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Maybe I’m a little off key here but I don’t see ppl rushing into late season with a crossbow? Most ppl I know that bowhunt forget about that unfilled tag and grab the muzzy. The diehard guys that sit in the late season cold with a bow in their hands are not cut from the same cloth as someone that will pick up a crossbow to try to gain the late season advantage. I just don’t see it. What are we worried about here? Average joe figures out you can buy a bow tag and hunt late season with a crossbow? I get the “crossbows are bad” mentality but if this passed I’d expect it to have very little effect on Iowa’s deer herd and late season hunter numbers.


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It is the same as a death by a thousand cuts. A few years ago it was crossbows on the late muzzy tag now they want crossbows on an archery tag in late season next it will be crossbows in archery only season. This will not stop with crossbows in late season with an unfilled archery tag.
 
Bonker nailed it. This isn't about crossbows in the 2nd split, it is the march to making them legal for the entire archery season.
 
Very much alive. This is how we get crossbows in the full archery season. With the logic below, it is an easy step to "crossbows are used in the 2nd split, so why not have them in the 1st split". Then the next step is "all these weapons are allowed during the 2nd split, so it is logical to allow them in the first split as well".

Bury your head in the sand if you want, but deer hunting (especially bow hunting) in Iowa is in big trouble. It is just happening incrementally, so it all seems "logical".

Response from Dean Fisher.

Thanks for the note Roger. We passed this bill out of subcommittee yesterday, I voted for it. I understand your concerns, but I don’t agree. That second archery split season is a catch all with muzzleloaders, shotguns, pistols, and crossbows already if a person has a muzzleloader license. Allowing a bow tag holder to also use a crossbow in the second split archery season does not introduce any new weapons into that season.


Regards,

Dean
 
Very much alive. This is how we get crossbows in the full archery season. With the logic below, it is an easy step to "crossbows are used in the 2nd split, so why not have them in the 1st split". Then the next step is "all these weapons are allowed during the 2nd split, so it is logical to allow them in the first split as well".

Bury your head in the sand if you want, but deer hunting (especially bow hunting) in Iowa is in big trouble. It is just happening incrementally, so it all seems "logical".

Response from Dean Fisher.

Thanks for the note Roger. We passed this bill out of subcommittee yesterday, I voted for it. I understand your concerns, but I don’t agree. That second archery split season is a catch all with muzzleloaders, shotguns, pistols, and crossbows already if a person has a muzzleloader license. Allowing a bow tag holder to also use a crossbow in the second split archery season does not introduce any new weapons into that season.


Regards,

Dean

That is the exact same response he sent me - I replied with :

If it adds nothing new then I would ask why do it? ...... What is new is that it now associates Crossbows into a regular ARCHERY season, an easy stepping stone to take it farther in the future. I am OK with it in Late Muzzleloader season as then they are in a GUN season where they belong.
 
I replied as well. With his logic, we all should get to use muzzleloaders during archery season since early muzzleloader season is open the same time as archery season. Hope that doesn't give him an idea for another bill.....
 
I got the same exact reply and I was a little more blunt in my response. So dumb and this is absolutely not good for deer hunting in Iowa.
 
What is bothersome about some of their responses is that they are providing their own personal opinion. They are simply supposed to listen to their constituents and vote accordingly. Maybe there are getting a rush of emails in support..... I doubt it. Government is so dysfunctional.
 
As Fishbonker stated this is a death by a thousand cuts. They will (the Cross-gun industry) never stop pushing this via law makers. Year after year they will find a rep to keep pushing a bill to get it into the regular bow season. Once that happens its lights out. Here in WI guys who would have never considered bow hunting quickly picked up Cross-guns. It allowed them to hunt in nicer weather and the Rut. Many, many, many people I know who only gun hunted became “archers” and that number continues to grow annually. In WI the cross-gun hunters have a higher success rate than gun hunters and they were just introduced in 2013. Iowa residents that you know that only hunt the shot gun seasons will buy cross-guns and become “archers” overnight. Public lands will get a lot more pressure than they do now. If NR’s think it takes a long time to get an archery tag in Iowa now wait until the market is opened up to 750,000 more “archers”. I will also make a generalization about Cross-gun hunters…..they are not as picky as archers. The quality of bucks in Iowa will quickly go down. I pray that you will be able to keep the cross-gun mafia out of Iowa but you’re going to have a hell of a battle because they just keep finding rep’s to introduce bills year after year. They are very organized.



For 2014 crossbows represented 33 percent of the Wisconsin bow deer harvest, 39 percent in 2015, 45 percent in 2016, 51 percent in 2017, and 54 percent in 2018.
 
