Crossbow Recommendation?

[bigbendmarine]

Did do a search on the topic and saw a thread five years old, but appreciating that they've grown in popularity and the industry has been fairly dynamic I thought I'd bring up the topic again.

Looking for recommendations on a good all-around crossbow. Not only might use for deer hunting, but in our neck of the woods they can be REALLY handy for all kinds of hunting including gator hunting (lost one this weekend for the lack of a crossbow after it spit a wooden peg before we could get anything else stuck in it).

Sounds like a few members have looked at them and / or purchased them lately. Eager to hear how folks settled on one for those who have.

 

[Bill]

I just bought a new Ravin. Won't say it's the best but There are three features I have really found I like over other Xbows.
The first is the nock is similar to a traditional bow. It snaps on the string so there is no question if the bolt is seated properly.

It can be uncocked without shooting it.

My favorite is the arrow does not ride down the rail. It snaps on the string and rides on an arrow rest like a bow. Less contact has to make for better accuracy.

I believe some other companies may have picked up on these but I'm not certain. On the down side it was stupid expensive and unlike a rifle they don't hold thier value in the resale market.

Side note: the deer I just took with it was the first I've used an Xbow. I was actually startled by the "crack" that it made when it hit the deer. It was loud!

 

[SwampCat]

I second rhe Ravin. In addition to the above info - the bow will not dry fire unless a bolt is correctly seated. It is also a lighter, smaller footprint than most other crossbows. It does leave a fairly large hole in your wallet. It is loud when you shoot it, but fast enough to make up for that at crossbow ranges. My first shot on game three days ago with the Ravin resulted in this: He went about ten feet - broke his spine at the junture of his neck and shoulder.

 

[roymunson]

I have a Horton reverse limb (but I don't remember what model) that I bought last year. Haven't killed anything with it, but it's slick.

If I have to get out and be somewhere that I wanna "remove all doubt" during bow season, that's my guy...

 

[hillHuntR]

Ravins are nice, but $$ and complex. Lots of good crossbows out there anymore. I mainly use Excalibur recurves for ease of maintenance. They are also very accurate. Tenpoint and Scorpyd are also well thought of brands just to name a couple. Do your research for sure! I am not in total agreement about crossbows without rails. Many find them more finicky and require tuning and they shoot no more accurately. Go to forums like Archerytalks crossbow section and Crossbow Nation forum for lots of info

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Ravin would be my go to. My sister in law works for a company that manufactures parts for them. At least they did up until a couple of weeks ago when Ravin sold out for 94 million dollars. Havent heard if they will still be making the same parts for the new company that owns them. My guess would be overseas manufacturing to recoup the generous buyout number.

 

[JFK52]

Any model made by Ten Point with Acudraw. Ravin might be the latest and greatest but my older Ten Point model kills deer just as dead.

 

[cavey]

I have a Ten Point and would second that brand as a better then average brand to look at. I have since gone back to using my bow (had a shoulder injury) Kept the cross bow thought as an option depending on the stand and or what Im shooting.
as an edited note: I did just take a look at the Ravin crossbows and they are pretty impressive - some very nice features that my TP does not have.

 

[SwampCat]

I have a scorpyd and a ravin. Ravin hands down.

 

[yoderjac]

Did do a search on the topic and saw a thread five years old, but appreciating that they've grown in popularity and the industry has been fairly dynamic I thought I'd bring up the topic again.

Looking for recommendations on a good all-around crossbow. Not only might use for deer hunting, but in our neck of the woods they can be REALLY handy for all kinds of hunting including gator hunting (lost one this weekend for the lack of a crossbow after it spit a wooden peg before we could get anything else stuck in it).

Sounds like a few members have looked at them and / or purchased them lately. Eager to hear how folks settled on one for those who have.

I started with crossbows when the were first made legal for hunting in VA because I'm a hunter ed instructor and needed to teach the safety aspects. As I got older, I began using a crossbow more and more to hunt. I'm now at about 50% compound 50% crossbow depending on conditions when I hunt.

Most of my direct experience is with older crossbows, so I won't make a specific brand/model recommendation. However, the most important characteristic I look for in a crossbow for deer is quiet. Most manufacturers sell crossbows based on speed. Since a crossbow bolt behaves very closely to compound bow arrow once it leaves the bow, crossbows don't really extend the range over a compound. Since we can't generally see twigs without leaves and such beyond 20 to 30 yards, we are still talking about a short range sport.

At typical bowhunting ranges, pretty much all modern crossbows are plenty fast enough and pushing the limit of speed makes little positive difference in effectiveness. Flatter trajectories help little at these distances, especially with modern range finders that allow us to establish ranges to specific objects before we begin to hunt.

Pushing the speed limit does reduce the efficiency with which energy is transferred from the limbs through the string to the arrow. Any energy stored that is not transferred to the arrow has to go somewhere and it generally goes to vibration which means noise. There are techniques to improve speed that don't contribute to inefficient energy transfer like longer power strokes, but these techniques can all be applied at lower poundages improving energy transfer efficiency and reducing noise for a small speed penalty.

The biggest difference I find between my compound and crossbow hunting is the relative absence of string jumping with the compound compared to the crossbow and I have a very quiet crossbow as crossbows go.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[BobinCt]

I have two TenPoint Crossbows. One is an XLT and the other is a shadow ultra-lite. Both were over a grand in price but I like both, but the XLT a bit better due to the two safety’s. The most important thing that I learned is to shoot the mechanical broad heads out of them. TenPoint recommends the Spitfire 100s for my ultra-light. I tried shooting the fixed broadheads out of them and never got any consistency with them and called TenPoint. They told me to go over to a mechanical Spitfire and what a HUGE difference. Use what the company recommends for the bow.

