I just ordered my first crossbow last night. I’m wondering what everyone uses as a practice target.

Is a bail of hay sufficient?
If a deer decoy, which one?
What is an average range to use when sighting in your bow?

While I’m at it, what tips do you prefer when hunting? Horton has broad tips that look real nice. I’m guessing that is the standard.

Green Pea, I have a horton super max 175 and I use the BLOCK target for CB's. On my old horton I just used a bag target but with the new bow it would go through it, notall the time but if not pass through the fletchings would not be seen and then would get messed up when you pull it through, If you look down the threads/post farther you will see one about targets. As for the deer targets they are hard to remove arrows most of the time. When you sight it in I started at ten yards and then worked my way back. I have shot all my deer with muzzy 100 grains, but would like to try the new G5 montechs or mechcs, But the muzzys have never let me down. their is a good thread on broadheads farther down too. Also what kind of CB did you get?

I just use a round bale of hay. Shoot into the rounded side not the flat side or will be looking for your arrow. Small squares work too if you can hit the end.


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The arrow can go through the bail of hay I would first use a big size blocktarget to get it sightedthen use a deer targetif you would like. I like to first shoot at 10 yards and just keep moveing back.

Thank you for the help. I bought a Horton Explorer TR175. I Can't wait to see the Fed EX truck pull into the driveway.

Great to here ya say horton!!! you will not be let down. What kinda sights did you get with the bow?

I use a Delta 3-D deer foam target , avoid broadheads though . LOL

Another problem with using hale bales for crossbow arrows is that they are shorter and have a tendency to dissappear in the bale never to be found again. The short arrows is one of the reasons that some folks think the crossbow arrow penetrates a target more than an arrow shot from a vertical bow. It's not deeper, it's just shorter.

green pea i have a horton blackhawk w/ the horton scope on it i started at 10 yds and it stayed true all the way to the 50 yd line ( not that i would shoot anything that far) i also recomend the monotec G5 fixed blade have used then for the last 2 yrs and have had great success with them. 6 deer all passthrough longest 40 yds and none of them went any farther than say 40 yds then dropped

Again thank you for all the help. This is the whole package I got for $270.00 The Horton Explorer TR175 Team Realtree, Horton Multi-A-Range 4x32 3-dot Red dot Sight, Hunter Elite 4-bolt quiver, 4 Carbon Strike bolts, and 4 practice tips.

That has to be a good deal I would think. A buddy from work brought in a magazine from the Sportsman Guide for me and that’s where I bought it from. The regular sale price was $300.00 but if you bought a club membership for thirty dollars, you get discounts on everything you buy. The club card paid for it’s self with my first purchase so what the hell, I bought the card.