Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Your questions answered on the crossbow season
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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Sportsmen will have the opportunity to pursue deer in Virginia with a crossbow this fall, but the details won’t be fond in the new hunting regulation’s book released last week. That’s because crossbow hunting has been rushed through under an emergency clause, too late to make the law digest. Here are your questions answered on crossbow hunting and how it came to be.
Q. WHAT ARE THE DATES OF THE NEW SEASON?
A. Technically, there is no new season. What the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries did last week was to establish a crossbow-hunting license that will allow crossbow use during the special bowhunting seasons. To make things simple, think of a crossbow as just another type of bow, but one that requires a special license. The early bow season is Oct. 1-Nov. 18; the late season Dec. 5-Jan. 7. In the past, only disabled hunters have been able to hunt with crossbows.
Q. HOW MUCH DOES THE CROSSBOW LICENSE COST?
A. For a resident it will be $12 plus a .50-cent clerk’s fee. The cost for a nonresident license will be $25 plus a .50-cent clerk’s fee. In addition to a crossbow license you will needs a basic state-hunting license--the kind required to hunt small game--and a big game license.
Q. DO YOU ALSO HAVE TO HAVE A BOWHUNTING LICENSE?
A. No, only if you hunt with a traditional bow in addition to a crossbow.
Q. ISN’T THE NONRESIDENT CROSSBOW LICENSE RATHER CHEAP?
A. It is in line with a nonresident bow or muzzleloading license, both of which cost $25. The basic nonresident hunting license, however, is $80, and the nonresident big game license is $60, so it will cost the nonresident $165 to hunt with a crossbow in Virginia, plus clerk fees.
Q. CAN YOU USE A CROSSBOW DURING SEASONS OTHER THAN THE BOW SEASON?
A. Yes you can use it during the regular deer season, and you will not be required to have a crossbow license. The crossbow license is required only when you use crossbow equipment during the special bow seasons.
Q. WHEN WILL THE CROSSBOW LICENSES BE ON SALE?
A. You can purchase one now at agents that offer electronic license sales, which includes Wal-Mart stores. It will be mid-July before Mom and Pop license agents have them.
Q. HOW MANY CROSSBOW LICENSES ARE EXPECTED TO BE SOLD?
A. That is difficult to say. The best guess is a bit more than 6,000. States that recently have allowed crossbow hunting have seen participation in their bow season increased 10 to 15 percent. Virginia has some 60,000 licensed bowhunters.
Q. MUST CROSSBOW EQUIPMENT MEET CERTAIN STANDARDS?
A. The same equipment requirements that govern bow equipment apply to crossbows. Arrowhead widths must be at least 7/8 inches or expend to that upon impact. The crossbow must be capable of propelling a broadhead arrow at least 125 yards. It is unlawful to use any drug, chemical, toxic or explosive devise on a broadhead.
Q. HOW MUCH DOES A CROSSBOW COST?
A. The very day that the crossbow license was passed I received a catalogue in the mail from a major outdoor equipment supplier. It contained three pages of crossbows with prices that ranged from $349 to $699. The prices included a scope and arrows.
Q. DID THE CROSSBOW LICENSE MUCH DEBATE?
A. Very little. During six public hearings across the state in April, only 77 participants had anything to say. Sixty-one favored crossbow hunting; 16 disapproved. DGIF said it received 2,047 emails and letters in favor and 161 in opposition. During a DGIF hearing in Richmond last week, three people spoke in favor of crossbows and one in opposition. Two of the three who favored crossbow hunting were representatives of Parker Compound Bows, a maker of Crossbows in Mint Springs. David Proctor of Linville, the executive vice president of the Virginia Bowhunters Association, expressed opposition.
Q. WHY WAS THE BOWHUNTING ASSOCIATION OPPOSED?
A. Proctor questioned why the regulation was put on fast track. He said he was not totally opposed to hunting with crossbows, but saw them as an intrusion to the early bow season, which needs to be kept pure. He felt that crossbow hunting should have been phased in slowly, like muzzleloading hunting was several years ago. Why not test it during the late bow season, he suggested. He expressed concern that a large influx of people who know little about challenging a deer with an arrow will be attracted to crossbow hunting. Outside Proctor, very few bowhunters had anything to say, giving the impression that they really didn’t care.
Q. WHEN THE 2005 GENERAL ASSEMBLY GAVE AUTHORITY TO DGIF TO ESTABLISH A CROSSBOW LICENSE, WHY WAS THE IDEA PUT ON AN EMERGENCY FAST TRACK?
A. I have not heard anyone explain that to my satisfaction, and that includes Sen. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, whom was successful in obtaining the emergency status. Stolle said he did so to provide DGIF extra time to establish the crossbow regulations. In reality, it has cost DGIF extra time, work and expense to hurry the regulation through apart from normal regulation changes.
Q. HOW DID THE DGIF BOARD VOTE GO?
A. Board members present voted for the crossbow license with the exception of Richard Railey of Courtland. Railey also has not been a supporter of muzzleloading hunting in Southampton County, where he is a county official. The state muzzleloading season is blocked in that county by a county ordinance.
Q. WHAT WERE THE POSITIVE ARGUMENTS FOR THE SEASON?
A. That there are plenty of deer and plenty of places to hunt and that crossbow hunting will attract newcomers to hunting at a time when hunting license sales have been declining. Anything that attracts new participants to hunting, especially young people and women, is seen as a positive.
Q. DO YOU THINK IT WILL DRAW THAT MANY NEWCOMES TO HUNTING?
A. That remains to be seen, but probably not. What it likely will do is attract gun hunters to the bow season, people who do not want to take time to develop the skills required of competent bowhunting. Crossbows will give such hunters quick access to the lengthy bow season and its generous bag limit. This probably won’t attract a lot of nonhunters, but it will re-arrange hunters and provide DGIF with additional revenue. The agency can use the money.
Q. WHAT WILL BE THE BAG LIMIT FOR THE CROSSBOW HUNTERS?
A. If will be the same as for bowhunters if you hunt during the archery season and the same as for gun hunters if you hunt during the firearm’s season.
Q. CAN A CROSSBOW BE USED DURING THE URBAN ARCHERY SEASON?
A. Yes, but only if the urban area where the hunt takes places allows it use. Urban archery regulations were established for the coming season prior to the crossbow license, so look for some confusion. Some hunters see the crossbow as a major new and effective instrument in the battle to reduce urban deer herds but some urban areas may feel otherwise.
Q. IF THE CROSSBOW LICENSE WAS PASSED TOO LATE TO MAKE THE NEW HUNTING REGULATIONS BOOK, HOW WILL HUNTERS KNOW ABOUT IT?
A. The 2005-06 DGIF Hunting Regulations booklet instructs sportsmen to refer to the department’s web site for updated information: dgif.virginia.gov.
