Moving to a Crossbow??

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
Messages
1,848
Reaction score
369
I've had a bow off & on for many years. With work & family I never did hunt with it much. Now I see buddies going to the crossbow, one just bought an Excaliber. This particular guy does have a shoulder problem & has the medical waiver.

I see more States are opening up crossbow hunting. I think MI just opened up all bowhunting to crossbows, IN too. I know traditional bowhunters don't care for it much & are against it here in WI. With the age of many hunters I can see it continuing. It may start with age or medical restrictions.

That all said, I can see myself possibly getting a crossbow in the next few years, no use right now. They say it may be like the run to inline M-L's 25 yrs ago. I know the crossbow manufacturers are all pushing to open up the regulations. We just had a bear hunter on our property use a crossbow, glowing bolt & all. The 300lb bear ran about 100 yrds but the crossbow did O.K..

There must be a few out there going to the crossbow?
 
:yeah:

Before BLAGO went to jail, he signed a bill allowing all the old hunters who were 62 yrs of age to hunt with a cross bow. Before this bill was signed, only hunters with physical problems were allowed to use them. Maybe next year. :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: I normally shoot a 50# recurve but the cross bow will be the cats A$$ compared to drawing that 50 lbs.

Ray............... :wink:
 
I hunt with a Ten Point with Accudraw & I was a compound hunter until I developed elbow & shoulder injuries. I don't see any tremendous advantage for the crossbow hunter over a good compound shooter. I could shoot my Mathews just as accurately at any range as I could my crossbow, so it's MHO that unless you have a need for a crossbow (age, injury, etc...) you don't really gain anything. I love my crossbow, but they are heavy & bulky, & not balanced all that well. My dad has a Barnett & even with the reduction of the crank, he can barely crank it back on his own. Mine does crank with almost no effort, so that is a consideration as well.

Michigan has no restrictions on crossbows during any archery season. I don't think that any state should.

Now I don't want people to think that I take one side over the other. I hunt with a crossbow because I can't hunt with a compound. Practice properly with either & your abilities will be the same. If you buy a crossbow, spend the extra for a good bow! DON"T GO CHEAP!!! Plan on mechanical broadheads to avoid bad flight with short bolts. Personally, I prefer Grim Reaper's.

I hope it works out for all of you & helps fill your freezers :D
 
Yes, I do think the effective range of a crossbow is less than many believe. I thought it was longer myself. They do seem rather heavy too.
 
I had to move to a crossbow after years of compound. They are heavy and not easy to maneuver with.
The longest accurate shot was about 35 yards with a Barnett Quad 400. After that the bolt drops pretty fast.
I will say the advantage is the accuracy I had lost over the years, and the speed. Its almost like a rifle in that
respect.
As far as bowhunting is concerned. You still have to find your beast and get close enough for a shot.
Not so easy with a heavy crossbow.
 
speed, now just hold on there a minute. Compounds are shooting over 313-340 fps (quick search of what sportsman guide has) and my poor crossbow shoots 320 per parker, I think the fastest parker is 350 (I could be wrong on that though). My compound and my crossbow shoot at about the same speed. The big difference I see (shoulders are shot) is that I can lay the x bow on a horizontal shooting rail and have a very steady hold. And the scope is a handy help with these getting old eyes.
 
Been shooting cross bows ever since I brought home the hand made one from RVN,, I like them and now that I no longer can pull a stick bow, use one during the season to fill the freezer more often, they are not as handy as a stick bow, and will not stalk with one, don't like keeping it cocked, but they do the job from blinds , 45 to 50 yards is doable, but like any thing else it has taken constance practice. They have benifited from the improvements sticks bows have brought along,as well
 
I started using a crossbow a few years ago after a car accident that did some nerve damage to right arm and hand. As stated, they are a little bulky and akward, but I use a set of homemade shootin sticks or my knee if I am on the ground and it works fine. What I like is that I still get to do all the same things I did with a compound bow....PRACTICE, scout, etc. It's just that the shot is taken by pulling a trigger instead. Just like anything form of hunting, practice and shot placement are key.
 
