Toons

I' m going to use my new 165 lb. croosbowget,i am wondring what would be the farthest distance to shoot from on a white tail, especialy that i am ging to shoot from the ground not from a treestand?
Thanks
Toons
SAFTY IS # 1

Danny45

Despite most concerns to the contrary, crossbows are neither more accurate or efficient than a regular compound bow in the hand of an experienced archer. In fact, due to the very short arrows known, as bolts, that don' t weigh near the same as a full sized arrow, they usually have less kenetic energy due to the fact that they don' t maintain velocity downrange. You would therefore not have any advantage, and would be limited to the same ranges as the standard bow shooter, which is usually less than 40 yards.

Mike from Texas

I find that hard to believe Danny. I was watching a hunting video the other day and these guys were using crossbows. When the shot 2 different does, they instantly hit the ground, even on behind the shoulder hits. Seems like they " hit" a lot harder than my bow.

Danny45

If you chronograph a crossbow, it is usually in the same ballpark as a standard bow. And they usually use 2219 shafts, cut down to the size bolts they need. There' s no way that a 20" bolt is gonna have the same weight, therefore energy, as a 30" arrow of the same size, and traveling at the same speed. Published figures for the fastest crossbow I' ve seen was 320 fps. Most are listed somewhere around 250-275 fps. A regular bow will reach that with no problem.

And while they achieve that speed with a fairly large bolt, it' s not maintained due to the lack of mass. A full length arrow in 2219 weighs 100 grains more than a 20" bolt of the same shaft material. Remember, when figuring KE, speed is important, but without the weight at those speeds, the figures won' t be that high.

Sooner_Hunter

Better listen to Danny on this one. This time the boy north of the Red River knows of which he speaketh. Its a very simple principle whether shooting firearms or bows. If you push less weight just as fast it doesn' t hit as hard. Easton has a KE calculator on their downloadable shaft selector software.

My question regarding the hunting video would be where did they hit the does? If shooting with a crossbow you are killing by the cutting action vs. the shock caused by a bullet. The only deer with an instant drop from an arrow that I heard of was a pulled shot that severed the animals spine. Oh well what do I know?

wear

http://www.hortonmfgstore.com/arrows.cfm
http://www.yorksport.com/facts_about_archery.htm

Here are two websites about energy. I thought a crossbows arrow had to be heavier due to the increased draw weight. I know the speeds are comparible, but if the weight is different, that is where a crossbow will have more energy at point of impact.

Danny45

As stated in my earlier post, most crossbow bolts are 2219 shafts, cut to 20 or so inches. So no, they don' t weigh more than a full length arrow, unless you' re shooting extremely lightweight arrows. But if you' re still shooting fairly heavy arrows in a compound, chances are you' re shooting heavier arrows than any crossbow bolt. The crossbow gets by with shooting these " lighter" shafts (lighter from being cut down from 31" to 20" ) because cutting the shaft stiffened the spine sufficiently to be used in a 150 lb crossbow.

Bill Olmesdahl

In central Ny or PA the key is the average hunting shot is less than 35 yards on most days. Due to the heavy cover in eastern states. A good compound can be shot out to 65 yards with very excellent accuracy the problem is a small branch will move the arrow and from a killing shot you can get a wound or lost deer shot. So please make sure you have a clear shot and make it a killing shot.