crossbow choice or necessity ?

[hunter with MS]

I wonder how many people are hunting /shooting crossbow by choice or by necessity ? I have to use one by necessity if I want to archery hunt .

[sproulman]

I also at 62 yrs old now cannot handle my fred bear bow or my ben pierson bow from 60s..I do miss it...So I am crossbow hunter now and of course I still only hunt Bucks no doe so it is still challenge and I still will not shoot beyond 35 yards on Buck ..Believe this I do not even care if I shoot Buck I just enjoy sitting in same area I have for 52 years thinking of my dad and brothers and uncles coming thru in drive pushing the Bucks to me ..Sometimes I even cry thinking about it while sitting in my Summit treestand and at times if you ever watched the movie DEER HUNTER
leaving that big Buck go after returning from Vietnam I feel same way and have let Bucks go many times because of different reasons....It is something now when I am only one in woods and 1 of oldest coming out at dark and hearing the coyotes laughing all way to truck in dark..At times its sad other times it makes me feel good...

[Predator55]

I guess mine would be a choice, but, with a little necessity. I hunt with traditional gear and love it. However, I hunt strictly public land which has a good deal of pressure. In IL we can only use a xbow after second shotgun season, so by that time the deer are wired beyond belief. This past season I was seeing deer every time out but they were always at 35/40 yards and it was getting frustrating. I bought a old Barnett wildcat for 50 bucks at a house sale, and took it hunting. I had a blast hunting with it and shot a doe at 40 yards, unfortunately I was unable to recover her and looked five hours for her. Rain did not help the matter, but I knew I need a higher quality xbow if I was going to hunt with one so the grizzly cub is my choice and I think the deer are in trouble next season.

[j.krug]

Mine is a bit of both.

1: My eyesight has become such that I can't see my target clearly when shooting a vert bow so the crossbow scope takes care of that.

2: I don't have the time or a place to shoot a vert bow regularly enough to stay proficient with it and therefore would not be comfortable hunting with a vert bow.

[hunter with MS]

My eye sight has been damaged as well as my arm strength by MS . I used to bowfish had to give that up . Now I am looking at crossbow fishing and to bad Excalibur does not make a fishing crossbow I will have to go to a Parker Stingray .

[rmb721]

I got my first crossbow the year I had my shoulder replaced. I still use one because I like it.

[papabear1]

I hunt with a crossbow by necassity
after falling out of tree while hanging a treestand and breaking
my neck, and busting my shoulder up real bad, I had to go to a
crossbow , But, at 73 I am still getting out there and filling my
tags every year, and doing what I love doing.

Dave

[sproulman]

I hunt with a crossbow by necassity
after falling out of tree while hanging a treestand and breaking
my neck, and busting my shoulder up real bad, I had to go to a
crossbow , But, at 73 I am still getting out there and filling my
tags every year, and doing what I love doing.

Dave

Wow on falling ..I will not use hanging stands for archery only Summit climbing stands which I made some improvements on Summits including the new sound deadening that they took my idea and done it and I got free hat..LOL..

[Goober]

Mines a necessity as I have fibromyalgia. I would love compound but it would kill me and I'd shake like crazy.

[buildingandrenovatio]

i hunted tradtional 40 plus years tore my rotater cup out shooting heaver bows just cant pull and hold them any more i have so many recurves that i dont have any place to put them but i cant stand to part withem about 7 years ago after my shoulder started to heal i started buying crossbows and hunting with them not the same but its the best i will be able to do i am 60 years old if you can still hunt with a recurve and are getting older i will tell you drop your draw weaght to a min your shoulders and joints will last longer i got a excal this year best crossbow i have ever shot

[Hillcountry]

Necessity for me...I bow hunted a long time ago and just recently got back into it with a new elite compound bow 2 yrs ago. At 66 years old and with degenerative arthritis of the spine and a condition called "DISH" (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis) which I was recently diagnosed with, the vertical bow, especially in a tree stand after sitting in the cold for hours, made it almost impossible to draw and hold my compound for an ethical shot on an animal. My Doc signed a NH state crossbow disability form and the fish and game approved it quickly.
My hunt for a crossbow began and Excalibur was high on the list of candidates based on great reviews and loyal owners. I also took into consideration, my brother's recommendation of Mission crossbows (which he has and likes a lot)
So, I traded in my Elite compound for the Micro 355 and a handgun for the Mission MXB 360 and that's what I am working with now. Lots of sighting in and arrow configurations to test before this bow hunting season!

[L. E. Carroll]

I made the switch to crossbows after 50 years with trad bows due to tearing out the tricep in left arm, along with a previous Deltoid re-attachment in right shoulder and torn rotator cuff repair to my left shoulder... I can not draw above 30# with trad any longer..... That and deminishing eye-site which makes being able to use a scope that much better.

I plan to keep on as long, as long as I'm able to keep it up ! I am at the point I need help when getting an elk out if I can't get my winch or quad too it.

Genel

[papabear1]

I hunt with a crossbow by necassity
after falling out of tree while hanging a treestand and breaking
my neck, and busting my shoulder up real bad, I had to go to a
crossbow , But, at 73 I am still getting out there and filling my
tags every year, and doing what I love doing.

Dave

Wow on falling ..I will not use hanging stands for archery only Summit climbing stands which I made some improvements on Summits including the new sound deadening that they took my idea and done it and I got free hat..LOL..

All I use now are ladder stands, I have 5 of them and feel very secure,

Dave

[hunter with MS]

I see a large percentage to reply use it as a necessity .

[SwamperWI]

It is a choice for me. I was raised on guns. I hunted a couple years with a vertical bow and took a nice doe the second year. I loved being in the woods and seeing deer not nearly as spooked as rifle season, but I never really enjoyed shooting vertical bow. I knew I would love crossbow, and couldn't have been happier when Wisconsin opened it up to everyone. I know that it does not gain me more range and practice and confidence is still key. But, it feels like an old friend teaching me a new game.