So I shot a crossbow
Equipment
3 years ago I shot a bought a crossbow and took a young lady to Wyoming for an antelope hunt. It was great for her in that she caught on real quick. She got a very nice buck antelope the first morning while sitting over a waterhole. I have always used my compound, however, this year I decided to take the crossbow to Wyoming to fill two whitetail doe tags. Time was short and I thought that this would better then the compound. Well I shot two doe and filled the tags.
Conclusion: even though I was successful, shooting the crossbow wasn't fun :( Something was missing as compared to the compound. Seemed like "point & shoot". No trying to draw back and not be seen..... just seemed too easy. I will put it back under the bed and let it sit. Just my thoughts.
I’m thinking there’s a stickbow in your future...
Thank you for introducing someone to the sport!
That’s why a lot of archers leave their rifles collect dust . It just isn’t as much fun as archery shooting and rifle shooting became too easy.
That’s why GF mentions the stickbow. Once your compound is mastered you just might pick up the stickbow.
I’d also like to commend you on introducing someone new to hunting.
What, they're just an invert compound...8^)))
That was a joke folks, see the laughing symbol, don't pile on...8^)))
Some claim crossbows cause less wounding. If this is true, maybe there is a place for them.
Pat like you, I used to despise them also. I actually bought one for chits and giggles a couple of years back and have changed my way of thinking. I also don’t see much of an advantage if any over my compound. However I did kill a nice buck once after I missed him with my first shot. I know that’s not the norm but it can happen. I would have to say I would prefer using them out of a ground blind instead of a tree stand
I bought one to try while hunting whitetail in Michigan. Hated it. Used it to get nephew into hunting. He bought one, but now wants a compound bow. I donated mine to Hunting Buddies, a group here in Colorado.
Been toying around with getting one for late archery/flintlock season. No desire to use one in regular archery season.
“ some claim “
Well there’s a scientific study!!
Stirring the pot again I see.
I love em for turkey hunting, thought they were fun, for that...... I would also like to shoot a bear with one........ oh yeah and I love my long bow and my Hoyt, its all good
I have no issue at all with crossbows. Crossbow hunters use crossbows, bowhunters hunt with bows. Pretty simple really...and all good.
I honestly don't think there's a great advantage with crossbows over a compound. Put a a compound in the hands of a competent shooter and I feel they out perform the average crossbow shooter... on targets and on animals.
Isn’t “No comment”........... actually a comment Jeff... :-)
Yep. No comment here either.
I met a resident hunter during bow season in Wyoming this year. He had switched from rifle to a crossbow and has hunted with it for several seasons killing some nice animals. He told me as soon as he can afford to, he is going to replace it with a compound. He felt hunting with a crossbow during bow season was unethical.
It appears that even the Wyo G&F commissioners can't agree on crossbows although they voted to maintain the status quo and allow them in archery season.
Shooting a stickbow is fun....shooting a compound is fun....shooting a gun is fun...throwing a spear is fun....throwing a axe is fun....shooting a slingshot is fun. Some people are just ridiculous when it comes to a crossbow. Nobody is trying to get you to make love to a man for Christ sake....it`s simply a tool.
You’re exactly right, Franklin. They’re just a tool. However, there are many that believe they’re a tool that doesn’t belong in archery season, with the exception of those that are disabled or elderly.
You think we’re ridiculous, and we think those that think like yourself are ridiculous.
And the debate goes on, and on, and on.....
A few weeks back I was in Wyoming on an archery elk hunt. A father and son from back east (green as could be) were on their first ever elk hunt. They both had these crossbows that advertise 400 plus feet per second. They both killed within the first two day, I’d bet the results would’ve been different if they had to use a compound.
Scoped crossbows are far more efficient and easy to master. That is why so many former bowhunters (over 50% in the Midwest) have left bow hunting to become crossbow hunters.
I think they look cool. I would use one during our gun season just for something different. (Normally I stick with my bow even during gun season).
I think they're closer to a muzzleloader than a compound bow. With that being said, I really dgaf what someone else does. Me, I'll use my compound for now and trad once I can dedicate enough time for practice.
