The crossbow controversy has been the talk of the archery industry for several years now. As crossbows become increasingly high tech and their use during archery-only seasons across America more common – today they’re legal during archery-only seasons in 30 states, and only Oregon bans their use completely — naysayers often make the comment, “Success rates will grow so fast during the bow season that we’ll kill too many deer.”

Technical and performance comparisons aside — we’ll get to those in a bit — is it true that the white-tailed deer harvest has shot through the roof since the crossbow has become legal during archery-only seasons in so many states? Let’s take a close look.

National Deer Association Data

The National Deer Association (www.deerassociation.com) published an article by Kip Adams in September 2020 that took a close look at actual harvest data. Adams focused on the 37 states east of the Rocky Mountains that are home to about 97% of the U.S. whitetail population. In these states, 30 permit crossbow use by all hunters during at least a portion of the whitetail season.

According to Adams, in 2002, the percentage of the total national whitetail harvest taken with archery equipment (bows and crossbows) was 15%, increasing to 21% by 2012. During the 2018-19 season, it increased slightly to 23%. The question is, of the total annual whitetail harvest taken by archery gear, what percentage of it was taken by crossbows?

This data is a bit hard to compile, as five of the 30 states in question do not separate crossbow vs. vertical bow harvest. However, in 11 — or 44% — of the 25 states that do separate the harvest numbers, crossbow harvest now exceeds the vertical bow harvest. Despite the fact that all states in the Southeast allow crossbows, vertical bow harvest still dominates there. It’s a flip-flop in the Northeast, where 10 states allow crossbows, and crossbow harvest exceeds vertical bows in eight (80%.) In the Midwest, nine states allow crossbows, but vertical bows still account for more deer taken in six of them (67%).

The Wisconsin Study

The Wisconsin DNR surveyed 19 states about their allowing crossbow use, who their crossbow hunters were, and what effects, if any, the addition of crossbow hunters had on their state’s deer herds. Key points include:

• Most states that allow crossbow use allow it statewide for all of bow season.
• States that did not allow crossbow use for all bowhunters restricted their use because of concerns of overcrowding, overharvest or appropriate weapon classification.
• Opponents of crossbows have commonly been the states’ organizations representing vertical bowhunting.
• No state interviewed that allowed crossbow use has shortened its season or restricted crossbow use from the original law.
• Crossbow use typically increased over the initial year, then leveled off in the future.
• Few states measure weapon-specific success rates. States that did showed higher success rates for crossbow users than vertical-bow users.
• Most states haven’t determined if the addition of crossbows had any influence on their states’ overall deer license sales.
• The addition of crossbows showed little impact on established seasons/traditions or hunters’ willingness to bag deer.
• Crossbows did not cause any change in total deer harvest.
• The addition of crossbows did not have any measurable biological impact on the states’ deer herds.
• In the states that measured deer wounding and/or hit rates, there was little difference between vertical bow and crossbow users.

Adams’ article noted that it’s important that none of the 19 interviewed states that allow crossbows have shortened their seasons or restricted crossbow use from the original laws permitting their use. In fact, some have actually expanded the use of crossbows. Perhaps most important is the fact that crossbow hunting has not produced any measurable biological impacts on deer herds. In fact, Maryland and Indiana mentioned crossbow use had a positive impact since it allowed hunters to control deer numbers in areas where gun hunting is restricted.

Two big criticisms of crossbow use are they allow longer shots and have much higher hunter success rates. However, the survey found no significant difference in the reported maximum ranges for crossbow and compound bowhunters. On the other hand, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin data shows crossbow hunters are more successful than vertical bow hunters, although the difference is less than 10% more successful in all cases. For example, in Ohio from 2012-19, bow success rates averaged 21%, while crossbow success rates ranged from 19-28%; in Wisconsin from 2014-18, bow success rates averaged 23%, while crossbow success rates ranged from 30-33%. Despite the higher success rates, crossbow use showed little impact on established seasons or hunters’ willingness to shoot deer.

