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Evidently our skills must be better than what you see. There are a lot of folks that do not have any business in the woods, that is very true. But good bowhunters loose extremely few mortally hit deer. Extremely few.

I've taken over 100 head of big game when I quit keeping tabs in teh late 90s with a bow.

I lost 1 deer to a gut shot over those years, learned HOW to find gut shot deer in case they did jump string and hit further back.

Hunting with a group of 8 bowhunters for close to 20 years as group, I can count on one hand the number of deer lost. And we shot our limits most years.

Now other hunters may be sloppier and less adept at following a trail, but not the case here.

What is the case is that mechanical heads can fail. I"ve seen it. Wife has seen it. Others hunting have seen it. Seems when they work, they do awful good job and may cut the trailing distance to a dead deer in half, but mind you I've never had a problem finding a lethally hit deer.

When they fail, they do so miserably. Wife and I each had tough issues with mechanicals... mine failed to open, hers had the blades bend over and become dull.

Her deer took us about 5 hours to find him. I found him once, early on when he was not nearly sick enough... and then waited quite a bit more before trailing and shooting him again in his bed.

My deer was shot at almost 9am exactly one morning, double lung shot, just over the heart arteries. Blades failed to open. Deer was found after a long grid search by myself, around 730pm that evening. I did go back to camp twice to eat and did take about a 30 minute nap after lunch....

I'll not use mechanical ever agian.


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I doubt the skills are much if any different. The numbers I got were from the DNR and represent the whole state. They don't seem out of line with what I know of other states as a whole.

Just because I can pick and choose what deer I want to shoot hasn't got one iota of bearing on the majority of hunters in the state who have an overall success rate hovering around 30% and are doing well to get a deer once in a while.

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Originally Posted by MILES58
Like I said, crossbows are loud. But... they are also fast, very fast. At 20 yards or so Bambi is not going to jump the string even from a crossbow with no noise suppression whatsoever.


Maybe in Minnesota. I promise you that you won't get away with that in some places. Like I said earlier, with unwary animals it doesn't matter.


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Originally Posted by MILES58
I doubt the skills are much if any different. The numbers I got were from the DNR and represent the whole state. They don't seem out of line with what I know of other states as a whole.

Just because I can pick and choose what deer I want to shoot hasn't got one iota of bearing on the majority of hunters in the state who have an overall success rate hovering around 30% and are doing well to get a deer once in a while.


Sure shows a lot of folks being dumbazzes then.

Which has no bearing on my comment that mechanical heads can be trouble.

You used fixed or mechanical? How many archery deer you kill? How long have you bowhunted?


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Well I know a sure fire way to make everyone happy. If you believe that a deer standing at 20 yards is going to jump the string because of the noise the xbow is going to make then aim low. Kind of like aiming where you don't want to hit. Problem solved.

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Originally Posted by rost495

Sure shows a lot of folks being dumbazzes then.

Which has no bearing on my comment that mechanical heads can be trouble.

You used fixed or mechanical? How many archery deer you kill? How long have you bowhunted?


Been my experience a lot of folks are dumbazzes. Makes no matter what they shoot.

With this crossbow I will be shooting mechanicals. Looks to me like they'll hit hard enough to work right every time. Might be wrong, but I don't think so. More prone to have a problem than fixed? Yeah, probably if you don't count that fixed cant fly as well. Looks like a wash to me all things considered.

I killed my first deer with a bow in '62 or '63. Not many though compared to what I kill with rifles. All with fixed blades though. I plan on killing four this year and they will be all butchered by me, so I'll know what the blades can do, and have some idea of their potential for failure if I'm lucky.

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Originally Posted by TomA
Well I know a sure fire way to make everyone happy. If you believe that a deer standing at 20 yards is going to jump the string because of the noise the xbow is going to make then aim low. Kind of like aiming where you don't want to hit. Problem solved.


Good advice.


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I have had to hunt with a crossbow for the last 6 to 7 years and have killed probably 20 deer with them. For me, deer do jump the string much worse than a compound due to the noise. But, the magic number for me is around 26 yards. Less than that and the bolt is there before they can react. More than that and I risk a bad hit as the deer will be moving. Thus, I limit myself to 26 yards shots or less. Really pretty simple to figure out with a little experience.



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Just in case anyone is in the market, I've got an Excalibur crossbow that was my father in law's. I believe it's the ExoMax an he used it for about 2 seasons. It's left in his estate and my mother in law has no need for it. If any of you guys are interested just shoot me a PM.

On another note, I ended up with a bunch of Bass Pro points on my credit card and thought I needed a crossbow. I bought the StrykeZone 380. It's been a really good bow, but I can't make myself use it much. I hunt with my recurve and compound much more. If I need to hunt in a blind I'll use the Xbow, but that's do to being able to draw and anchor correctly versus the size of the blind. I've had no issues with it, and would recommend one, but I've pretty much stuck my dad with it so he can use it and we can hunt together.

