Dad needs help picking out his 1st crossbow
 

My dad can no longer draw his compound so he's selling that and going to invest in a crossbow. Neither of us know much about crossbows so i'm looking for some advice. Hoping to stay in the $600 range or so for a package ready to hunt. are their any good sites for finding quality used crossbows or do you suggest buying new. Any brands to focus on or stay away from. Got one opinion saying that the parker x series are a good value. thanks for any info guys.

There are a lot of cb's out there. I personally like the Excaliburs. I have a Vortex and it's great. I like the recurves because they are easy to keep up and do string changes ect. I've heard a lot of good things about Ten Points. It depends how he will be using it too. Some people prefer the compounds for stand hunting because they are generally narrower. Some like the low maintenance of a recurve. I had a Horton Realtree HD175 before the Excal and it was a decent bow. Kinda heavy though. But now I think some of their CB's are made in china. BTW... Excaliburs warranty and customer service is second to none. I've only had one issue and it was my Varizone scope got kinda blurry and didn't want to stay focused. This was around 3 years from when the bow was originally purchased by someone else. They replaced the scope with no hesitation or problems.

thanks
 

thanks for the info. I've been looking around a bit and have found some real good prices on Parkers which i know make a solid compound. i found a parker enforcer kit for $368 and a parker crank ****ing mechanism for $120. I'm thinking this would probably be an adequate setup. he's not going to be shooting a lot and needs a ****ing assist. we're in michigan so this will strictly be a whitetail hunting crossbow. I was also considering the Parker Hornet which is a step up i think which is another $100 but i'm not sure if that is even necessary considering what he'll be using it for.

Updating our choices here. He's not going to be real mobile when hunting so the light compact design of the compound isn't really necessary, i'm sure he'd like the simplicity of the excaliburs. i found the axiom kit w/scope and bolts for $405 and their ****ing aid for $139. i'm thinking this might be the best way for him to go. Thanks for any other opinions guys.

Steve

Call Wyvern Creations 603 659 0575 best deals,all around service,he is second to none.

Best advice I can give also. Avoid the "buy what I bought, my bow is best'' input you'll get. Dave tells it like it is and provides great service should you need it. Great crossbow guy.

I'm in the same boat as your dad. I bought a Parker Hornet Extreme package for around $550. That included the rope and pullies for pulling string back, which is easy to use, 6 bolts, strap, quiver, string maintenance stuff, and a scope with illuminated recticle which are nice in low light. Another nice thing about the scope, if the battery dies, you can still see the recticles clearly. It took me about 5 shots to sight it in.
Target is an issue with crossbow, Them short arrows will disappear in the wrong type target. The first 3 bolts I shot are history, somewhere within the target. I learn slow, took 3 shots to figure that out.
Another thing about crossbows, their noisy when you shoot, sound almost like a .22 short going off so you want fast. Even with a fast crossbow, I wouldn't be surprised if a deer beyond 30 deers would jump or duck a bolt due to the noise.
Nice thing about the hornet is that it's narrow so that makes it easier to move around.
Good luck with what ever you choose.

I am in the same boat with him, i cant draw my compound. I purchased a Parker enforcer and so far love it. Shot 3 times at deer and killed 3 deer. One a nice 10 pt. I got the rope pull and red hot bolts and using machanicals.

Ststutz, Don't be to quick to rule out wieght and compact design as a factor for an elderly hunter. I don't know how old your dad is or his general health but weight and handling has become my most important concern now that I have aged a bit. I am 79 now and seldom walk very far however I have discovered that just handling and shooting a heavy bow can be a chore. I use a rope aid rather than a cranking aid and get by fine with that. I recently sold my fast crossbow and only use my lightweight one now that shoots at 260 FPS and that has worked fine for me. I have shot a couple of deer with it and they have been pass throughs. I would highly recomend your Dad try some before buying if at all possible.