Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting How many crossbow shooters do we have here?

Uhhhhh, not sure how 99% let-off makes it more accurate - still have to either release it mechanically with a release aid or with fingers.

rost 495
That's commonly called a partial dryfire. A real NO NO in CB world. He's lucky he hasn't ruined the bow...of parts of his body. Arrow has to be all the way back and touching the string when shot.

Thanks, I didn't think that was anywhere near right.... but times change.

I"ll have a look at it myself.

Jeff

I have been a bowhunter for 36 years now. I just purchased a Horton crossbow this week. Last spring's shoulder surgery left me unable to lift, let alone draw my bow.

To add insult to injury, after 3 yrs I drew an Iowa archery tag! Iowa issued me a temporary crossbow permit, which is better than my home state of MI, which will only let me use a crossbow with a permanent disability.

The scoped crossbow is pretty neat, but I would MUCH rather be using my Hoyt. After 3 yrs to get an IA tag, I was not going to pass it up. Hopefully, this time next year the Horton will be sold and I will be back with my Hoyt.

I'm all for getting hunters in the woods by any legal method. Our sport is experiencing a steady decline in licensed hunters & I & many others expect a 10% decline in 09 due to economic conditions. The State of Virginia F & G Dept. is like most others & reacts to what licensed hunters desire. There is NO interest by a significant number of hunters to impose size restrictions on the buck herd. All you need to do is join with others & petition the F & G Dept. to be heard. QDM, SCI,& VDA are all organizations where your opinions on changes to F & G can be voiced. This is why I belong to a private hunt club which has a 140 Gross minimum. I have back & neck limitations & haven't been able to use a compound for many years. I have used both Barnett & currently a Horton crossbow. In my opinion CB's do not penetrate as well as a good compound. I am so physically limited I must use a crank device to pull a CB which makes for a pain in the a$$. Clumsy & awkward in a tree stand.

A crossbow is not like a firearm. I don't find it easier to shoot consistently than my PSE Mach-X compound and even with it's 175lb draw and 22" bolts it has less effective range.

The crossbow is terribly noisy, and very unforgiving of technique. If you do not have excellent follow-through you will not be consistent with the crossbow.

The advantage of the crossbow? It allows my 70 year old father to go out into the woods behind his place and shoot a deer. He is unable to draw a conventional bow and it enables him to hunt. He realizes that 20-25 yards is about as far as he can shoot consitently. I can more than double that with my Mach-X.

I really thought of pruchasing one once, but then realized that they are illegal in most states, and I do enjoy my compound too much. I would like to try my luck with traditional some day.

Count me in as another Virginia crossbow shooter. While I do have chronic tendonitis in my right elbow that flares up whenever I do any serious practice with my compound, it was not enough to meet the previous disability requirement. However, it did prevent me from practicing enough to ethically bow hunt. Having shot both, I'd have to say a crossbow is only marginally easier to hunt with than a modern compound with 80% letoff, fiber optic sites, and a mecanical release. The bottom line is that you don't have to practice as much, but it is much bulkier and harder to load.

I've hunted off and on with a compound for the last 24 years or so. I recently made the switch to a crossbow.

Pro: You don't have to practice with the darn things near as much as with a compound or long bow. Sight it in and you're pretty well good to go.

Cons: Heavy...cumbersome...loud....nearly impossible for a fat guy to cock in a treestand .....and forget about any kind of quick follow up if needed.

I'm not sold on em....and I ain't giving up my compound....but it's an interesting new tool to play with for a few years.

Just for argument's sake....I'm also from Virginia. I'll agree with the other Kevin that the state does need to take a long look at it's overall deer management plan...but I don't think crossbow's cause any more or less trouble for the heard...

As to the practice issues, IMHO its a wash, I can go pick up my bow after not haveing shot for 2 years(have done this before) and check my pins, and still sighted in, go out and kill the next day, with having shot 2-3 shots.

Of course shooting form in general for either or even guns, has to be correct for the above to apply.

To an extent, I agree....for me, the practice comes into play more for developing the muscle memory for a quiet pull and possible long wait at full draw than for the mechanical sighting aspect...

