Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Friday, June 27, 1997 Page: 1B
He should bend on the bow
Rich Wingertsahn doesn’t want to make it easy to hunt with a crossbow in
PennsylvaniaWingertsahn, of Pittsburgh, is president of the United
Bowhunters of Pennsylvania. The organization serves as a bowhunting lobby
group.
He wants to keep archery hunting pure by limiting it to those who can draw
longbows, recurves or compound bows.
He is willing to concede slightly and admits that those who are physically
challenged, those who absolutely cannot draw vertical bows, should be allowed
to hunt with a crossbow.
That’s already the letter of law in Pennsylvania.
If you can get a doctor to sign the Game Commission permit application and
state that physical limitations prevent you from drawing a bow, the agency
will issue a crossbow permit.
The United Bowhunters have about 4,000 members who support Wingertsahn’s
position.
But about 8,000 crossbow permits already have been issued by the state.
Wingertsahn isn’t particularly pleased with this, especially since rumors
have surfaced that suggest crossbow permits are a bit too easy to obtain and
that there have been unseemly abuses within the application process.
The problem, according to Wingertsahn, is that crossbows are not hand-drawn
and hand-released. A mechanical trigger releases the arrow, or “bolt,” after
aim is taken.
“Bowhunting is not meant to be easy; it never was,” Wingertsahn said
recently at a gathering of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association.
But Ottie M. Snyder, a media specialist for Ohio-based Horton Crossbows,
takes issue with Wingertsahn.
“I’m not against anything, and a crossbow doesn’t displace or replace
anything,” Snyder said. “Crossbows are the number one hunting recruitment tool
for young people, for women and children. They don’t kick, they don’t go bang,
they are fun.”
Snyder said crossbows have been legal hunting weapons in Ohio for 20 years
and there has been no conflict and no one has been pushed from the woods.
“It’s a great way for those with limited time to hunt. The only difference
between crossbows and vertical bows is that you don’t have to spend a lot of
time shooting to become proficient,” Snyder said.
Wingertsahn admitted that crossbows are just as lethal as vertical bows.
“I will not refute that a bolt will kill as efficiently as an arrow does,
that the speed and energy are similar,” he said.
So what’s the dilemma?
Wingertsahn does not want bowhunting to be “easy” even though compound
bows, which offer shooters significant mechanical advantages, have been around
since the 1970s.
“Crossbows are bows turned sideways that are discharged with a trigger,”
Snyder said. “Like vertical bows, their maximum effective range is 40 yards.
In most hunting situations that range is the same as a vertical bow, about 20
yards.”
So what’s the problem?
Wingertsahn is the problem. He envisions bowhunting to be an elitist
pursuit, a discipline that requires dues to be paid, an activity that by
nature should not be accessible to everyone.
Snyder has the appropriate attitude. If crossbows can help introduce more
people to hunting, give more people the opportunity to hunt with crossbows.
Ultimately, the choice of weapon is of little consequence. The last thing
sport hunting needs is to be further divided by elitist sentiment.
George Smith is The Times Leader outdoors editor. His column appears on
Friday and Sunday.