best place to shoot a deer with a crossbow

Anecdotally, at least, it appears that crossbows are attracting more of the youngest and oldest hunters, as well as women. With no need to draw back, it’s a big advantage. The opposite is true in many southern units.Ĭrossbows are ready to shoot when deer appear, and most have scopes. In many northern units, roughly two-thirds of the “bow” harvest is from crossbows.

Looking at the DNR’s harvest-reporting page, it seems crossbows are much more popular in northern Wisconsin than they are farther south. The crossbow numbers were significantly higher, at 762 (331 bucks) for Door and 479 (241 bucks) for Kewaunee County. Kewaunee County was at 326 total, 143 of them bucks. It was the second straight year when crossbow kills exceeded those with vertical bows.Ĭloser to home, through mid-January, Door County archers reported 426 deer, including 162 antlered bucks. The biggest concern seems to be in the buck harvest, with archers reporting 21,605 and crossbow hunters 25,883. Through mid-January – and with only a dozen areas still allowing an extended bow and crossbow deer season – Wisconsin archers had registered 40,148 deer and crossbow users 46,982. Prior to the 2014 hunt, only those age 65 and older, or physically disabled, were allowed to use them during the archery deer season. It’s been five years since the DNR allowed any legal hunter to use a crossbow for deer hunting. To achieve a reduction in the buck kill at current crossbow-license sale levels – and that’s been a moving target – options ranged from eliminating weeks of hunting (early or late), split seasons, later openers and earlier closings, or allowing crossbow deer hunting only on weekdays or weekends at certain times of the season. That led to 25 individuals providing 28 written comments in advance of Wednesday’s NRB meeting in Madison. With crossbow hunters averaging a 6.8-percent higher success rate on antlered deer than archers, seven potential options to balance the success rates with those of archers were listed, and all involved shortening the crossbow season.

Never mind that the state’s Natural Resources Board (NRB) had only requested information on possible options to consider, should the DNR ever decide to pursue a rule change. Popular state hunting message boards and Facebook pages are ablaze with debate this week after word spread that the crossbow deer-hunting season may be shortened.

A pair of Whitetail deer bucks laying in the grass.

Best place to shoot a deer with a crossbow