Gonna try crossbow hunting this year

[Natty Bumppo]

And for new hunters, I want them to be able to have that early success. It's more likely to make a lifelong hunter out of them. While access to private land may be shrinking, so are hunter numbers. We need to keep the number of hunters up to guarantee the sport lives on into the future for the masses, not just the privileged few.

100% agree. No question.

I was just trying to wrap my head around the argument you sometimes hear that crossbows offer no significant advantage over a compound. Never shot one. But it seems to me like they offer some pretty obvious advantages.

 

[Feelslikefar.]

That sounds like the "it's the same thing" argument. Like arguing a modern scoped inline is the same thing as an iron sighted side lock. They're not and it's silly to pretend they are as they basis of your argument. lol You can lie to yourself if it helps you, but....

 

[SwampCat]

That sounds like the "it's the same thing" argument. Like arguing a modern scoped inline is the same thing as an iron sighted side lock. They're not and it's silly to pretend they are as they basis of your argument. lol You can lie to yourself if it helps you, but....

I am not saying crossbows are not easier to hunt with than a compound - I hunt with one because it is easier - I couldnt pull a compound now. What I am saying is the inherent accuracy of a crossbow is not the main thing that makes them easier. You dont have to be able to shoot one inch groups at 30 yards to kill deer.

It is many other things that make them easier to successfully hunt with - you do not have to draw in the presence of a deer, you do not even have to draw - which allows young kids and old geezers like me to hunt, you can shoot off a rest, they are flat shooting. There are a number of things.

Granted, I have only killed two deer and a bear with my crossbow, but crossbow accuracy had nothing to do with it - I would have been shocked had I missed the bear and deer with my compound had I been using it.

Compound bows are just not that difficult to shoot anymore. I am just saying the accuracy of a crossbow is not what makes it that much easier to hunt with - it is all the other stuff