Crossbows???

[sureshot375]

Thinking about getting a crossbow for the kids to hunt deer with. I figured it would be a good way to get in the woods early and maybe serve as a gateway to bow hunting.

I know nothing about them.

Any recommendations? Not looking to spend 3k. We are talking about shooting deer at 20 yds.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Don’t know anything about them either, but the PSE Stinger is a good “grow with you bow” when they are ready.

 

[sureshot375]

Don’t know anything about them either, but the PSE Stinger is a good “grow with you bow” when they are ready.

I started my wife with a stinger. Great little bow for the money. Moved her up a year later to a bow tech.

 

[HankBuck]

Thinking about getting a crossbow for the kids to hunt deer with. I figured it would be a good way to get in the woods early and maybe serve as a gateway to bow hunting.

I know nothing about them.

Any recommendations? Not looking to spend 3k. We are talking about shooting deer at 20 yds.

@sureshot375 - I’ve owned an Excalibur crossbow for several years - very simple & durable design but takes much “strength” to draw & cock. The Excalibur is very accurate - but they are All very accurate AND expensive, a $1000 is nothing to spend on a cross bow and $2000-$3000+ seems “normal”. You might want to consider a Crossbow with a “Crank” to assist in cocking - makes it very easy. Many Brands to select from and a local Pro Shop would be a good place to start….Good Hunting!!

 

[19_A_CPT]

Thinking about getting a crossbow for the kids to hunt deer with. I figured it would be a good way to get in the woods early and maybe serve as a gateway to bow hunting.

I know nothing about them.

Any recommendations? Not looking to spend 3k. We are talking about shooting deer at 20 yds.

Walmart actually has some decent ones. We have the Fierce 405 and its all anybody would need. It is hard to pull back though. Would recommend a cocking handle mechanism.

We took ours to Africa in '22 and my wife shot a nice sable with it and barely missed an impala (fast little sucker).

 

[Labman]

I've been shooting an Excalibur for years. Being a recurve they are easy to maintain and you can do all necessary maintenance yourself. No need for a bow press. You will definitely need the crank for a young person to cock the bow but this will be the case with most Xbows.

 

[skydiver386]

I've owned and hunted with 8 crossbows over the last 20 years, I also started a few nieces hunting with crossbows, and here are my recommendations.

A crank cocking device is nice, but if you or another adult are going to be with them anyway, you will probably be the one cocking the crossbow. Models with any cocking winch integral to the bow is likely to be hundreds more in cost, so in this case, simple may be better.

Something short, light and with decent speed at a relatively low cost is what you need. Try to find something with speeds over 350fps, so that there is very little chance of the deer jumping the string, and distance/trajectory errors aren't as critical.

For a standard layout crossbow, the PSE Fang is decent. Another standard crossbow is the Wicked Ridge invader.

For a reverse limb, a Wicked Ridge RDX 410 is a winner. Right now Midway has them in stock at a huge discount. I'd jump on this if you want a good reverse limb bow. BTW Wicked Ridge is Ten Points discount brand without the expensive add ons.

Wicked Ridge RDX 400 Crossbow Mossy Oak Country Package

The Wicked Ridge RDX 400 hunting crossbow is a perfectly balanced reverse-draw crossbow measuring only 9-inches wide and shooting up to 400 FPS. The RDX...

www.midwayusa.com

My current crossbow is a Scorpyd at nearly 500 fps, but I've got over $2500 in that bow.

 

[mdwest]

Following this thread with interest…

Between just getting a bit old and a 70lb Hoyt starting to get difficult to shoot… and the primary property I hunt not really being conducive to bow hunting (not a lot of big timber options to put a stand in, and shooting lanes being long and narrow which make bow shots really challenging, I’ve been thinking about an x-bow… but don’t really want to dump a fortune into one if I’m not sure I’ll enjoy it…

One of my blinds I think would be really good for a crossbow.. the feeder is a little far out for a shot with anything other than a rifle, but there is a heavily traveled animal trail that dumps into the field just about 40 yards from my blind… I catch deer on the trail cam coming off that trail several times a day, and it’s like a freaking deer super highway at night…

The challenge with a compound is by the time you see them they’re already 45+ yards out and moving toward the feeder.. which is outside my range with a compound… and the window in the blind is set up for a rifle, not a bow…

 

[mauserhunter]

I'd probably go with a Excalibur but with are regs none over 200lbs there not really a option, next would probably be wicked ridge/ten point. Avoid Barnett.