Martin....Somewhere there is a wounded warrior that would love to get out in archery season. Seek him out. No doubt you will be paying it forward.
You shot a crossbow?? Did it make you want rape and kill? I'll bet you had to go through an exorcism afterwards! A tool of satan!
I’ve never so much as touched a crossbow. Never had a desire.
But I’ll tell you, I just had a minor surgery, and thanks to my wife, who asked specifically :), my surgeon said no bow for 6 weeks. Fortunately my six weeks is up right after Halloween. I plan to to break it a hair early :)
However, rest assured, if something goes wrong. . . Infection, follow up surgery, etc., and the surgeon says no bow through November. . . . I’m buying a damn crossbow. Be damned to whatever anyone else thinks. I ain’t missing a November. We never know how many we got left. . . .
Nothing to fire up the crowd like a xgun thread...8^)
For being clunky and having no advantage over compounds,.... there sure are a lot of kids, wives, grandpas and disabled people using crossbows.
BOB H: Already done. Three years ago I took a veteran that served in Iraq. All expenses paid. He shot a really nice buck. BOB H: The ranch that I hunt really LIKES those that serve in the military and often gives them good hunts.
I have a confession.....there is a brand new, unboxed crossbow sitting on a shelf in my basement. My hunting buddy, who happens to be a member of this site as well, had triple bypass open heart surgery about 3 1/2 weeks ago and is hopefully going to be released tomorrow. Since they split his sternum like a field dressed deer, he cannot pull his Widow or Prime bows for at least 6 months. A local sporting good store sends me regular sales ads and one a couple weeks ago was for a Center Point xbow on sale for a good price. After we discussed it during a couple visits, he reluctantly sent me off to pick one up on the way home. It will be his only option for hunting during the 2018 seasons, so "it is what it is"......8^/
God willing I will never be put in that position, but then about 8 years ago my shoulder went "POP" while shooting my bow and pretty much ended my 30 year run of trad shooting. After some PT I took up the compound and have done pretty well with it. Sometimes you have to adjust.....as with my hunting buddy. He longs for the day he is allowed to shoot his bows again, but we are talking about getting the xbow set up and sighted in so he can sit on a stool in his camo yet this fall. From my perspective, this is what xbows do best.....offer someone who CANNOT draw a conventional bow the opportunity to continue to hunt. As for the able bodied who simply opt for a xbow out of convenience....well to me that is a different matter. However I do not make or enforce the game laws for my home state of MI, so things are as they are. (shrug)
What if you just shoot one until you need glasses????
While we all debate this , the antis are trying to end all hunting. No matter what weapon we choose to use. I used to get all wrapped up in these debates. Now I gladly hunt any season and dont judge any hunter for what weapon they choose to use. I just hope that the hunter has joined at least one orginazation that will fight for his right to be out there enjoying his sport.
I bought two crossbows. Ha ! That make me the winner ? Seriously, I did. Never hunted with either one of them. Sold one to a buddy and the other one to someone I didn't know. Both were very accurate, VERY LOUD, and very cumbersome.
Here's my latest pig punisher, (of which I have many), and it's very accurate, VERY LOUD, but not at all cumbersome. I'm gonna make 'em squeal ! :-)
i Think a compound gives more of an advantage over a recurve than a crossbow gives over a compound. I have all 3 and hope to harvest a deer with all of them. This year. I also have a muzz and a rifle that I will use also. I get so sick of people shooting 2000$ compounds out to 80 Yards griping about a crossbow. Come on y’all!
Went to a 50lb Triax this season after having bicep re-attached last Nov couldn't pull 60lbs anymore. Guess I could have justified the crossbow but I love to watch a good shot from behind my vertical bow. Stinks to be getting old but I'm still hunting!
Same outcome for me. Lacking the hunting aspect.
Go over to the Leatherwall side and they look at the compound shooter as having "training wheels" on their bows. They don`t think you compound shooters should be hunting during THEIR season either. Ridiculous...huh.
I was Trad or Die for a long time, but picked up a compound when a new job, a second child and a 500 mile/week commute cut into my practice time.