I went with a Excalibur Ibex couple years ago, still no blood, but I get to hunt an extra month an can kill anything on four legs. I can practice in my backyard which is a big plus and they don't need much cleaning if any. When muzzleloader an centerfire rifle seasons roll around the does are educated by the laws only allowing bucks the first part of the season. I prefer doe meat myself....
 
I'm 31 years old, in pretty good physical condition and have shot a compound for 19 years. I love bow hunting... What I love more than bow hunting is killing big deer in an area that is known for being very difficult to hunt. I went 6 years without picking up a rifle other than to help with population management on friends properties. I enjoyed it, killed some really nice deer, and can't think of a single time when I was bow hunting and wished I'd had my rifle instead.

I got back into rifle hunting and remembered how much I enjoyed it. I still have stands that I would rather bow hunt from even during rifle season.

I've gravitated towards ground blinds in the last couple of years. I hunt a lot of super thickets. I'm not talking about wood lots, I'm talking about vines, briars, and brush so thick you can't see your hand if you stick your arm inside. Inside these ground blinds, it's pretty challenging for me to draw my bow. I'm 6'5" with a 30.5" draw length so I take up a lot of space.

I recently borrowed a buddy's 10 Point Titan and man I have to tell you... I want one BAD! I had a good buck coming and made up my mind I was going to shoot. I could just see horns floating through the brush. I took my rest, clicked the safety off, and got the shakes just the same as if I'd been using a vertical bow. When the buck committed to the spot I elected to pass but the experience was the same.

I said all of that to say this... Some guys get their kicks out of the weapon. I have a buddy that's killed truck loads of deer with just about any weapon you can dream up. These days he gets more excited over a doe fawn with his recurve than you can imagine. That's his deal, that's what he likes. My Paw Paw wouldn't be caught dead with any air of archery tackle. He thought it was a disgrace to hunting. When he died at 71 he still got bent out of shape over shooting deer with his rifle.

It's a personal choice. I like to look at my trophies on the wall and remember how it went down, and relive the experience. I set some goals in my archery quest and met them. I don't have anything to prove anymore. That's what lead me to muzzleloading and to this forum. If its legal I want to hunt with it. I want a good buck with my muzzleloader and a good buck with a pistol. And now, I want one with a crossbow.
 
I just posted a thread of my own with a Ten Point Titan and a piggy I killed at 50 yards
that is a long shot for a crossbow and animal would not have tried it with a deer though they react too fast. many crossbows are shooting 400 fps now days and my basic math is 10 yards for every 100 fps this has worked very well for me, so my max deer shot is around 40 yards Even so I was amazed my bolt completely passed through the pig she was running at an angle from me so exit was through part of the shield and ribs.
Texas for the most part has no disabled restrictions on the use of a crossbow.
My last club shoot they where considering allowing a crossbow 3d comp and allowed me to run the course to see if it presented an unfair advantage. The results amazed everyone as with any bow, yardage is key and if the shooter is shooting unknown yardage they have the same problems as anyone else. And shooting freehand standing it is just as hard if not harder to shoot a crossbow as a balanced compound bow.
I love hunting with a crossbow, compound bow and muzzleloader many times I carry both my crossbow and my muzzleloader into my blind.
this way as agreed by me and the land owner I see a pig it gets shot but I don't scare the deer off with a blast from my 50 cal
 
the pa game commission legalized crossbows a few years back and I bought an Excalibur and I have never looked back. it shoots extremely well out to 50yds putting one after another in the bullseye. I had my elbow badly injured in an accident at work years ago and can no longer shoot a compound bow. I took a nice 7pt buck last fall bolt went thru and stuck in bank behind him if it hadn't been for lighted nock I would have thought I missed it went so fast deer went 75yds downhill and piled up.
 
Crossbow hunting is very common here in Michigan. I fell in love with the reverse limb platform and have been shooting scorpyds and hortons for years.
 
gun season has a week long brake here at the end of November. at that point its archery only I will hunt with
excaliburs matrix 330 crossbow. 1999 I arrowed an 11 point buck that scores 146 3/8s that week with a darton bow. buck
was fighting with another buck behind a top from logging. you could say it was a buck of a life time for me.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top