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Posted: 11/23/2011 7:18:13 PM EDT
[Last Edit: IIRC]
I have been a pretty die hard archery hunter for about ten years. I had always been opposed to xbows. But a couple years ago PA allowed them for archery state wide. My best friend bought one. He shot a few deer and I was impressed with the accuracy at least. And then he and I went hunting on some local property he has permission to hunt here in suburbia. Small woodlots and brush land between housing developments. The cross bow is perfect for this type of hunting where we drive the deer and move to the next wood lot.
I found a good deal on an Excaliber Exocet with the Lite Stuff package. Should be here next week. |
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Originally Posted By Valkyrie:
I have been a pretty die hard archery hunter for about ten years. I had always been opposed to xbows. But a couple years ago PA allowed them for archery state wide. My best friend bought one. He shot a few deer and I was impressed with the accuracy at least. And then he and I went hunting on some local property he has permission to hunt here in suburbia. Small woodlots and brush land between housing developments. The cross bow is perfect for this type of hunting where we drive the deer and move to the next wood lot. I found a good deal on an Excaliber Exocet with the Lite Stuff package. Should be here next week. you've bought a fine bow At least you started with a top of the line crossbow and one of the EASIEST to maintain. Unfortunatly it cost me quite abit of $$$ to get where you started. Wasted $$ on compound crossbows. If you shoot/practice alot say 200-300 shots a week. cables and servings will break you on compound crossbows. Way back then 14-15 years back there were very few Excaliburs here in the U.S. Once I found Danny Miller in Ohio here my search was over. I have 4 Excaliburs now and all I do is reserve the center servings. no out of time cams, no press needed for string change. Changing a string in the field on a hunting trip is no problem with Excaliburs. You've bought a fine bow that should outlast you and I'm sure you'll be happy |
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Originally Posted By PAPPYO:
Originally Posted By Valkyrie:
I have been a pretty die hard archery hunter for about ten years. I had always been opposed to xbows. But a couple years ago PA allowed them for archery state wide. My best friend bought one. He shot a few deer and I was impressed with the accuracy at least. And then he and I went hunting on some local property he has permission to hunt here in suburbia. Small woodlots and brush land between housing developments. The cross bow is perfect for this type of hunting where we drive the deer and move to the next wood lot. I found a good deal on an Excaliber Exocet with the Lite Stuff package. Should be here next week. you've bought a fine bow At least you started with a top of the line crossbow and one of the EASIEST to maintain. Unfortunatly it cost me quite abit of $$$ to get where you started. Wasted $$ on compound crossbows. If you shoot/practice alot say 200-300 shots a week. cables and servings will break you on compound crossbows. Way back then 14-15 years back there were very few Excaliburs here in the U.S. Once I found Danny Miller in Ohio here my search was over. I have 4 Excaliburs now and all I do is reserve the center servings. no out of time cams, no press needed for string change. Changing a string in the field on a hunting trip is no problem with Excaliburs. You've bought a fine bow that should outlast you and I'm sure you'll be happy Thanks. Im a little torn, have always thought of xbows as a contamination into the purer vertical bow hunting scheme. But from what I gather there is no advatage other than not having to draw on the deer. |
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some of the new compounds shoot so fast with 70 % let off they'll smoke most crossbows.
