Wanna Hunt with a Crossbow in NC? Get a Handgun Permit!

Posted At : July 28, 2010 3:18 PM | Posted By : Mike Hanback
Related Categories: Big Deer Blog

Today from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission:

Use of crossbows in North Carolina is now considered a legal hunting method...anytime bow-and-arrow hunting is allowed... State law requires that anyone buying or otherwise receiving a crossbow in North Carolina first obtain a pistol permit from the sheriff’s office in their county of residence or hold a valid concealed handgun permit.

Am I missing something? Why do you need a pistol permit to buy a crossbow for deer hunting? I understand it has always been this way in NC. Why? Are there weird similar crossbow laws in other states?

Why does Little Brother (sheriff’s office/local government) need to know you have a crossbow anyway? comment

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In Ohio, laws pertaining to crossbows are exactly the same as those pertaining to compound bows, long bows, etc. That's seems very odd to me to classify crossbows in the same category as handguns.

# Posted By indiancreekpsychopathic | 7/28/10 3:33 PM

In Indiana the new regs being pushed are that if you are over 64 or can prove that you have a disability that keeps you from using
a longbow, recurve or compound you can use a xbow during the early archery season.

Otherwise, anyone can use an xbow during the gun season, the muzzleloader season or late archery.

If NC is like Indiana, it all boils down to special interest groups and politics Mike, pure and simple.

# Posted By jstreet | 7/28/10 3:37 PM

you gotta watch out for those guys that sneak around with a concealed crossbow in their pants!!!!!! YIKES
seriosly

i thought Illinois was bad........that is funny

does that permit count for spears, boomerangs, and nail files as well........WTH

# Posted By Flatlander | 7/28/10 3:42 PM

Simply a made of big brother w=keeping tabs on us "sneaky conservatives".
Flatlander,
You really have to be careful with those "concealed crossbows in your pants". I was cleaning mine last night...and it went off!

# Posted By Curt | 7/28/10 4:19 PM

You're right Mike, this is a ridiculous, and most hunters would be laughing at our state government if it wasn't such an invasive and frustrating law. My understanding is that this is a NC general assembly law passed by our legislature years ago in response to a murder in which a crossbow was used by an intoxicated individual in a drive-by shooting of a teenage girl. Ever since then, a pistol purchase permit has been required to purchase a crossbow, and retailers are not allowed to ship to individuals in NC.

You should look at it as a positive, as many of the NC hunters that are currently planning on taking advantage of our new weapon opportunity this season are traveling to VA to purchase theirs. So NC hunters are helping to keep the VA archery shops in business. Unfortunately, with crossbows being allowed this season and folks going out of state to purchase, the state is losing a lot of revenue, and archery shops here are losing business as hunters rush out to purchase their new crossbow elsewhere.

I won't be using one, so it doesn't involve me, but by the time the legislature gets around to repealing this law, the crossbow boom will be over (read lost $$$$$$).

# Posted By David in NC | 7/28/10 4:21 PM

Man, and I thought it was ridiculous that Alabama doesn't allow scopes on crossbows. A pistol permit to buy what is possibly the least concealable weapon in the country? Absurd.

# Posted By Hil | 7/28/10 4:49 PM

all about making money for the govt

# Posted By parrish | 7/28/10 6:34 PM

That's is obsurd! What is next for those guys in N.C.? They had better hope their state legislature doesn't pass any bills requiring gunhunters to obtain an explosives liscense based on the amount of gunpowder in their shells. All about A Dollar!!!!

# Posted By Buddy in South Central Va | 7/28/10 7:41 PM

That law is a bunch of liberal crap! Dont vote these loonies into office. Just another tax....

# Posted By Buckwheat | 7/28/10 11:17 PM

Thats stupid....just cause it has a trigger has nothing to do with guns. Its a freaking bow period...no matter what anybody says.
MI had a silly rule that you had to wear blaze orange while going to and from a stand while hunting with a x-bow during bow season. How
stupid was that! They have changed that rule last year when they made them leagal for most the state to use during bow season.

# Posted By Scott from MI | 7/29/10 12:02 AM

I didn't even see that on the site. I guess i was just so happy that we could use them, could hunt on Sundays and could hunt during muzzleloading that I missed it. Ok. So it is stupid. I can't see it being a big deal though. I might just get a handgun now too and make it worth the effort. This is a lot less stupid then many things in NC. We finally got the lottery just a few years ago. We have to have law to tell people to turn on their headlights when it rains. I don't think anyone uses their blinker. And if you want to see a stupid road system - visit Winston-Salem.

# Posted By Mark | 7/31/10 3:45 PM

Oh, and we cannot shine a light on a deer on purpose in NC basically dusk to dawn. I totally get not doing it with a weapon on you or in your vehicle. But for some of us, that is the only way to see deer (just to make sure we actually do have deer in the area). :( I remember "shining" while growing in MI. It was fun seeing all the deer we didn't see in our stands. At least we knew the big ones where there and it kept hope alive. And no, we did NOT have any weapons in the vehicle.

# Posted By Mark | 8/1/10 2:31 PM

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