Rather than fight with my wife over hunting expenditures I referree soccer games to feed the cost of my hunting addiction. The High School season just ended here in Tennessee and I decided to spend this spring's ref money on a crossbow since I've always wanted one and they've recently been made legal to hunt with during archery season. I ordered it from www.AddictedToArchery.com and it arrived a few days later.
It was an Excalibur Exomax with the Scope Accessory Package and the optional Fast Flight Flemish string. After putting it together on Saturday evening I went out to the back yard to sight in the scope. I have one of those "Big Block" archery targets made of two foot thick heavy dense foam designed to stop high velocity carbon arrows. I stuck a 1" square piece of duct tape on the center of the target and took the first shot from 10 yards...hoping that I'd hit somewhere on the block and could step the scope in from there.
The first shot out of the box hit within an inch of the tape...I was pretty surprised. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I pulled the arrow with the optional arrow puller and took a second shot...it hit exactly the same spot. I adjusted the scope down 1" and left 1/2" and took the third shot. It hit the tape. It was getting dark so I put my new purchase away and went back in the house with a smile on my face.
The next morning was the last day of turkey season so I decided to go turkey hunting and then fine tune the scope at longer distances while I was out on the hunting property. The scope that comes with the crossbow has marks on the verticle crosshair for every ten yards from 10-50 yards and I wanted to see if I could actually hit something with an arrow at 50 yds.
The primary crosshair on the scope is for 20 yds, so when I got done turkey hunting, I put the Big Block target at 20 yards and took my fourth shot ever with a crossbow...This time with a hunting tip on the arrow. I hit 1/2" high and 1" left. I pulled the arrow and took a second shot. Again, I hit EXACTLY the same spot...but this time, I guess since I was using the hunting tips, the arrow went completely through the 2' thick target and was laying on the ground 10yds behind it. All I could do was smile and shake my head in awe over the accuracy and power of this new marvel.
After adjusting the scope and moving the tape to a different spot on the target, I took a third shot at 20 yds...it hit the 1" tape. Satisfied that the scope was sighted in, I decided to take a shot using the 50 yd mark in the scope just to see what would happen. Since the wind was gusting at 10-15 MPH I was a bit concerned about missing the target altogether at this distance and losing my arrow. But I held steady on the shooting stick and pulled the trigger. This was the first shot where I could hear two distinct "pops"...about 1/2 second apart...one at firing of the arrow, and one at impact on the target...1" high and 1" right.
In seven shots...right out of the box...never shot one before...I had just put an arrow within 1" of a 1" spot at 50 yds. I don't think I've ever been as impressed and amazed with anything in my life and just had to share this experience with anyone who's not sure about getting one.
I can hardly wait to see the look on the other guys faces at the hunting property this fall when they pull the trigger on a crossbow for the first time and stick an arrow on a spot that's 50 yds away.
BTW...My biggest concern after ordering it was that I may not be strong enough to cock and uncock it. But it's really not that bad...especially with the string cocking tool that comes with the Right Stuff Accessory kit.
Just to be clear, I agreee that this probably DOESN'T allow you to shoot at deer any further away than you could if you were a good shot with a regular compound bow. At 50 yards they'll hear the first "pop" and will probably jump within the 1/2 second it takes for the arrow to get there...possibly resulting in a gut shot. But I've been tuning my compound bow all my life and never achieved anything close to this kind of accuracy.
I can see where it would allow you to shoot deer, turkeys, and other game, out to 30 yards with nearly the same accuracy of a .22 cal rifle. Using the Flemish Fast Flight string and carbon arrows that come with it, the arrow trajectory is very flat. If you zero the scope at 20yds, you can use the primary crosshair for shooting at game and you'll be within an inch or two at any distance out to 30 yards. And with the arrow travelling at 352 FPS the arrow will hit its mark at 30 yards in less than 1/4 second...not enough reaction time for an animal to jump the string.
It's truly remarkable...I can't wait for hunting season.
