New York state’s crossbow hunters now await a signature by the governor on a new law that permits the use of crossbows for taking big game in any area compound and traditional archery bows are allowed.

The state legislature overwhelmingly supported a bill allowing crossbows throughout the archery season, with the Senate passing the bill 57 to 2 on June 11 and the Assembly unanimously passing the bill on Tuesday.

Roy Dust, president of the New York Crossbow Coalition, told syracuse.com he’d just about given up hope crossbow legislation would pass this year after coming closer than it ever had to becoming law.

“Then when it came through, I said, somebody’s pulling my leg,” Dust said.

The legislation now goes to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul. If she signs it into law within the 30-day window, hunters will be able to take deer and bear with a crossbow throughout the archery season this fall, provided they have completed a state Bowhunting Education Course.

The past 10 years, hunters in the Southern Zone of New York have only been permitted to use crossbows during the last two weeks of the archery season. In the 2024 season, while compound and traditional bows could be used beginning Oct. 1, crossbows could only be used Nov. 2 through the end of the fall archery season, which was Nov. 15.

Bowhunting groups in New York resisted allowing crossbow hunters full access to the fall archery season; as crossbows became a more popular implement for hunting, a compromise was reached in 2014 allowing the two-week window.

Crossbows have been permitted for all hunters during archery season in Pennsylvania since 2009.

Dust told syracuse.com he’s confident Hochul will sign the measure into law, citing the legislature’s near unanimous support and noting that Hochul herself has supported crossbow hunting in past budget proposals.

“I don’t think she’s going to refuse to do it,” Dust said.

Dust also credited ordinary sportsmen for contacting state officials to encourage support of the legislation.

“I think the membership really came through for us because the legislators on both sides that I talked to said that they were getting thousands of calls,” he said.

Dust said the only downside to NYCC’s recent success is that the organization’s founder, Rich McDermott, won’t be around to see it.

McDermott and his wife died in 2023 in a car accident in the town of Albion.

“He laid all the groundwork, he made the contacts, he put in the time, he put in the effort,” Dust said. “We just were trying to pick up the pieces and keep it going forward. And we were lucky. We were lucky.”

A summary of the crossbow bill from NYCC:

• Allows crossbows to be used anywhere longbows are permitted.
• Requires archery privilege to hunt with a crossbow.
• Crossbow usage will be taught in a bow hunter safety course.
• Removes all draw weight and width restrictions.