 

[rookhawk]

Thinking about getting a crossbow for the kids to hunt deer with. I figured it would be a good way to get in the woods early and maybe serve as a gateway to bow hunting.

I know nothing about them.

Any recommendations? Not looking to spend 3k. We are talking about shooting deer at 20 yds.

Sadly, most crossbows truly are disposable junk products. Worse yet, the high-end $3000-$5000 crossbows are so highly strung that using them for practice quickly wears them out. My crossbow I forbid people to recreationally shoot. Every year, one shot, it hits the bullseye at a given range, and its put in a purpose built padded container so it doesn't lose any of its adjustments.

So I didn't answer your question directly but wanted to give you a preamble. You need to spend more money than you intended, but you don't need the best crossbow. The most accurate crossbow of high quality is the obsolete Ravin R10/R15 series. These bows were not extreme high power, but because of that they also don't crack limbs and stretch cables after very few shots either. I think they are about 5 year old models but are still in production. They run $1200 with everything you need except broadheads. They will print 2" groups at 100 yards on a windless day, so they are highly precise. At their velocity, it will permit an ethical shot (due to time in flight and a deer's ability to react) to about 52-55 yards.

It is the PERFECT weapon for younger hunters too small to draw a vertical bow. All my kids were hunting deer and turkey with them from a steady rest at six years of age. It's a wonderful tool for young hunters.

 

[rookhawk]

A postscript unrelated to crossbows that is worth mentioning. For Africa and out west hunting, we use Gearhead Archery vertical bows. They are extremely compact with models having axel to axel sizes between 18" and 34" in their hunting lineup. They make a model called the Destroyer 24 and Pivot 24 both in "short draw" configuration. These bows are ideal for crowded box blinds, or a youth/adult hunter stalking where they need to shoot off their knees for a tricky shot. These bows are $800-$1200 bows, so not junk but neither are they $3000 offerings. They adjust for a wide range of draw weights and lengths.

One of my kids has been using one for big game hunting since he was 8. He had good success stalking plains game in Zimbabwe with it when he was 10. They are one of the most powerful bows in the world for a given draw weight. They also have an adjustable, sliding grip which allowed us to move it 2" forward (Creating a 5" brace height) which in turn gleaned 2" of extra power stroke for a kid with a mere 21" draw. FREE SPEED is very important for little people and its also important for adults shooting huge animals. The other thing we discovered is that all the energy calculators online were wrong. We built extremely heavy arrows for youths because they needed the momentum for pass-through performance at light draw weights. The calculators suggested we'd expect 140FPS with very heavy arrows, but the chrony showed they were 164fps. The kids always get pass throughs with them at very modest draw weights and lengths.

Not the question you asked, but definitely a great alternative if someone wants to bow hunt but believes they lack the needed strength or draw length required.

 

[SETH RINGER]

EXCALIBUR FOR ME.

 

[BOSSGobbler]

Big fan of Excalibur bows. You can find older model used bows for cheap and they will shoot great especially if you are limiting shots to 30 yds the older "slower" xbows are great starter kits.

 

[Datchew]

here this thread comes back from the dead MWA-HA-HA

Similar to @mdwest - I'm ready to move from a compound bow to the crossbow world.
Too many shoulder dislos and they're catching up with me.

I'm very interested in the new excalibur hybrid X. No press required to change cables and strings.
However, a primary concern for me is size for travel.
I recently reduced my rifle case size drastically by moving to a blaser.
I've seen breakdown crossbows but it seems excalibur is no longer making them.

Breakdown isn't a must have but a manageable travel sized case is.

Also interested on hearing more about managing wear and tear from @rookhawk
I would prefer something I can practice shooting frequently. From your comments above, it sounds like this is not beneficial to a quality crossbow.

