opinions on crossbows?

[Buckmeister]

I'm considering getting a crossbow this year for hunting deer. I've seen a few in stores and been on a few websites. I'm partial to the Excalibur brand (Canadian product, eh!), and have also looked at the TenPoint brand.

Any recommendations? Pros and Cons?

[Dirty]

I'm considering getting a crossbow this year for hunting deer. I've seen a few in stores and been on a few websites. I'm partial to the Excalibur brand (Canadian product, eh!), and have also looked at the TenPoint brand.

Any recommendations? Pros and Cons?

They are both good bows. Two things that grab my attention right away. Excalibur's are made in Canada, which is good if you have warranty issues. Secondly, the Excaliburs come with a spare string and you can get extra strings reasonably cheap. The real kicker is that the Excalibur is a recurve style and comes with a stringer. So if you broke a string, or cut 1/2 through a string with a broadhead accidentally you could swap it out in the bush. With the ten point, you would need a bow press and a more expensive string. In addition, not many places have a fixed bow press that will work for crossbows. Might lead to some monkeying around.

With the way that they have come down in price I would be inclined to look at the Excalibur. Models that used to be 1000+ have been replaced by the new "fastest" models, so they can be had for under 1000. Another perk is that the combos from Excalibur have a nicer scope, IMHO, than the ten points.

If you are in the Lower Mainland call Hub Sports in Abbotsford. They had them at the Tradex Sportsman show for good prices. I was looking at them out of curiosity. See if you can get Tradex pricing off them.

[bowhunterbruce]

getting yourself a crossbow is a wonderfull way to increase your hunting season ,there is no doubt about it.anyone i've known with one has prefered the excaliber.
the biggest concern with any form of archery equipment is the need to recognise your yardage at an instant without the use of a rangefinder,you dont always have time to use it. i cant stress enough about practicing your shots and be sure you practice both your uphill and down hill shots.
even though there is a scope on it the tendency to think that its going to help you because of its accurecy does not help you when shooting up or down.
thier are 3d shoots all over the province pretty much every weekend,they are relitively inexpencive yet the value of them is unsirmountable.
you owe it to the critter you hunt.

[Buckmeister]

i cant stress enough about practicing your shots and be sure you practice both your uphill and down hill shots.
even though there is a scope on it the tendency to think that its going to help you because of its accurecy does not help you when shooting up or down.

Could you elaborate on the uphill/downhill shots inaccuracy thing? Is it a depth perception issue? I can understand that it could be easy to misjudge a targets distance when it's at a different elevation than you are.

[sfire436]

Could you elaborate on the uphill/downhill shots inaccuracy thing? Is it a depth perception issue? I can understand that it could be easy to misjudge a targets distance when it's at a different elevation than you are.


If you are shooting uphill or downhill you have to aim low. It seems strange when you are shooting downhill but that s the physics of it.

[jrjonesy]

To simplify, because of the effect of gravity, your arrow will drop at the equivalent rate (shooting uphill or downhill) of the distance traveled horizontally.
A steep 30 yard down hill shot may only have a horizontal distance of 25 yards....thus using your 30 yard pin will cause you to shoot high.
When in a tree stand, I range to the surrounding tree trunks at the same level as me, rather than to the ground.

[Ambush]

I'm probably gonna get beat up for this but: Get a range finder and use it.
For $250 you can buy a Nikon Archers Choice, and it will tell you the exact shot distance regardless of up or down angle.

Few people can tell the difference between 37 yards and 42 yards in the bush or across ravines. But that margin of error means a miss or a wounded animal.

[mcrae]

I'm probably gonna get beat up for this but: Get a range finder and use it.
For $250 you can buy a Nikon Archers Choice, and it will tell you the exact shot distance regardless of up or down angle.

Few people can tell the difference between 37 yards and 42 yards in the bush or across ravines. But that margin of error means a miss or a wounded animal.


x2 I bought the Leupold version and it really helps. I was amazed how much a shot can change when shooting up hill or down hill...

[416]

l own a ten pt phantom with a scope used on some of the excalibur line of bows . Works get! Haven't found any cons about it yet... have a service shop here in town and all the accessories l need for it.
Rangefinder......finally broke down and bought a bushnell unit with the arc feature (and a bunch of other features l don't find particularly useful) which compensates for angles. http://www.bushnell.com/general/rangefinders_scout1000.cfm
An article that explains trajectory and angles.. http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/April04.htm

[Onesock]

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