Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994                   TAG: 9402130051
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ANCIENT HUNTING DEVICE IS TARGET OF MODERN DEBATE

The 1990 accident left Barber with a bad shoulder and hip and the inability to shoot a bow and arrow. That means he no longer can pursue a favorite sport, bowhunting.

Barber is capable of shooting a crossbow, however, because it has a mechanical cocking device. He'd like to use one on his own property during the bowhunting season. But in Virginia, crossbows aren't just an illegal hunting instrument; even the idea of using one is viewed with disdain by many sportsmen.

"Fear is the biggest thing," said Barber, who lives in Northern Virginia. "A crossbow fully rigged with a scope on it looks awesome."

Crossbows evoke images of Rambo movies and poaching and deadly broadheads streaking silently through the air for 100 yards or more.

Barber has been conducting a one-man campaign to change what he believes is a bad rap for the ancient instrument. And people are beginning to take notice.

There is a bill in the General Assembly that would make crossbows legal during the bow season for any disabled sportsman incapable of using conventional archery equipment.

The bill is expected to be treated harshly by legislators, which should be the fate of any measure that mandates a hunting or fishing law.

That leaves Barber's best hope with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. He has appeared before the agency twice and has its promise to consider the merits of crossbow regulations when new hunting regulations are proposed in March 1995.

"Interest has been raised to a level that it hasn't been in the past," said Bob Duncan, chief of the department's game division.

But Duncan wants time for his staff to study the issue, and he wants public input.

The use of crossbows isn't a biological issue, he said. It has more to do with perceptions.

Organized bowhunters in Virginia previously have expressed opposition to crossbows being used during the bow season. Some game wardens view the crossbow as a handy poaching device and a risk to safe hunting.

It is a matter of misunderstandings, Barber said. A crossbow is no more deadly than a modern compound bow. While the characteristics differ, the range and killing capabilities are similar, he said.

"The only difference between the two is the cocking mechanism," he keeps repeating.

Barber underscores that statement by reading the results of a two-year study conducted by Rutgers University. "The crossbow is directly comparable to the hand-held bow and should be considered as an archery hunting instrument," it concluded.

Virginia is one of more than a dozen states that prohibit hunting with a crossbow. You can own one, and you can shoot one, but you can't hunt with it.

There are 21 states that permit the physically impaired to use a crossbow during the archery season. Fifteen states go well beyond that.

"Ohio has had the crossbow in full season; 100 percent; non-restricted," Barber said.

The movement started slowly 17 years ago in Ohio, and now about half the people out during the archery season use a crossbow, Barber said.

For Virginia, many decisions await, Duncan said. Should there be a season at all? If so, what kind?

"Do we want restricted use, with a doctors certification [to verify a disability], or unrestricted use for anyone who wanted to use a crossbow?" he asked.