New Archery Law

[Kingman Cruncher]

As I understand it, starting in 2020 you will be able to use a crossbow during archery seasons in Maine. So basically spot and stalk in October at some pretty impressive range and distances is now allowed. Thoughts? Anyone doing it?

 

[Flatlander]

Ct. allowed everyone to use crossbows a few years back. Now there's a lot more people bow hunting.

 

[Kingman Cruncher]

Ct. allowed everyone to use crossbows a few years back. Now there's a lot more people bow hunting.

Im not sure in our coastal expanded areas there could be any more bow hunters!

Im thinking in places like northern Maine where there is very few archery guys because patterning big bucks is difficult and not many doe permits, if guys will get into it with crossbows because you could essentially hunt like you do in the fall still hunting, watching a cut, etc. I’ve never owned one, but it sounds like they are really accurate to 75 yards?

 

[M Kelly]

I use one primarily during the late season here in Ct. I can't attest to the accuracy at 75 yds, but 50 yds I'm deadly with a rest.
I harvest a doe (CT Meat Pole) last season at 35 yds. from the stand, and was truly impressed with the performance. I'd really like NH to follow suite
as well. Good Luck. Anything to keep on being in the woods

 

[longbow]

Im not sure in our coastal expanded areas there could be any more bow hunters!

Im thinking in places like northern Maine where there is very few archery guys because patterning big bucks is difficult and not many doe permits, if guys will get into it with crossbows because you could essentially hunt like you do in the fall still hunting, watching a cut, etc. I’ve never owned one, but it sounds like they are really accurate to 75 yards?

They are accurate to that range and further, if you know the distance. Very flat out to 50 yards but after that you have to know the exact distance due to the trajectory. (range finder). They are noisy, at least the ones I have shot, and the chance of a deer reacting to the noise on a 75 yard shot and causing a bad hit is a consideration. I have used them on late season doe hunts quite a bit.

They are definitely deadly accurate and you will probably be able to hit a tennis ball every time from 50 yards or further.

 

[bearblade]

New Law

Good luck. Let the manufacturers and their militarized "sniper" and "tactical" equipment have every advantage over game with limited defenses. Like everything else we sell our souls to commodification. Kill efficiently, by all means. Crossbows are shortcuts for killers, not hunters. If I don't stand with all hunters then lay it on. This lifelong Hunter has about had it with the manufacturers and the "easier is better" route. If you are disabled, fine. If not I have no respect for the crossbow. It is not the fault of the users. Time is limited and few develop real archery skills. Sad to see hunting going down this road. I feel more and more alienated from a once simple sport that was mastered by patience and practice. Good luck. Maybe they'll put together a drone/xbow package soon.

 

[Escout711]

Good luck. Let the manufacturers and their militarized "sniper" and "tactical" equipment have every advantage over game with limited defenses. Like everything else we sell our souls to commodification. Kill efficiently, by all means. Crossbows are shortcuts for killers, not hunters. If I don't stand with all hunters then lay it on. This lifelong Hunter has about had it with the manufacturers and the "easier is better" route. If you are disabled, fine. If not I have no respect for the crossbow. It is not the fault of the users. Time is limited and few develop real archery skills. Sad to see hunting going down this road. I feel more and more alienated from a once simple sport that was mastered by patience and practice. Good luck. Maybe they'll put together a drone/xbow package soon.

So how is the whole hunting without a gun thing working out for you? Are you bow only all the time? I hope not a compound bow, I bet you’re an atlatl kinda guy!

 

[bearblade]

I know. It was a rant! I think we all have one and I just stuck my finger down my throat and purged��. I have met some good people that use xbows. And I have also heard bolts smack into trees from God knows where. There are rational arguments from all sides. But I stick to my sentiments. And yes, I would use an atlatl! I drew MY own line. Yours may be different and if I meet you in the woods you would not know my opinion.

 

[M Kelly]

Good luck. Let the manufacturers and their militarized "sniper" and "tactical" equipment have every advantage over game with limited defenses. Like everything else we sell our souls to commodification. Kill efficiently, by all means. Crossbows are shortcuts for killers, not hunters. If I don't stand with all hunters then lay it on. This lifelong Hunter has about had it with the manufacturers and the "easier is better" route. If you are disabled, fine. If not I have no respect for the crossbow. It is not the fault of the users. Time is limited and few develop real archery skills. Sad to see hunting going down this road. I feel more and more alienated from a once simple sport that was mastered by patience and practice. Good luck. Maybe they'll put together a drone/xbow package soon.

Oneshott is that you???

 

[NH Hunter]

Good luck. Let the manufacturers and their militarized "sniper" and "tactical" equipment have every advantage over game with limited defenses. Like everything else we sell our souls to commodification. Kill efficiently, by all means. Crossbows are shortcuts for killers, not hunters. If I don't stand with all hunters then lay it on. This lifelong Hunter has about had it with the manufacturers and the "easier is better" route. If you are disabled, fine. If not I have no respect for the crossbow. It is not the fault of the users. Time is limited and few develop real archery skills. Sad to see hunting going down this road. I feel more and more alienated from a once simple sport that was mastered by patience and practice. Good luck. Maybe they'll put together a drone/xbow package soon.

