I haven't seen much on our forum dealing with crossbows so I thought I would start this thread.
Last fall I injured my left shoulder (an impingement) hanging my elk at the meat locker. When this year's application season rolled by, I had to pass on a long time plan to burn a pile of AZ elk points because there was no way I could be sure I would be able to draw my bow by September, and AZ requires a fairly significant handicap to allow for use of a crossbow. There is also no way to return an AZ tag and get the points reinstated.
We then decided we would burn my oldest son's max elk points and take him to Wyoming. I also put in for WY for what I thought would be a long shot elk tag and I also drew. I decided, if possible, I would like to bow hunt for 7-10 days and then hit the first couple days of the rifle opener on Oct 1. I was in physical therapy most of the spring and the shoulder has been recovering nicely, but I still could not draw my bow by June 1 "deadline". I pushed it to July 1 and did some bow pulling exercises, which my shoulder was not ready for at all. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and order a crossbow. I can pull with my bad shoulder, it just can't handle the load of drawing my bow against it.
Just in case, I had done a lot of research on crossbows and decided to go with an Excalibur Matrix 380 with recurve limbs. Excalibur has a very well done video on the durability and accuracy of their crossbow. With a lot less to go wrong or out of time with recurve limbs compared to a compound type, I decided to go with it. I also don't know of any pro shops in Oregon that would be proficient with a crossbow, so simplicity and reliability and that I could maintain my own weapon was super important to me. I also wanted one I could easily maintain on the mountain. Here is the Excalibur video I spoke of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWQ7e6WipGU
The theory makes a lot of sense. Compound is a definite advantage when you are shooting a bow and having to hold the draw weight. When using a crossbow (which holds the bow drawn) recurve limbs make a lot of sense since there is far less to go wrong.
I will be shooting a 250 grain arrow with a 150 grain Slick Trick STX (crossbow broadhead). Kinetic energy should be around 110 ft. lbs.
Hopefully this will also open the door for my wife to burn her WY elk points in the next couple years for an archery season and kill her first bull.
I am still an amateur so any advice is welcome.
Last fall I injured my left shoulder (an impingement) hanging my elk at the meat locker. When this year's application season rolled by, I had to pass on a long time plan to burn a pile of AZ elk points because there was no way I could be sure I would be able to draw my bow by September, and AZ requires a fairly significant handicap to allow for use of a crossbow. There is also no way to return an AZ tag and get the points reinstated.
We then decided we would burn my oldest son's max elk points and take him to Wyoming. I also put in for WY for what I thought would be a long shot elk tag and I also drew. I decided, if possible, I would like to bow hunt for 7-10 days and then hit the first couple days of the rifle opener on Oct 1. I was in physical therapy most of the spring and the shoulder has been recovering nicely, but I still could not draw my bow by June 1 "deadline". I pushed it to July 1 and did some bow pulling exercises, which my shoulder was not ready for at all. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and order a crossbow. I can pull with my bad shoulder, it just can't handle the load of drawing my bow against it.
Just in case, I had done a lot of research on crossbows and decided to go with an Excalibur Matrix 380 with recurve limbs. Excalibur has a very well done video on the durability and accuracy of their crossbow. With a lot less to go wrong or out of time with recurve limbs compared to a compound type, I decided to go with it. I also don't know of any pro shops in Oregon that would be proficient with a crossbow, so simplicity and reliability and that I could maintain my own weapon was super important to me. I also wanted one I could easily maintain on the mountain. Here is the Excalibur video I spoke of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWQ7e6WipGU
The theory makes a lot of sense. Compound is a definite advantage when you are shooting a bow and having to hold the draw weight. When using a crossbow (which holds the bow drawn) recurve limbs make a lot of sense since there is far less to go wrong.
I will be shooting a 250 grain arrow with a 150 grain Slick Trick STX (crossbow broadhead). Kinetic energy should be around 110 ft. lbs.
Hopefully this will also open the door for my wife to burn her WY elk points in the next couple years for an archery season and kill her first bull.
I am still an amateur so any advice is welcome.
