Hunting & Fishing Any Crossbow Hunters out there?

[libertyman777]

Just bought my first one. It's an Excalibur Vixen. New, old stock for $350 shipped. It's been many years since I've gotten excited about hunting season but this year I can't wait.

I shot a friends Exomax and I was hooked. It punched clean through a standard archery target at 30 yards.

Based on what I've seen thus far, I think 50 or even 60 yard shots are well within the capability of the bow.


Anyone else hunt with a crossbow?

 

[rhildy77]

Use to when I was in ohio but can't now have to have pretty much a doctors order I Arizona so I picked up a compound again. It's fun and yes 60 yards you should be good to go. Good luck

 

[Mark williams]

Yes, I love to shoot and hunt with them. I have the ten point cls phantom. It's one very accurate bow but I will not shoot game animal past 50 yards. The crossbows short , lighter arrows don't carry the down range energy of a normal arrow. Hope you have a great and joyful season.

 

[LanceS4803]

I'm shooting a Barnett Quad 400, 22" arrows with 125gr NAP Spitfires. Carries plenty of energy, all complete pass-through except for one spine shot on a steep angle from a stand.

While certainly capable of 60yd hunting accuracy, I am limiting myself to 30yds, with a possible 40yd if the situation presents.
Reason being, the stinkin' crossbow is so much louder than my compound!
From arrow speed, the break even point between arrow arrival and jumping the string is about 30-35yds. I can get away with more distance with a compound than a crossbow. (Although Ten Point has some pretty cool noise dampening stuff out now.)

 

[Sniper Uncle]

Just bought a Ten Point myself. Took it out and shot it, and boy is it accurate. Can't wait for archery season. I got it mainly so that I would have more time available in which to find time to go hunting. With my job, that can be a problem, but in PA, Archery season is nearly 3 times as long as regular rifle season, so the chances of being home for time during archery and rifle seasons combined are much higher than just for rifle season.
I also am looking forward to using a revolver to kill a deer or perhaps even a bear......

 

[shoots100]

I never hunted with a crossbow, until last year. Went to Fla to deer hunt with my father.He has a Parker Co2 crossbow. He has bad arthritis in one shoulder and can't draw a bow back anymore, so the parker lets him hunt again. I blew my elbow out two weeks before going down there, but I took my breakdown recurve anyway. When the time came to draw on a deer, my elbow gave out. I went out and bought a 10 point crossbow package and had it sighted in and ready to hunt in a couple of hour's. Never saw a deer worth shooting that trip, but I was able to hunt. Now I have a pulsar night scope mounted on it, and it's the perfect predator rig for the area I live in. I installed the ten point dampening system, and it made a big difference. Good Luck Hunting.

 

[hlee]

I shoot a compound bow but everyone else on our lease shoots a crossbow. They are dead nuts accurate and shoot more or less like a rifle so there is a lot of appeal. They are loud and heavy, and if you have a crank cocking device they are terribly slow to reload. Even the rope cocking device is slow. But, they are accurate. The short bolts bleed speed fast and while the "muzzle" velocity is fast on a crossbow, the heavier arrow from a compound bow is the winner at ranges over about 30 yards. Texas opened up the archery season to crossbows a couple of years ago and a lot of people jumped. I am staying with my bow but I got to shoot a lot of x-bows as the guys on the lease asked me to get all of their crossbows sighted in for them. I wouldn't shoot a crossbow at anything I wouldn't shoot a compound bow at, except for the aspect of having a solid rest. I limit my shots to 30 yards while I am confident that my bow will shoot through a deer at 50. I would probably shoot a crossbow to 40 yards given a solid support.