At this point I've yet to shoot anything with them.
I have had a blast just target shooting and tinkering with them, so I've certainly gotten my enjoyment out of them so far regardless.
I was hoping to get my bear with one this year and while I did hunt several times with my Excal, the stand I eventually shot my bear out of was impossible to shoot a crossbow out of so I ended up using my muzzleloader.
Last year my 78 year old friend found out I had crossbows and I offered to let him use my 380 so he could "do one last bowhunt".
Well he went out and shot a small buck and was pretty happy and excited about it and so was I.
It made me feel like the season was an overall success even though I never shot anything myself.
Before the season this year I asked him if he wanted to use it again and he said he wasn't sure he could cock it anymore.
I told him I had bought a cocking crank for it and it was his to use if he wanted, after some prodding he said, "OK, he'd try it again".
So I went out and bought a crank, showed him how to use it and the other day he went out and dropped a doe with it and was again pretty excited.
He was going to give it back to me, but I know he still has his buck tag and I told him to keep on going to see if he could get a buck since between the two of us he seems to be the only one able to connect!!
I'm actually pretty happy too because I'm helping a lifelong hunter/outdoorsman keep at it, so again, no what happens going forward I already consider the bow hunting season a success!
I have to say, that old saying about the kill is only a small part of hunting has proven very true for me, it's been gratifying and humbling to keep him involved and still going and I think I have actually gotten more out of it than he has!!
