Can’t wait to buy me a brand new crossbow as soon as this passes. This bill will actually help make it easier to get more accurate kill shots therefor less wounded deer .

Posted by joshyb79 on April 16

Heck I should start saving now so I too can purchase a cross bow.  I’ve always wanted one, but just could not justify having one in Illinois since we couldn’t use it to hunt deer!

Posted by illinibowhunter on April 16

Can’t wait to start taking 200 yard shots with a xbow.    I am just kidding, don’t snap.

Posted by MattS on April 16

I agree with murdy as I too have shoulder issues and may someday have to switch to one, though I hope I don’t have to and probably couldn’t get a doctors note to have one I may at some point not be able to draw a bow…..God forbid but if it happens I would still enjoy being in the woods during archery season

I also agree with Kevin, it’s not about the weapon, just crooked politics, typical IL.

Posted by Flatlander on April 16

Kevin, what is Tomorrow??  Rifles- that’s all that’s left.

Posted by walmsley on April 16

That’s true, Murdy and Flatlander. The real advantage with the xbow is not accuracy, power, or precision. The real advantage actually is seen before the arrow is even released. It is the ease in which a hunter can get into that shooting position without creating much distrubance, drawing back a bulky compound bow, and ultimately spooking deer. Even if all else is equal, that one difference gives the xbow a huge (HUGE) advantage. I’m neutral to the idea, but I do know it will likely result in more deer kills and possibly even more injured deer as folks test the limits of their xbows (e.g. 50+ yd shots).  I guess we still have too many deer in the state.

Posted by Walston on April 16

Indiana added pistol caliber rifles a few years ago and it was a huge hit.

Posted by MattS on April 16

I’m behind Kevin 100% on this one. For the people who can’t visualize what’s happening, this is just another way to diminish the deer herd. It’s also a slime bag way to go against the grain of the Illinois hunter and push whatever makes more money for the state.
...
For those of you who think shooting a crossbow is no more troublesome than shooting a bow, think about this; most of the time we get busted is from trying to draw back the bow. With a crossbow, that issue is eliminated. I hate Illinois politics and how they treat Illinois sportsmen/women. Anyone who needs a crossbow permit because of a disability, can get one now! That option has been available for years and should have been, IMO.
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No matter what anyone says, deer are on the decline here in Illinois, and have been. Many people have expressed concern recently regarding the lack of deer sightings, even now. Now there is another way to accelerate that process and one more slap in the face proving once again, our voice is never heard. Rep. Sullivan, I believe, has family ties with outfitting, so his objective seems to be in line with they’re pockets. No surprise there.
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The Illinois Deer Classic has been on a decline for the last few years. I know some of the decline is from a diminished deer herd, Illinois hunters disgruntled with an unlimited amount of NR permits and lack of places to hunt. When will the state open their eyes and ears to the root of our problems and use our hunting generated revenue to attack these issues!

Posted by Marc Anthony on April 16

Both bows and crossbows have advantages and disadvantages over each other. The main reason for there not being deer is the fact that we as hunters areat fault. Just like with the saying “guns dont kill people”  crossbows, shotguns,bows dont kill deer.  It is the person behind them.  We as the people are given a choice by our govememt and dnr, im talking tags.  We as hunters are in control, not tje government,farmers or the dnr.  When we can get over our antler infatuations, who killed the biggest,who killed the most ,Ive bought 10 tags so I need to fill them all, then we can move forward.

Posted by bowfisher1 on April 16

I agree with Bowfisher… Everyone makes it sound like rifles and crossbows will be the demise of the Illinois deer population and although it may increase the amount of hunter in the wooods, the overall mindset of each individual hunter will affect our state’s deer population.

I suppose I should feel fortunate that I hunt in three different counties across the state and never seem to have any problem on seeing an ample amount of deer. 

Speaking for myself, I would be all about going out and purchasing a cross bow.  This law could mean increased sales for some of the outdoor stores across the state which would be beneficial as well as potentially introducing new people into the sport which is something we always need.

