My hunting partner has a top of the line compound xbow, it was close to 4000$. It absolutely dominates the Excalibur in performance, by a large margin.
He borrowed my Excalibur micro for late season WT because his bow had issues.
I shoot a Hoyt ... nicked a string with a broad head during elk season and had the Excalibur as backup. The reliability of the Excalibur bows has saved us from alot of missed time in the woods. For the price reliability and performance an Excalibur is a no-brainer to me. Just my opinion.
-edit- Just remembered my first archery season when I ran an Excalibur. Packed into a drainage and had my bow strapped to my pack with a set a hiking poles. Hiking poles had grip tape on them and wore almost entirely threw the string. Restrung the bow at camp and continued our hunt .. invaluable.
I too just entered bow hunting two years ago, mainly to hunt elk in the EK.
I bought a used Excalibur Matrix 380, which was wonderful, and I was lucky to shoot a young mule deer at 40 yards inn 2021. after practicing lots that summer, when arrived at camp I noted that the string had frayed at the server. NO problem, had extra string (BOO string) and mounted it with ease in a few minutes; shot at target to stretch string and confirm scope aiming, and hunting. Could never do this with a compound bow; moreover, cannot find anyone to fix your compound bow during bow season cause they likely will be hunting too...
I upgraded to an Excalibur Assassin TD 420, mainly due to the built in crank; accurate, easy to change strings, and got another mule deer in 2022. Sold my 'old' crossbow to my hunting partner...
Don't get hung up on speed. 300fps used to be considered fast, and it is more than enough to kill any big game that you want.
The bows that can shoot up to 100 yards are expensive, but you really cannot ethically shoot at anything beyond 40-50 yards, with yours and mine experience...that is to say, more speed does not gain you ability to shoot farther.
Try bow hunting. Being that close to big game is exilarating, and usually they are not spooked since bow hunters get to hunt before anyone else in BC (and there are much less bow hunters)
Robin
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