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HSB 158 Crossbows in late archery season

Was only a matter of time. And as others have said, this is just a foot in the door. Deer management should be left up to the DNR, not greased politicians & special interest group lobbyists!

Nine years of crossguns has totally ruined what was left of buck quality on Indians public land. And filled the once quiet woods with gun hunters all of October.

Just say no.

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There's a reason Ravin's slogan is "Meet Your Next Rifle".


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Based on my 30 years of hunting public, and in the last ten watching crossgun transitions in both Indiana & Illinois, the biggest impact is the sheer number of gun hunters gradually converting over filling especially the early seasons with people and degrading both the hunt and the buck quality. This was confirmed by both the CO’s and slumping harvest statistics. Much less my own visual observations over all those years.


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Subcommittee meeting set for Feb. 3rd at 1200.

Due to the COVID the House is allowing public comments via the internet instead of in person. These comments are part of the public record. There is a form to fill out with the commenters demographics. Here is a link to the page to start the process of posting: Crossbow comments. Scroll down to HSB 158, ignore the red meeting that was cancelled, it was assigned a new room so the meeting, as of this posting is still on. Post comments via the link or send emails to the Representatives listed in the original post.
 
Subcommittee meeting set for Feb. 3rd at 1200.

Due to the COVID the House is allowing public comments via the internet instead of in person. These comments are part of the public record. There is a form to fill out with the commenters demographics. Here is a link to the page to start the process of posting: Crossbow comments. Scroll down to HSB 158, ignore the red meeting that was cancelled, it was assigned a new room so the meeting, as of this posting is still on. Post comments via the link or send emails to the Representatives listed in the original post.
Not seeing the link here for whatever reason????
 
Can't see or doesn't work? Since the update the colors for links in the text is so close to the color of the regular text they are hard to see. They used to be blue colored. The link is titled Crossbow comments.

The link works for me from my computer but just in case here it is again: Crossbow comments

I like the new link feature on this iteration of IW in that it allows you to put in a name for the link instead of all of the computer gobbeldy gook. I tried to use the color pallet to change colors for the link titles but I can't get that part of it figured out.

Edited for spelling.
 
Yup found it now. I'm color blind was the issue. Takes a double lung sprayer for me to find them! Let alone different colored words on a computer screen. Thx for the heads up bigbuck and bonker
 
Well apparently i am not only color blind but also abit slow today......So after clicking on HSB 158 how do you or where do you have the ability to enter your demographics and comments in regards to this bill??
 
Try this link: Comment here

It's a couple of clicks from the original link. On the original link the HSB 158 meeting notice is on the bottom. Click on comments to the left. That takes you to another page, then click on "HSB 158" and that gets you to the demographics and comment page. I sometimes think they make it difficult on propose. I was probably just being lazy when I posted the original link.
 
Comments have been sent. After submitting I checked other comments.
I only seen 4.......this is not good we need more people to send comments
 
Passed the Subcommittee 3-0 which isn't surprising since it was proposed by the Natural Resources Committee Chair. Now it becomes a Natural Resources Committee Bill, gets a new file number and a new Subcommittee. If it passes the new Subcommittee it will be heard by the entire Natural Resources Committee and if it passes that it will need to be debated by the entire House and passed. Then it needs to repeat the process in the Senate.

We have only started the process. I'll list the new bill info when it comes out and links to the Subcommittee members and public comment pages. Public comments are only active after the bill has a hearing date set and with the new rules we may only have a few hours to do the public comments so I would suggest contacting the members of the subcommittee immediately and making public comments when the hearing date is set. Otherwise you may not be able to have your opinions heard.

Thanks to all of those who made public comments. It takes away the ability of the elected official to say "I didn't hear anything about the bill".

I was not at the hearing but several IBA members were. The crossbow lobbyists made it sound like the only argument we had was we just don't like crossbows. It didn't help a few months ago when QDMA and I believe Outdoor Life said the only reason every state doesn't allow crossbows in archery season is old school state organizations just don't like them. Proof positive that it's advertising buck$ over biology and the will of the people. Keep fighting!

NOTE: This is the process as I understand it, from study bill to committee bill etc etc. If I'm incorrect I'll update the process.
 