the only TRUE bowhunters IMHO are stick bow guy's. You grab that 65 lb. longbow or recurve there ain't NO ROLLOVER |
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Originally Posted By PAPPYO:
some of the new compounds shoot so fast with 70 % let off they'll smoke most crossbows. the only TRUE bowhunters IMHO are stick bow guy's. You grab that 65 lb. longbow or recurve there ain't NO ROLLOVER I have heard all the debates from the purists. I could argue that true bowhunters use flint arrowheads, sinew strings and shafts fashoined from choke cherry. I mean, the bow is a descendant of the atlatl, and then the spear, and then the sharpened stick, etc As for fast compunds, absolutley! I have a Mathews Drenalin. I chrono my 420gr arrow at 280fps. Thats plenty fast. But like I said earlier, it doesnt lend itself to hunting small woodlots and briar patches in suburban PA. We are restricted to bows because the landowners dont want us to use shotguns but they want the deer cut back. So when a deer comes trotting by and literally gives you a second or two a normal bow is a hinderance. A cross bow works much better. Understand, Im a hunter first and foremost. A crossbow will add another dimension to hunting for me. I have a better chance at being successful in certain areas I hunt where any other weapon is either not allowed or just not practical. And in case you dont know, I would bet a years pay there is a state record buck walking around in someones flowerbed tonight within 25 miles of the Philly border. Suburbia grows the largest bucks in the state, they have little hunting pressure, live to see maximum antler potential and are able to pass that on for many generations. Comparitively speaking, most of the rural parts of the state are being overhunted. Deer on average are killed at 1.5 yrs of age. Using a crossbow makes sense. Bottom line it opens up more opportuntiy. I am by no means gonna give up my Drenalin, I love it! The perception of crossbows is all wrong. I was hardcore anti crossbow but slowly learned that the only advanage is not having to draw on a deer. |
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Those city Buck's are the bigest. I see plenty in my daily commute in no hunt zones.
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Originally Posted By PAPPYO:
Those city Buck's are the bigest. I see plenty in my daily commute in no hunt zones. Like I said above, we have a few small areas where we can hunt with a bow only. But these are not stand hunting places, you have to push them and then you have a split second shot opportunity. Crossbows are perfect for this type of hunting. But the bucks we see are huge. I havent got a nice buck yet out of any of these areas but my best friend has shot quite a few big bucks in them. He has lots more time to hunt though The down side to this is that the deer are pushed and run to places we cant hunt. Its tough to get permission in this area(SEPA). The popular image of hunters is some gunslinging, drunken, white trash, hillbilly, reckless asshole animal murderer. We have lots of city transplants around here from NY and Philly. Many landowners are just adverse to a perceived liability to having someone with a gun or bow on their property regardless that in PA landowners are protected by state law from liability of having their land used for recreational purposes. Instead we are seeing these groups of "professional deer managers" pop up. Basically a group of hunters that get together, file a LLC, buy a cheap insurance policy and purchase a deer study from PSU and solicit the townships and private landowners to allow them to manage the deer on their property. It is growing in popularity and these organizations are posting up many places and are getting permission to hunt many local and state properties. It pisses me off because the animals belong to the state. Their management is paid for soley by hunters through license sales and other PGC means. The PGC receives no tax money except for the Pitman Robertson act monies. Yet private companies are permitted to come in and cull deer We have almost one million hunters in this state and I cannot see why the PGC doesnt step in and put a stop to this practice. Sorry, got off tract. Rant over. |
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LOL. Yea they pay sharpshooters around here. I think some places try deer birth control also?
If I were Mayor I'd have a qualifian day for bowhunters. Maybe $3.00-$5.00 entry to cover a couple city workers labour costs. Various targets out to 30-35 yards. Top shooters get an area. Sadly Park Rangers cull them in Metro Parks Pretty simple really. Beat's spending tax payers money for sharp shooters and other dumb stuff? |
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Hey there is nothing wrong with useing a crossbow which is a gun out to 40 the easy way out.
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Sorry, but we have to fight nicer..IIRC.. |
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I know crossbows and the debates that go with them bring out the best in all of us, but this is a tech forum so I would really appreciate it if you guys keep it clean.
We're all friends here, let's not forget that. |
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For those interested, some revelations in shooting a crossbow.
