New To Crossbow Hunting

[deadman50]

I have never used a crossbow (or any other bow) but after watching a couple of hunts on tv i plan to get one for next seaon which starts in October. What's the leading brand and what should i stay away from? Also what other gadgets would i need outside of the bow and arrow

[lovestohunt]

Does your state allow crossbows? In WI, you have to be older than a certain age or disabled to use them.

[deadman50]

Yes, its been legal for a couple of years now. South Alabama

[BowhuntinSomthin]

If you are treestand hunting mostly you should probably stay away from the excaliburs, because those long recurve limbs get in the way alot. The hortons are at a fair price but they are really loud. Tenpoints are good if you can afford them but they are not very fast for their price. I would say go with a excalibur though out of all for the price and performance.

[for-ccw]

love my horton legend ls. have two. both have red-dots. shoot horton xx75 ls 2 lite bolts with 100grn. g-5 mechanical broadheads. you can practice with fieldtips and screw in broadheads to hunt with and they fly the same. if you`re going to hunt from ground ,zero in from ground. if from treestand.zero in from there. if you zero from ground and hunt from tree you`ll hit very high or over target. max range for me with crossbow is about 40yds. as penetration and accuracy goes away quickly after that(nothing worse than wounding deer and not recovering). i would recommend sling as well. hard to drag deer and carry bow at same time.get a croossbow target to PRACTICE with. you`ll find that the bolts shoot farely flat to about 30yds,then start dropping rapidly so practice,practice and have fun

[tddeangelo]

I have hunted out of many treestands with my Excalibur Exocet. They are about 2" wider than a compound bow. Not too bad, really.

I can't recommend Excalibur enough. They make a great product, and will help you out if you ever need anything. I saw the Excalibur rep at a local sport show, and he told me a company called "STS" is making silencers that do a great job for them. Same setup as the rubbery cup that "catches" the string shown on new Hoyt compound vertical bows, and same widget, too. Mounts to the inside of the limbs and dampens string vibration after the bolt is gone. Zero loss of velocity, big decrease in noise (according to him).

The sear/trigger mechanism makes a large chunk of the noise you hear, though, so that would remain. Till they quiet that down, well, crossbows will make some noise.

At any rate, look long and hard at Excalibur. They are strong, simple to maintain, and very accurate.

Also consider a DropZone scope from Excalibur. Again, good gear, and they'll stand by it.

[Rattle em up]

The Horton Summit 150 is deadly accurate.

[buckgitter]

Try the Parker Terminator.... very accurate and comes sighted in. You will need to make slight adjustments but I had mine after 4 shots. Get the multiple crosshair scope not the red dot....just my .02 worth

[blkdia]

When forced to use my crossbow, I limit my shots to 30 yards for the same reason aforementioned, noise. I shoot a Horton Hunter Supreme, it's loud but extremely accurate. I don't care much for it, but I have serious shoulder issues and sometimes it's my only option. LOL
Denny

[tddeangelo]

If you go the Excalibur route, look for Danny Miller in Ohio. He's a first rate businessman, and an Excalibur rep. Whatever you need, he'll hook you up and help you with it.

I use 2216 shafts cut to 20" for my practice bolts, and CarbonExtreme for my hunting shafts. Do NOT use half-moon nocks. They are unnecessary, and may actually cause problems if you don't align them to the string correctly. You can actually use regular threaded inserts as nocks, and I often do on practice shafts. Also, hit up any of your vertical bow buddies who use 2117 or 2216 shafts. When they ding one, use a small pipe cutter and take out 20" of straight shaft (if possible) and you have a great new bolt. 4deg off-set straight fletching is what I've been using. DON'T use a helical fletch. Straight, non-offset fletching also works.

Also, one reason I like the Excalibur recurve bows....you can "tune" the crossbow a bit by twisting or untwisting the string. Each bow will be a little unique in what it wants. This is EASY to adjust on an Exaclibur or other recurve bow. Once you have it right, take a Sharpie and mark the deck on the bow so you know where the string needs to be when not drawn. When you replace a string, get it lined up to the marks, and you're back on target. My dad had a string let go in the middle of a video shoot. There was, I think, less than a minute between target changes. He shot, the string let go (still got a vital hit), pulled a new string from his pocket, strung up the bow, and got a clean shot on the very next target without even missing a beat!

A scope with multiple aiming points is very helpful. You will only be able to zero the main crosshairs (on most models). Once you do that, you need to shoot to find where the other aiming points are on-target. I use a Sharpie and draw the reticle on the stock, then label it with the respective yardages. I shoot enough that I don't really need it, but I like having it "just in case". Sharpie is "permanent", but will come off with plain old rubbing alcohol if you want it off or need to change it.

As mentioned before, 30 yards is about the end of the line for ethical shots. 35 is the very outside, with 40 being a "pass" far more often it would be than an ethical shot (IMHO). The noise is just too great, and the speed of the bolts is nowhere near what some folks think it is. 350fps is a FAST bow, just like with a vertical bow, and that 350fps off the deck turns into less than it would with a full length arrow shaft that won't shed velocity so fast.

If I think of anything else, i'll add it in. =)