\n| \n NY
\nOUTDOOR NEWS\u00a0\u00a0 for October
\nTAKING AIM COLUMN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n ![](\"\/will_e1.jpg\") <\/b><\/td>\n | \n
\nCROSSBOW LEGALIZATION STILL A SEA OF
\nCONTROVERSY<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nBy Will
\nElliott <\/span><\/p>\nNow that the
\ncrossbow has become a legal hunting device in New York State, New
\nYork Bowhunters (NYB) leadership has raised their sails and cheered
\nwhat they deem another successful voyage.<\/span><\/p>\nTo sustain
\nthis seafaring metaphor, it looks as though the NYB anti-crossbow
\nadvocates are acting like a boat load of Ahabs. <\/span><\/p>\nSince NYB was
\nformed in 1991, a powerful faction of members serving as officers,
\ndirectors, and committee leaders, has likened their distain for
\ncrossbows with an obsession akin to Herman Melville\u2019s Captain Ahab
\nin the classic sea tale \u201cMoby Dick.\u201d Ahab\u2019s whaling ship, Pequod,
\nbecame the stage for the captain\u2019s fixation on killing this white
\nwhale he had encountered earlier. During that encounter, the whale
\ndestroyed Ahab\u2019s ship and bit off his leg.<\/span><\/p>\nFor the NYB
\norganization, the anti-crossbow faction has had a fixation to kill
\nany New York State legislation that would allow crossbow use while
\nhunting in this state.<\/span><\/p>\nWell, for NYB
\nlobbyists, the evil, leg-biting crossbow (Moby Dick) has just tapped
\nthe hull of NYB\u2019s Pequod. Yet the NYB establishment considers its
\nanti-crossbow efforts a complete success.<\/span><\/p>\nPreviously,
\nthis anti faction had successfully alienated New York State outdoor
\nwriters who chose to discuss anything favorable about crossbow use.
\nPrevious NYB president Kevin Armstrong once wrote that anyone with a
\ntypewriter\/keyboard can become an outdoor writer. Current NYB
\npresident Gary Socola has echoed that sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\nIf so, why has
\nnot Armstrong and Socola become the next Melville or Ernest
\nHemingway?<\/span><\/p>\nPerhaps their
\nobsession with stopping crossbows has curbed their literary output.
\nBut Socola waxed widely after NYB lobbying altered the initial
\nFrancine DelMonte and George Maziarz crossbow legalization bills.<\/span><\/p>\nIn its final
\nlegislative form, the crossbow bill serves all purposes of the NYB
\nantis \u2013 not the general will of hunters statewide. <\/span><\/p>\nIn doing so,
\nNYB not only assailed members of the New York State Outdoor Writers
\nAssociation (NYSOWA), the anti faction further incurred the ire of
\nthe NYS Conservation Council. While doing so, they added the Safari
\nClub International (SCI) and the DEC.<\/span><\/p>\nAs for outdoor
\nwriters, NYB critics like to say that the pro-crossbow sentiment
\ncomes mainly from a few writers in Western New York. However, during
\nthe latest round of debates, NYB experts attacked outdoor writer
\nBill Connors when he correctly cited statistics on crossbow dynamics
\nin the state of Georgia. <\/span><\/p>\nCuriously,
\nConnors is not a member of NYSOWA and he writes columns for the
\nPoughkeepsie Journal in southeastern New York.<\/span><\/p>\nIn fact, many
\nof this state\u2019s writers have written favorably about crossbow use,
\nbut their production is prompted by their own preferences \u2013 or
\nassignments of editors.<\/span><\/p>\nAs a past
\npresident of NYSOWA, I can affirm that this writers group does not
\nsupport or oppose proposed legislation \u2013 or political candidates,
\nappointments, product items, or reality-show contestants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAs for NRA
\nsupport of crossbows, NYB officials took exception to this NRA
\nstance. President Socola wrote an interjection: \u201c\u201d(not sure how
\nbeing pro-crossbow is protecting my firearms right)\u2026\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nIronically,
\nNYB crossbow critics during the tenure of the past three presidents
\ndelight in referring to this device as a \u201ccross-gun.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nAs for rights,
\ndisallowing crossbow access during the regular archery season to
\nthousands of prospective users can be seen as denying hunting
\nrights.<\/span><\/p>\nThe NYB attack
\non the DEC is two-fold. Socola questions why the DEC would hold
\nmeetings and spend our tax dollars on a Cornell survey. Socola goes
\non to state: \u201c\u2026our DEC knows nothing about crossbows.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nThe DEC has
\naccess to records and reports from 48 states that have previously
\nlegalized this device, and DEC officials conducted public meetings
\nand enlisted Cornell to conduct a study \u2013 yet NYB critics discredit
\nthe DEC\u2019s knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\nCuriously, the
\nNYB Web site featured for more than a decade a Cornell study done
\nshowing the statewide preference for crossbow use was slightly less
\nthan 50 percent. Somehow, a 1994 study is valid but current
\npreferences should not be accepted. <\/span><\/p>\nClearly,
\nsupport for crossbow legalization for all throughout all open
\nhunting seasons has come from individual hunters and private and
\nprofessional organizations statewide and nationally.<\/span><\/p>\nThe problem is
\nthat this support is not shown in solid numbers when legislators
\ndeliberate crossbow concerns. NYB vice-president Martin Seeley, when
\nthanking members for hammering legislators with phone calls,
\ne-mails, and faxes, posed the question: \u201cAre they really out there?\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\nThe answer, of
\ncourse, is they \u2013 hunters and shooters favoring or not opposed to
\ncrossbow use \u2013 are \u201cout\u201d there. That is, they are not in Albany
\nhounding key legislators every time crossbow legislation hits
\nassembly and senate floors. One regional director praised a member
\nwho spent a full month in Albany pushing legislators away from
\ncrossbows.<\/span><\/p>\n
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