Crossbows Laws

Believe it was in 2009 .....

Thanks guy's. I new you would be on top of it S-10. More info than needed but appreciated. Thanks again guys.

Healthy men should be shooting compounds . They wanna crossbow they use it during rifle!!!!! Game co. Sees $$$$ out of it! Quick rant sorry

Eman89so
Healthy men should be shooting compounds . They wanna crossbow they use it during rifle!!!!! Game co. Sees $$$$ out of it! Quick rant sorry

I use to feel that way, then I bought a fixer upper house, got married, had kids, worked a full time job, run a small business aside from full time employment... life has a way to eat up my free time. I know "we make our own prisons". So in 2012 when I was sitting in my tree holding my compound, it dawned on me I didn't put in the effort to be at the level I think I should be for hunting. It wasn't I was lazy and didn't want to do it, it was I had little that that allowed me to. That's when I realized I myself should never cast judgement on anther trying to enjoy their life because I don't know their story. The crossbow has allowed me to still hunt with confidence during archery with minimal practice.

Call me names, pass judgement if anyone wishes but the use of a crossbow has helped me out in my personal life. For those who never hunted with one, I will tell you first hand every time I'm in a ladder stand I wish I had my compound bow, every step I walk to my stand I want my compound. Xbow are awkward and clumsy. Life is a trade off

Eman89so
Healthy men should be shooting compounds . They wanna crossbow they use it during rifle!!!!! Game co. Sees $$$$ out of it! Quick rant sorry

I am fine with them in firearms season or their own season in December.

Eman89so
Healthy men should be shooting compounds . They wanna crossbow they use it during rifle!!!!! Game co. Sees $$$$ out of it! Quick rant sorry

Actually, why aren't you shooting traditional gear? You a healthy man I think. All it takes with traditional gear is the dedication to learn repetition, form, arrow trajectory, muscle training, among other things. Why take the shortcut with the compound bow?

Well here goes nothing.

I am seriously considering purchasing a crossbow. Why? Several reasons, actually. None really more important than another.

I can no longer safely hunt the mountain ground I once did. The last deer I shot there, two years ago (didn't hunt there since), took me almost four hours to drag, wheel on a cart out. I don't own an ATV and even if I did, the property owner forbids them on his ground. I hunt alone since my my father passed away and my wife has lost interest in challenging the terrain. So if I had an issue, I'm by myself. Cell service is iffy to none. Dying for a deer just isn't worth it to me, so I won't be returning to hunt there.

The area I hunted the last two seasons is no longer available for me to hunt due to the owner's family switching from wanting to travel to hunt to wanting to stay closer to home.

So this year I was basically left with hunting on the little over 12 acres that our house sits on, of which only 3.5 acres is wooded. Now, there are farms and woods on three sides, so it can be hunted safely with a rifle. And that was my intent.

Not knowing until the week before Thanksgiving that I could not hunt where I did the last two years, I had already promised the tree platform 12'X12', 15 feet high, to a retired State Trooper (in his 70's) that he could hunt there whenever he wanted. And I was not going back on my word to him. This left me not going hunting the first and second day since I tagged along with my Dad at age 9, over 45 years ago.

While not hunting, I looked through my trail cam photos for this year. During a 10 day stretch during archery season, 17, yes, 17 different legal bucks visited the scrape that is 20 yards from my platform. Four of them were bigger than anything I had ever seen on the hoof. I had never seen any of these deer throughout the fall, despite being outside almost every single day, sometimes all day. And all, but a handful of the photos were at night.

I lamented this to fellow forum member and fishing buddy Drake, who, believe it or not, is actually a better deer hunter than a steelhead fisherman, and he is darn good at steelhead. He advised me to buy a few different calls and to look for signs of a second rut, which I did.

One scrape, which had not been touched since before Thanksgiving, showed signs of being halfheartedly being used again. So the first Thursday found me up in the stand well before light. This platform is on one side of a small creek. The other side of the creek contains a field which is about 75 yards wide, a tongue of woods, about the same width, another narrow field, then some woods that contain about a three acre swamp. I own nothing across the creek after about 20 feet or so.

