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Comment by foobarian | Hacker News Reader

There are various towns in New England that occasionally commission archers when there are too many deer, because the residents dislike the gunshot noises. This is with the fancy high-tech bows with various pulleys. Pretty well paid as I understand it.

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> because the residents dislike the gunshot noises

It's not the noise. It's a safety issue -- setting off firearms within city limits is a lot more dangerous than bows. They will often close off a park or wooded area to the public during hunting; managing the area where a stray arrow might end up is a lot easier than managing the area where a stray bullet might end up, especially with well-trained archers.

I've never heard of commissioning, though. Usually there are more than enough volunteers.

It's likely the commissioning was an isolated event, though the bowhunting is pretty common. Regarding the noise, I wouldn't discount it altogether - I know that if I lived in a suburb near NYC I'd be calling the police if I heard gunshots.

Is noise really the reason? You can have firearms with subsonic bullet that are almost completely silent.

How many hunters are using subsonic bullets? Back when I used to live close to/in the wilderness with many hunters around during hunting season, we heard gunshots almost every day, doesn't seem too popular to use those types of bullets if they are "almost completely silent".

None. But I think what he was trying to say is that they could have used firearms and used subsonic bullets by town mandate.

Sounds like a typical HN idea, do something more complicated, "transformative" and expensive rather than just using what works and worked for a long time :)

That's usually because hunters are prohibited from using suppressors. Subsonic ammo isn't ideal for big game because you do have a a reduced range and speed. And because of the NFA, every suppressor needs a 200dollar tax stamp and several months of waiting, this also drives up the price of suppressors. In PA they tried to pass a bill to allow deer hunters to hunt with suppressors, but it was voted down because you don't need to know things to vote against something.

If only it was just "several months" of waiting. :-/

IME, no. It's safety. I guess other places might be different.

You can, but subsonic rounds are less powerful and less accurate.

I get that but are they less powerful and accurate than an arrow?

My point was more that people tend to see hunting in a different way depending on the weapon used (I don't).

Many states allow bowhunting. I don’t know why they have to pay people in New England, maybe there aren’t as many hunters there as in other parts of the country?

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