Hi, I am a long time hunter but new to the crossbow world. They recently made hunting with xbows legal in Virginia and it has been time for a new bow, so after a lot of research I decided on an exocet 200 (sorry Mathews). All of the research I did had my head spinning, with all of the info and opinions out there, it was very hard to decide. Luckily I think I made the right choice with Excalibur. Reading your posts in the forum has helped to reasure me that I made the right choice and answered a lot of my questions. Thank you all, your knowledge and expertise are priceless. Thanks to your posts I have purchased a fff string and decided against any kind of silencing equipment, and thanks to the right stuff package for giving me everything else I needed to get going. All I have to do now is get my hands on a new target.
Even with all of your help, I still have some questions that havn't been answered yet. The most important one is about safety. I am mainly a still hunter because I don't have much time for scouting. That means I cover a lot of ground in search of a big buck, then I will set up a ground blind or a stand after I have found him. In the past I would allways have an arrow knocked or a bullet in the chamber while I was on the move incase I managed to sneak up on a nice deer. I am not sure if I want to do that with a xbow though. I am curious as to what you do. I watched a hunting show a while ago where the guy walked to his stand with his xbow cocked and then he loaded a bolt when he got to his stand. I guess it would be ok to carry it loaded but how about carrying it loaded while slung on you shoulder? Do any of you have any stories of close calls or accidents that you can warn me of? I guess I am most concerned with the safety being turned off by a branch or my clothes without me noticing it and then resulting in something bad. Also, can I keep my bow cocked all day long, day after day without fear of damaging my limbs or string? Thanks again for all your help. I wish you all good luck and happy hunting. Jesse
I don't think that slinging your bow on your shoulder with an arrow in it is a good idea.
First of all your bow tends to lean back and it's harder to control which direction it's facing.
Secondly if you're walking through bruch your arrow may be knocked off/out of your bow or your arrow may get moved forward on the rail causing a semi dryfire.
I usually cock my bow, apply the safety and carry an arrow in my hand if I sling the bow. It doesn't take long to stick an arrow onto the rail.
I've sat basically all day with my bow cocked and loaded with no problems.
Make sure you don't leave your bow strung and in your car trunk during a hot day. This will destroy your limbs.
Carrying your xbow over your shoulder cocked and loaded is not the ideal thing to do, but if you insist on doing it, it might be wise to increase your life insurance, then even your wife would let you go hunting more often.
You made the right choice in a hunting xbow, make sure you make the right choice on safety. If your NOT sure its the right thing to do DONT
Several years ago I cocked my crossbow, put on the safety, loaded an arrow, and slung it over my shoulder. I was walking through some brush, but nothing too heavy. Some time later I got ready to take a shot, mounted the bow to my shoulder, reached with my thumb to flip the safety off - and it was already off! All I can figure is that a branch had contacted the safety and flipped it off.
Today I carry the crossbow uncocked when on my shoulder!
If I need to carry it cocked and/or loaded I carry it in my hands.
Thanks guys, I never intended to keep a bolt loaded while carrying the xbow on my shoulder. Although I bet there are some people out there that do it. Infact I am kind of scared to keep it cocked while on my shoulder without a bolt. I would probably be ok in the case of an accidental dry fire, but I would atleast have to go home and change my pants. But if the limbs split or broke with the dry fire then I might be in some serious danger. I have a muzzle loader with the same type of safety and it has been accidentaly flipped before so that is why I am concerned. I prefer the safeties next to the trigger guard like the one on my 1187. I suppose the safest thing to do would be to carry it anytime it is cocked. Knowing my luck, when I finaly get tired enough to uncock it and throw it over my shoulder, the big one I have been looking for will walk right up to me. Oh well, better safer than sorry.
A.W wrote:
I usually cock my bow, apply the safety and carry an arrow in my hand if I sling the bow.
Let me further explain this part of my post.
The area I hunt has some open trails/dirt roads. If I'm walking from A to B on the trails/dirt roads I sometimes sling my bow cocked and arrow out and either in my hand or quiver.
If I'm walking through thick brush then I always carry my bow in my hands unloaded.
I will be a new crossbow hunter this fall, but not at all new to hunting. Personally, I think that if you want to stalk hunt it would be perfectly OK to carry your cocked and loaded crossbow, with the safety applied, in certain situations. Keeping it's design limitations in mind, I would be sure to carry it firmly gripped in a safe hunting position: at "port arms," over the forearm, or to the side. It would seem to me that with a loaded crossbow, the same rule would apply that governs firearms carry during active hunting: YOU MUST CONTROL THE "MUZZLE" DIRECTION AT ALL TIMES!
It is a personal choice in the end. You must decide, according to the game, terrain, hunt conditions, situation and your best judgment, whether you can safely carry a ready-to-shoot weapon. If you decide you can, and if you keep that "muzzle" under careful control at all times, I don't see a problem.
As with a loaded firearm on "safe," a loaded crossbow must be considered dangerous to any living thing within it's firing range.
I wouldn't carry one "cocked and locked" in any situation except in a reasonably open, actual hunting scenario with adequate footing ... and then I'd do it very carefully.
Jesse