As Fishbonker stated this is a death by a thousand cuts. They will (the Cross-gun industry) never stop pushing this via law makers. Year after year they will find a rep to keep pushing a bill to get it into the regular bow season. Once that happens its lights out. Here in WI guys who would have never considered bow hunting quickly picked up Cross-guns. It allowed them to hunt in nicer weather and the Rut. Many, many, many people I know who only gun hunted became “archers” and that number continues to grow annually. In WI the cross-gun hunters have a higher success rate than gun hunters and they were just introduced in 2013. Iowa residents that you know that only hunt the shot gun seasons will buy cross-guns and become “archers” overnight. Public lands will get a lot more pressure than they do now. If NR’s think it takes a long time to get an archery tag in Iowa now wait until the market is opened up to 750,000 more “archers”. I will also make a generalization about Cross-gun hunters…..they are not as picky as archers. The quality of bucks in Iowa will quickly go down. I pray that you will be able to keep the cross-gun mafia out of Iowa but you’re going to have a hell of a battle because they just keep finding rep’s to introduce bills year after year. They are very organized.



For 2014 crossbows represented 33 percent of the Wisconsin bow deer harvest, 39 percent in 2015, 45 percent in 2016, 51 percent in 2017, and 54 percent in 2018.
Exactly why this is a big deal to keep pushing back against this change. Everyone says "no one will actually hunt with them as they will stick to normal archery equipment". My rebuttal to that statement every time is to look at smokeless muzzleloaders and straightwall rifle cartridges. Many were against the , but once they are legal it changes to the mindset "if ya cant beat em, join em."
 
As Fishbonker stated this is a death by a thousand cuts. They will (the Cross-gun industry) never stop pushing this via law makers. Year after year they will find a rep to keep pushing a bill to get it into the regular bow season. Once that happens its lights out. Here in WI guys who would have never considered bow hunting quickly picked up Cross-guns. It allowed them to hunt in nicer weather and the Rut. Many, many, many people I know who only gun hunted became “archers” and that number continues to grow annually. In WI the cross-gun hunters have a higher success rate than gun hunters and they were just introduced in 2013. Iowa residents that you know that only hunt the shot gun seasons will buy cross-guns and become “archers” overnight. Public lands will get a lot more pressure than they do now. If NR’s think it takes a long time to get an archery tag in Iowa now wait until the market is opened up to 750,000 more “archers”. I will also make a generalization about Cross-gun hunters…..they are not as picky as archers. The quality of bucks in Iowa will quickly go down. I pray that you will be able to keep the cross-gun mafia out of Iowa but you’re going to have a hell of a battle because they just keep finding rep’s to introduce bills year after year. They are very organized.



For 2014 crossbows represented 33 percent of the Wisconsin bow deer harvest, 39 percent in 2015, 45 percent in 2016, 51 percent in 2017, and 54 percent in 2018.
Great post and very... very correct on your view.
I sent the emails And I was in the mood to argue with our awesome legislators and NOT one replied back:mad: I guess if emails are to truthful and people call them out they run and hide but still follow their personal agenda. Time will tell
 
Two other other thought...........

I am sure you are tired of hearing about WI but its my best example.......

1. As sportsmen here in WI we have the Wi Conservation Congress spring hearings. The Congress is made up of locals in every county. The average Joe can submit a proposal and if the proposal is selected the entire state will vote on that. It is only advisory at this point and is not law. YEAR after YEAR the cross-gun issue was brought by the slimy X-gun mafia and voted on by the sportsmen of WI. It was always defeated soundly. We did not want it in the regular bow hunting season. Did not matter they found a weak rep that was just elected (probably got some money out of the deal under the table) and used her to run it though the legislators. She happen to be in my district. She had only bought a lic 2 times in the last 10 years but had all the talking points. She had been groomed very well by the X-gun mafia. I emailed her detailed facts about what was happening in MI at the time but she always had a come back...more opportunity, family time, blah...blah...blah. In the end she just told me that we did not see eye to eye and she was going to vote for it. Now bow shops around me have 70% cross-guns and 30% bows on the shelf. The same ones that said they would not sell cross-guns. I don't blame them its there lively hood.

2. When talking to your rep's or other hunters call them Cross-Guns instead of Cross-bows. It may seem trite but a lot of hunter in Iowa are not as knowledgeable as you guys are on here because they are not keeping up on these things like you are. They are not bows...they have scopes and triggers...they do not have to be pulled back by the hunters at the moment of the kill. Words matter and the truth is important.....Cross-Guns!!!
 
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