Meeting Public Comments

Doug Myers

Iowa absolutely does not need crossbows legal during late archery season. We already have almost 4 months of pressure on the deer, countless liberal seasons and a multitude of weapon choices more than sufficient for a hunter to harvest a deer in the state of Iowa. This is just another attempt by the crossbow manufacturers to try edge their way into this state. Iowa is literally the last great stand in the world of the delicate whitetail resource. Myself and thousands of other fellow hunters who have been lifelong followers of the whitetail world across the country know full well how negatively the effects crossbows/crossguns have been in every one of those states to date. I know factually there are thousands of people that formerly lived in other states with poor whitetail management practices including crossbows, that have picked up and moved away from those states to move to Iowa. Those people moved here to be able to enjoy the fantastic deer management practices. There are several reasons Iowa is considered the greatest whitetail state in the nation. One of those reasons is keeping the much superior crossbow weapon out of the archery season. Modern compounds are plenty effective in harvesting deer ethically. Bringing crossbows into Iowa would turn this last great deer hunting quality state into just another state with deer very quickly. Quite frankly it would be a tragedy.

Roger Jackson

Please keep crossbows out of any archery season, except for those who are disabled. There is no need for these weapons in an archery season. This is driven by greed by crossbow manufacturers. We have plenty of weapons and seasons. Please leave the deer seasons alone!

Robert Lange [None]

I am opposed to this bill to allow crossbows during the second archery split. I love all things whitetail. I love hunting them and managing multiple farms for them. Soon my 2 children will begin hunting them with my wife and I. Our family loves being outdoors and enjoy a quality experience. Every year there are bills introduced that threaten Iowa's great hunting tradition. State after state has degraded their hunting quality by changing/adding season, weapons, and tags. Iowa is the cream of the crop as a whitetail state but that is constantly under attack by special interest groups and folks that fail to see the big picture that constantly want more. Common sense conservation needs to start becoming the prevailing thought. We need to stop adding seasons, tags, & weapons. This current bill is to the benefit$ of corporate profit and not the greater good of Iowa. I truly hope the legislature takes a moment to look around and not become "just another state". Please stop this bill in it's tracks. It is not needed and will only degrade the quality of hunting that we have here in Iowa that is the envy or the rest of the country.STOP ADDING SEASONS, TAGS, & WEAPONS.

ERIC RECTOR

Allowing crossbows during the late season archery split would allow hunters to potentially harvest a deer with an unfilled tag. In some parts of the state, late December and January temperatures require multiple layers of clothing to stay warm which has an impact on the ability to effectively operate a compound bow, crossbows would allow this opportunity. The crossbow has been around long before compound bows were developed, those arguing against allowing crossbows are ill informed on the amount of energy needed to to propel a crossbow bolt due to its weight vs. an arrow. Crossbows remain at a cocked position, compound bows can have a mechanism in place legally that will keep the bow at full draw, draw lock. Crossbows are louder when fired than compoud bows. Crossbows have a scope, compound bows have sights that can be similar to scope reticle and self adjust for distance. Crossbows have a higher draw weight and faster feet per second in speed, but the kinetic energy is similar in the final outcome. Both can shoot distances greater than most people should shoot them or can shoot them effectively. The only difference is the crossbow is mounted to a stock and shoots in the horizontal position instead of vertical one held by the hunter. Hunters should welcome the possiblity of continuing the hunt into cold weather season. The DNR should be doing everything in their power to make sure they are recruiting new hunter into the sport. The agency is funded with license sales and if allowing crossbows into the late season gets people buying archery tags, isn't that a good thing. The following is an article from 2009, advances have been made but the science is still relevant in my opinion.From Outdoor Life article: Bow Wars: The Crossbow Controversy, by Andrew McKeanApril 30, 2009It turns out that, from a ballistics perspective, crossbows aren't that different from modern compound bows. Consider a middleoftheroad crossbow (175pound draw, 420grain bolt pushing a 125grain field tip) and a moderate compound (75pound draw, 350grain shaft tipped with a 125grain field point).Based on the bows described, the crossbow generates significantly more energy at the bow, about 115 footpounds compared to about 82 footpounds for the compound. Shaft velocity is comparable, at about 350 feet per second measured at the bow.At 10 yards, both shafts will drop about 1 inch. At 20 yards, both drop about 6 inches. And at 30 yards, the distance at which most deer are shot by bowhunters, the compound shaft drops about 17 inches from its zero; the crossbow bolt drops about 15 inches. At 40 yards, the compound drops about 30 inches, the crossbow about 26 inches.The longer compound shaft tends to fly straighter at longer distances; the heavier crossbow bolt tends to retain slightly more downrange energy than the compound arrow, but sheds its velocity at a faster rate.

