Seems to be since a lot of people do it there would be a forum for it.

The carp fisherman throw a fit on the TFF. I would think the Open Hunting Discussion forum would be fine for a new post.

Sure or post it here. I have done some in the past and sold a lot of setups for it and repaired quite a few.

The carpers absolutely refuse to make any effort to manage carp or that they are in any way destructive to many of the lakes they take over. All I ask of them to do is make some use of the fish, keep some of the smaller ones but you would think I asked them to shoot their dogs! So I have decided to get back into bowfishing to spite them.

Not that it's not a good post here but there are a lot more bow fishing posts on TBH.

We used to shoot carp with a homemade crossbow. Used 8" long fiberglass rods with duct tape for the vanes. .Cheap and effective,

I have mixed feelings about indiscriminate shooting of big gator gar ( one the one hand, they do eat bass in my favorite fishing lakes and there are several bodies of water it seems all you see is gar, on the other they are a native fish that is pretty ancient compared to everything else living in the water save for Alligators). I do support ethical and sustainable Gar fishing/hunting.

That said, I will shoot carp with reckless abandon. Non-native fish that doesn't have much value for food and will compete for space with other native species. I'm perfectly fine with people shooting them, throwing them on the banks and letting the buzzards and raccoons clean them up.

I think one of the main reasons you see the backlash about bowfishing that you do, is because of the perception of the people doing it... A bunch of rednecks loading up the boat with fish, taking pictures of them at the dock and then dumping them at the boat ramp. I don't eat most of the fish I shoot ( I will eat a gar, that's about it ) but I don't go out of my way to advertise the numbers of fish I shoot when we take a trip. Its a lot like a pigeon shoot.....its a ton of fun but it needs to be kept low key.

I sometimes use carp for trotline bait early in the year but I think Buffalo are better even for that and they at least are edible. I have eaten my share of Gar and have killed more than a few. I am absolutely amazed the number of times I have seen dumpsters filled with carp near boat ramps! WTH is that all about? Even dumped out in the boat ramp lanes. I remember several years ago finding a couple huge gar carcasses under a bridge over the Trinity that had been backstrapped and through the ribs I could see 40 or 50 sandbass! I prefer to eat them myself rather than let the gar hog them up.

Bowfishing is a blast. I highly recommend it.

Floweroflife will frown upon this posting. IDGAF though

I just brought my bowfishing rig home from our lake house,, sold my boat so not much action off the bank