforts

February 9, 2007 -- The use of crossbows in New York State is again on the table with considerable angst from both sides. The proposed legislation comes after neighboring states already allow crossbows and other states across the country are making similar moves. Some sportsmen are wondering if the bill could become a reality this time around.

The bill calls for the DEC to develop standards for crossbow hunting by July 9, 2009. It would be up to the DEC to establish season lengths and address issues such as whether crossbows would be allowed during the regular archery hunting seasons or the gun season.

The bulk of the opposition to crossbows comes from New York Bowhunters, Inc., the statewide group representing thousands of archery hunters. NYB always has been against any type of weapon that isn't a conventional bow that is drawn and held by hand during the archery season.

Right now, the only ones who can use the crossbow are the physically challenged.

I don't see any reason why the crossbow should not be allowed during the gun season. Over the past 20 years, the number of gun hunters has dropped considerably, allowing for growth in the number of hunters during that time of the season.

To create a separate season for crossbows would only cut back time from archery or gun seasons. Bow-hunters in New York already got the short end of the stick by the move to a Saturday opener for the regular firearms deer season, which is usually the beginning of the rut and used to offer some of the best whitetail hunting of the archery season.