HSB158
Crossbow (M) - Under current law, a crossbow is a legal method of take when hunting deer during the late muzzleloader season, during bow season if the hunter is over the age of 70, or by certain individuals who are incapable of using a bow and arrow under the conditions in which a bow and arrow is permitted, with the applicable license depending on the situation. This bill allows a person hunting with a bow license during the late split archery season to use a crossbow.
Subcommittee: Maxwell, Brown-Powers and Siegrist Passed subcommittee, so it will move forward.

The IBA position is the crossbow is a legal method of take in the late muzzle loader season using a muzzle loader tag and the crossbow should not be a legal method of take when trying to fill an archery tag in the late split archery season.

On the surface this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it moves the crossbow one step closer to being a legal method of take in the archery season. At the subcommittee meeting yesterday the Ravin Lobbyist confirmed what we already knew; the crossbow industry’s ultimate goal is to move the crossbow into the archery season. Some may think this is a good piece of legislation and they have every right to their opinion. We are confident that the vast majority of bowhunters in Iowa feel crossbows do not belong in the archery season and this bill is nothing more than a stepping stone in that direction.

Bullet Points

* A top of line compound bow shoots 275-300 feet per second; the average crossbow is 400 feet per second and top of the line crossbows are pushing past 500 feet per second. One only needs to review industry advertising to confirm these facts.

* Compound bows shoot an arrow; crossbows shoot a bolt. This distinction is made by the crossbow industry.

* Compound bows are hand drawn; crossbows are pre cocked often using a mechanical assist device and the industry is moving to a self-contained battery powered cocking system.

* A compound bow must be handheld using only the hunter’s natural ability. A crossbow has a threaded adapter underneath its forearm specifically to screw into a tripod, bipod or monopod.

* A compound bow, or any type of bow for that matter, is only capable of holding one arrow at a time in the un-cocked position, ready to be drawn when the hunter’s quarry is within ethical shooting range. The crossbow industry is now boasting of a crossbow that holds two bolts in the cocked and ready position with separate triggers for each bolt.

* Iowa has a deer herd that almost every state would like to have. The DNR has done a great job of management and protecting the quality of the deer herd. Surrounding states that have gone with very liberal hunting regulations are now wishing that they had moved forward at a much slower pace.

* The industry’s lobbyist comment that an expert with a compound bow could shoot a 3-inch group at 100 yards is quite a stretch when shooting at foam, not to mention in actual hunting conditions.

The IBA isn’t saying that there isn’t a place for the use of crossbows, we are saying the crossbow should remain in late muzzle loader season using a muzzle loader license.

Help us help you; it is extremely important that you and all of your bowhunting friends contact your legislators, especially those on the House Natural Resources Committee in an effort to stop this bill from going forward.

All House members be contacted, but if your Representative is on the Natural Resources Committee they MUST be contacted.

If you are unsure who your Representative use this link; https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

Members of the House Natural Resources Committee are listed at the bottom of this email. If you do a Ctrl+Click it will take you to legislators’ bio page and you will be able to get contact information there.

As always please be polite and respectful, most of the Representative does not understand the differences between a bow and a crossbow, or even understanding hunting in general. Feel free to use any of the bullet points.



House Natural Resources Committee

Robert P. Bacon (R, District 48), Chair

Tom Jeneary (R, District 5), Vice Chair

Timi Brown-Powers (D, District 61), Ranking Member

Terry C. Baxter (R, District 8)

Liz Bennett (D, District 65)

Steven Bradley (R, District 58)

Wes Breckenridge (D, District 29)

Dennis M. Cohoon (D, District 87)

Dean Fisher (R, District 72)

Thomas D. Gerhold (R, District 75)

Chris Hall (D, District 13)

Dave Jacoby (D, District 74)

Kenan Judge (D, District 44)

Shannon Latham (R, District 54)

David E. Maxwell (R, District 76)

Charlie McClintock (R, District 95)

Norlin Mommsen (R, District 97)

Brent Siegrist (R, District 16)

RasTafari Smith (D, District 62)

Phyllis Thede (D, District 93)

Jon Thorup (R, District 28)
 
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