 

[rookhawk]

here this thread comes back from the dead MWA-HA-HA

Similar to @mdwest - I'm ready to move from a compound bow to the crossbow world.
Too many shoulder dislos and they're catching up with me.

I'm very interested in the new excalibur hybrid X. No press required to change cables and strings.
However, a primary concern for me is size for travel.
I recently reduced my rifle case size drastically by moving to a blaser.
I've seen breakdown crossbows but it seems excalibur is no longer making them.

Breakdown isn't a must have but a manageable travel sized case is.

Also interested on hearing more about managing wear and tear from @rookhawk
I would prefer something I can practice shooting frequently. From your comments above, it sounds like this is not beneficial to a quality crossbow.

It's not conducive to accuracy to shoot crossbows a lot. My Ravin is good for about 50-60 shots before I get cable stretch and poor accuracy. ($200 for cables and strings!) Also, not just shooting it, but leaving it cocked sucks the life out of the strings. At MOST I get 2 years out of my Ravin.

If I was going to shoot a lot, I would get the weakest/oldest Ravin called the R10 or R11. They are super accurate, but they aren't as "sprung" as the R29 and other super fast crossbows.

The other option you have for quality and simplicity is an Excaliber. They are simple bows, not compound. String swaps are easy. They are durable, relatively accurate, cheap to maintain, and you can shoot them a lot.

 

[SETH RINGER]

EXCALIBER, EXCALBER, EXCALBER.
ME AND MY COMPOUND BOW BUDDY WOULD PLAY "HORSE" DRUNK BEHIND THE HOUSE DAYS ON END AND THEN HEAD TO DEER CAMP, ACCURACY WAS NEVER A THOUGHT.

 

[rookhawk]

EXCALIBER, EXCALBER, EXCALBER.
ME AND MY COMPOUND BOW BUDDY WOULD PLAY "HORSE" DRUNK BEHIND THE HOUSE DAYS ON END AND THEN HEAD TO DEER CAMP, ACCURACY WAS NEVER A THOUGHT.

I’ve heard such testimony before, but I’ve never owned one. In the cool kid crossbow groups that like Excalibur’s, the “micro” was highly praised. I’d get the smallest crossbow that is accurate, you cannot believe how large they get when fired, you need margin of error so it doesn’t shatter when you pull the trigger with it hanging out of the blind window.

 

[Datchew]

I've also had a deer duck an arrow with my compound bow (pse) at 30 yds.
I made the rookie mistake of forgetting not to shoot when their head was down. Was rusty. It was embarrassing but also AMAZING.
It was like neo dodging bullets.

I'm of the understanding that xbow velocity (400+ fps) reduces or eliminates this issue.

So which Xbow is the sweet spot of having high FPS that can also withstand regular use and doesn't require an oversized hard case to travel with?

 

[SETH RINGER]

I’ve heard such testimony before, but I’ve never owned one. In the cool kid crossbow groups that like Excalibur’s, the “micro” was highly praised. I’d get the smallest crossbow that is accurate, you cannot believe how large they get when fired, you need margin of error so it doesn’t shatter when you pull the trigger with it hanging out of the blind window.

I AGREE WITH YOU THAT THEY NEED A CERTAIN "WINDOW" FOR THEIR WIDER LIMBS. MISSED A NICE 8 IN S.C. WHEN I SQUEEZED THE TRIGGER AND ONE LIMB POPPED THE SIDE OF THE TREE I WAS IN (DID NOT SHATTER, RELOAD AND GO AGAIN) BUT FOR EASE OF USE AND REAPEATABLE ACCURACY SHOT AFTER SHOT AFTER SHOT THEY CAN'T BE BEAT.

 

[Doug3006]

I began using a crossbow a couple of years ago due to feeling that I couldn’t drawn my compound under field conditions. An old rotator cuff tear has made it so, especially in cold weather. I am using a Wicked Ridge Fury 410 with the Decock feature. It’s the entry level crossbow from Ten Point Archery. Shoots accurately far beyond my limits…40 yards or so.