quite bow hunting 



I do believe in having people take a archery course, and the age 

 limit rased. There are to many Low pourdage bows used. Why are 

 archer penalized by paying twice. I would think harvest by bow 

 would be less damaging to the ecology than your rifle. Archers 

 tend to get closer with nature thus try to cause less damage. 

 This survey seems to want to curtail archery in Montana. ??The elk 

 are geting smarter every year. It takes more to fool them every 

 year. 



Rifle hunters are overly worried about the archery season. I 

 don't think there is as much negative about archery season as 

 there is on the posative side. The elk mostly get educated 

 during archery season. I strongly disagree with the idea that bow 

 pressure effect elk distribution. I chased the same herd of elk 

 all bow season (along with lots of other guys) long and they 

 never left the general area of about 2 sections. We need more 

 walk-in, no motor areas, and I would support branch antlered 

 seasons for rifle, and if there were mroe big bulls I would be 

 willing to pass up spiked bulls during archery season. As it is 

 you are lucky to get even a spike in the area I hunt during bow 

 or rifle season, I hunt there because I see lots of elk, mostly 

 cows, but being in the game is 1/2 the fun. As far as choosing 

 bow or gun, I feed my family venison- If I have to choose bow or 

 gun-It would force me to take the gun-frankly we need the meat. 

 Bow hunting for me is mostly an excuse to stay in shape and have 

 fun in the woods . I don't believe archery hunting has hurt rifle 

 season as much as some believe. It is very difficult to be 

 successful with a bow and think the popularity of bow hunting big 

 game will taper off. I think that archery hunting has increased 

 significantly the past few years and will need to be regulated 

 more as it grows. Bow hunting is a challenging exacting, and 

 exciting method of hunting that too many people don't take 

 serious enough. I feel there are too many people in the woods 

 today hunting with a bow that should not be there but I don't 

 have an answer as to how to change the situation as I feel that 

 the sportsman of today are regulated to death. I don't feel 

 archery has any significant impact on the populations, either in 

 #'s taken or by causing them emotional strain. (If they have 

 emotions) It doesn't shake them up. I've hunted elk for 25 yrs in 

 Mont., Colo., and New mexico . My profession is in wildlife mgt . 

 As a hunter and conservationist, I believe we need changes in 

 both the rifle and bow hunting seasons. There are entirely too 

 amny hunters afield. Habitat is not the problem, nor is roads, 

 Ivstk grazing, or timber harvest. The sportsman has the 

 responsibility to regulate their use of our wildlife resource the 

 land manage is f o rthe most part doing what ' s right the sportsman 

 needs to do his part quit pointing fingers 1 We do not have an in 

 exhaustable supply — It is finite/limited and the sportsman 

 through their harvest methods can have a negative impact! !I'm a 

 veterinarian. This year I condemned 1 elk because of an arrow 



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