Not your average new Excalibur cross bow

I used to hunt with both a Compound and a Crossbow. Different tools but both were challenging in their own way to 'hunt' with. Both are appropriate to hunt deer with. Both need acquired skill sets to ensure clean kill shots and that is learned thru experience. To judge one better than the other is usually made by those that haven't learned how to use and experience both.

They're just tools and which tool you choose to use is a personal choice and based on what the hunt demands.

ie: for late Dec Bow hunting, I found the crossbow was the better tool, as it was easier to use wearing heavy cloths and gloves and easier to manipulate after your muscles have sat in the cold for 3-4 hours. Learned that thru experience, the best way to form opinions.

To insert a wedge into the archery community by saying your tool is better because it takes longer to master and therefore makes you a better hunter is not only a ridiculous premise, it's egotistical.

No offence Jeff, I admire a skilled recurve bow hunter like yourself and your dedication to the sport and the training it requires to become proficient. But it's like the difference between using a horse team or the tractor to plough the field, it's a personal choice, but both will get the job done.

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Originally Posted by Jeff Kavanagh

First of all, undoubtedly there is a huge difference between bow hunting and rifle hunting. Fred Bear use to say that a guy will learn more about deer hunting in a week with a bow than a rifle hunter will their entire life. That is entirely true. It's fair to state that in most cases the guy buying a crossbow and listening to all the promotional material, watching the stupid hunting shows on TV, etc., that they're not going to understand the limitations of the crossbow in bow hunting. It's not just about hitting a bullseye. So out there they go, out there taking stupid long shots because they think they know the limitations of their equipment, but they don't. Most guys don't even shoot a dozen bolts out of their crossbows a year. Again, there's no dedication there to mastering their craft. Being new bow hunters they aren't good at reading a deers behavious either. Hard to when all you've done is shoot at them from 200 yards away. That's one of the things Fred Bear was referring to.
Now you have these new crossbows being manufactured and touted as 40, 50, 60, 70 yard plus weapons for deer hunting. Now anyone who has bow hunted for years knows that's just rediculous. So.many new hunter don't. Bow hunting you have a very, very limited shot placement and opportunity. I constantly hear about guys trying to shoot at deer which are facing them, bad angles, running, etc.
It's not the bow which is the problem, as I've said earlier, we have two crossbows ourselves. It's the inexperience, the advertising, the hunting forums and social media which keeps saying, it's okay to take a 60 yard shot. That's sheer stupidity.
People don't want to spend the time anymore to learn, regardless if it's shooting, or tracking, or hunting. They want instant success and satisfaction. That's where much of the problem lays and crossbows now advertising 480 fps, 100 yard accuracy, even a backup shot only promotes worse and worse shot attempts.
It's disgusting!!

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Jeff im kind of getting sick of your holier than though look at me attitude...we should be uniting hunters not dividing..your blatant generalizations of crossbow hunters is disgusting.
I know many crossbow hunters who put in miles of walking scouting, use summit climbers to stay mobile, and know deer behaviour, ethical shooting, etc as good as the rest of them (perhaps they one day aspire to be as good as you)
stop generalizing - have you ever considered the reason some shoot a crossbow is bc in the GTA its damn hard to buy a lot big enough to launch arrows 30 yards and practise effectively? or we have new people to the country who have never hunted before but want to get into the sport? I was not lucky enough to have a dad who liked hunting (he actually condoned and didnt want me doing it) so off I went, bought a crossbow and here I am im love with hunting buying tags every year scouting my tail off to try and consistently shoot mature bucks within 30 yards every year on public land..but SORRY JEFF I will never be as good as you with your recurve! keep dividing us hunters and when the anti's get together and turn our public lands into bird watching areas because we dwindled down our numbers to nothing you can hang your hat and know you played a part in it. Mr I know it all and Mr only recurve hunters know how to deer hunt..shame on you

not sure how you get a follow up shot off with a crossbow unless its one of those deer that freeze after hearing something whizz past them.

for 2.2k i can buy a new crossbow and a new shotgun.

For $2200 I can buy 2 micro Excaliber crossbows.

I know how to hunt, because of the time I spend in the woods, with no weapon. Just observing.

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Originally Posted by Bowjob

not sure how you get a follow up shot off with a crossbow unless its one of those deer that freeze after hearing something whizz past them.

for 2.2k i can buy a new crossbow and a new shotgun.

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It took my 3rd arrow from the crossbow to hit a Tom turkey once. Hard to hit the 1" neck at even 20 yds...missed twice, he never even flinched. So I lowered the POA to the base of the neck and that did the trick....learning experience for sure.

Ohh, and hunting from a Pop-up is about the only way you're able to re-load a crossbow HaHa..

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Originally Posted by MikePal

It took my 3rd arrow from the crossbow to hit a Tom turkey once. Hard to hit the 1" neck at even 20 yds...missed twice, he never even flinched. So I lowered the POA to the base of the neck and that did the trick....learning experience for sure.

Ohh, and hunting from a Pop-up is about the only way you're able to re-load a crossbow HaHa..

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was that turkey blind or deaf? LOL

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Originally Posted by Bowjob

was that turkey blind or deaf? LOL

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The arrow goes by his head pretty fast, he looked like he heard something but probably though it was a deer fly, went right back to eating. The bow noise in the Pop-up didn't bother them.

If you hunt well, you can get Turkeys to come right up to the pop-up and stick their head inside the window. I've had to wait a few times for back off so I go lift the bow.

Same with Deer...Bows are quite, If you don't raise their suspicion and you can get them in pretty close before you squeeze the release.

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Originally Posted by Bowjob

not sure how you get a follow up shot off with a crossbow unless its one of those deer that freeze after hearing something whizz past them.

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When it happened to me the doe was confused by the "twang" she heard from above and the "thunk" she heard behind her when my arrow stuck in a log. She ran in a circle and eventually settled back down to nibbling plants. But she busted me in my tree stand on the "click" when I re-c0cked my crossbow. That led to one of those stare-downs that 9 times out of 10 does not go the hunter's way. But the hunting gods were on my side that day :)