Does speed really matter?

[madfarmer]

Looking to buy a first crossbow. How much does speed really matter. My local hunting store has a horton legend 150 package with scope, arrows, and quiver for $299. It shoots 270fps. About half of my hunting is in the woods and half along field edges where shots could be 40 of 50 yards. Will a faster bow make a difference, or is that even in the best crossbow's range. Thanks for the input.

[smokepolehall]

OK Horton Legend Bows are fairly decent and 270 fps is ok from 0- 30 yds. U may squeeze another 5 yds.out to 35 but thats tops. Yes faster is flater traj. with good scope the 40 yd. shot can be made but u need lots of practice. To make 50 yd. shots again lots of practice and Bow shooting 325 fps or more. Deer can take one step as u pull trigger and u are a foot off on windage and it becomes a gut shot. I try to keep my shots below 40 yds., actually about 35 yds. is all i can get out my stands.[:-]

[Dnk]

Don't think anything could be added to that Mike. Well done!

[Hotburn76]

Mike said it good, so I hope I don't just repeat it. My first CB was a horton super mag, before I did the cable and cam upgrade it shot at 260 range. I killed alot of deer with that bow. But when I shot at thirty and fourty yards I could hear the time delay in the shot and impact. Well I did not pay much attention to this until my first string jumping experiance. It was my first eight pointer and he jumped her good. I was aiming for a good lung shot and I just barely hit the top back in front of the rear leg. The only reason this deer did not get away was because I got lucky and hit that nice big fat artery and bleed out. That deer was only thirty yards away. So if you plan on taking close shots and only shoot calm deer then no, speed does not matter. But if you want to take a thirty yard shot at a nice buck that is a little on the cautious side and could jump, then yes speed does matter. Now how much you get carried away with it is up to you, but I would say anything between the 300 to 320 area is good enough, anything over 320 is to much for a shot that is probally to far away and should not be taken. My bow shoots in the 320 area and I could take a deer 40 yards but I think that is to risky and the deer deserve better that a good chance, they deserve total 100% kill shots and no borderline shots.

[Rebel Hog]

Does speed really matter? -[quote][/quote]

SPEED KILLS!

[shewe]

even if the bow is fast....a lot can go wrong when you start stretching the yardage. nothing worse than a bad hit.

[sproulman]

ORIGINAL: madfarmer

Looking to buy a first crossbow. How much does speed really matter. My local hunting store has a horton legend 150 package with scope, arrows, and quiver for $299. It shoots 270fps. About half of my hunting is in the woods and half along field edges where shots could be 40 of 50 yards. Will a faster bow make a difference, or is that even in the best crossbow's range. Thanks for the input.

i still use recurve but enjoy testing crossbows for friends..horton is fine.as said, no shots over 35 yards, 30 is my max..most of deer a got over years with bow were always under 30 yards.if buck is farther, say goodbye for another day..nothing worst than wounding deer..horton is a good co.most i knowhave hortons from 5 years ago and they are fine..