I no longer own a compound, but I’m a better shot than I used to be. Once I saw what I could do with some sights, I got to expecting a lot more of myself.
JMO, crossbows have a place wherever the managers are having trouble keeping numbers in check. And I think it’s only reasonable to allow them in bow-only areas during firearms seasons. And I have no issue sharing the woods with folks who have a disability or infirmity. We should all be so lucky as to still have eyes and legs after the shoulders are gone.
But if I want to be able to kill from 40 or 60 yards or more, I’ve got guns for that.
I would say though... I’d rather share the archery season with a guy who kills 2 deer with a crossbow than a guy who recovers 2 deer out of 4 hit with a vertical bow.
I had a fellow in my Wyo Bow Elk camp this fall and he had an xGun.
Heavy as heck ~~ he said 10lbs and he had it 'cocked' but no bolt in it while on the mnt.
I kinda was hoping to shoot it in camp to see what it was like but I didn't get a chance to.
I went to my Recurve that I built as I still can't draw my wheels bow from my injury back in June.
In my state you can only use an xGun during the Any Weapon Season (Rifle).
Good luck, Robb
I won an Xbow at an anti- New York Safe Act rally. It sat in the corner for a year. Enter a torn rotator in my left shoulder. I sat in my stand while a good 8 point passed by, and I was unable to draw my compound. That was it, I had to go on line to see how to cock the damn thing. After a few days of practice I went to the woods and stuck a nice 8 point in the first hour. This never would have happened if I had to rely on my compound. Fast forward to today, de sha vu all over again. Right shoulder needs a rotator operation, and I can't pour a cup of coffee let alone draw my bow. I've put off the operation until November 30th so I can get some time to hunt, I have a couple of good bucks on camera, one of which should go 130+. Though Bow season starts October 1st, I have to wait until November 3rd to use my Xbow. Not my first choice, but I will hunt.
Good luck this season 8point.
I don't have a problem with any weapon. Excitement and buck fever isn't segregated by choice of weapon. My problem is with trail cameras and hard shell blinds. That's where I get off the easy train. If you get rid of those two implements guys would have to do boots on the ground scouting again and actually hunt.
I shot one in 2013, and I have to admit...I liked it a little too much! Seriously fun to shoot!
But, not enough for me to hang up my wheelie bow!
They ain't a bow. No question. But, anybody that chooses one over a bow, minus injury requiring it, offers ZERO threat to me. Or, my preferred way to hunt.
I set plenty whitetail hunting. However, I sneak around even more. Try doing that with one. If they want to hike a 1/4 mile to their ladder stand or ground blind, to set and shoot something off of shooting sticks or, a bar that folds down in front of them, more power to them. I'm to lazy and impatient for that.
The only thing they offer a hunter over a modern compound is the ability to practice little and be deadly. After that benefit, they become a hindrance to anyone that hunts anyway besides I described above. That is just the way it is. God Bless men
Now if this could be modified it would be great for dealing with squirrels that get above you when you’re in a tree stand.
Here is my scenario....I'm 44 years old and both of my shoulders were injured through a work accident. I'm talking I could barely wash my hair in the shower or let alone put my arm up to put on deodorant. I've been to my normal Dr....Arthritis Dr....and a Orthopedic Dr. and now PT. My rotator cuffs are both shot. They have gotten a little better over the past few months but the Ortho won't do surgery until I've gone through 4 weeks of PT (which I'm in my 4th week) and my shoulders still kill me when I raise my arms above my head. I've shot a Mathews Monster at 70 lbs for the last 10 or so years so I tried to pull an arrow at 60lbs and it HURT so freaking bad. I since let my 17 year old son take over my Mathews bow and he is shooting it very well (he's kind of now excited to go deer hunting again). So here I sit and today is opening day of Archery season here in IOWA and don't even know if I'll make 1 sit this year. I'm sure I could talk to my Dr. and get a crossbow permit but #1 I don't own one or have the cash to go buy one #2 I've never been a huge fan of them.
Maybe crossbows aren't so bad now......I guess.
FF
I have been been having an internal debate for years over a crossbow. I have had 2 surgeries on my left shoulder and one on my right shoulder. I live with shoulder pain every day. It is better when I don’t shoot my bow.