This swamp area is known as a bedding area and a foul weather refuge for deer. My plan, especially since it had been pounding rain from shortly after dark on Tuesday until right before I hit the stand predawn on Thursday, was to try to call a buck from the swamp where I figured it would have been holed up during the weather event.

I let out a calling sequence a little after light. Nothing. A half hour later, I did another one. Ten minutes later, there was a shot in the tongue of woods across the creek that had me about come out of my skin (I never saw anyone come in there nor see anyone there, but it is extremely thick). A few seconds later, there was another shot.

About 20 minutes after the final shot, I see a hunter trudging across the neighbor's field. It wasn't long before he returned with a truck to pick up whatever he shot. I called it a day and didn't go out on Friday.

I hadn't planned on hunting on Saturday, figuring that my oldster would hunt that day (which he did not). Standing on my patio at 9:00 AM, I could see seven distinct orange blobs on the two neighboring properties. That is far too many folks in about 40 acres for me to feel comfortable with, so I didn't bother to go, even though I found out my guest wasn't coming to hunt in the evening. I later found out that the crowding was caused by three close by properties, comprising about 600 acres had been posted when they never had been before.

Weather again struck in Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. Sideways rain, sleet, and winds that's not only brought down limbs, but actually uprooted two dead trees had me not going, but setting up Wednesday evening as another calling opportunity.

I settled in at 2:30 and started to call at 3:00. I gave it about 20-40 minutes between sequences. At 4:30, there was a shot in the same tongue of the woods spot as happened last Thursday. I waited until dark before walking back to the house, having seen nothing.

My guest wasn't able to hunt the last day, so I planned on taking one last chance on the last evening. I geared up and walked down to the platform only to find a hunter posted across the creek from it. I stood at the base of the ladder for about 20 minutes before he noticed me. I waved. He waved. I pointed to the platform. He gave me the finger. I went home and ended my season.

Last week I ran into a retired guy that helps the neighbor farm. I asked him how hunting was over there and he told me one of the guys that also helps bale hay and pick corn had put a ladder stand up in the tongue of woods between the fields and that it must be a good spot because he shot a decent buck out of it on the first Thursday morning and his son somehow missed a monster on the last Wednesday evening.

I told him it sounded like he had the right place. He agreed saying that both bucks had come out of the swamp and headed right to them on a line, like they were on a mission. I never mentioned being across the creek calling.

So what does all this have to do with me possibly buying a crossbow?

I have come to the conclusion that I will be able to call deer to my platform, especially during the time surrounding the first rut. None of my neighbors or their guests hunt during archery season, so the crowding and the ladder stand across the creek are taken out of play. And there is photographic evidence that there's a lot of bucks around during that time frame. If I am going to harvest one of these beasts, it has to be during the archery season.

So why a crossbow and not a vertical bow?

I shot a bow a lot, although I never hunted with one, way back during my high school years. I was good enough with a bow, and this was the era of recurves and fingers, to win the school league. But we had beagles and the two week archery season conflicted with rabbit season. It was a 40 minute drive to where we hunted deer (if I could even arrange to borrow the car -- families only had one back then), but only a two block walk to where I could hunt rabbits after school (even skipped HS football to hunt bunnies with the beagles).

Besides, I liked shooting deer with a rifle. I hunted groundhogs all summer with a rifle. I shot benchrest in the summer with a rifle. In the winter I shot in two different indoor leagues with a rifle (and somehow got invited to Camp Perry, although I didn't go).

So, since I had and have no desire to archery hunt at all, but circumstances dictate that either I start or perhaps give up deer hunting, using a crossbow will be the closest I can get to hunting when I will need to with a rifle like weapon.

Is that being "lazy?" Perhaps. I know that I would not practice the required time with a vertical bow. My time is taken up with raising, training, and hunting bird dogs. Fitting in that much bow practice just isn't going to happen.

I hunt deer for fun (although fun for me necessarily includes killing them, not just being out there) and refuse to make it a second job.

So, with all of that being written, what are the recommendations for what I should be purchasing? The research I have done so far has left me overwhelmed with information and confused by what features are important.

I thank those that provide useful responses in advance.

Well, really, as odd as it sounds, none of them.

