NY Crossbow Bill Passed: Seasons, Age, and License Rules

Under New York crossbow hunting law as amended in 2025, a crossbow may be used anywhere and any time a longbow, recurve, or compound bow is legal, provided the crossbow has at least a 100-pound peak draw weight and the hunter is at least 14 years old.¹ The change took effect for the fall 2025 season after the governor signed Senate Bill S6360A on August 26, 2025, folding crossbows into the statutory definition of “long bow.”²

Where and When You Can Hunt

Crossbows are now allowed throughout the full early archery season, the regular firearms season, and the late bow season for deer and bear. There is no delayed start date for crossbow hunters compared to vertical bow hunters.³

The county-level restrictions that used to lock crossbow hunters out of parts of the state are gone. Crossbows are now permitted in Westchester County, Suffolk County, and the archery-only portions of Albany and Monroe counties.³ For Long Island and lower Hudson Valley hunters, that is the biggest practical shift. Season dates still vary by Wildlife Management Unit, so check the DEC’s published season tables before heading out.⁴

Species You Can Take

Crossbows are no longer a big-game-only tool. You can now use one for deer, bear, wild turkey, migratory and upland game birds, other small game, and unprotected wildlife such as red squirrels and woodchucks.³ Unprotected wildlife may be taken at any time. Everything else must be taken in its open season, with the same bag limits that apply to any other legal method.

What Counts as a Legal Crossbow

A legal crossbow in New York is a bow and string (compound or recurve) mounted on a stock with a trigger that holds the string and limbs under tension until released. The trigger must have a working safety, and the peak draw weight must be at least 100 pounds.¹

Several old restrictions have been repealed. There is no maximum draw weight (the 200-pound cap is gone), no minimum limb width (the 17-inch rule is gone), and no minimum overall length.⁵ Any modern crossbow meeting the 100-pound minimum and safety requirement is legal to hunt with.³

Minimum Age

You must be at least 14 years old to hunt with a crossbow anywhere in the state, regardless of species.¹ Hunters aged 12 and 13 may hunt with firearms or vertical bows under certain conditions, but not with a crossbow.

License, Education, and the Retired Certificate

There is no separate crossbow permit. You need a standard hunting license, plus the bowhunting privilege if you intend to hunt during a bow-only season. Resident fees are $22 for the hunting license and $15 for the bowhunting privilege (ages 16–69); hunters 70 and older pay $5 for the license and nothing for the bowhunting privilege. Nonresidents pay $100 and $30.⁶

Every New York hunter must complete Hunter Education before buying a first license.⁷ If you plan to take deer or bear with a crossbow, you must also complete Bowhunter Education. Bowhunter Education is not required for small game or turkey with a crossbow, though the DEC recommends it.⁸

One thing to throw out of your pack: the old Crossbow Certificate of Qualification, the self-study form hunters used to print and sign, is no longer valid. Bowhunter Education has replaced it for big game.³

The 500-Foot Buffer in Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk

The 2025 law added a crossbow-specific safety setback for three downstate counties. In Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk, you may not discharge a crossbow within 500 feet of a dwelling, a farm building in use, a school, playground, public structure, occupied factory, or church.² Other counties may adopt the same rule by local law. Where houses and hunting land sit close together, map your setback carefully; a buffer violation is a separate offense from any season or licensing violation.

Penalties for Violations

Hunting out of season or with illegal equipment is a misdemeanor under the Environmental Conservation Law. Penalties scale with the offense:

Taking big game outside the open season or with an artificial light: up to one year in jail, a fine of $500 to $3,000, or both.
Any other illegal taking of a deer: up to one year in jail, a fine of $250 to $2,000, or both.
Taking a bear by a prohibited method: up to one year in jail, a fine up to $2,000, or both.

A conviction can also lead to license revocation for a period set by the court or the DEC.⁹

If You Hunt on National Forest Land

The U.S. Forest Service has no crossbow-specific rules; hunters must follow New York’s seasons, licensing, and equipment standards. On top of that, crossbows and bows must be cased and unloaded in developed recreation areas, you cannot discharge a weapon within 150 yards of a developed recreation site, residence, or place where people gather, and shooting across a Forest Service road or body of water is prohibited. Only portable stands and blinds are allowed, and individual ranger districts may add restrictions.¹⁰

If you take game in violation of state law and then move it across state lines, you also expose yourself to Lacey Act charges. A knowing violation can carry up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine per violation; a negligent violation, up to one year and $10,000. Each state-line crossing of unlawfully taken wildlife counts separately.¹¹ If you have any doubt about the legality of a harvest under New York law, do not transport it out of state.

1
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law 11-0901
2
New York State Senate. NY State Senate Bill 2025-S6360A
3
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Crossbow Hunting
4
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Deer and Bear Hunting Seasons
5
Erie County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. Governor Signs Crossbow Bill Into Law
6
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Hunting Licenses
7
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Hunter Education Program
8
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Hunter Education Program Courses and Certifications
9
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law 71-0921
10
U.S. Forest Service. Hunting
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 3373 – Penalties