First I will say this, a crossbow isnt a rifle. Not even close. While they are accurate they are subject to the same laws of physics as their vertical bow brothers. The bolts that came with my xbow weigh 414gr including the 150gr points. That makes them heavier than my normal hunting arrows I shoot from my Mathews Drenalin. I could certainly lighten them up and increase my velocity. I havent chrono'd the xbow yet but it is very, very fast. However, at ranges beyond 40 yards, the arrow behaves just like any. Accuracy you ask? From a rest at 50 yards using the included scope, I am able to shoot a 1.5" group easily. Offhand is another story. I would argue that a traditional bow is easier to hold steady at draw due to the points of contact and the geometric stability that is offered at full draw with a vertical compound and a decent let-off percentage. A few things factor into the perceived advantages of a crossbow. Like anything much of the advantages are a trade off. Lightening my bolts will yield higher velocities but less mass means downrange ballistics are diminished. A heavier bolt will retain velocity to farther distances but the ballistic trajectory becomes more distinct reducing the advantage of higher velocities. At the end of the day the only REAL advantage is not having to draw on the animal and hold it until the shot is presented. This allows faster aquisition and execution in split second opportunities. I practice with my Drenalin out to 50 yards and I have never shot at a deer with a bow further than 30 and likely never will. Same goes for the new xbow. Fifty yards in the whitetail woods is a looong way! A small branch, error in judgement, anything can send your arrow or bolt off into the dirt or elswhere. They are not wonder guns that blast short arrows out to 100 yards with benchrest accuracy. They seem to have a niche they fill, especially for me where I get chances to hunt big deer in small and sparse suburban thickets and inter developement woodlots. Im not inclined to sell my Drenalin at all. This is just another opportunity to increase my chances at killing a deer. Nothing more. Im not looking for the easy way out or tossing aside any traditional ideologies I have(one of these days Im gonna kill a deer with my grandfather's recurve) or trying to diminish or add gas to the fire of the xbow/vertbow debate. |
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good review! heres the slowest most dependable excal. Little poop brown vixen $259.00 when the U.S. dollar was strong over the canadian $. she will hit about 287 fps. with those little 319 gr. arrows. It's a 20 yard bow wich is really about all a hunter needs around here
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I also broke down and bought a crossbow, but for a different reason.
This is my second season hunting. Last year I bought a compound bow, I'm still no good with it. (I need to force myself to get in more practice, perhaps instruction.) Anyway, I decided I wanted a deer this year unlike last year, and since I don't feel that I can take an ethical shot with my bow, I picked up a crossbow. I refuse to hunt deer during gun season. When I go out hunting, I'm usually alone. When gun season rolls around, I see dozens of orange clad men stomping around. So yeah, it's bows of one kind or another for me. ETA: Also, Pappyo, why are every one of your pics, this thread and others . . . um, not relevant to your posts? |
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To quote the great philosopher Ferris Bueller, "It's so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." -RonnieJamesDioFan
As usual, this guy has it right. - krpind |
I bought a secondhand Barnett Panzer V this fall. I've been bowhunting for almost 30 years. My vertical bow is a Hoyt Havoctec that I've taken several deer with. I've had many bows for many years, and taken many deer. I got the Xbow just for something different. PA legalized them a few years back. The Panzer is a cheap, bare-bones hunting xbow. No speed demon, but with 65lbs of KE, it will kill anything in North America. People were taking 1200lb african game with xbows like this in the 80's. It's also about the lightest Xbow out there, 4.2 lbs. $169 new, much less used. My shots in the whitetail woods of PA are usually very close. I think 25 yards was the farthest I've ever taken. I'm happy with it, especially for the pittance I paid for it. Sure I'd love to play with a Scorpyd or something like that, but the $1K tag is a bit hard to swallow. The Panzer is plenty accurate, and will definitely do the job. The dot sight that comes with it is difficult to sight in, since the windage adjust moves the dot in a VVVVV pattern, just get it horizontally aligned, then adjust elevation, which is straight up/down. Frustrating if you don't realize this at first. I replaced the sight anyway. The light weight, and narrow 26" width makes it easy to carry and use in a treestand (I can even cock it in the stand). It's pretty quiet as xbows go. With slick tricks up front, it'll blow through any deer like they were paper. It's a little slow, so know your range. My Hoyt V-bow is 40fps faster, but less KE because of a lighter arrow. Never had problems with passthroughs with the Hoyts though.
EDIT: Took a doe on Nov 3 (Sat AM). Bolt blew through her like she wasn't there. Cowhorn buck chasing her (15" horns, not legal in PA). 5 mins later a 4 point shows up (also not legal). 5 minutes after that, a buck, missing left antler shows up, 3-point on right antler (legal, but I haven't gotten out of the stand and tagged the doe, so I can't shoot another deer). 20 mins later, a giant 8 point shows up. Fuck you PA! $3500 fine if I shoot this Buck and get caught, even though I have a tag. |
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