While I echo your logic on the manufacturers.... I don't have an issue with crossbows. Here in NH our season dates haven't been adjusted for bow hunters what so ever. A means of hunting that used to be recurves and longbows, with technology of a compound not being much, and the deer harvest averaging 300. That season is now filled with range finders on bows, or even hand held range finders, lighter arrows, easier tuning broad heads, sights with magnification, sights with lights , drop away rests , blah blah blah

One of the biggest changes to the "superior bow hunters" is the use of the hand held release. if you feel this way about cross bows, you must feel the same about a compound shooter using a hand held release. The release aid clearly removed the hardest part of bow hunting/shooting. If you've never shot fingers, give it a try and you'll see what I mean. The entire archery crowd, and scene is probably the largest group out of touch with reality I've every seen. Carbon clothes, cheap and easily moved tree stands, and all the other technology I just spoke of, yet they flip their whiney little asses at the thought of another hunter with a broadhead on a xbow using the woods the same time they are. I think there should be a 6 week longbow/recurve season and a 1 week compound / crossbow season. Let the whiney little bitches go back to the beginning of where archery started if they can't play nice with the gun hunter, cross bow shooters and the ML crowd.

 

[longbow]

Archery sure was different back in the 30's when the first archery seasons started. Scheduled before the guns seasons, so this small group of highly challenged sportsman, with their stick and strings, would have a chance at a deer before the gun hunters shot up the woods.

The equipment has slowly evolved into something much different. Which will you use? That is something that you must decide. Some still choose the old way and others the new way. Where you fall along the continuum of archery gear is up to you these days as just about anything is legal. It's up to you, how much of a challenge are you looking for? What excites you, and what brings you satisfaction, when you look down at the deer you just killed with your archery gear? Are you looking for extreme efficiency or extreme challenge? Each must choose.

 

[longbow]

I think there should be a 6 week longbow/recurve season and a 1 week compound / crossbow season. Let the whiney little bitches go back to the beginning of where archery started if they can't play nice with the gun hunter, cross bow shooters and the ML crowd.

I think something along those lines is a good idea actually.

 

[Flatlander]

I'm still using a compound bow , but will probably buy a crossbow this summer. Adding 25 - 30 yards to my range is a game changer.

 

[JDK]

1 deer, 1 season. October 15-November 15. Kill them however you wish.

 

[Flatlander]

11/15 the rut is just peaking , most folks might find that too early.

 

[JDK]

I really don't care with what and when someone kills a deer but which is it.

Whine when people actually kill deer during deer season and advocate for the closing of a season early.

OR

Champion the passing of legislation that allows equipment that makes it easier (???) to kill deer? Everyone is saying 25 yard more effective range.

If equipment improvements mean more effective killing then what is the alternative than shortening seasons. Seems like we can't have it both ways.

 

[sneaky_pete000]

I'm assuming Maine fish and wildlife use harvest success rates when calculating out the permit allocation? Meaning, if the use of crossbows causes a spike in harvest rates, they'd probably adjust something down like season length, or bag limits, etc? I don't have a dog in the fight, and if I choose to use an atlatl, I don't care at all if another hunter uses a crossbow. Why does one affect the other? I think sometimes we spend so much time trying to get people to see things our way, that we forget to look at it from their way.

 

[DLuke]

I got my first crossbow this past winter and got my medical form sent in to the state so I can use it during archery. Had shoulder surgery in 2006 and the pain is back roughly 50% of what it was prior to surgery. Anyhow, I shot mine at 20, 30, and 40 yards and was deadly on first shot. Golf ball size bullseyes.......however. Moving beyond 40 was still reasonably accurate, but the time it takes for a bolt to reach its target at 50 or more yards is ridiculous when you remember that deer have been jumping strings for years. Mine shoots 370fps, and I could pick my nose and flick the booger in the time it takes for that bolt to reach the target.....

 

[JDK]

I'm assuming Maine fish and wildlife use harvest success rates when calculating out the permit allocation? Meaning, if the use of crossbows causes a spike in harvest rates, they'd probably adjust something down like season length, or bag limits, etc? I don't have a dog in the fight, and if I choose to use an atlatl, I don't care at all if another hunter uses a crossbow. Why does one affect the other? I think sometimes we spend so much time trying to get people to see things our way, that we forget to look at it from their way.

I make zero claim that anyone will agree with my opinion or that it is correct. In Maine, if a WMU has an any deer permit allocation, archers can legally kill an any deer with their licence. If the use of more effective equipment leads to the killing of more deer then what realistically can IF&W do? Are they going to make archers apply for any deer permits. I can hear the screaming now. Are they going to cut the number of permits that rifle and muzzleloader hunters can have? I can hear the screaming now also. Will they shorten seasons?

I believe that as any equipment becomes more effective all hunters have to make concessions somewhere. In Maine it always seems to be rifle hunters.

That is why I say and will always say if you are going to be a 1 deer state have 1 season. Any legal means and we all work under the same permits/licences. But we all know that will never happen.

 

[sneaky_pete000]

I make zero claim that anyone will agree with my opinion or that it is correct. In Maine, if a WMU has an any deer permit allocation, archers can legally kill an any deer with their licence. If the use of more effective equipment leads to the killing of more deer then what realistically can IF&W do? Are they going to make archers apply for any deer permits. I can hear the screaming now. Are they going to cut the number of permits that rifle and muzzleloader hunters can have? I can hear the screaming now also. Will they shorten seasons?

I believe that as any equipment becomes more effective all hunters have to make concessions somewhere. In Maine it always seems to be rifle hunters.

That is why I say and will always say if you are going to be a 1 deer state have 1 season. Any legal means and we all work under the same permits/licences. But we all know that will never happen.

Just for the record JDK, I was just posting in general - I didn't want you to think I was aiming anything at what you said. I probably shouldn't have posted at all. I choose not to hunt Maine, so I should shutup.