To me, good depends on what you are looking for. You can chase speed or simplicity. The excalibers are simple and you can restring it yourself etc but they arent the fastest. The compounds are faster but much more complex.

I have crossbows that range from a $300 pse fang to a $1300 ravin r10 with several between including excalibur micro axe 330 and cam x 350.
all these xbows have a pile of dead deer to their name and I have yet to have a single deer complain about being shot with any of them.
I am a crossbow junkie and in no way do I need 5 different xbows hanging in the basement. I love shooting them (a lot) and I love hunting with all of them.
as mentioned above the time it takes to become proficient and deadly with a crossbow is absolutely less than with a compound bow. due to physical limitations I can no longer shoot a compound bow so the xbow gets me in the woods for almost 4 months each season. if I were limited to firearms hunting only I would be left with two weeks to hunt and in the county I live/hunt in there is zero antlerless hunting with a firearm. so that means I would be limited to taking only one deer during a brief window.
I like to hunt more than that so the xbow gives me a lot more opportunity and time

We got off topic a bit but I thought about this on my 250 mile round trip jaunt today.....

I guess this is something hunters have dealt with as long as sport hunting has been around.....repeaters are less sporting than single or double barrel guns, scoped rifles are less sporting than open sighted rifles, compound bows are less sporting than recurve bows, In-line muzzle loaders are less sporting than flintlocks, etc....

In reality, a crossbow in and of itself is nothing more than a vertical bow turned sideways and fixed to a rifle stock. I do not believe they have any greater range than i do with my compound bow, and in actuality maybe less due to the noise they make. Once you get the draw cycle out of the way ( which in many cases is a moot point in a pop up or a enclosed blind ) once you are at full draw with a compound bow your effectiveness should be about the same. I can't think of any 20 or 30 yard, ethical archery shot i couldn't have made with a compound bow that i could have with a crossbow. And in any case, I would much rather have people shoot and kill deer with a crossbow that they can use proficiently than wound deer with a compound bow where their skills are marginal.


It does take more time to become proficient with a compound bow than a crossbow and that's time some people just don't have.


I think at some point you have to accept a point where you reach a diminishing return and having a weapons specific season doesn't make sense anymore ( muzzle loading season in a lot of areas come to mind, is it really necessary to have a muzzleloader season when you can shoot a in-line with sabot bullets and a scope where you can shoot 250 yards?) but i don't think we have reached that point with modern crossbows. Maybe when they have reached a level to where they are so fast they can kill a deer at 80 to 100 yards with ease we will have to re-think it but currently most crossbow hunters i know pretty much all agree that you shouldn't take shots past 40 yards, which is well within vertical bow territory.


So, after giving it some thought i can admit that some prejudices towards crossbows have to do with ego and not based in facts or practicality.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Well said.

I was around bow hunting when compound bows started getting popular and traditional shooters started complaining about them not being sporting and many compound shooters feel that way about crossbows. There is enough trying to fight hunting in general for us hunters to be arguing amongst ourselves. Hunt with you are comfortable with and like as long as it is legal.
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I have killed deer with Recurve, compound and crossbow. All work and all have their own advantages and disadvantages, accept your selection and that you have the time and patience to be efficient with your chosen equipment.

That said had a customer chuckling one day, a man and his twenty something year old son came in and the man wanted a crossbow, so I started showing him some and the features of the different ones He picked out a few to try. His son said a few times you do not need one of those just work at it until you can pull your Mathews again, this was 2 weeks before season and the man had shoulder problems. The Father was getting tired of this and it was pretty clear to see. I ask the young man what bow he hunted with and he said a Mathews I excused myself and went to the back and got one of my bows (Bear Kodiak Magnum) walked out and handed it to the young man and told him to quit complaining unless he used a mans bow. I thought the Dad was going to fall down laughing.

Redchevy and I align on many subjects and all his comments on this thread i pretty much agree with. Others as well but i need to make this kinda short. I never bowhunted before and have no desire to do so except to extend my season/hunting opportunities. I do not care about the extra challenge of other bows. I would likely never use a bow of any kind if I was able to use a rifle. This season I had a 181" buck with 19 points that I thought could easily get broken up or killed by someone else or change patterns so I got a crossbow and killed him very early. There is a lot more to bowhunting than just shooting a target but that is for any bow. WAY harder to kill AND RECOVER a deer with any bow than most any rifle. An untrained hunter with ANY bow has to know WAY more than anyone with a rifle. Yes, hitting where you aim with a crossbow at 30 yards is almost as easy as hitting where you want with a rifle at 30 yards but that doesnt mean your target will still be there with the bow and without much more deer behavior knowledge and anatomy knowledge the killing ability will not be the same. I could go on and on but do not think its as easy to kill(and recover) with as a rifle. The crossbow is MUCH easier to learn and practice so it fits the bill for many situations. I limit my range to 30 yards with the crossbow.