With regard to cost, while I don't want to buy more than I need, I understand you get what you pay for. I don't hunt with junk guns and I don't fish with junk gear. I just don't know the difference between a $800 crossbow and a $1,500 one enough to decide if the extra money is getting me something more or not.

As for reliably, I kind of expect any sporting equipment in that price range to be reliable. In addition, again, with any sporting equipment in that price range, I wouldn't expect to need any customer service after the sale. I know I don't for my guns and my fishing gear.

With respect to speed, weight, width, easy of cocking, etc. I don't know enough to know if 20-30 fps; a few ounces in weight; a fraction of an inch in width; or rope vs. crank matters.

Perhaps that is why I'm so confused when researching -- there are far too many features to consider and I'm not sure if they really matter at all or are just brand and model differentiation marketing.

crossbows r not archery hunting im sorry. all this was is to make it easier to kill all the deer like the pgc wants all the hunters to do. hunters r there worst enemys. don't shoot 4 plus deer a year 2 is plenty everyone would love to see more deer I think well its easy to do fellows don't shoot everything you see. give the pgc there money for tags and throw them away one year see how that goes. I bet the following year gets pretty good. but to many slobs.

DarDys
Well, really, as odd as it sounds, none of them.

Perhaps that is why I'm so confused when researching -- there are far too many features to consider and I'm not sure if they really matter at all or are just brand and model differentiation marketing.

cost - the higher end crossbows generally have closer tolerances and a better fit and finish
reliability - it is violent when a crossbow releases that stored energy. While no crossbow is bulletproof, some are easier on themselves than others
customer service - a few manufactures excel if you should need it
speed- some focus on speed. Many of the slowest crossbows are faster than most vertical bows
weight- a crossbow with a scope is heavy. Some are really heavy like 10 pounds plus
width - narrow is great, especially if hunting from treestands. But, a narrow bow can be tougher on the string
ease of cocking - This is a big one. Most crossbows are cocked with a rope cocker which takes about 50% of the pull off. A crank cocker maay be required depending on your shoulders and overall arm and back strength. One some bows, you still can be pulling over 100 pounds of weight with the rope cocker, which is not easy. Some of the simplest, easy to maintain, and reliable crossbows are a bear to**** 
Maintenance - Compound style crossbows generally require more attention to them. Recurve style the least. 
 
I forgot to mention quietness. Generally, the recurve style will be louder than the crossbow style since their draw weights are so much heavier. 
 
Here are a few brands and models I recommend. 
 
Excalibur Micro and Matrix. 
Horton Storm. 
TenPoint Turbo GT, Venom, Nitro
Darton Toxin
Mission 360
Scorpyd Ventilator
CamX 330
 

Are the crossbow hunters really shooting all the deer? Myself and everyone else I know who changed to crossbow are still having the same success rate as when they were shooting compounds.

anzomcik
Are the crossbow hunters really shooting all the deer? Myself and everyone else I know who changed to crossbow are still having the same success rate as when they were shooting compounds.

yeah I use a crossbow... PSE 175 # have harvested 1 buck & 2 doe in last 7 years ... with nothing this year. Had a stroke 5 years ago .. but I was using it before the stroke. Did have the limbs splinter tho and PSE replaced them ...for $125 😜...

I shot a compound bow today for the first time in about 12 years at a local pro shop.  Not a bow set up for me.  Just a floor model.  
 
2nd and 3rd shots I was in the 10 ring at 20 yards.  
 
I had myself fooled into thinking a cross bow was so much easier to shoot, since I've been shooting one for about 4 years now.  For a kid, absolutely.  And I bought it for my son to use.  For an adult, I gotta go with nah.  
 
Some pros to the x bow.  Some to the vertical.  Mostly, as I held the compound in my hand, I thought, "My word, this would be so much easier for hunting."  Light weight.  Maneuverable.  Shoots just as fast.  80% let off, not hard to hold at full draw.  
 
Sheesh, I might even sell my crossbow and get one now.  
 
 
 
 
 
 

Woo karez nothr dUm tHrEEd...I use a handmade longbow and a crossbow. Both have pros and cons took out a bunch of deer with both.

You Sir, need to give that LADY the biggest hug you can muster!