Crossbow hunting regulations

[Saltwater60]

I just want to make sure I have this correct. I have reading comprehension issues and these regs always confuse me. Thanks for any help.

Crossbow Hunting

Find information on Crossbow Hunting including regulations, safety, and specifications.

www.dec.ny.gov

I’m in the southern region.
Crossbows are a muzzleloader? Confusing but I get that is what the law says. Don’t agree with it but ok.
I can hunt the mid September hunt for anterless deer with a DMP for designated zones only. 9A and 9F near me.
Late muzzleloader season if I have muzzleloader privileges dec 13-21 and dec 26-jan1
Regular firearm season - not sure I will but ok.
During last 14 days of early bow season with bow/muzzleloader hunting tags. Nov 6-19th.

Small game turkey during their normal season. That could be fun.
I normally only hunt turkey and deer. I try to hunt birds and rabbits alone and with no dog so I’m normally not successful and more consider it a walk in the woods with a gun I would not use a xbow for this.
I also looked at the Barnett XP380 and I think that’s the one I’ll go with. I wanted another bow but it was 220lbs draw weight and 200 is the max for NYS.

Explorer XP380

The Explorer XP380 hunting crossbow shoots 380 fps & comes ready to hunt with all accessories. Get the best crossbows of the year right here.

www.barnettcrossbows.com

Again thanks and I think I have it but want to be sure.

 

[Blimey]

I think you got it. You can hunt this week with one. And/or the two weeks of bow if you have mz privilege. Or late mz season. Or all regular season with it.

You also need a crossbow certificate which is literally a piece of paper you can print and sign that you read what it says.

Might I also advise you get a laser range finder. Xbow is awesome but you’ll still need to range the deer to have best odds on the shot.

 

[Saltwater60]

I think you got it. You can hunt this week with one. And/or the two weeks of bow if you have mz privilege. Or late mz season. Or all regular season with it.

You also need a crossbow certificate which is literally a piece of paper you can print and sign that you read what it says.

Might I also advise you get a laser range finder. Xbow is awesome but you’ll still need to range the deer to have best odds on the shot.

Thanks for the help. I did read the crossbow thing and the certificate is a joke.
I think for this year I will go without the range finder since I don’t have any long shooting lanes cleared but I will get one next year. The crossbow thing is kind of an after thought to extend my season and try to nab a good buck before the guy across the road grabs him. Im not as prepared as I should be.
As usual I didn’t have time to do what I wanted to prep for hunting. I also want to be able to shoot closer to the scummy trailer at the end of my parents driveway.
I will measure a few distances and mark some trees with stuff so I know where I’m at for this year.
I want to see how my stand location is for the year then I’ll adjust for next year. I need to clear Caine lanes but until the leaves fall it will be hard to see what I need to do and what I can see. I don’t want to clear too much and it’s too close to hunting season to clear now.

 

[Blimey]

Cert is a joke for sure. I know how it is getting things done last minute. I didn't realize until last week that season opened up early on Saturday and as I had not shot my muzzleloader since 2019 I had to rush out last Friday to sight it in. Glad I did, as it was hitting consistently--consistently off about 10" at 50'!

Measuring distances works great, too for xbow. Anything inside of 30 yards the arrow/bolt doesn't drop much on a modern xbow.

 

[Saltwater60]

Cert is a joke for sure. I know how it is getting things done last minute. I didn't realize until last week that season opened up early on Saturday and as I had not shot my muzzleloader since 2019 I had to rush out last Friday to sight it in. Glad I did, as it was hitting consistently--consistently off about 10" at 50'!

Measuring distances works great, too for xbow. Anything inside of 30 yards the arrow/bolt doesn't drop much on a modern xbow.

I doubt I’ll even shoot that far. Thanks so much. I’m not ready and I won’t be hunting until I can hunt with the crossbow I’ll be buying. I don’t have a compound bow, not a fan of them, and it’s just too damn hot to be hunting now. The meat will spoil too soon IMO.

