Collision with Deer Changes Kansas Representative’s Opinion on Crossbow Season
Mike Bolton 02.23.12
All it took was a deer in the headlights to change the mind of one Kansas lawmaker earlier this week.
On Tuesday Rep. Anthony Brown, R-Eudora voted against a bill that would create a crossbow hunting season in that state. That evening on the way home he collided with a large female deer that did major damage to his truck.
“The deputy who was working said it was the second deer-related accident he’d been at that night,” Brown told the Topeka-Capital Journal.
On Wednesday Brown switched his vote.
The bill, which will now move to a Senate vote, was originally written to allow crossbow for those with disabilities but was eventually amended to include all hunters. It would allow crossbow hunting for deer, antelope, elk and wild turkey.
If the bill passes the Senate crossbow hunting seasons and the number of permits that would be issued will be determined by the secretary of wildlife and parks.
Mike Bolton, 56, served as the outdoors writer for the Birmingham News for 25 years until his retirement in 2009. He won the AP Sweepstakes Award for best sports story in Alabama on eight occasions and his stories on the Cahaba River were nominated for a Pulitizer Prize. He has also contributed to Sporting Classics, Bassmaster Magazine, Buckmasters Magazine and other national pubications.
