I had the chance this past weekend to chat with a couple of DNR field officers at the Iowa Whitetail Classic in Des Moines and I was shocked when they had no clear answer on the legality of stone points for hunting in Iowa. The regulations state that arrows be tipped with a "broadhead", I asked specifically if that meant any material so long as the design was that of a broadhead. The answer they gave me was to call the C.O. in the county where I hunt to see if he would consider them legal. That might be fine if I hunted in my county of residence but I dont and I cross several county lines where apparently its up to the C.O. to decided if my equipment is legal!!
Anyone here know for sure if stone points are legal in Iowa?
i think it would be legal unless stated that they werent. just my opinion. huntem.
In Jersey they clearly state it in the regs.Call a conservation dept.they have to give you an answer.
Agreed, my next step is to call the DNR office and get a final word but it still remains that apparently the law is written so vaguely that the C.O.s I talked to after reading it were confused as to its meaning. Ive seen this before with law enforcement, personal judgement seems a poor way to interpret the law and leaves the average person in a comprimised position.
In Ohio a broadhead is any heads that is 3/4 wide or more and has two edges or more. Id get them to clarify it !!!
,,,one more thing ! If one person can tell you want you can hunt with in Iowa ..I'd move to a "FREE" State !!!
In my opinion if it doesn't say steel or metal in regs you are good !! Otherwise might open up a can of worms and may change this to disallow stone !!
i agree with Tom...
...or maybe all You Trad. in Iowa could get together and show'm how good a stone point works !!! I'd be more that happy to help!!!! Remember "We the people" are the ones that control this wonderful Country !!!
Keep us posted!
I am with Tom, I wouldn't open a can of worms.
Jack
I believe that's what happened in Wisconsin a few years ago. We used to get the question in Bowhunter ed classes. Different wardens particiipated in those classes, and they weren't certain of the legality of stone heads. I believe the regulation used to read, "...broadheads must be at least 7/8 inches wide....". Now it says," ...metal broadheads must be at least 7/8 inches wide...." Anyone have Wisconsin regs from5-10 years ago? Pretty sure I'm remembering this correctly but I could be wrong.
Jerry, the regulation always said that. The change was that they added "must be sharp". Problem is the wording is pretty specific. . "Metal broadheads must be 7/8" wide and kept well sharpened".
That statement does not say that you can't use plastic broadheads, or stone and it also doesn't give any direction as to size or sharpness of anythng other than a metal broadhead.
I have a copy of an email that was submitted to Mike B essentially saying that stone points are legal. . or won't be held as illegal.. according to that statement.
ChuckC
In Louisiana when the reg. was changed to allow stone points all they did was drop the word "metal" from the decription and now says "broadhead must be at least 7/8 wide.." just like Wisconsin's had been.
We just got our law changed three years ago to allow for stone points and several deer have been taken since then with them.
DJ
Here is the exact wording in the regs, seems pretty clear to me that at the very least they arent specifically prohibiting the use of stone heads.
LEGAL METHOD OF TAKE
Archery: Longbows, recurve bows, and
compound bows shooting broadhead arrows are
permitted. No explosive or chemical devices may
be attached to the arrow or broadhead. There are
no minimum draw weights for bows or minimum
diameter for broadheads. Arrows must be at least 18 inches long. Draw locks on compound bows are
legal.
Ill still contact the DNR for a final judgement but it seems like I should be OK to use them.
I guess Ill just have to learn to make stone points now or get some suitable for hunting.
Chuck: Seems like there's still some confusion. Here's the regs from the 2009 pamphlet. "Bows must have a draw weight of 30 pounds or greater and metal broaheads must be at least 7/8 inches wide and kept sharp to hunt deer." Now, as I interpret that, it means that the broadheads must be metal. Of course, others might interpret it to mean that broadheads that aren't 7/8 inches wide don't need to be metal. Seems we still have a conundrum. BTW folks, Chuck and I are in the the same Bowhunters education instructors group. Even we don't know what the hell the situation is.
Thats kinda my point with the answers I have gotten, basically if an officer interprets the law one way Im good to go, the other way means a citation. I suppose it can be sorted out in a court of law but Im inclined to believe that there will be some bias towards the C.O.s position. Ive submitted the question to the DNR web site and hope for a good answer there.
Don't worry about it. C.O. aren't out to pick on people and issue citations for every little thing. I am an Iowa Sheriffs Deputy and can tell you that if a law is open and vague most officers won't waste their time worrying about it (as it is to much of a hassle to go to court over it). As you can tell by their answers you should see that their not real concerned about it.
Flint is natures razorblade, and i think its a crock that we cant use em here in MN! Not sure they have ever even considered it! I may go through the proper channels and try to see if it could happen that they become legal! I have a buddy who is a good bowyer(selfbows), arrowsmith, and also good with flint! He made some heads up and mounted em on some Ash arrows and shot em out of one of his mulberry selfbows and it just looked cool! Under a microscope all the teeth lay flat and dont wander like steel teeth do! I mean how many animals were killed with stone point tipped arrows, unless are critters have changed they should still work right?
Theres plenty of us out here that have killed many deer with stone and can show that it works just as good as metal maybe better. If you need help ...I bet we would help !!!!
I read an article I think was in the Feb. Traditional Bow Hunter about a guy using self made equipment hunting in WI. In the article it shows a pic of him and a deer he harvested, it sure looks like he was using a stone point. I too thought you had to use metal broadheads WI.
I called the head DNR law enforcement for the state of NC to ask him if he could tell me what was meant by a barbed point(stone is allowed in NC). The regs say 7/8" min and not a barbed point. The guy told me it couldn't look like a fish hook. When I said that none of my stone heads looked like fish hooks he told me to ask the guy who would be writing the ticket.
I think it's funny(peculiar) that the guys in charge of these things don't know more about it. He told me that not that many folks hunted with stone points so the subject ha never been considered.
If you compare the cutting edge of a well made stone point against the finest surgical steel blade you will see there is no comparison. The stone edge goes down to a molecule and makes a magnified steel edge look as irregular the Rocky Mountains.
I used the Iowa DNR web site to pose my question and I got an answer back from them today.
"Shad; as long as the "stone points" have two cutting edges like the modern design "broadhead" I think we would consider that to be legal, and within the description/definition of broadhead arrow.
Steve Dermand"
Now, I did mention that traditionaly tips could have been made from more than just stone but I see in my answer that Steve was careful to point out stone points of a broadhead design would fit the description. At any rate at least now I know for sure and have this response as some form of evidence.
Now to take up knapping or finding someone that knaps, I think it would be a real thrill to take an animal with a selfbow and primitive arrow with a stone point.
I was about to answer that its most important that it wasn't expressly stated as not legal and therefore you are safe, looks like the other Steve agrees with me, lol!