i've been hunting since the late 60's..seen the evolution from homemade longbows to recurve to compound to crossbows. i've heard arguments towards roundball/patch flintlocks to electronic fire blackpwder muzzle loaders..and yet the simple sight of a whitetail deer in full rut chasing a doe still raises my blood pressure and the excitement is known only to the american hunter who pursue these magnificent creatures..in my opinion crossbows are just another option for us humans to harvest one of the most magnificant creatures we are allowed to harvest..embrace the crossbow if you decide..if not..return to your fireside chair, grab your current issue of field and stream..and dream of the hunt next year and where the mount will go on the wall..jeff

I am from pa and i am a archery hunter. I very much hope that they never allow crossbows in the same season as regular archery. Archery takes skill to shoot. Useing a crossbow takes the challange out of the hunt. It is just like shooting a rifle that can't shoot over a hundred yards. If they do allow crossbows at least just have it for the late archery season. I can see the need for this if you've had a unsuccesful hunting season and you need the meat. I hunt public game land and I like to have some space to hunt unlike rifle season where the woods are filled with hunters.

I read the posted comments with great interest concerning legalizing crossbows, and I have this to say...I have been hunting in PA for close to 50 years, I started out with a M-94 Winchester for whitetail deer, and after that I have used almost everything imaginable, but much to my happiness, I have arrived back at square one with a M-94 Winchester, however, the bow is a whole different matter. If it were not for the fact that the PGC allows for certain disabilities, I would be out of the woods for archery season, I have moderate arthritis which takes me out of the conventional archery game, many of my generation as well. Furthermore, I stay abreast of what is going on in the Pennsylvania woods, and to say that archery today resembles anything that I started with in the early 1960's is laughable. Compound archery equipment with fiber optic sights, weights, cams, pulleys, and even scopes is not exactly "primitive", or "traditional" hunting methods. Having said that, there is an Army of anti-hunting people out there who love nothing more than to see unrest among the hunting ranks, "divide and conquer", they do not care who the division comes from, so, open your arms to another method of pursuing the happiness of hunting, soon the crossbow will be as common as my M-94 Winchester, and all will be well in Penn's Woods!
Dave Lewis

man i hope it doesn't pass it will wron huntuing in my homestate

I sure hope you archery or just hunting hypocrites all use only long bows or recurves with wooden arrows. You try to make the argument "Archery takes skill because at any point when you are trying to pull your bow back the deer can bust you. When you use a crossbow, you can just aim and fire." Why not try to be really skillful and use traditional archery equipment then. Traditional archery equipment doesn't allow you to draw, and then have 65% let-off while you're holding your string back waiting for your shot. I'm not saying you shouldn't be allowed to hunt with modern easy-to shoot compound bows with a high percentage of let-off. Maybe, as you suggest, there should be a separate season for modern compound bows separate from traditional archery season. And you should probably only be able to take does during this modern archery equipment season as some of you suggest, since traditional archery equipment takes much more skill.
Yeah, shooting a crossbow is exactly like shooting a rifle that doesn't shoot 100 yards. Yeah, right. Crossbow bolts, once in flight, have similar flight characteristics to fast "modern" carbon arrows. They even deflect off of small twigs and stick in small trees -in case you didn't know that since you're more skilled than others that use crossbows. Did you ever think that maybe those that shoot crossbows better than compound bows might stop wounding animals they never find and actually begin to harvest them humanely with crossbows?
What a real nice thing the game commissioners did in deciding that magnified scopes are no longer allowed on crossbows. A lot of crossbows come fitted with a fixed 4X scope. Now they're illegal in PA. What about those that previously had a medical restriction permit and already have a crossbow with a 4X scope? It doesn't make any sense to deem a magnified scope as illegal all of a sudden like that. What an opportunity to wound more deer.

Hunters really need to stop being so selfish in this argument by complaining that you'll now have to share the woods with more people. If you don't like public hunting land, go buy your own land and post the daylights out of it.

What an easy time the anti-gun/anti-hunting groups have with us. How can we expect them to understand our points of view and let us hunt the animals that God has given us, when we can't even clearly define what is wrong or right, ethical or unethical in this thing that we all love and defend? I'm not going to call it a sport because I think it's just what it's called -hunting. We need to stick together on this and defend it, or we are doing most of their work for them.

Crossbows were supported by 2 types. Manufacturers and a few people looking for a replacement for the skill they dont have.

The "We'll get more hunters in the woods if we allow them" argument makes my mind numb when I hear it. I have never heard someone say to me "If only they would allow crossbows..." Come on! Are you serious? Do you honeslty think that allowing an easier (and it is easier) method of harvesting deer is the way we want to attract people to our sport. I for one want someone in my ranks that understands the value and dedication it takes to harvest these majestic animals. Dont we owe it to these wonderful creatures that God put on this earth? Look - Does a crossbow add that much more effective range over a traditional or compund bow. No, not really... The problem that crossbows create are 2 fold in my mind. Ease of use creates a false sense of confidence which leads to less practive and could have the potential of wounding more deer because people are launching 80 yard assaults. The second and most concrete problem is that you do not need to draw in the presence of a deer. I know how many times I have been busted from this seemingingly "simple" act. Making the killing of an animal easier should never ever be entered into any argument. For those who hunt with a bow, they understand this and the responsibilty that hunters have to these animals to making the kill quick and effective...not easier. Why not allow buckshot in archery season? Doesnt it create oppurtunity? Growing up in Arkansas, my family harvested many deer with this effective short range ammo. Why not allow flintlock in the archery season? I have missed more deer with these rifles that I would care to speak of. I have also seen many more wounded which is a topic for another day. Why not allow crossbows a special season like they do muzzleloaders? I think it comes down to money. The all mighty dollar has spoken. The NRA has even chimed in and supported saying it creates oppurtunity. The NRA must not understand the deer hunting problems that we face in this state. Lack of deer creates lack of oppurtunity. Maybe they should work this, something that actually has the potential of devastating the sport more than anything else. Maybe one day we can hunt with a rifle 365 days a year...and never see a deer. And for those who say that sportmen should stick together..I agree completely. The problem is that there are many people hunting today that are far from sportsmen and I for one would rather have a fraternaty that is smaller in number, stronger and more ethical than a bloated cash cow of killers that is ripe for undermining by the "left".