Bow or Crossbow

So I am far from new in the hunting department. I was even a bow hunter at one time but had kids and was unable to shoot like I wanted. We recently bought some land that backs up to Corp property and I’m looking at getting back in the saddle. I think I like the idea of a crossbow but not 100% sold on it. So my question is pros and cons versus a traditional bow. Also what is a quality setup for the money for either.

It depends on a lot of factors honestly. If you want to be able to get good enough to hunt quickly, a crossbow is the way to go. I have a Wicked Ridge Invader X4 that works great. I recently upgraded to a Diamond Edge SB-1 compound bow that’s a great bow for the money. I can already tell that the compound bow is a much more difficult challenge than the crossbow. I picked up my crossbow at Cabela’s last year for $359.99 and I got my compound fully equipped along with 6 arrows and a release for $477. There’s a lot of good deals going on out there right now. If you’re willing to wait, I would so you can get the best deal for your money. I may end up selling my crossbow as a whole package next year as well, so we could work something out there. If you’re wanting a crossbow, go with anything from TenPoint, including Wicked Ridge and Horton, and you will not be disappointed. For a vertical bow, go to your local shop and shoot a bunch of them to see which one you like the most.

DEPENDS. My answer to most questions from someone I dont know anything about. Ask yourself WHY are you wanting to bow hunt? If its to extend your rifle season then crossbow will do that and itll require a whole lot less time to get good at it and stay good at it. If your goal is to hunt close to the deer then either will do but once again its much easier to learn and stay good at crossbow. If you are into the extra challenge/difficulty that a vertical bow presents then go that way but know its hard to stay really good without a lot of time and effort. I cant help you much on price comparisons but doubt its a huge difference, You probably are aware that besides being able to put the arrow(either) where you want that there is a WHOLE lot more to either type bow hunting. Getting the shot, taking the shot and then recovering the animal is all way way way harder than rifle hunting and to do it properly takes some commitment.
Also, 1997s advise sounded real solid. Kmon1 will probably chime in on this thread and I would highly recommend his advise. He will take time to help you out so it may be worth a pm to him.

To be fair I bow hinted for several years and only shot one deer, I lost that deer until 2 months later when I found him dead. It left a bad taste in my mouth. My biggest reason to move back into archery is due to some land I bought next to Corp land and I don’t want to fire a gun and put anyone at risk.

I tried vertical bowhunting for years and had misses and finally hit one....BADLY. And it is 1,000% my fault. I can set up a hunting spot. I can scout. I can work the wind, and my scent. What I never could seem to do is spend enough time shooting the vertical bow. It does take a lot more dedication, practice and muscle memory. And more practice. And even more. After wounding a deer a few years back, and the sick feeling I had as it limped away, I switched to a XBow. With work, kids, wife, life, etc....I never could get enough time to practice enough. Since I started using the XBow, I have dropped a doe and buck each of the first 2 season of using it. Plus I have a buck so far this year. It does take practice, but to me, not near the same amount.

As for what to use? Everyone will give you a different opinion. If you want the best deal for the $$, IMO, get a CenterPoint. I have the Sniper 370. Grab it and a pack of broadheads and you are ready to go. You can but it for under $300 every day, and with some waiting, it can be found for under $200.

Good luck and get in the woods and enjoy!!!!!!

^^^worth repeating.

Have a new wicked ridge invader x4 that I’m selling.

Anybody have any Thoughts on a Winchester bow?

My choice was an Excalibur Mag 340. Simple, easy to use, very accurate, and fast enough. I got mine at Wyvern Creations for 549.00 shipped to my door.

As mentioned - if you are willing and have time to practice, get a compound bow. If not, get a crossbow.

JR

Crossbow is much easier to get proficient with to make a kill with. Having never shot a crossbow before I picked one up and was able to shoot 3” groups at 20 yards within a few min.

But...they are loud and I will argue that with most crossbows i can shoot farther with my bow

Most crossbows now are able to shoot extremely accurately, right out of the box. With the ones I have you better not shoot at the same spot twice, or you'll end up destroying arrows. 3" groups out to 60yrds isn't difficult anymore. I don't recommend shooting at game that far, but you can certainly put them on target that far in 3" groups.

Crossbows are a LOT louder than regular compound bows, but none of the deer or hogs I've killed with mine seemed to care. They still died.

I just never enjoyed shooting a bow. When I decided to start hunting on a federal refuge I decided to buy a crossbow. I really love hunting and shooting my crossbow. Simple as that for me.

I enjoy both. Which i use sometimes depends on the stand i'm hunting. Follow up if needed is much quicker with a compound. When hunting with a crossbow you will need to unload it which usually means shooting an arrow into the ground, use cheap stuff for this.
Then consider the stand. I could make a funniest home video of my old fat arse standing on a 12" x 12" piece of expanded metal 18ft in the air trying to [censored] my crossbow.

I have over a grand in each setup so one isn't cheaper than the other for me.

I love using my crossbow. I did not know how much fun it was until I used it. Little warning: you need a lot of practice to be good at it and you have to be good at it for a hunt. You only have one shot/chance. Try to achieve "one shot, one kill".

I have never used a crossbow BUT.....I was under the impression that you didn't have to practice that much, you have a scope, etc. Not true??

A crossbow has a rainbow trajectory. You have to know drop at distance and aiming points. Would you take your .308 out and shoot 400 or 500 yards at deer without much practice?

