Aero320 wrote:...........Would not be afraid to make the shot if I was sure of the distance and had a good rest. Would not shoot at a monster at that range though.
If I may ask, why does the deer being a monster or not make any difference to whether you'd try the shot? Does deserve ethical treatment too, just my opinion,
cheers,
David
@dwilley, I am very confident that I can make the shot at 50 yards after shooting the Excal at that range although the unknown is the effect of sting jump at that distance (the crossbow is very consistent as demonstrated by the 50 yard shot group). Similarly, I would not take a shot over 30 with out ranging it first. Aside from that, my concern with a very large deer at that range is arrow penetration and a good blood trail to aid in recovery. When I first started bowhunting, we shot 2213s with Thunderhead from overdraws to get the speed. The second year I bow hunted, I killed the largest deer I have ever seen in the field. The arrow hit an unseen twig and veered slightly producing a less than perfect shot placement. I went to town, got a good friend of mine who was an excellent tracker and we followed a faint blood trail until midnight. The deer had crossed the creek and we could never pickup the trail on the other side. I got back out at daylight the next day and about 4 hours later found the deer. Needless to say, I have never forgotten that experience. It is going to be a lot harder to shoot through a large deer at 50 yards that an average size doe. The worst scenario is to mortally wound an animal and not be able to recover it. It is not that I value the life of the monster deer anymore than a doe, the odds of a pass through at that range with a doe (and an easy recovery) seems more likely. If you watch the Excalibur hunting videos, they limit the shots to 40 yards.