I do not understand how you can post this (and I noticed that you did on several websites) and still cry about bowhunters being divisive.
This is the most blatant attack on a group of hunters I have ever seen, the real peta included. The author should be ashamed of himself for writing it, and you should be ashamed of yourself for posting it.
The content is not compelling, defensible, nor truthful pure propaganda.
You are either pro-hunting or anti-hunting. You cant have it both ways. A pro-hunter supports ALL forms of hunting with ALL weapons!
Really
We should support: Canned hunting? Road Hunting? Night hunting?
We should support: Machine guns? Land Mines?
Their plan is simple and right out of the other PETAs play book. Flood the arena with misstatements, ambiguous reporting and blatant untruths to whip up the ignorant and uninformed. Attack those who are drawn to the crossbow as a viable hunting option by classifying them as lazy, unethical, stupid, inferior slob-hunters. Attack and demonize the leadership of the industry with character assassination, wild emotional claims of gloom and doom and threats, while portraying themselves as the voice of the undivided multitude. Declare that the entire crossbow movement is the result of a carefully calculated plot hatched by evil, money-hungry crossbow manufacturers out to sacrifice our hunting heritage for a few million bucks.
This is the pot calling the kettle black. Lets change a simple word or two and see what we come up with
.
Their plan is simple and right out of the other PETAs play book. Flood the arena with misstatements, ambiguous reporting and blatant untruths to whip up the ignorant and uninformed. Attack those who oppose the crossbow by classifying them as elitist, greedy, and selfish. Attack and demonize the leadership of the sport (P&Y, Bowhunter orgs) with character assassination, wild emotional claims of gloom and doom and threats (diminishing hunters, attacks from animal rights groups, deer management problems), while portraying themselves as the voice of the undivided multitude. Declare that the entire crossbow opposition movement is the result of a carefully calculated plot hatched by evil, elitist, selfish antihunters out to keep the entire deer herd for themselves.
Alarmist threat #1:
Most of us are aware that in the past decade, we have lost 1.7 million hunters and that each year, the median age of the hunter inches higher.
Show ANY data that would validate that xbows will bring in a substantial number of new to the sport hunters. Doesnt exist. Most crossbow newbies are existing hunters, mostly existing gun hunters and some bow hunters crossing over. Thats fine, but they are not new hunters. What about older, younger, and women hunters? See above. Most currently hunt with a gun or bow anyway.
You will not gain back 1.7 million hunters by legalizing crossbows you wont disagree with that statement, will you?
In OH, xbow capitol of the world, hunter numbers have dropped at the nationwide rate even though the crossbow has been legal for 30 years. What gives?
Alarmist threat #2:
We know that radical animal rights groups are organizing, merging and combining their purses as they zero in on hunters, targeting them for extinction.
Radical animal rights groups hate all hunters already. Legalizing crossbows wont change that.
Alarmist threat #3:
We are aware of the urgent need to thin herds as serious management problems increase across this land.
This is a joke on so many levels. First, deer management issues are hardly universal. New York, for example, is trying to grow the herd. New England states have trouble maintaining steady herds. You never hear about western state deer management problems.
The bigger joke is that the crossbow will solve deer management problems. If 3 deer a day gun seasons in Alabama and buck a day gun season in South Carolina cant control the deer population with gun seasons longer than most bow seasons, how will a crossbow help?
Deer are managed with guns, using bag limits and season length as management tools. Period. Bow hunting was never intended to be predominantly a management tool, and neither would crossbow hunting be one. Every little bit helps, perhaps, but to imply that the crossbow would somehow be the salvation of deer management is ridiculous.
The biggest joke of all is the hypocrisy behind the statement. Crossbow advocates state that crossbows will not be an impact on the resource in one breath, and then in the next they claim that legalizing crossbows will be a godsend for herd management. They cant both be true, so one must be a lie. Which is it, boys?
If this thinking is representative of ALL crossbowers (and based on jh45guns crowing and others responses, it very well may be), I have just lost all respect for crossbow users.
