How Many Muzzleloaders Are Also Archers?

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My shoulder injury is in the hand that holds bow, my bow will only go down to 45 lbs pull. Enjoy it while you can, good luck, and stay safe.
 
Started off bow hunting with a recurve bow and wooden arrows back in 1975. Today it's a recurve crossbow with aluminum arrows.
Have taken most of my deer with the bow.

That's the way I started in about 67. Then I graduated to a compound that I could adjust and I'm still there. Montana does not allow crossbows in the archery season. I fought with the Montana bow hunters a couple times on this issue, I thought perhaps anybody over the age of 75 should be able to use a crossbow if they wanted to. Us old guys don't kill that much game anyway, but we have a bunch of purest that think if you aren't shooting wooden arrows with feathers you're just not an archery Hunter. We only been able to use lighted nocks for two years because they fought that forever too. As you can see we don't agree on very much, but I am a member so I can holler at them.
Squint
 
I had to jump through a lot of hoops back in my home state of Connecticut to get a handicap crossbow permit, as I couldn't pull back the bow anymore. I dealt with the same kinda crap your talking about. But in the end, I'm still in the woods hunting and that's the victory for guys like us.
Hunt on for as long as we can do it.
 
Started off bow hunting with a recurve bow and wooden arrows back in 1975. Today it's a recurve crossbow with aluminum arrows.
Have taken most of my deer with the bow.
I started bow hunting in 1986 myself with a 50 lb pull Browning recurve, still got that bow and when weather gets warmer I'll start practicing with it. I can pull it back and hold it. Also, I changed to fiberglass arrows years ago and cut my group size in 1/2. At 76 it's just great to be in the woods still hunting. Keep doing it as long as I can.
 
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I'm a archer first .I've been bowhunting since I was 18 I'm now 45 and love it just as much as I did when I first started. This will be my first year muzzleloader hunting in about 15 years, got the itch to get back into muzzleloading and picked up a optima
 
I use an excalibur recurve crossbow during archery season. I am disabled now with a nerve disease that really messed up my arms and legs. That excalibur is a real nice weapon. I used to make my own takedown longbows, and had several custom made recurves and longbows that I bought before I started making them. I can't begin to pull them now, so I gave them to friends.
 
I hunt with the Excaliber also. At 66, after 4 back surgeries, the crossbow got me back in the woods in October. I could still draw my compound but couldn’t practice enough to be proficient. When I was younger
I would shoot every day or so for months before the season. I just loved every bit of it.

The crossbow also requires practice to be an ethical hunter. Just not as much and it’s much easier
on the body. Some people forget it’s still an arrow. Flatter trajectory but still quite an arc and then the wind is still an issue.I limit myself to 40 yard shots. The same limit I had with the bow. I could shoot further and do in practice but not in the field. My confidence with the crossbow does allow me to set up a 40 yard shot, with the bow no setup was more than 30 yards.

On the downside I find the crossbow clumsy in the woods, clumsy in the stand, clumsy in the truck.
It’s clumsy to load and clumsy to unload. It’s not as satisfying to shoot as a bow. Moreover with all that stored energy the crossbow requires your complete attention from the moment you pick it up. It’s downright dangerous if you’re not careful. But it keeps me in the woods during the rut when the big boys are out and about and for that I am very grateful!

I believe states should allow an automatic crossbow exemption for folks over 60 and medical exemptions
for those younger who need them. I find the challenge to be the same and really isn’t it about the hunt and
not the tool.
 
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My son helped attract my attention to crossbow shooting by letting me shoot his 20 years ago. Now I taken many whitetail deer with crossbows that I lost count. Lately I been using a Killer Instinct Ripper 415 that is bad too the bone but still have my original Horton Legend SL 300 fps. Still going strong at 70 yo.
 
One thing I need to mention is even though I gravitated to traditional archery, I never felt any negetive feelings towards a crossbow or compound bow. I see many younger traditional shooters especially down other forms of archery etc. but they haven't gotten old enough for their bodies to start falling apart, lol the other thing that irks me is the young generation especially, posting kills on social media with an arrow sticking out of the animal. on a forum maybe semi ok but on social media, no, in my opinion, there are loads of non hunters out there that may in fact one day vote all youre hunting rights away if you offend them. the older bowhunters knew this and preached to all bowhunters to be careful about this. sorry if it seems like I'm nagging.
 
I bought a 50-60# Diamond Iceman bow instead of a 60-70# because i wanted to still be able to shoot it as i get older. Specs on the 2 versions were so close i didnt feel like i was losing anything. Bought it factory loaded new in 2009 and still feel like its as good as anything ive seen out there currently. Light, fast, and quiet. I also picked up a set of the 60-70# limbs in case i do sell it.
 
Is the crossbow 70 or you?

My son helped attract my attention to crossbow shooting by letting me shoot his 20 years ago. Now I taken many whitetail deer with crossbows that I lost count. Lately I been using a Killer Instinct Ripper 415 that is bad too the bone but still have my original Horton Legend SL 300 fps. Still going strong at 70 yo.
 
Great to hear all the posts ,been a archery person for 60 years I say ,been all the way from my first bow a Ted Williams, Sears recurve ,threw all the bear archery bows, to shooting competition with a hoyt pro medalist 69 inch recurve. Now with age and shoulder and hand surgery, it's a crossbow . 99% of my dear now are shot with a bow. Got into muzzleloader shooting and hunting now because I like the one shot fist shot count of hunting. I would rather pound paper with my muzzleloaders then hunt. Into building some fine sidelocks , a flintlock, and now a underhamer target gun. Would not even think of a thing else then bow or muzz. Hopefully I still can go for another 10 years..
 
I use a bow and or crossbow, rifle,handgun, and if they had a season for it , I'd throw rocks.
Well said. Last summer I built the Trump Tower of deer blinds. I put a bird feeder out so I can watch birds , squirrels, turkeys, come in to eat. I sure do enjoy it. Anything to get out and enjoy. If there was a season for rocks Id like to think we would have a technical section here and an expert like Lewis to guide us along. :D
 
My shoulder injury which I've had one surgery is in the hand that holds bow, and now I'm going to have to have another surgery same shoulder for the bicept tendon and a cyst in the join... this ride hasn't been fun. I gave up field archery and my target bow, but am thinking about getting another hunting bow that is pretty adjustable for weight from 7# to 70# and is pretty light in the hand.
 
My last name is Bowman but I don't shoot a bow anymore. Killed 1 deer with a bow and lost a lot of meat to the heat. Chased another one all night ( blood trailed) lost the deer. Stopped using a bow for hunting. I have killed more deer with a muzzle loading gun than I can count and never lost a one. I shot my first deer in 1967 with a musket. and a mini ball.
 

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