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Originally Posted by MILES58
Originally Posted by rost495

Sure shows a lot of folks being dumbazzes then.

Which has no bearing on my comment that mechanical heads can be trouble.

You used fixed or mechanical? How many archery deer you kill? How long have you bowhunted?


Been my experience a lot of folks are dumbazzes. Makes no matter what they shoot.

With this crossbow I will be shooting mechanicals. Looks to me like they'll hit hard enough to work right every time. Might be wrong, but I don't think so. More prone to have a problem than fixed? Yeah, probably if you don't count that fixed cant fly as well. Looks like a wash to me all things considered.

I killed my first deer with a bow in '62 or '63. Not many though compared to what I kill with rifles. All with fixed blades though. I plan on killing four this year and they will be all butchered by me, so I'll know what the blades can do, and have some idea of their potential for failure if I'm lucky.


Carry on.


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Originally Posted by ltppowell
Originally Posted by TomA
Well I know a sure fire way to make everyone happy. If you believe that a deer standing at 20 yards is going to jump the string because of the noise the xbow is going to make then aim low. Kind of like aiming where you don't want to hit. Problem solved.


Good advice.


I kinda figured this was common knowledge among bowhunters.

But it does not solve all the issues, they will not only duck but they will whirl also.

Have friend that shot at one, not all that far away, and the deer turned 180 by the time the arrow hit it. No big deal as he got lucky.

I have no clue if the deer was relaxed or what, as I was not sitting there and I tend not to totally believe every one all the time, as we've all made bad decisions and this was his first 10 point ever.... but the shot was not 20 steps, probalby 18 as I recall, there were trees there that started at 19 steps at that stand....

I'll stick with fixed heads, just too many issues over the years wth mechanicals. And fixed work so good. Fly so true. And if they are not accurate enough for ya, I suspect you and the bow both need work or are shooting to far.


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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"Shooting at where they're gonna be" is a lot easier with something already in motion than it is with something that will PROBABLY move SOMEWHERE. Doing everything you can to not make them move is the best bet, and the only way I know to do that is to avoid alerting an animal prior to, and at, the shot.

I wish the best of luck to any bowhunters reading this and truly hope you don't have to blow as many opportunities at a "buck of a lifetime" as I have to learn these lessons. smile


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I've shot under bucks, thinking they would duck, the way they were acting...

No guarantees in life...other than mechanicals suck.


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Originally Posted by ltppowell
Originally Posted by woodson
In the area I live hunting opportunities are really rare. Everything is a development or farm land. Land that is wooded is leased off. My cousin went to a land auction 3 minutes from my house and bought 14 acres. Doesn't sound like much but here in suburban Maryland, it's a awesome opportunity to get out there. I've lucked into two double man permanent deer stands. Next is the crossbow to really take advantage and hunt as much as possible. I'm a nurse and only work 3 days a week so I'll really be hitting it hard. Through lots of reading I have pretty much settled on the Tenpoint Turbo model without the cocking gadget. Curious if there is a certain time of the year these crossbows go on sale? Seems like the $800 is the money on one of these.


I have to ask, and I promise that this is no slight against crossbows. Is there a reason that you need to use a crossbow, rather than a compound? In my experience, the sound of a crossbow makes them less effective than compounds. If I had to use a crossbow, I would get the quietest one out there and do everything I could to make it quieter.
I saw this query, and thought I'd respond, as I've been following this thread with interest too. In my case, I had Congestive Heart Failure a couple years ago and they put a pacemaker/defibrillator in my upper left shoulder. I can't draw a bow any more, as per the dr's orders. In Minnesota, you have to get a certificate of medical necessity to use a crossbow, and I'll have the dr. fill one out for me so I can crossbow hunt this fall. I haven't bought a bow yet, but am looking at models that offer an optional hand cranking device, as I'll need that to load the bow.


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Originally Posted by gophergunner


I have to ask, and I promise that this is no slight against crossbows. Is there a reason that you need to use a crossbow, rather than a compound? In my experience, the sound of a crossbow makes them less effective than compounds. If I had to use a crossbow, I would get the quietest one out there and do everything I could to make it quieter.
I saw this query, and thought I'd respond, as I've been following this thread with interest too. In my case, I had Congestive Heart Failure a couple years ago and they put a pacemaker/defibrillator in my upper left shoulder. I can't draw a bow any more, as per the dr's orders. In Minnesota, you have to get a certificate of medical necessity to use a crossbow, and I'll have the dr. fill one out for me so I can crossbow hunt this fall. I haven't bought a bow yet, but am looking at models that offer an optional hand cranking device, as I'll need that to load the bow. [/quote]

Jeff,

I have an Excaliber and I really like it. It's simple and bullet proof. VERY fast. Very acccurate. You may not need the crank cocker. You're welcome to shoot it if you'd like.

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