Posted by illinibowhunter on April 16

Of course bowfisher is correct, weapons don’t kill deer, people using these weapons do.  Several folks state “why don’t the politicians listen to us”.  I say, they are certainly listening but the power of the IL sportsmen diminishes every year.  If you look at the amount of dollars being contributed by residents compared to non residents you can clearly see that non residents are contributing a bigger and bigger percentage of revenue.  This has happened out west years ago when we flatlanders travel to Montana in pursuit of elk and mulies.  Montana’s game and fish department revenue breakdown is 25% resident, 75% nonresident.  Who do you think has the power within the legislature in Montana, the residents or the outfitter lobby?  I doubt Illinois has such a big variance between resident and nonresident revenue but I think we can all agree that variance is growing every year and every year residents are loosing power.  So remember, next time DNR wants to raise license and tag fees for residents, a vote no means residents will lose even more influence.

Posted by buckbull on April 16

Personally, I hope it passes.

If hunting a deer is a reasonable activity, the weapon should not matter as long as its effective and ethical and safe.  The crossbow seems to be all of these.  Each weapon has an effective/ethical/range.  Its the person taking the shot that needs to know their limit. 

The debate about deer population is not a weapons issue, its a ‘who gets to decide’ the proper level question.  If you are going to argue the weapon choices, you are not arguing population.  You are just arguing who gets to shoot them.  Archers vs guns (or better named the weekend warring killing machines).  Archers versus crossbow ( as in there goes the total population, increased and earlier competition for the Booners ).  Archers vs late winter ( as in button bucks and shed males being taken).  Seems the archers are against a lot.  I haven’t heard how the bill with the earn a third buck is going.  But I bet the archers would be for that.

Of course I don’t have numbers, but it does seem those using a crossbow over a bow should be less likely to have an unrecovered animal.  So if efficiency increases and more deer are recovered, one would think total population pressure would lessen and lead to an increase in deer. 

Posted by virtualSniper on April 16

So where are all these new found x-gun hunters going to hunt ?????
Answer = THOUSANDS of current IL bowhunters will be displaced, bottom line.

8^(

Land access is the biggest problem facing IL hunters & the x-gun companies are not going to create more huntable land or create more deer, for IL’s already declining herd.
They will only be lining their pockets with the sales of more x-guns.
Also more out-of-state x-gunners will be coming to kill big IL bucks. See currently tens of thousands of out-of-state x-gunners can’t deerhunt IL, with their x-guns they use in a lot of their states. Thus out-of-staters & outfitters will be leasing & buying more of our already limited & declining huntable acreage.
There are A LOT of things to think about here & the cons out weigh the pros, for our current IL deerhunters & our IL deerherd.
I do promise you all one thing, that x-guns will bring more $$$$$$$$ to this sport & if that is what you are all about, then this bill will bring more $$$$$$$$$$$ to IL deerhunting businesses. ( FOR AWHILE )
That is exactly why big business is pushing this, a lot of outfitters are pushing this, a lot of IL politicians are pushing for this, & some in our IDNR, are pshing this.
BUT… the deerhunters who truly understand the fundamentals of why our deerhunting, in IL, is what it is & the heritage behind a lot of it, know this is a very bad change for IL deerhunters & the IL deerherd….8^(

Posted by Lynn on April 16

“If hunting a deer is a reasonable activity, the weapon should not matter as long as its effective and ethical and safe.  The crossbow seems to be all of these”.... as Vitualsniper mentioned. In fact, I believe it does matter. A crossbow is more effective than a bow because it removes that added movement of drawing down on your game. It’s that draw movement that will get you busted. You’ll never have that problem with a crossbow because there is no draw! Now, what some are failing to bring to light is that there is an UNLIMTED AMOUNT OF BOW TAGS. Add efficiency to unlimited tags and you get an even more reduction in deer. You see, it’s now all about bow hunters, booners and every other topic under the sun…it’s about killing too many deer. Period. 
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Yes, archers seem to be more vocal about hunting issues, and why is that wrong? Gun hunters can reach out, drop a deer at 150 yards and go home. I’m not against gun hunters, in fact, I would probably gun hunt if I hunted in a area with a surplus of deer. Bow hunters practice, spend much more time in the timber trying to harvest a deer and are often working on just trying to get deer into range for a good shot. I think it’s time to stop having a gun versus bow hunting dilemma and start coming together to the realization that the deer herd has been punished enough here in Illinois.

Posted by Marc Anthony on April 16

Marc, I think we should ban Carbon Synergy- you want to level the playing field make anything scent free illegal.  Oh that’s right you only care about things that impact the deers #2 defense. 

RECAP:  Crossbows will enable hunters to kill more deer.  There are no does in my county because of LWS.  Outfitters bad.  Doe killers are beneath trophy hunters.  Chief Miller is the devil.

