Vermont is pushing to legalize crossbows for any age. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board wants to make the use of crossbows during the fall archery deer hunting season open to anyone, hoping to lure more hunters by making shooting easier and more accurate. Passing this law would allow all hunters to use crossbows during the archery season, regardless of age or disability. Currently, crossbows are only allowed if you have a permit from a doctor, because you have disability that prevents the use of a regular bow. Crossbows are more like a gun in the sense that you look threw a scope and you don’t have to practice as much with them, because they are more accurate than a regular bow. Being able to use a crossbow instead of a regular bow would bring the success rate for harvesting deer up a ton.

Some pros for hunting with a crossbow are you can shoot way more accurate with a lot less practice. Your chance of placing a kill shot on a deer is a lot greater. People with a disability can use a crossbow. The law is predicted to bring in more hunters because of the fact not everyone is good with a regular bow. Another pro for using a crossbow is when you are in the woods you don’t have to pull the bow back in front of the deer making it a less likely chance he will see you or hear you. In general, crossbows are easier to use and can be a more successful hunting tool.

Just like everything else there will be some downfalls. One foreseeable issue with legalizing crossbows is the amount of poaching that may go up, making it harder to catch poachers. With a crossbow it will make it a lot easier for people to roll down their window and shoot at a deer from their car and would make it nearly impossible to prove they did it. Crossbows can be shot at night and not heard, making poaching easier. If crossbows get legalized for anyone, the game wardens are going to have to prepare for the rise of poaching.

Crossbows have not been legalized but it is in the works. Meetings to talk about it and finalize the decision will start March 23rd and continues through March 26th. if you are looking to find out more information you can visit: vtfishandwildlife.com and search crossbows. That will bring you to the current information on the legalization. You can go to the meetings or offer your opinions online at that website.