jj322 it is very difficult to give you any advice which you could benefit from without knowing more about your hunting situations. Will you be hunting from tree stands, ground blinds, stalking, will you be practicing a lot or just enough. Will you be hunting smaller game or moose, elk, bear be in your hunting future. IS speed important to you.jj322 wrote:I am an avid gun hunter and I am thinking about getting into bow hunting. I have hunted with a compound bow before but never nothing serious. I have never used a crossbow however if I am going to get into bow hunting I prefer to do it with a crossbow. I need advice on what to buy. Any wisdom would be appreciated.
Remember that the glitz of the faster bows is always appealing, but the crossbow only holds and shoots stored energy. That is, you have to load that energy into the bow yourself. I wish I had $ for every time a shooter has gone to a lesser poundage of a bow (traded in) just because they found that shooting (practicing) a lot just became hard work and not fun. Shooting a crossbow should be all fun.
Now about hunting with a crossbow or with any other archery equipment. Accuracy is most important in my opinion. Mayor of Atlantis made a lot of great points in his post. Yes a bullet kills mostly by shock where as the arrow (hunting head) kills by having the animal bleed out. Your distances, or kill range depends on two major factors. Your accuracy and the reaction time of the animal you are hunting. Deer are usually very quick to react so I would say 30 - 35 yards is max, even with the faster bows. But with an animal like a moose, I have no problem with extending that range out to 45 - 50 yards because they usually do not react fast so they are usually in the same spot when the arrow arrives, thus a clean kill shot.
About KE. I hear a lot of people talking about what the KE is when it leaves the bow, but who really should care. For me, it is the KE when it gets to the animal. A light fast arrow will loose its KE faster down range then a heavier arrow. But honestly, any Excalibur crossbow will kill any animal in North America (the record moose in Canada was taken with a 150lb model).
Shot placement is most important. Even the most powerful bows will not go through a shoulder bone on a moose.
If you give us more knowledge we will be able to guide you better.
Hope this helps Tom