 

[North Mo]

I have a Scorpyd Ventilator that I bought a couple years ago and I love it. So far I am 5 for 5 ( 2 bucks, 2 turkeys, 1 coyote). I have great confidence in it. My son-in law bought a Ravin R20 last month. The Ravin is what I would buy at this time. The cocking, decocking and safety mechanism is way better than any other brand. Although like most things archery they seem to be overpriced I look at how many more hours I will get to use it compared to a gun and amortize the cost per hour, that's my excuse anyway.

 

[SwampCat]

Also, compare apples to apples - most of the ravin’s I see advertised include scope, quiver, and at least a few arrows. And I agree with Jack- true hunting ranges are not extended that much with the crossbows. The two big advantages I see is not having to draw - minimizing movement and allowing hunting off the ground - without a ground blind in many cases - and a lighted reticle scope which adds quite a few minutes to hunting light for old eyes during prime game movement times.

 

[Catscratch]

Don't overlook youth models. My boy bought a Parker youth model when he was little. That thing is way handier to carry around and maneuver than any of the full sized models we looked at. I've shot a couple of deer with it and I think it's small size is a huge benefit to hunting in situations other than just sitting in a box. Pick a couple up while you're shopping to get a feel for them. Might be just the ticket with your gator hunting and whatnot.

 

[mikmaze]

I would stay a3ay from barnett, cheaply made junk, I own one, so I can say it that had I known, I would have stayed away. snapped at junction once frm bow to stock, replaced under warranty, strings let go, replaced out of pocket., this from a x bow thast has been fired maybe 30 times in 10 years.

 

[Barndog56]

I checked out a mission sub-1 recently and it would be the way I would go. I can't believe how quiet it was. And it's named for the 1 inch groups it shoots at a hundred yards so it's definitely accurate.

It can also be uncocked without shooting, and will not dryfire.

Seemed about half the size, and much lighter than my current Barnett.

I believe its about half the price of the top line Ravin model.

 

[Big Snow Man]

I checked out a mission sub-1 recently and it would be the way I would go. I can't believe how quiet it was. And it's named for the 1 inch groups it shoots at a hundred yards so it's definitely accurate.

It can also be uncocked without shooting, and will not dryfire.

Seemed about half the size, and much lighter than my current Barnett.

I believe its about half the price of the top line Ravin model.

Mission is only about 500 less.
With Mission Sub 1 shooting 350 FPS it’s very slow for a lot of hundo’s. Go with Ten Point or Scorpyd . Check out Crossbow Talk if you need more info.

 

[j-bird]

I shoot a low end Barnett, I will tell you that in many cases you get what you pay for. I went cheap because I wasn't sure how much it would be used. All I can tell you is shoot as many as you can before you buy. They are similar to a regular bow in that you need one that feels good to you.....however they are not specifically tuned to an individual shooter. Some are louder than others (all are louder than a vertical bow from what I have seen), some are more balanced (which is nice - because many are very front heavy), some have far better triggers as well. Some are more like a rifle while others are more like that of a shotgun. They take some getting used to as well. I had an issue in my head because your holding it like a gun...you expect a "bang" and you don't really get one. I also tend to forget that the limbs are there....again because of the form of shooting a gun and not having that issue. They are nice in that you can shoot them from a steady rest. The sped of them tends to reduce deer jumping the string or having multiple sight points over a 30 yard distance (or further). Again, shoot as many as you can. Consider your price points. I got mine mostly for my kids to use in archery season on deer. My boy has used it, my daughter wants something with more range (I limit shots to 30 yards) and I have killed a couple of deer with it myself. They do require their own targets.....found that out the hard way! They tend to not require near as much practice as a vertical bow does at normal vertical bow distances. This has at least been my limited experiences with them thus far. I still prefer my compound....as I age I may up-grade my crossbow....but it certainly isn't a priority now.

 

[SwampCat]

Another thing to consider with the reverse draw crossbows - make dang sure you have clearance for the limbs when shooting out of a box blind or ground blind window. Learned that the hard way with our Scorpyd.

Dont get overcome by the 100 yard accuracy - that is not with deer hunting range for them anyway. They are all accurate enough at deer hunting ranges. Also consider where you will be hunting. Crossbows without a crank cock can be a bear to cock in a tree stand or a blind you cant stand up in. Women and kids may have to have one with a crank cocking device - as do some of us older folks or folks with phsical disabilities.

My intentions for crossbow use was to have a weapon that was legal during archery season that I could use to hunt from the ground (not in a ground blind) with a reasonable chance of success. Not having to draw a bow in the animal’s presence makes all the difference in the world.

 

[bigbendmarine]

MANY thanks for all the useful info and recommendations offered thus far.

Definitely would NOT see myself trying to shoot it at distances 30 yards plus for deer, and not that the crossbows might not be completely capable but because my deer hunting layouts are in fairly thick areas with small plots.

Having hunted trails and creek bed crossings with an old 30/30 Marlin for the first half of my life I grew an appreciation early in life for doing everything possible to get close to deer and it's only been in the last year or so I've expanded a few plots to allow me to take rifle shots out to 100 to 150 yards. That said, my gut / comfort preference is a shot I know will be a clean killing one at short distance. Regularly have does, junior bucks, and occasionally older bucks walk right under my stands so can see where the crossbow could be useful in at least reducing noise / spooking of general herd in comparison to rifle fire.

All the above said, I think I'd use it even more on critters OTHER than deer. Gator shots would likely be real close -- 10 to 15 yards. REALLY think I'd enjoy taking a few hogs and coyotes with it as well and wouldn't be nearly as worried about reaching out distance wise for them if need be as I wouldn't lose sleep missing or even injuring either of those species.

Again, want to thank ALL for the great info!