This early season is a bad idea I think. If they want to reduce the population in these certain areas they should allow you to choose them as a third DMP option. I know there are leftover permits you can get but a lot won’t go through the trouble. I’m selecting two other areas so I won’t chose 9A or 9F but I’ll do 9A of there are some leftovers.

 

[Acer-m14]

the regs are so messed up ..

what about this ..

regular season .. shot gun and rifle if allowed ..
well your mussel loader is a rifle .. so they say is a xbow ..

so you should be able to hunt in regular season with both too .. any why cant you hunt in regular season with a bow too if you want ..
i don't think the regs explicitly say you can't use a bow in reg season ..

 

[Blimey]

I doubt I’ll even shoot that far. Thanks so much. I’m not ready and I won’t be hunting until I can hunt with the crossbow I’ll be buying. I don’t have a compound bow, not a fan of them, and it’s just too damn hot to be hunting now. The meat will spoil too soon IMO.

This early season is a bad idea I think. If they want to reduce the population in these certain areas they should allow you to choose them as a third DMP option. I know there are leftover permits you can get but a lot won’t go through the trouble. I’m selecting two other areas so I won’t chose 9A or 9F but I’ll do 9A of there are some leftovers.

Part of the problem in regular season is that the deer go nocturnal very quickly. I do wonder if the early season now will let them spend two months basically forgetting about seeing people in the woods and come out again. I assume that's part of the reasoning behind it, but I haven't read anything about the justification.

 

[Saltwater60]

Part of the problem in regular season is that the deer go nocturnal very quickly. I do wonder if the early season now will let them spend two months basically forgetting about seeing people in the woods and come out again. I assume that's part of the reasoning behind it, but I haven't read anything about the justification.

I haven’t read the justification either. I think it’s about trying to reduce populations but I’m not sure why they choose those dates.
I’ll tell you it’s a funny thing and the deer seem to know if it’s gun hunting season for them or not. If I’m turkey hunting I can get super close to those deer. Just this last weekend there was 8 deer in my parents driveway and o got 30-40 feet from them before they ran. Last year they deer that were hanging around my parents place I could have almost pet these couple deer. I didn’t have a bow so I figured I’d take one for gun season. They were always at my parents place and come gun season no deer.
I’ll be curious to see how people do in those two weeks. I’m passing this year I just have too much going on honestly. Maybe in years to come I will.

 

[Blimey]

I haven’t read the justification either. I think it’s about trying to reduce populations but I’m not sure why they choose those dates.
I’ll tell you it’s a funny thing and the deer seem to know if it’s gun hunting season for them or not. If I’m turkey hunting I can get super close to those deer. Just this last weekend there was 8 deer in my parents driveway and o got 30-40 feet from them before they ran. Last year they deer that were hanging around my parents place I could have almost pet these couple deer. I didn’t have a bow so I figured I’d take one for gun season. They were always at my parents place and come gun season no deer.
I’ll be curious to see how people do in those two weeks. I’m passing this year I just have too much going on honestly. Maybe in years to come I will.

A few years back at the adirondacks in a small town we were staying at I actually got a small deer (was one of around three including the mom) to make contact with my forearm. They do seem to learn very quickly when hunting season starts. A small bit of woods behind the house often has deer and they will let me walk to within 20 yards of them as long as I don't make a beeline. If I meander about with a rake they barely care. I can't shoot the ones back there, though, because I am pretty sure that unless the thing dropped immediately it would make it into the evening news about some guy bow hunting in town and pics of the deer running through people's yards.

 

[1075tech]

If you're in a stand, go out pre-season, use a range finder and tie colored ribbon or spray paint different color spots on trees to represent different ranges.

 

[Saltwater60]

If you're in a stand, go out pre-season, use a range finder and tie colored ribbon or spray paint different color spots on trees to represent different ranges.

I plan to spray paint trees. Thanks.

 

[Acer-m14]

just went on a trip with my friends to there friends place to pick up a trailer .. deer all over in the fields on the trip ..
on the way back .. more deer in fields .. pull over .. what for .. i want to give the deer gps instructions on where i hunt ..