The Technology Question

You can’t stop technology improvements, which is why crossbows are now faster and quieter than ever before. Today, manufacturers tout 500 fps arrow speed and pinpoint 100-yard accuracy. However, a question needs to be asked — when you add an optical sight with features similar to those used on sniper rifles, such as variable magnification, illuminated calibrated reticles and incorporated laser rangefinders that take the guesswork out of range estimation and where to hold to make the shot — is this bowhunting as it has been defined historically? Some states say it is not. Utah, for example, allows crossbows but bans such sights. When some manufacturers tell you their crossbows are accurate to 100 yards, but you should never shoot at game farther than 60 yards (it used to be 40, then 50 yards), is that not some sort of Orwellian Doublespeak? 

A fellow outdoor writer whom I respect greatly for his knowledge of all things archery and bowhunting described it to me this way: “I was one of the first to kill an animal with the Garmin Xero® X1i crossbow scope, a whitetail in Ohio. It is an incredible piece of technology. But the thing takes all of the guesswork out of the sport. It gives you an aim point after it considers distance, elevation and arrow speed. There’s not much more to a bow shot than those.”

As crossbow use continues to increase in the deer woods, will their evolution follow that of modern muzzleloaders, which began with primitive open-sighted rifles accurate to much less than 100 yards, to the modern inline muzzleloader with a modern riflescope, sabot-encased conical bullet, pellet power and accuracy well more than 250 yards — and the subsequent reduction in special muzzleloader-only seasons and equipment restrictions like no sabots, no pelletized powder and no scope sights?

I’ve had the discussion with industry professionals who compare the crossbow/compound bow debate to the same argument made decades ago by traditional archers when compound bows first came out, and traditional bowhunters, who shot their deer inside 20 yards and said that the compound made killing a deer “too easy” and you could shoot them “too far away.” This was back when the maximum range for a skilled compound shooter was maybe 30-40 yards. But the difference between 20 and 40 yards is not the same as the difference between 40 and 100 yards, by any stretch of the imagination.

Are Crossbows Bowhunting?

The debate about whether or not crossbows should be allowed during archery-only seasons has been settled in the majority of states. That they are increasingly popular with hunters is a fact. Ask any archery pro shop that sells both compounds and crossbows where the sales are these days, and many, if not most, will tell you crossbows. I wrote a column last year on crossbow hunting for a nationally distributed hunting retailer magazine, and the reader response was overwhelmingly in favor of their use during bow seasons. Many of those letters came from aging archers who cannot draw their compounds back any longer, or who have sustained injuries that make conventional bowhunting impossible for them, all saying that the crossbow has allowed them to once again enjoy the magic of bowhunting for deer.

The difference is this. In this high-tech modern world, where people are used to finding anything and everything immediately with a click of a mouse or a tap of their smartphone to access an Internet search app, instantaneous success has become almost expected. To become an accomplished shot with a compound bow takes regular practice over months, not days, and the intimate knowledge of the equipment so you can tweak those inevitable “gotchas” that plague compounds. Conversely, you can pull a modern crossbow out of the box and, if you have any experience with rifle shooting at all, hit the X ring at extended ranges immediately. Every time.

My take? I’ve been a hard-core compound bowhunter for 40-plus years, and have done some crossbow hunting the past five seasons. I enjoy using both, just as I enjoy hunting with firearms, too. However, with crossbows, the fact that you do not have to draw the bowstring back like you do a compound bow, then hold the string back with muscle power, can rest the stock like a rifle, and use an optical sight, are unquestioned advantages to accurate shooting at both close and long distances. With that being said, I welcome crossbow hunters into the deer woods during archery-only seasons.

What’s your take on crossbow use during archery-only seasons? Have crossbows become too high tech? Drop editor Dan Schmidt a note at dan.schmidt@media360llc.com, we’d love to hear your thoughts.