Got it, I’ll give Marc 6 mos and he’ll have his website listed as pimpstaffing w/ Barnett.  You sound like a bunch of book burners- you want to run 350 trail cameras 24/7/365 so you know when gnat lands on a bucks pimple from one day to the next, you start posting those pictures from June-Jan and give deer names for your “hit list” and you complain about crossbows??  Come off your high horse you talk about getting a deer into range then why not take up the cause and ban Ghillie suits??

Posted by PIMPSTAFFER HATER on April 16

crossbows legal, rifles with certain handgun ammunition legal, goona be a lotta new people in the timber! are they trying to wipe out the deer herd? sure looks like it! you just don"t see the deer like you did 3 or 4 years ago!(in rock island co. anyways) i don"t think we need these new proposals! it won"t be good for the deer population! (but good for the crossbow and gun company"s)

Posted by pbpete on April 16

PIMPSTAFFER HATER, everything you’ve ever posted on this site has been negative, so your comments toward me mean nothing. To everyone else who has an education above the fifth grade level, I would reiterate that it’s the combination of more weaponry and an unlimited tag scenario that will ultimately do Illinois in. I enjoy hunting hard but I would like something to hunt! Several friends of mine who hunt their own privately managed farms didn’t see anything last year while they were gun hunting here in central Illinois. When you get skunked on all gun seasons; is that bad luck or is it something else? I think enough is enough.

Posted by Marc Anthony on April 16

mathews,hoyt,genie outa bottle,chill pill? number of deer killed regardless of weapon,not sure what this means!! BUT THEN!!! you still need to find them!(that seems to be the problem) IMAGINE if illinois had honest politicians! but relax! MR. BIG is still out there!

Posted by pbpete on April 16

The odd thing is this argument is almost the same as when compound bows first came on the scene. The traditional guys were against them at the time.
Most statistics Ive read show a small jump in harvest with crossbows, the interesting thing is the amount the harvest increased when modern compound bows came into the scene over traditional bows.

Posted by Steve on April 16

Wowzer, i guess the xbow topic gets people fired up!!  The only thing that matters is: ALL, ALL, ALL, hunters need to manage the area they hunt as ethically as possible with the future of the health of the deer herd being considered first and foremost.  The only scary thing is, there are a lot of deer hunters in illinois that really have one goal in mind, and that is killing as many deer as possible and taking unethical shots, wounding a large number of deer, ESPECIALLY if the deer has a nice rack.  Different weapon, same problem we have had as the enemy of our deer herd for many years.  We have a good portion of hunters who do it right, and i believe a large percentage of the HOers are doing it right, it just sucks that we cant control the entire deer hunting population and force them to be managers of the animals we harvest.

Posted by carrollcountyhunter2024600 on April 16

Poor shooting isn’t confined to archery.  The hunter who shows up on opening day with no practice nor confidence in performance is a real problem. Adding a crossbow season will not solve that entirely.  I do think it will help.

Pretty sure someone in the DNR stated most hunters take zero or one deer a year.  I still think that most hunters have a personal limit.  They do not take more than they can consume in a year.  If crossbow season coincides with bow season, I predict gun season totals will drop by an equal harvest of crossbow harvest.  I am saying those deer will just be harvested earlier.  But that is the issue with some archers.  Some archers love the extended time they get before gun season.  Now if crossbows make new-comers more efficient, then there is increased competition for the big boys. Now those hunters have to make up there mind sooner if the others have a better chance to take the big boy.

Do not forget to ask yourself, if a buck didn’t have antlers, would you care as much about the overall population?  Honestly!
 

Posted by virtualSniper on April 16

Sincere condolences.

Posted by virtualSniper on April 16

Sorry Clint. I wasn’t aware.

Posted by Marc Anthony on April 17

the bottom line to all the changes that have happened to the IL deer herd management, and those that are coming, is that the youth hunters today-and those not born yet, will see but a shell of what we “Old” guys once saw in the IL.deer woods.

Posted by walmsley on April 17

Senator Sue Rezin (R) sponsored this bill as of today. Her contact info is attached below:

Springfield Office:
Senator 38th District
M103E Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-3840
(217) 782-9586 FAX

District Office:
103 Fifth Street
P.O. Box 260
Peru, IL 61354
(815) 220-8720
(815) 220-8721 FAX
Additional District Addresses

Posted by Lynn on April 17