Crossbow Crossroads

That's where I'm at. The crossroads of buying a crossbow or not. My boys both got deer already during the bow season using these high tech devises. Justin got a doe on hard hunted state land in October. It was an amazing shot right thru the heart. Jason got his 8 point buck in early November a nice rack with a 14 inch spread. His 25 yard shot didn't hit any bone and we couldn't find the bolt in the tall weeds so it must have been going pretty fast to bury in that stuff. Speed however is still higher in the new compounds so what's so special about these weapons?


Speed not being better what else is there for bow hunting. Crossbows usually have scopes on them but you can put a scope on a compound bow. Compounds are lighter than the counterpart so that's not it. I think it all boils down to the amount of practice needed to become proficient with the compounds. They're definitely easier to use, especially for women, but they do have some drawbacks.

Crossbows I think are clumsier to use because of the orientation of the weapon. A compound is in one hand and is balanced while the crossbow needs two hands to point and aim. The crossbow allures you into thinking you're using a gun which isn't a big problem unless one of the limbs catches on the window you're shooting thru. The biggest problem that occurs, as reported by vendors, is a user’s thumb can catch on the bow string causing injury. This injury can be very severe so chose a new crossbow accordingly.

So just like trying to decide on which deer license to purchase I'm not sure about buying a new crossbow. Do I really need another option to hunt deer with? It's probably more important to hunt in a good area with high deer numbers than to cover every option to take them with. So maybe I should use that money to lease some good hunting land, or maybe I could hire a guide to take me to the deer, or maybe buy a mountain bike to take me deeper into the woods, or maybe take deer calling lessons, or maybe....

Get Outdoors Downriver.