Corey Thorson

Iowa does not need to allow crossguns into the late archery season. They are already available as an alternate weapon with a late muzzle loader tag. This is just another way to get their foot in the door and increase profits. These groups that continue to push season changes and weapons changes have no regards for Iowas deer herd or quality of our hunting we currently have. It's about them making a profit. Study the facts from other states that have allowed them into their seasons. Simple as that.

Dave Alatalo [RMB Co., Inc.]

I would like to state my firm opposition to this proposed legislation. Simply, it is not necessary, or advisable, to add yet another weapon to the roster of weapons that are already available to Iowa deer hunters. A crossbow is NOT like other archery equipment in that it can be mechanically cocked(loaded) ahead of time and then aimed and fired like a gun/rifle. Yet the effective range of modern crossbows is well in excess of 100 yards...compared to common shooting ranges of 1040'ish yards for normal archery equipment.Where crossbows have been widely legalized in other states the data has shown that there is no increase in hunter participation, just a shift of hunters from one style/season to another. There is no net gain in hunter participation.The drivers behind this proposed legislation are largely the manufacturers of said crossbows, as they stand to enlarge their potential sales market. Thank you for your consideration.

Joseph Buchheit

I do not agree with this.

Matthew Lane

I am against this bill. Emails already sent to each subcommittee member.

Andrew Jackson

I am an avid outdoorsman and I am writing about HSB158.I have archery hunted and gun hunted in Iowa for 17+ years now. Personally, I am opposed to this bill and I hope you may feel the same way but if not, please take into consideration why this bill needs to be stopped.Over the last five years or so there have been an onslaught of bills introduced, some have passed, that are not good for deer hunting in this state. For decades, Iowa has been a state that hunters from all over the US want to try and hunt due to the quality of deer hunting we offer. Introducing crossbows to the late archery split to be used by anyone is another bill that will directly impact our deer hunting. From being fairly observant about the bills that have been introduced and passed over the last five years, it is clear that these bills have a greater agenda than what they show when originally proposed. In this case, the bill is just introducing the crossbow into the late archery split. If this gets passed, I guarantee there will be another bill in the near future to have crossbows allowed in all of archery season. They just chip away over time to get to their final agenda.These crossbows are easy to shoot and are accurate at much further distances than a normal compound bow. Part of archery hunting is the amount of practice that is required to be proficient with the bow with a purpose of trying to get close to the deer. Unlike pulling a rifle out of the gun safe once a year and going hunting and being confident that it is going to hit where the crosshairs show. Archery requires practice, dedication, and to get much closer to the animal. A crossbow in this sense is much closer to a rifle than a compound bow. The average person can't take their compound bow out once a year and have small groups of shots at 50+ yards, and that distance is conservative for a crossbow and takes a compound archer a lot of practice to be comfortable and proficient at that distance (probably over 90% of archers can't and don't try to shoot that far). The Ravin crossbows that are behind this bill are advertising they can shoot 3 inch groups at 100 yards. That's absolutely not archery hunting, that is gun hunting.Please stop this bill. Thank you for reading and being open to listening to my opinion.

Michael Grossman

The mechanics, vilousity and range clearly make crossbows something other than an archery weapon. Even the bolt is not an arrow. Let's not confuse the sport, please.