A well placed arrow is deadly but a deer can still run a ways. It lacks the ability to reliably drop deer where they stand. I have shot two animals with a bow that fell where they stood but neither were ideal shot placement and could never be relied upon

I'm in the " hunt your own hunt and let me hunt mine " camp.
It doesn't bother me in the least what the next guy does as
long as it's legal and ethical. Kill as big or small of whatever
you want as long as you KILL it, not blow it off because it
didn't pile up right there. Get off your a$$ and go look
until you find something.
No matter what you use to take an animal, if you plan on a
50 yard shot, practice at 50. If you're trying for a 500 yard
shot, practice at 500. Don't sight in at 20 then get on the
gall blessed internet and ask where to hold at 450 with a
20 yard zero.

I still have my Bear Recurve and a couple of compound bows that I have backed way off of to be able to pull them and shoot them for fun. My crossbow shoots in the 350 fps range and I can hit a 5" bulls eye at 50 yards shooting from a set of shooting sticks most every time. I practice all the way out to 60 yards mainly because it is fun but still limit my shots on deer to 30 yards as our East Texas deer will jump string at the shot. The longest shot I have taken on a hog was at 45 yards and he just stood there watching his death be delivered. That said if I ever get back on a lease that allows guns I will gladly switch back to a rifle and hunt over a large food plot, just for the opportunity to hunt from a box blind and see a lot more deer.

This is why I have no problem with crossbows. It allows kids the opportunity to get on deer early in the season that might not happen once they get locked down. I made him pass on this deer last year because he was all broke up. He broke his G-3 off on the 5th of October this year, and we were able to close the deal a couple weeks later.

There are a mountain of bow hunters regularly killing stuff at those ranges, and have been for a long time. Obviously you disagree with their skill level and acquired proficiency. I get it, I'm not to that level, but I'd be first to omit I have other priorities out side of the practice to get that level.

I doubt cross bows will ever affect bag limits, especially in TX and predominate whitetail states. I really don't see it effecting western states until they can come up with a 5lb cross now.

I personally think in general it's a petty thought process to attack means and method of legal take. Especially if it gets more people a field.

I can only hunt my hunt,

Hey Bobo, I think your other priorities and fast paced lifestyle kept your from reading Exiles post real closely. I dont think at all that he said or implied anything at all negative about crossbows. Hes a marketing guy and was just pondering how that increase in popularity on crossbows may or may not have an impact on various things. I dont think he judged at all. You know I love you Bobo but just wanted to prop Exile up a little and I dont know him whatsoever. Otherwise, as usual, all your comments are right on.

I appreciate the kind words, freerange, and YES, I wasn't judging at *all*, and I do not question someone who can consistently kill a deer at those distances with a bow, I admire them. I do know that in many states they use algorithms and historical data to help determine bag limits, and they are NOT built around people using archery at those distances. If more and more people are able to use archery equipment to effectively kill at longer ranges, it will absolutely have an impact on either bag limits or season duration or even zoning.

Long range archery is worse than long range rifle hunting. I've watched several shows where they're in the ~80yd range with compounds. One pronghorn was shot in the stomach and you could tell from the light in the frames of the shot and the light of the recovery it was several hours between and the animal suffered greatly. In another show, the antelope was shot in the hams due to wind on an 86 yd shot. An elk was shot at 77 yds and not recovered. A mule deer was gut shot at 70+. These are supposedly seasoned archers, too.

Regardless of your weapon, make sure you are proficient with it ON GAME at the ranges you intend to shoot. I hunt with a crossbow that is capable to 70 yds, but limit my shots to 40 and under. There is just too much that can go wrong with the longer flight times.

FTR I don't think there's any impact to archery season as a result of improved weapons. As stated by several, if it gets more people in the field, that's a good thing.

Lol, Ya I was on a mountain side.

Unfortunately hard to dictate tone in writing.

