If the deer is relaxed and feeding, you should be good to 40 or so (my max shooting distance). The recurve crossbows are loud by vertical bow standards, but at reasonable ranges on a relaxed deer, the arrow arrives before the deer has time to hear, verify, and react - in most cases. There are always exceptions, but generally speaking, I would take a shot to 40 yards with minimal concern on a relaxed animal. JMO
there are several guys who make flemish strings for the Excals and they can add in whiskers which help slightly.
? Speed of crossbow? maybe 400 fps? Speed of sound 1100 fps give or take.
an arrow will NEVER reach an animal before the sound does. NEVER.
FWIW.
I"ve taken a lot of game with bows of all kinds. For our skittish deer, even relaxed head down, no where close to a feeder etc.... IE I don't hunt feeders all that often, I limit my shots to 15 steps or less. Fool proof. Beyond that things start to go wrong.
Just my choice. I'll never fire another arrow past that regardless at live game. And yes I've taken quite a bit at distances out to what some would call stupid. when it works, its fine. When it doesn't if you are lucky you miss, when you aren't lucky and the game ALMOST gets out of the way, life sucks.
Laugh away, crossbow at 15 or less.
