Requirements

• You must have the proper licenses and education to hunt with a crossbow in Maine.Target for crossbow shooting. Amateur competitions. image by Igor Zhorov from Fotolia.com
  
  In order to hunt with a crossbow in Maine, you need to pay for a crossbow hunting license from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and it will require a valid big game hunting license. You can avoid having to take an archery hunting education course, and a crossbow hunting course, if you show evidence of holding a crossbow hunting license from another state, dated after 1979. Hunters 10 to 15 years of age, will need a junior hunter´s license, and will not be required to have a crossbow hunting license.
  
  

Restrictions

• In Maine, the use of crossbows is restricted. The state prohibits handheld pistol style crossbows. Approved crossbows have a shoulder stock and are held like rifles when shooting. The crossbow´s draw weight range should be between 100 and 200 pounds. Arrowheads must be at least 7/8 inches wide and not contain explosives or poison. Crossbows need a safety switch to prevent accidental firing.
  
  

Prohibited Locations

• Do not hunt within 100 yards of a dwelling.barn image by Einar Bog from Fotolia.com
  
  Crossbows can only be used in hunting areas where firearms are approved. They are prohibited in expanded archery zones. A property owner must give permission for a crossbow to be discharged within 100 yards of a home. Additionally, crossbows cannot be fired from moving vehicles or discharged over public roads, according to state Hunting and Trapping Laws and Rules.
  
  

Approved Hunting

• You may hunt bear and deer with a crossbow.The Bear goes where the Bear wants to go image by Ian Shorr from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the Crossbow Hunting License Fact Sheet, a crossbow hunter with a current license may hunt bear during bear season. No small game hunting is approved for the crossbow. Moose may not be hunted with the crossbow. Hunting deer with a crossbow is restricted to deer open firearm season. Crossbows are restricted during the following deer hunting seasons: open archery season, muzzleloading season and expanded archery season.
  
  

Safety Gear

• Crossbow hunters are required to wear blaze orange in accordance with Maine law. Each hunter must wear at least two articles of blaze orange. The first item must be fully blaze orange hat. The other item, for the hunter´s torso, may be camouflaged, but at least 50% orange.