Crossbow (Provided photo — Metro creative)

SARANAC LAKE — Facing reconstructive surgery on his shoulder this fall, longtime avid bowhunter Jim Croft’s archery season appeared uncertain this year. He’s right-handed, so surgery on his left shoulder would all but slam the door on hopes of drawing his compound bow.

“I’ve been trying to put the surgery off until after hunting season,” Croft, 61, said with a laugh, noting that it’s becoming less likely he’ll be able to wait.

“If I miss it, it’ll be the first time in 45 years,” he said.

Croft was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday when he learned that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Senate bill S6360 into law, allowing the use of crossbows during all seasons in which compound and longbows are permitted.

A crossbow, Croft said, will allow him to harvest a deer during archery season regardless of his physical impairments, a fact he is incredibly happy about.

And Croft is not alone. Sportsmen across New York were lauding the news, saying the decades-old fight to allow crossbows during archery season is long overdue among an aging population of hunters who are finding it difficult to utilize traditional archery equipment.

Pro-crossbow groups like the New York State Conservation Council and the New York Crossbow Coalition, as well as local fish and game clubs, were all quick to praise the news, saying it will expand opportunities and help manage deer numbers in a state where participation in hunting has been on a downward spiral for 50 years.

New York boasted more than 800,000 hunters in the 1980s compared to 550,000 today. Those outdoorsmen harvested more than 300,000 deer annually, compared to 220,000 today.

“We couldn’t be happier about this news,” said Patrick McBrearty, legislative vice president of the NYSCC. “It is a golden opportunity for people like our seniors to be able to continue with the sport they love.”

McBrearty praised Deborah Glick, the chairwoman of the state Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, as well as her counterpart in the Senate, Pete Harckham, for their “tireless bipartisan” effort in ensuring the legislation passed. Glick and Harckham are both Democrats.

Assemblyman Matt Simpson, R-Lake George, who represents Essex, Warren and parts of Saratoga counties, is the ranking minority member on the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee. He said the law is “a great win for our hunting community, both now and for future generations.”

“With the allowance of crossbow use, accessibility for participation in our outdoor way of life here in the North Country will be greatly expanded to would-be hunters of all ages and physical abilities,” Simpson said.

Jason Kemper, chair of the state Conservation Fund Advisory Board, agreed.

“The full inclusion of crossbows has been a major priority of the sporting community for years,” Kemper said. “We thank the bill sponsors and partners that worked to get it across the finish line.”

The legislation has been hotly debated in Albany for more than 20 years, with opponents like the New York Bowhunters arguing that crossbows give an unfair advantage by holding a shortened arrow or “bolt” at full draw and allowing the use of scopes. Crossbows are also accurate at greater distances — opponents say — hitting targets at upwards of 100 yards.

Tupper Lake resident Mike Savage has been a member of New York Bowhunters for all but two years since its inception in 1991. He has fought against the use of crossbows for decades.

“They should be called a crossgun, not a crossbow, because they have more characteristics of a gun than a compound or longbow,” Savage said. “It’s just not the same as a bow.”

Savage said harvesting a deer with a traditional bow is an art, where the hunter has to come to full draw without alerting the animal and make an accurate short-distance shot, not shoulder a weapon and shoot through a scope. He fears that deer will get wounded by crossbow hunters who may take an ill-advised long-distance shot.

“In my opinion, crossbow hunters are gun hunters who want the instant gratification of becoming a bowhunter without learning to be a bowhunter,” he said. “If you want to be a bowhunter, learn how to shoot a bow.”

Other sportsmen, however, like Ralf Hartmann of Bloomingdale, who is a member of the Saranac Lake Fish & Game Club, say people should have the right to use a compound bow, crossbow or traditional longbow to fill their archery deer tag.

“The state has to maintain the deer herd somehow and does so through issuing licenses and tags,” Hartmann said. “What difference does it make what implement you use to fill those tags?”

Hartman, who is 75, said he hunted with a traditional bow for years, but an injury to his shoulder necessitated the use of a crossbow. He said the same type of controversy arose among longbow hunters when compounds first entered the fray.

“They can hunt with whatever they want,” Hartman said. “But, we should be able to do the same.”

State Senator Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, acknowledged the crossbow legislation has been divisive — it’s been on the table since 2005 — but said the two sides began meeting in the middle as the opposition grew older in age, thus having their own difficulties using compound and longbows.

“It is one way to allow the older existing hunters to continue to participate,” Stec said, noting that dwindling numbers of hunters combined with increasing deer populations make it imperative that the state find creative ways to manage the deer herd in New York.

“This is just another method of managing the herd effectively, which the DEC does an excellent job of,” Stec said.

The new law allows the use of crossbows for hunting big game in any area of the state where longbows and compound bows are allowed. It also removes requirements, including the use of a bolt with a minimum length of 14 inches, a minimum limb width of 17 inches, a minimum length of 24 inches and a maximum peak draw weight of 200 pounds.

Crossbow hunters will need a Bow Hunter Education Certificate and an Archery Privilege to use a crossbow during bow season, which opens Sept. 27 in the Northern Zone, and Oct. 1 in the Southern Zone. Hunting licences went on sale earlier this month. Bowhunter education and testing materials can be found at tinyurl.com/37cnczm6.