I tried a crossbow and they work. However, imho, they are unsafe at best. I can’t get past putting my fingers in front of it while it is cocked. I can’t comfortably cock one in a tree stand. They are also heavy, weight forward, and clunky. It was fun to shoot in the yard once or twice but I did not have any desire to hunt with one.
I will not hunt with a crossbow as it doesn’t suit me. I will likely be doing more gun hunting in the future.
I am tired of surgeons and rehab.
This getting old is not for wimps.
They do offer pretty serious advantage to extend the range of the average hunter with very little practice. I would probably use one for certain situations here in Iowa if they were legal. The culture of hunting here is changing to shooting huts over food plots. I think there added effectiveness comes from the lack of necessary muscle control needed to shoot especially off a rest.
I shot a xgun at a local archery shop this summer. It was scoped and laying on a led-sled. The owner just put on a new scope. He was setting it up to site for 90 yards. I was very glad to shoot it. It was no different from shooting a rifle. This ain't archery.
Killed a cow elk with one this year. Age and a hunt with my son led to the kill. Its definitely not as challenging as shooting with a bow, but I couldn't see much different than using a compound. Was also my first kill from a pop up blind and being hidden was as much a part of the ease as the crossbow.
There are so many things we use that make killing easy that it's difficult for me to criticize one while thinking another is okay. Rangefinders, tree stands, popup blinds, crossbows, compounds that can be "cocked" minutes in advance, release aids, bait stations, small food plots, can all be criticized for taking something away from bowhunting.
If age and physical limits lead to using one, do so without guilt. Many of the criticisms made by compound shooters are exactly what traditional shooters make about compounds and quite frankly there isn't much difference between the two.
What Pat said, X10. That is it exactly. Anyone who spent years shooting a vertical bow and is now forced to use a crossbow, feels exactly the same way. All a crossbow does is allow you to continue hunting.
xbow creep..........as in slowly being accepted.
very accurate, VERY LOUD, and very cumbersome. Plus creeping into season where they compete with hand held vertical bows as a superior weapon, thus changing the nature of the season.
Most if not all state have an exception for disability. However, many don't allow draw and hold devices. Something that is just a tweak to equipment many folks already have been using for years(without having to invest $800-1000 for new equipment). So if the argument is that compound bows are the same as crossbows, why don't folks take the route to use a draw hold device?? Lobby for the same?? Feel free to debate on..
They are so cumbersome and loud,.... scoped crossbows are the modern weapon of choice for most new children coming into archery season hunting, many women, senior citizens, and those with disabilities. One has to wonder?
There was a guy where I worked that was excited that he got to go out with the crossbow this year full season. He just knew he would be able to kill the big buck. I asked him what his effective range was to which he replied 50 yards. I then asked him how many big bucks he has got within 50 yards off the last few years and he answered zero. I then asked why will they come by now that you have a crossbow in your hand? A crossbow definitely makes it easier to shoot a little farther but it doesn’t get the deer to walk closer. A bad hunter with a crossbow is still a bad hunter but he can shoot farther. That guy still has yet to kill a buck with the crossbow and he has been useing it since Illinois allowed them after the second gun season.
Even gun hunters do not get a deer every year. Should they be in the archery seasons too?
OUCH
OUCH
Good thing you did not end up like this.
Lot of crossbow knocking, most of it by folks who never hunted with one. I don't mean shot one, I mean HUNTED with one. Probably the same folks who bash or did bash compounds. Shooting one off a rest in a shop...at 90-yards, is bull cacada. Go to the woods and try that.
In the future years, the crossbow will be the compound of today and we will only have one season-hunting season.
"In the future years, the crossbow will be the compound of today and we will only have one season-hunting season."
I believe what Bowriter said is true, at least in many states where whitetail are the main big game animals hunted. Given all the tech advancements, declining hunter participation, erosion of hand drawn bow use and therefore bowhunting, and the need to harvest deer for CWD quotas, I would be perfectly fine with one season, any weapon. How about you?
