ORIGINAL: Gimphunter
I'll have to respectfully disagree. I have a stryker. I'm new to xbows and am not an expert but, this thing came with a three dot scope. They are for 20 - 40 - 60 yards. At 60 yards my arrow is still a challenge to pull out of my Target and I can consistently hit the kill zone. Still enough KE to make the kill. I believe it's a 400 or 425 grain arrow w/100 grain broadhead. It's clocked at just over 405 fps. I haven't had a chance to shoot a dear/deer yet but with my laser rangefinder for a confident distance and my confidence that I can hit a static target at 60 yards and I'd fill my freezer.[&o]
Gimphunter, first of all, let me congratulate you on still getting out there hunting and enjoying the outdoors, even with you in a wheelchair. BUt I do have a little to disagree with your above statement.
Yes todays crossbows (most of them) can hit very accurately out to 60-65 yards. Actually my crossbow (Excalibur Relayer @ over 25 years old) was hitting 1 inch targets at 65 yards at new and still today. BUt the time for the arrow to travel from the bow to the target at 60 - 65 yards is alot more then you realize. What I will usually advise people to do is to (if you can safely do so) go stand down range at the longer distances and listen to the bow firing and then the arrow hitting the target. You will find it very noticable, actually enough that you will probually flinch the first time before the arrow hits the target. IF you can flinch, the deer can do more then that.
Even if the deer does not react to the sound of the bow firing, the normal actions of just walking could move the deer far enough that it will create a bad hit. 30 - 35 yards is about max distance for a safe clean kill for deer and a little longer distance for the larger slower reaction animals like moose.