Minnesota is heading into its second archery deer hunting season Saturday, Sept. 14, under a temporary law that allows anyone to use crossbows, but it’s still unclear how the first season went in 2023. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has some data that show crossbow hunters tended to be younger and older than the average archery hunter, likely due to their ease of use and exactly what supporters of crossbows wanted to happen. It also appears that opening up crossbows to anyone who wants to use them — and not just people over age 60 or who are disabled, as in the past — caused a slight uptick in the overall archery harvest of bucks.   Crossbows have become more common in Wisconsin since rules were relaxed allowing anyone to use them during archery deer hunting. Minnesota is heading into its second archery deer hunting season Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 under a temporary law that allows anyone to use crossbows, but it’s still unclear how the first season went in 2023. (Courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) But the DNR is lacking basic data, exactly how many people used crossbows while hunting in 2023, because the law did not require them to declare their weapon when buying a license. The data the DNR does have comes mostly from deer harvest registration information provided by hunters. “We did see a 6% increase in total archery sales in 2023 over 2022, and we think that’s probably because of crossbows,” Todd Froberg, the Minnesota DNR’s big game program coordinator, told the News Tribune. It appears that the biggest jump in archery harvest came from youth under age 17 and adults over age 55, Froberg noted. In fact, the vast majority of deer harvested by archery hunters over age 55 were by crossbows, not longbows. Among women archers who harvested and registered a deer last year, 57% used crossbows. Among men, it was 42% crossbows. Of the overall archery deer harvest, 43% was by crossbow, up considerably from before, when far fewer people were using them. But the overall harvest didn’t really change much — hitting 23,834 last year, down a faction from 24,095 in 2022. That is likely due to fewer deer in many areas, especially up north, noting that firearms deer harvest was also down 1.5%. The first year of crossbows saw a slight increase, 5%, in the harvest of adult male bucks. The DNR expects those trends to continue in 2024, with few more overall archery licenses sold and a continued uptick in the use of crossbows but not much change in the overall harvest. Froberg said crossbows continue to be a big issue among archery enthusiasts but that the issue hasn’t caused much of a concern among the general public or the general deer hunting population. “Among bowhunters, it comes up every time we talk about archery season, constantly,” Froberg said of crossbows. Critics, especially traditional longbow archery purists, say crossbows are too easy, requiring less skill, and that they should be limited to older or handicapped people or allowed only during the rifle deer season. But supporters, including many state lawmakers, say allowing crossbows will bring more women and youth into hunting and keep some older folks engaged. Hunter recruitment has become a huge issue, with the number of hunters in the state declining rapidly as baby boomers age out. Overall, deer hunting license sales in Minnesota have been going down an average of 1.5% per year for more than a decade. The law allowing crossbows for everyone ends after three years, after which point the Legislature would have to reapprove it to keep it going. Froberg said the DNR must provide the Legislature with a report before the 2026 legislative session on the impacts of the law. Crossbow bolts — a shorter, arrow-like projectile — can reach speeds of over 400 feet per second, faster than an arrow from a traditional compound bow. The heavier bolts also remain lethal at longer distances, well past 50 yards or more, whereas traditional archers generally try to keep their shots to 40 yards or less. But perhaps the biggest advantage is their ease of operation. The crossbow firing mechanism is easily cocked, or drawn back mechanically, and then locks in place at the start of the hunt, before any target approaches, ready to shoot with the simple pull of a trigger, at a second’s notice, at any time during the hunt. With a traditional bow, the archer must pull back and hold the arrow, just as the target approaches, and then hold that pull until the perfect shot appears — all while trying to avoid the target reacting and running away. The popularity of crossbows has grown fast in Wisconsin over the past decade since Wisconsin lawmakers changed their state law to allow anyone to use crossbows in 2014. In 2014, 47,812 crossbow licenses were sold in Wisconsin. By 2022, that number had grown to 122,002. Crossbow hunters surpassed traditional archery hunters in deer harvested in Wisconsin after just a few years, and that trend shows no signs of diminishing. In 2022, crossbow hunters registered 64,432 deer in Wisconsin compared to 38,017 for traditional archery hunters. (The state’s total 2022 harvest was 340,282, with firearms hunters taking 251,425 of those.) While apparently not having a major impact on the resource — the number of deer killed — Wisconsin has seen a dramatic shift in how and when hunters go afield, said Jeff Pritzl, deer program coordinator for the Wisconsin DNR. Total harvest during the archery season stood at 87,628 in 2013, before unlimited crossbow use. By 2022, it was at 103,449. Wisconsin DNR data indeed shows that a good number of firearms hunters appear to have shifted to crossbows, changing their weapon and even changing when they hunt, more likely in October rather than during the traditional nine-day firearms season over Thanksgiving week in late November. Minnesota, Wisconsin grouse, archery deer start Sept. 14 Minnesota and Wisconsin archery deer seasons begin Saturday, Sept. 14. Minnesota’s runs through Dec. 31, while Wisconsin’s goes to Jan. 5. Both state’s small game and ruffed grouse hunting seasons begin Sept. 14. Minnesota’s runs through Dec. 31, while Wisconsin’s ends Jan. 5 across most of the state. Related Articles Outdoors | Upland bird hunters: The Minnesota DNR wants a diary of your hunts Outdoors | Grouse drumming up again, but downpours in June likely hurt young chicks Outdoors | To save spotted owls, US officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of another owl species