# Injured guy wont shoot...



## Groganite (Nov 14, 2012)

Ive got a buddy thats never been "hunting" and really wants to go....but he got in a motorcycle accident messed up his knee and hand. Long story short he feels shooting with a crossbow is "cheating" or unethical and I dont rifle hunt unless its muzzleloader, too many people. So please help me convince him its not any easier and how you as a hunter would invoke that right to a crossbow if you had to.


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## Josh (Oct 27, 2008)

It is easier for an able bodied individual. Thats why the cross bow is restricted to those that are physically unable to draw and use a bow. But if he is legitimately unable to use a bow there is no shame in picking up the cross bow. Getting close to the animals isnt any easier no matter what weapon is in your hand. Just show him some pics of a great buck and ask him if he would smile less when looking at it on his wall if he took it with a cross bow. For me Id still be cheese grinning every time I looked at it. If that doesnt work tell him that deer steaks taste way better when you shoot it with a cross bow.


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

I am disabled and unable to draw a bow back. Have been hunting with a crossbow for quite a few years. It is still a challenge plus you can't make the really long shots like you can with a good compound bow. Have to still hunt like you did with a compound, still, silent and no scent.


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## c3hammer (Nov 1, 2009)

Have him go test a crossbow. When people think it's cheating, have them step back to 50 or 80 yards. Those things are much tougher to shoot than you'd think. Their only real advantage is that they are "drawn" and ready.

The super short "bolt" makes them relatively unstable in the air and getting longer distances out of them is very difficult. Even an Olympic Recurve at 90m is more accurate.

While in the minds eye it might not be as appealing, it takes tons of work to get a crossbow setup to work really well and learn how to use it.

There's nothing like the anticipation of the hunt, reguardless of the weapon.

Cheers,
Pete


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## Watcher (Dec 31, 2008)

There are tons of discussions on this and they all pretty much boil down to there is absolutely nothing to question if you are using a legal means to pursue game! Someone with a medical opinion that a crossbow is the only way to ethically pursue game during an archery hunt and state laws that allow it ... there's nothing to even discuss here. If it's fun, challenging, legal have at it. 

The discussion often goes on to say that long bow hunters can look down their noses at all of us, recurve hunters can look down there nose at compound and cross-bow hunters, and compound hunters can look down their nose at cross-bow hunters. But this misses the mark on at least two levels.

1) We all need to support sportsmen who ethically and legally purse game regardless of their choice of equipment, and 
2) Who the he** are you to judge my hunting tools as long as I act legally and responsibly - and have fun doing it.


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

I think it is much easier to kill a deer with a crossbow, it is also much easier to kill a deer with a muzzleloader, and even more with a rifle. That shouldn't matter at all!!
This whole thing about racks and the challenge and all that stuff just gets in the way of what hunting is all about and that is ENJOYMENT!!! We all get that enjoyment in different ways, my brother gets it from finding big bucks to hunt in the swamps of Louisiana. I get the enjoyment of finding out of the way areas where nobody else goes and just taking the first buck that shows up. I get more enjoyment from scouting and learning what the animals are feeding on and how the weather affects them. I care nothing about antlers, for me it is all about my time learning the animals and taking one in a legal method and then the year long enjoyment that comes from spending time cooking that animal and having great meals with my wife.

If your buddy thinks it is cheating to use a crossbow all he needs to do is look at is like this. If nobody else existed on the earth but him would he still consider it cheating? I think it is more about pear pressure rather than how he feels. If he still feels it is cheating fine, tell him he has to leave the thing un****ed till he has a shot just like drawing a boy, now it is going to be WAY harder than with a bow!!!


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## Groganite (Nov 14, 2012)

Thanks everyone for your comments im sure I can get him to go this year!!


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## Watcher (Dec 31, 2008)

Sorry I can't let this go but I have one more thing to add to the discussion. We have evolved from substance hunting and had a period of market hunting. These periods basically had no rules to operate under or be accountable. Market hunting had a devestating impact on wildlife (think: bison, passenger pigeon, east coast waterfowl, etc.).

We now have a very regulated and managed hunting programs and we now operate under a "sport hunting" model. Look up sport in the dictionary and you will see something along the lines of: "Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition, ..."

Play by the rules, be safe, respect others, have fun.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

I hunt with a longbow and a longrange gun. Both are fun, challanging and legal. The crossbow fits somewhere between them. It's hunting/shooting and that's what we love right? I'd gladly share a camp with a crossbow shooter.



Watcher said:


> Play by the rules, be safe, respect others, have fun.


I couldn't have said it better myself Watcher.


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