A crossbow is basically the same as shooting a rifle ---------- even uses a scope ------------ it is closer to rifle hunting than bow hunting. To rephrase it, bow hunting and crossbow hunting have no similarities, they can not be compared.

Had to go to a crossbow as I tore my right rotator cuff.

I bought an x-bow last year. It was sighted in using less than 5 shots. My self, my wife and parents all drilled a bullseye at 20 yards right off the bat. Gaining proficiency sufficient to kill a deer out to 40 yards for me was a 1 day affair, really more like an hour as the scope on mine has holds out to 40 yards and after testing them they are good. I am using the arrows and same grain and style of broadhead the package was developed with though.

Distance you are shooting is important, small changes can mean the difference between hitting where you want and not and even a complete miss.

That is the huge benefit to crossbows. It offers the "get close" aspect of bowhunting but does not take years to master.

you get all the fun of archery hunting but without the comitment.

I'll probably buy my wife a X-bow this season to get her into the archery game, as vertical bowhunting is going to be a major challenge due to her cross-dominate eye.

Cross-eye dominate is a real issue for vertical bow shooters, especially when the dominance is very strong. For those it is best to learn to shoot from the dominate eye side and that in itself is a real challenge. Good thing about crossbows they are ambidextrous in function and controls.

I shoot my compound maybe half a dozen times a year. It's quieter and easier to be accurate with than the crossbow I bought for guests. I've never, and will never, hunt with that thing. The trigger is atrocious. I took my compound to stand and killed to 200lb class pigs out of one sounder within two minutes of each other.
Normally I hunt with a recurve or longbow. Now they do take more time and skill to get good with as well as maintain that accuracy level.
Shooting a crossbow is no different than shooting an AR with a crappy trigger. I really don't care what people hunt with. I don't mind them being used during archery season. They've been around for centuries so their is no question on the heritage side. However I definitely don't consider a crossbow kill, all else being equal, on the level of a traditional bow kill or even a compound kill.
That said, hunting over a feeder from a sealed up Krivoman blind really isn't the most difficult way to kill one with a traditional bow either.
Bottom line is if you enjoy it, it's legal and ethical, get out there and do it. It really doesn't matter what me or anyone else thinks.

Based on your rationale, it's simple - go with a crossbow. I hunt both and like most have said, the crossbow is simply easier and more consistently accurate with less continuous practice than a compound bow. Plus you have greater effective/practical range with a crossbow than a compound while still not endangering others on the Corp land.

One thing to check however is your county regs on lawful equipment during archery season.. PLEASE CHECK YOUR OWN COUNTY, but as I recall, there are at least 4 counties where you can't use a crossbow during archery season : Collin, Dallas, Grayson and Rockwall (have to wait until "general season, aka gun season, to use crossbow)

The original post is old, but a lot of good information keeps coming. A crossbow is hard to [censored] and requires a "tool". It makes it a little safer to keep around uncocked, as it would be hard for a child to load it or damage it. Also, an uninformed person might now figure it out. Most crossbow scopes have some type of ranging reticle. Using that system it is pretty easy to shoot out to the furthest distance indicated by the reticle marks. The original post said "traditional bow". I don't know if the original poster meant longbow/recurve type bow or a "modern" compound bow. There is a huge difference in each. A traditional bow requires the ability to draw and temporarily hold the full weight of the resistance. There are no sights, so repetitive practice is required to develop the muscle memory and sight memory for consistency. Any flaw in form will be accentuated in the shot. Most traditional shooters stick to 20-yards or less, with a few going out another 5-yards. It is rare to hear of regular 30-yard shots with a traditional bow. Range judging is paramount as the trajectory is a much more exaggerated arc than a compound or crossbow. Usually broadheads are fixed, 2-blade designs. With a typical traditional bow set up for deer hunting the pass-through shots are probably around 50/50, so great tracking skills become very important. Moving to the compound bow, you now have let-off, so you can hold 20-25% of the actual draw weight. This makes it easier to hold for longer periods of time (although you need the strength for the initial draw). Sights are calibrated to different distances, and it is not unusual to see 5 or 6 pins on some bow sights, meaning a range of 60-yards or more. Here, expandable broadheads should work and fixed blade broadheads may have to be tuned. The arrow/broadhead combination creates huge variables in penetration. Most straight-forward set-ups are sufficient to go through a deer. The original post seems to have hogs to hunt and the performance would vary somewhat with size and stature. If a traditional bow goes down in the field you can either put a new string on and potentially keep hunting or possibly you broke a limb and it is out of commission. If a compound bow breaks anything it is out of commission until you have a new set of part and maybe a bench and press. This applies to crossbows too, however the traditional limb crossbows can be "fixed" in the field. You can change the string with a "stringer" tool in a matter of seconds. You can have a spare set of limbs in your pack and change them with one hex-key. If you put on the same length string, or swap out the same limb you should be still sighted in and ready to go. A compound crossbow is not "fixable" in the field. You need a press, tools and parts. With a traditional or compound bow, if you need a second shot or are able to shoot two of whatever, you can easily and readily load another arrow and shoot again. With a crossbow, you need to use the cocking tool and have some mobility to stabilize the bow for cocking. It is a longer, noisier process than a vertical bow. Only the Excalibur Twin Strike crossbow offers two shots instantly. These three implements each bring a whole different experience and level of commitment. You have to decide what your end goal is and what you are willing to put up with, where you can comfortably compromise and what rate of success you need to be satisfied.

^^^^Good post.

A lot of good information here