I was a compound bow hunter for years here in alabama, then they legalized crossbows for everyone (no magnification scopes). I made the switch to an Excalibur crossbow and really enjoy it. I can tell you the main advantage is power (225lb pull) at close range and the ability to just hold and shoot rather than all the movement and energy needed to hold with a compound. Two seasons ago I had a big wild hog walk right underneath me. At 10 yards I shot down through the top of the of the back (high on shoulder). The arrow penetrated deep through the chest and lodged low in the far shoulder and the pig dropped in about 10 or 15 yards. I doubt I could have gotten the same penetration from my 60lb compound. You still have to accurately gauge distance and the deer will clearly jump the string at 30 or more yards if allert. So in my opinion, long shots 30+ yards are borderline. Bottom line for me is I want to kill deer when I bow hunt. If a cross bow minimizes my chances of wounding a deer or being spotted by one, (which I believe it does) I'm all for it.

I just got a permit last week,getting it set up to go later in the season.

+1.

I can no longer shoot a bow because of my vision. I can shoot a scope on my cross bow. I hate compound bows and tried them when I decided to try a pin sight years ago (always shot bear bow re curves). Now because of my vision I shoot a re curve cross bow.

As long as you stay out of the brush and stay in the open, they are OK. What a total pain to move around with a crossbow in the brush. Nothing faster than these Excalibers, or I would own one. I feel good with mine out to 75 yards. I know it kills caribou at this distance.

I've yet to have a bolt stay in and animal, and not pass through.

1) "Nothing faster than these Excalibers, or I would own one.2)I feel good with mine out to 75 yards."
1. Better check the speed specks. Assuming you shoot a 225 lb Excal., your arrow chrons around 230 fps, assuming you're using the recommended 425 grn arrow and factory string. (I know, I know, their advertising says 350 fps, but that's with a 350 grn. for-show-only arrow). Several co.'s (Barnett, Parker)make bows that do over 350; one does over 400 fps (BowTech). BTW, I shoot 2 Excals, great bows, but you said fastest, not so.
2) 75 yards is a poke with ANY bow. I can hit a baseball sized target (rested) at 50 all day long with my Parker Cyclone. But, targets don't move when they hear the arrow coming....live targets, esp whitetails, do; apparently, your caribou, not so much. There is shooting at game and then there is shooting at game ethically. My personal outside (ethical)limit, at game,is 40 yards. You do as you want but don't be surprised if you miss or, worse, wound game at 75 yards.
Don't mean to rain on you parade, but it's these kinds of upper limit statements that get us horizontal hunters a bad name with the vertical bow and game management crowd.

I have been doing alot of practice lately,and MY accuracy seems to drop off steeply at over 40 yds.probably because of the pin sight.

"I have been doing alot of practice lately,and MY accuracy seems to drop off steeply at over 40 yds.probably because of the pin sight."

While a scope with magnification would make your aim more precise, accuracy also depends on the aerodynamics of the projectile. The relatively short crossbow arrow simply does not fly accurately as far as a longer vertical bow arrow. It's all about the ballistic coefficient: short and heavy is great for kinetic energy; not so great for extended flight to a predicted point.

I agree, Excaliburs aren't the fastest and 75 yards is WAY too far to be shooting at game, but.......I shoot an Exocet (185#) with a 18" gold tip carbon arrow, 3 5" feathers and a 130 Wasp.........my chrono shows 305fps, so I don't know where you are getting 230 fps?? Even my old 165# exocet with 20" 2117 arrows/130 wasp is faster than 230fps......

My bad...that's 330 fps.

I bought a Horton this season and have it sighted in. I have yet to fly an arrow at any game . The owner of the property I get to hunt for free say's bow's only and I can no longer pull a compound bow due to a disslocated shoulder injury. Have starred at a few yearling doe's so far but didn't want to take one. Still waiting for a larger target. Have some other property that has lots of hog's and will try my luck there with the crossbow also. The crossbow is giving me more chances to hunt than if I were only able to go when I can use a rifle.