While I understand what he is saying on tags out west, I just don't see it affecting much. In whitetail states I also don't see it affecting any thing, populations densities are going up more so then down. Western States that are limiting archery tags are doing so mainly to popularity(otc to draw) more so then crossbows. A general rise in success rates going to be contributed to a lot more then carrying a 10lb plus crossbow out west. Limited draw tags are generally the least physical demanding hunts, Where OTC are generally the most physical demanding. Terrain is way more restrictive on success rates then equipment. Equipment does dictate success rates in right hands, but normally that's countered with season dates related to rut, etc

As far as my thoughts on range limitations it wasn't meant that he was being petty, just a general thought on those that do comment on other abilities better then their own. I should of clarified better

I agree that nothing much about this will affect bag limits an seasons and such-especially as you laid out. And yes I could also offer opinions on the long range stuff(rifle as well) but save for another day. Its all good. And Bobo, as a real big deal guide, are you off the clock when you do this posting from a mountain top with client in tow? Asking for a friend(HBone.)

Let's just say I fired my client. He passed on five deer. I'm tagging out tomorrow, I'm done being nice

Yes, that photo removed any remaining desire I had to give bow hunting a try. I'll gladly stick with my rifles.

Great pic

aint that the derned truth!

A little update on crossbows since I just killed two does Saturday. Ive never bowhunted at all and I got a high end xbow to extend my season(only reason) and ended up killing my biggest buck to date that yall may of read about in my thread a while back "Six Seconds to the buck of a lifetime." He was my first xbow kill and I just killed two does on Sat.
My point with my two doe kills is to try and address the ideas that a xbow is TOO EASY. Yes its easier than a vertical bow but its way harder than a rifle. We have a feeder right at edge of 80 acre wheat field and there was close to 150 deer in the field at any given time ALL DAY long Sat and Sun and I was perched 20' plus in a tree overlooking the feeder. That feeder was bound to draw some in but no room in the Inn for all of them. Guess what, 15 bucks were at the feeder and they kept all the does away. I was doe hunting by the way. From that tree, or from ANY vantage point on the edge of that field I could of killed my pick of does with most any rifle but they were out of xbow range. I got creative and went to the rifle blind on the edge of the field and hand corned out to my 30 yard self imposed bow range. Sure enough a doe ambles by and got on the corn. Shot her and she ran off a ways. I waited a while and another doe repeated her path and I killed her as well. I needed to kill more so I tried the same approach the next morning. Lots of doe were in that field and tons I could of killed with my open sighted 3030 or my muzzleloader but they never came into range of my xbow. Less challenge than vertical bow but more challenging than rifle.
I think xbows will become very popular but in the grand scheme of hunting I dont see a huge impact one way or another. Every one hunt any legal way you want but please set some self imposed ethics that only you can set.

View from my treestand with 15 bucks but NO does in range.


View from rifle blind with doe FINALLY easing in to xbow range with tons of doe in distance well out of range.

Nice write up free range.

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, in regards to my original post.

My wife is cross eye dominate and cannot close one eye individually and for her shooting a bow accurately is gonna be next to impossible in terms of practicality. It’s hard enough on her shooting a rifle. I have one son who simply does not put in enough time to get proficient with a bow and a daughter who is about to be deer killing age.

My goal was to ultimately turn the property into an archery only place and a couple of crossbows will effectively enable me to do that while still allowing family and guests who have little archery experience be able to be successful in harvesting game

A couple crossbows will get you started. you with your compound and the rest sharing, There are a lot of crossbows out there and I would say go shoot several different ones and let the others shoot them to find what works well for you. I bought the Wife a Wicked Ridge RDX with the accudraw and she really likes it. Easy to crank back and shoot with a balance point between the hands balanced more like a rifle than most crossbows so even though it weighs a little more it is easier for her to hold up for longer getting the shot then the others we shot which I knew would be the case. On her buck this year she held it up waiting for the right shot for over 2 minutes and nailed him at 13 yards when he finally turned for her.

Crossbows are really neither right or left handed as they are basically symmetrical and can be setu with the quiver for either side, or some with the quiver under the riser witht he bolts going side to side.

Crossbow prices run from <300 to over 3000 so there is a large range. To be legal in Texas the hunting deer the pull weight has to be at least 125lbs.

Set up a man with a popup blind, Caldwell shooting chair with rest and a yout sized crossbow to take his grandkids hunting, about 3 weeks later he came by with pictures of the kids 6 and 7 yars old with their deer. He then told me he had cancer and much to the dismay of his daughter he wanted to start them hunting while he ws still around to do it. Said that to say the caldwell shooting chair with rest works well for kids and being steady or the shot just as a suggestion.