As far as sports go, hunting and ping pong really have nothing alike. However, hunters who are preparing to enjoy the 2009 archery hunting season have been forced to watch a rather tedious series of parries as the Game Commission’s board of directors lodge a series of serve and return assaults that are much more suggestive of a match of tennis or ping pong than anything that has to do with hunting.
The battle is all about hunting with crossbows. This is because commissioners are currently sparring regarding what degree crossbows can be used to, and how they should be capable of being equipped, mainly because these seasons were previously reserved specifically for traditional, conventional archery and not crossbow archery.
For the past few decades, hunting with the use of a crossbow during the conventional archery season was completely prohibited in the state of Pennsylvania, unless it came down to a hunter possessing a permit that declared him or her to be physically incapable of using the more conventional form of archery equipment, better known as a vertical bow. This “disabled person permit” would allow them, and only them, to operate a crossbow during the standard archery season.
It was in the late 1990s that the commission finally approved the use of crossbows during the standard archery season, but only in specific urban areas. The regulation went on to be amended later, including a number of Management units, covering nearly the same territory. Then the pace picked up further when the October 2008 meeting was held by the Game Commission. The board voted for a preliminary approval of the full inclusion of all types of crossbows during archery seasons for big game, and the proposal won a 4-3 approval rate in January of 2009.
Those who did not vote for this measure are still fighting, however, because they do not feel as if the issue should be rushed on, and they are more than willing to voice their opinions accordingly. There are some very different opinions on this Game Commission, which is making it difficult for a final solution to be reached regarding this issue. There was such strong opposition present from the more conventional bow hunters in the commission that it began legal for a crossbow to be used while hunting bear and deer across the state of Pennsylvania during the upcoming archery seasons in 2009.
Some of the commissioners do not believe that using automatic archery equipment like the crossbow is going to cause any harm during the hunting season. On the other hand, some commissioners felt that biological impact may be beyond our understanding, and while hunter opportunities may be widened, the amount of damage done biologically may also be widened as well. This match is likely to continue for some time yet as both sides of the situation continue to argue about the merits and flaws of crossbows being used during the conventional archery seasons.
Photo Credit: JMooreIII
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