New Member - Many Questions!

[86er]

First off Hello and thanks for having me! My name is Joe and I have been a professional hunter and outfitter for 24 years in the USA and RSA. I'm on the pro staff for serval companies. I am the author of 6 books and over 300magazine articles ( not all about hunting). I make a large portion of my living writing and that includes being a country music songwriter and performer. So while I have taken over 500 big game animals with a firearm, my true love is bow hunting. My only bow kills are whitetail deer and hogs to date but I've taken about 50 animals with the bow. Recently, I have trouble drawing my bow and holding it. Years of recreational ice hockey and a short stint in professional bull riding have taken their toll on my aging parts! For reference, my bow is set at 58# and with my setup I get a true 220 fps. I readily shoot 20-30 yards and will shoot 40 yards with perfect circumstances. With that preface out of the way, you have a frame of reference as to whom you are responding to and therefore what answers might be helpful. I am absolutely getting an Excalibur crossbow within the next two weeks. I've recently shot one with 225 # limbs and frankly it was hard to cock. I think I would like a Phoenix due to the short cocking distance and I like thelimb dissipator system plus I'd put S5's or whatever you call the rubber stoppers on it. Here are the questions: what is the "real" velocity w the bolts it comes with? Do I "need" more velocity - in other words is there a distinct advantage to more? I see a lot of info on this forum about stuff I am not familiar with. Roo strings, flemish strings, something about "tips" , hand made cocking ropes, etc. What are these things? Is the original X equipment lacking or insufficient? Tell why I might consider these add ons. How's the X scope? I am Leupold Outfitter and can get those scopes if they are substantially better. I know what broadhead I will use but are the X bolts that come w the package any good? What X crossbow might suit me? I look forward to and appreciate your responses. Thanks for your time!
Joe

[wheelie]

I am sure you will want to talk to Boo (maker of Roo strings) you's are along the same lines. He uses some Leupold scopes. Maybe give him an email or post your email for him as you dont have enough time to be able to use pm. Boo don't ride bulls but he loves to tease and play with bears!

[maine hunter]

first off, welcome joe. the excal is a great choice. they have many to choose from. if the 225lb was too hard, try the vortex,or the exocet's,they are 200lb. i have the axiom 175lb,and the 200lb vortex. the cocking is about the same. a boo string will get you more fps,but you should really stick with the standard string for awhile,you don't want to dryfire a boo string,and sooner or later you will dryfire the bow,it happens. i would get the s5's,it help's with vibration of the shot. the speed they say on the bow is with a flemish string,it is a bit faster than stock,but not as fast as a boo's string.you can buy a stringer to relpace the string,some make there own,but for 28.00 you can buy on. i use the stock arrows,firebolts with 150 fieldpoints,and for broadheads,150 boltcutters and 125 rage 2 for crossbows,they fly great. hope this helps you out.

[Boo]

Hey Joe! As Kevin use the Excel string which is what comes with the bow. In fact buy a couple extra and stick with it for at least a year. There's nothing wrong with it and it's probably been used to kill more animals than any other string! You have enough power to kill a moose between the bow and that string. There are only 2 real issues with the Excel string. One is that it takes a while to settle in but an easily made jig can fix that. Second is that it does like to creep so your brace height can easily change so your point of impact can change. A paint mark on the side of your rail will make it easy to see if there is an adjustment needed and a stringing aid makes it a snap to adjust.
I use Leupold scopes because quite frankly they are a whole lot more reliable and brighter that the factory scope. The factory sells the scopes that they do because they meet the needs of the bulk of Excalibur owners price and function wise. I like the VXIII in the 1.75X6 to 2.5X8 range. That will allow you use the upper and lower reticles as shooting points.

[vixenmaster]

Welcome to the Forum, i am a person who believes the smaller models do it all widout gettin a hernia cockin the big pounders. CK my sig & i also have taken a few game animals thru the yrs

[strum]

welcome to the forum . any bow you chose will work well for you ..that pheonix is a great all around choice,,
a guy with your experiance will be up to speed very quickly so ask away and im sure we will be asking you some things too..

[hockeyfodder]

Welcome to the forum and you will find you have accessed the ultimate site for help with your Excal questions.
I do more reading than writing (posts) and there is a wealth of information on here.
You sound like someone who is ready to try the thrill of hunting moose in northern Ontario.
Once you've called a rutting bull to within 30 yards you'll know what a true mixture of adrenaline/fear rush is.
Excalibur will definitely serve you well in this quest.
Good Luck in your future hunts...

[mr meat]

Welcome to the forum! if you can handle the bows try them out and see what suits you the best! any of the bows will drop any game your after with a well placed shot

[gerald strine]

Hey 86er
If you wanted the 225 pound bow you can always get a C2 crank to cock it I shoot an Equinox and use the crank for most of my shooting it is fast and easy to use and requires very little effort to cock the bow.
Another thing that helps on the long rail models is if you shorten the rope cocker a bit you have to pull the string back a little to attach the rope cocker put it really helps shorten the length you have to pull back to get the bow cocked.
If you have short arms this is a issue on the higher poundage bows.
Do not plan on getting any extra yardage out of a cross bow no matter what poundage bow you buy animals react to sound and can move at the shot just like with vertical gear 35 yards is a good limit in my opinion.
The recurve bow is the way to go you can keep it up and running from home and never have down time while compound bows spend time at pro shops getting reserved and blow up when dry fired wich happens more than you think with crossbows.

[Hester0305]

Welcome to the forum Joe. I personally like the thumbhole models over the standard stock but this is personal preference. I shoot the Vortex and love it there are some good string makers out there such as Boo and Vixenmaster. I shot the stock Excel string for about a month them switched to a Flemish string and gained 17 fps more with the Flemish string. The S5 system in my opinion is a must. Most xbows are a good bit louder than vertical bows and this can be startlng at first when you are new to shooting them, but from what I've found out just limit your shots to under 40 yards and you still can kill anything you pursue. Excalibur is coming out with some new xbows in 2013 so if I were you I might would wait to see what they offer and see if any of them interest you also. Good luck with your decisions. They're a lot of people on here that can answer just about all your questions that you may have.

[Galgo]

Here's my question to you Joe. Did you hand c-ock the X bow you tried or did you use a c-ocking aid? If you did not use the aid I would strongly recommend it no matter which X bow you settle on.

F

[papa bear1]

Hi Joe, Welcome to the forum, you'll like it here, No matter what excal you choose, You already know, practice till ya get very good w/it, like ya do with your guns, shot placement is very important as ya know, The advice ya have from the other members is all Very good, They speak from experience, most of them have been through the test of trial, and error Good luck with your choice...

Dave

[86er]

Thanks all for the info! Good to see some familiar people here too. I guess I 'll stick to plan A for now and get the Phoenix.

[fender]

Hello and welcome. I am a first year Xbow user and after deciding to go with Excalibur my next question was which poundage. There aren't any crossbow shops with-in reasonable driving distance to try one, so I came up with this.... If I can lock my left arm and pull back my 55# vertical bow acoss my chest with my right arm, I should be able to cock a 200 lb CB with both arms using a cocking aid, which is aprox. 100lbs of pull. This is by no means scientific, but in my case, it did work and I have no problems. I do take a little break after a dozen shots . No matter which bow you select, you will be happy, and with all the great folks on this forum you will get help/advise anytime you ask .
Good Luck

[Deerstalker]

FWIW I am 73 & have had 2 shoulder operations. I have no problem cocking my Equinox using the rope cocking aid. I also don't believe that you need that much power for hunting. 200lb CB is more than enough power. Saying that I would not trade my "beast" for any other model.