daddus1

Hi guys,
I'm going to be new to crossbow hunting but not to hunting and I'm sure this subject has been beat to death but I want to start.
I'm a young senior, 65, just sort of wondering where to start.
5 or 7 hundred is about the range I'd like to go. Go simple with just the bow or go with the compound. Bolt sizes etc. Ant advice would be a great help. Thanks in advance.
daddus

liquidorange

too many variables.stick with a known good brand name.best to go to a store and hold a few. if you have your own press or a shop near you that does xbow work a compound xbow is fine.a recurve is wide but managable and you do your own maintanence.everyone is different but if i was starting out maybe have a look at the ExcalIbur Axiom kit-TenpointGT FLEX- for recurves or a Horton Realtree Ultralite or Parker Tornado, for compounds.

wheelie

Can't beat the simplicity of an Excalipur. Warrenty if you need it is second to none. I have a few and my old wolverine from 1992, I bought it used. Make a long story short I was fiddling around with it in my deer stand and bow went off and jammed my scope into stand and broke it. Phoned excalipur and told them it was my fault and the next morning I had a new scope at my door with a note saying they would like to check my bow over after deer season being that it is almost 20 years old. Sent them the bow and 4 days after sending it to them I got it back with brand new trigger in it. I phoned them explaining it was my fault and I want to pay them. They absolutely refused to get any payment for repairs. Now that is service. I now own three of them.

smokepolehall

I have an Excal vixen, its light n comfortable n dependable. Thats what you look fer in a model, try shooting diff one/s you see what i am talking about. Nutten wrong wid compound style, just remember you have to have a press of some type fer them. They do go out of time as the string n harnass cables stretch with use

Ky Bob

If your able to cock your Xbow without a crank I'd look at a SZ350 from Bowtech.

Mojotex

I started hutning with a X-Bow a few years back after being unable to sufficiently recover from damage done to my shoulder. There are many, many great combinations that will work fine as far as hunting gear. Your price range is adequate to buy something good, but no top of the line. If you were an avid bow hunter, as I was once, one of the major adjustments that I had to make was the need for horizontal space for limb clearance. The other was that a second shot will be about as rare an opprotunity as a hen having teeth. The 5 cross bows that I am familiar with a louder than any compound that I have ever used, and cocking requires a lot of movement. I have never had a deer stand for this much noise or movement.

wheelie

So are you saying crossbow and vertical bow you only get one shot anyways?

Buckhunter46755

I have an Excal Vortex and love it. I shoot the GT Lazer II's with brass inserts and 4" Vanetechs & aluminum caps. It is one bad hombre, let me tell you. I shot a deer last archery season and it put a golfball size entry wound, deflected of the inside of the rib cage and basically unzipped it. Had about a 18" long exit wound! never seen ANYTHING like it. Deer was 80% fielddressed from the shot! BTW - it was about 40yard shot. My personal max limit with any bow. The deer still somehow managed to make it a couple hundred yards, even though it wasn't pushed.

Mojotex

Well I was not so clear "Wheelie" .... sorry 'bout that. What I was trying to communicate was that over the 45+ years that I hunted with a bow, I had several "second" shot opportunities because the bow I was using was quiet enough to not spook the deer all that much. Not always by any stretch of the imagination, but more often than not. And setting up for a second shot, if done slowly, usually was easily manageable.

However, the two cross bows that I have owned and the 3 that I helped "zero" are much, much louder than the loudest bow that I ever owned (which was a double hatchet cam High Country design). The 18 shots I have taken these past 3 seasons with the x-bow, if there were other deer with the one I shot, they busted out of there like being shot out of a cannon.

Many times, too, I had deer that I shot using my bows just sort stand there or bump off 10-15 yards then collapse. Watched one one time go back to feeding ...shot right through the wheel house. Stood there a few minutes then went wobbly legged before dropping dead. Not so with my cross bow. Every case (so far) .... I'd fire ... hit the deer and they have all (but one) either dropped pretty much in their tracks or hauled tail a short distance and then collapsed.

Last year I hit a big doe a bit back. She jumped out of the field. A stood a few minutes. Laid down. Then left about 30 minutes later. Bled out about 1/2 mile away (live shot). That is the only one that I have shot that was able to leave my sight and not have run as hard is it could before collapsing. I think it is the "pop" of the bow and not the force of the hit that startles them into fleeing pell mell.

I do confess .... I have been lucky enough to have yet to need a second shot with my cross bow, but I cannot imagine getting one even if the deer did not spook .... because of what it takes me to co&k and load my cross bow. Plus I cross-bow hunt from tree stands 99.9% of the time. I have to set the cross bow vertical in front of me ... insert one foot into the stirrup .... bend over and attach my co&king rope ... pull up until the safety mechanism engages with a "click" ... stand back up ... reach for and insert a bolt ... then take aim. That is a lot of movement! Just don't that I could get away with that much unless maybe if I were inside a blind of some sort.

Newnel

I recently returned to hunting after a long time. Last fall I hunted with a rifle only, but had thought about a crossbow to be able to hunt an extra season. After reading around here and elswhere, I decided because of reputation for quality, warranty response and price to buy an Excalibur Axiom SMF. So far I've only shot at a target in the backyard and I'm pleased with what the bow does. Very accurate! I also chose the Excalibur for the recurve so that I would not have to make a one way 85 mile trip for replacing strings, etc. I did have to get a quiver exchanged because of something in the sealed top rattling around, but the retailer took care of the issue very promptly. Good luck with your hunt!