Pav,

I obviously can't disagree that with crossbow inclusion, overall archery harvest percentages are up. When you look @ the data, before crossbow inclusion in 2012 the archery harvest accounted for roughly 20% of the total yearly total. Since crossbow inclusion for all, over the last four seasons (2012/15) the archery harvest has risen to 27% of the yearly total harvest.

I also agree that eventually the firearms seasons will likely be shortened and/or moved. But, IMO the percentage of the total harvest by archery hunters is going to drive that bus. Having said that...for the IDNR to make any major changes before those trends are clear (as indicated by the percentage of total harvest by archery hunters steadily growing), makes little sense to me.

Regardless, it will definitely be interesting to see what happens as the next few seasons pass.

Thanks for the post.