Been expecting this day to come for me these last few years as well, and fighting hard to keep using my trusty Mathews rather than surrendering to the ravages of old age and using the xbow (bought my third one last year, sold the first two when the old body seemed to be recovered enough to no longer need them).
I've enjoyed shooting lots of archery, targets and hunting, year round for 57 years, and I am still not ready to voluntarily switch, but this year my shooting has been miserable when I go to a 3D, but always decent again on my practice range. Just don't have any confidence in which shooter will be pulling the string when the deer comes down the trail next time.
Sighting in the Wicked Ridge now, and getting used to the awful racket. I suspect it will be the Mathews with me at first, but if I end up blowing a shot on live game the way I have been on rubber deer this year, it won't happen twice.
Yer right, old age ain't fer sissies 8^)
Legal bow in MN is 30 pounds. I will go all the way to there before I consider a xbow. Or I'll just go fishing.
I am in total agreement with Pat on this. Xbows are not an issue for me and have not been for over a decade. It has had zero impact on archery season where I live and they have been legal for a long time now.
I agree too, crossbows will have little impact on total harvest as license opportunity will be adjusted, likely downward as harvest efficiency increases. On species or gender with a limited draw there will be an adjustment in licensure.... with the resultant point creep.
Crossbows have led to the decline of bowhunter numbers, but will have little to no impact on animal populations. License numbers will be adjusted accordingly, nothing to fear.
Russ Koon- Don't worry about the noise. The deer don't. Drove me nuts at first. Then, I realized, deer don't jump at the sound of the bow/string/etc. They duck the arrow sound as it comes at them. You will find a whole lot more to dislike, once you start hunting with one. Just putting it in the truck, to start with.
Do not worry about the noise and weight,... kids, senior citizens, those with disabilities, and many women and men find the scoped crossbow to be the preferred weapon. Go for it and have fun.
Missery breaks is right. Just possible, although the day of the re-curve is fading, the crossbow may save a portion of what we use to call hunting. Remember, that day before food plots, feeders and cameras- a day when we needed something called woods craft.
Nah. We're toast.
I agree with Bowriter on that one too, however those days are gone forever. Harding published some good books on that, about 1930 or so.
You shouldn't worry about the noise.
What did you shoot it with
Thought about getting one......can I mount it on my Ebike?:)
When I get to old to hunt with a bow, I’ll go back to guns. Crossbows don’t do it for me. If you like them, go for it.
Most who shoot crossbows are not old, they are simply middle aged guys who no longer choose to be bow hunters.
I started bow hunting here in Ontario in the early eighties, crossbow were always lumped in with archery season as they still are today. honestly in all my years of hunting , other than some light hearted joking among hunters about bow vs crossbow, I've never seen much concern over the issue. I've shot compound all my life and harvested a ton of deer and a few bears with them. Excalibur crossbows are made here in Ontario and I'm not ashamed to say I own a couple of them. Every now and then I even hunt with one. I feel much more confident with a compound since I've shot for so long and try to shoot daily, but every now and then I grab an excel and head to the stand. Makes absolutely no difference to me what someone uses during bow season. Hunt , develop woods skills, respect the game, obey the law, teach young folks, carry on! Maybe us Canucks are just a little more easy going.
There is nothing wrong with scoped and cocked crossbows. In much of the Midwest most hunters during archery seasons use them, and the weapons pretty much occupy what once were bow and arrow type stores. Bow and arrow hunting in these regions is on a steady decline, and will continue. The number of those in the US willing to work hard enough to become efficient bow and arrow hunters is also on a steady decline. That too will continue, and is fine by me.
For some it's the journey, for others, it's the destination. Is either wrong?
Anyone see the latest Bass Pro "archery" flyer? $3,000........really? Apparently there's no limit to what gun hunters will do to bring their weapons to the bow season ruts. Hell new Remington .300 Win Mags go for less than a K. It's no wonder the xgun lobby had so much coin to stuff in legislator's pockets to over-ride state's fish & game agency professional wildlife management.
The hunters desire and buy these weapons which creates and perpetuates the market, and continued growth. It does not work the other way around. Nobody to blame but the hunters who choose these weapons, and pay the cash to fund further advancements in technology.
