The sales side of this site offers a generic depiction of the various models to include a ballistics table as well as "suggested game" each model is recommended to use. This can be helpful in deciding which model of Excalibur to select. However, it still does not answer the question as to which IS the best crossbow to buy.
Allow me to answer.
First of all, the variables in hunting are many - and I mean MANY! Yet, let's limit those by removing fact from fiction. ANY EXCALIBUR CROSSBOW will kill ANY GAME on the planet...it is only limited by:
SHOT PLACEMENT
Shot placement: It's possible to have a crossbow that shoots 1000 ft/sec and not kill a rabbit if your bolt does not hit a vital area. Yet, put that same bolt into the vitals of an elephant and it will (eventually) go down.
The further away you are from your target, the less penetration you will have, period. However, if you've shot a sharp broadhead into the sky just to see how far it will launch (admit it veterans - you know you have
) then you will know that gravity will drive that bolt upon return into the ground - and that bolt is NOT traveling anywhere near as fast as it does when it leaves the rail of a crossbow. Listen, in medieval times the crossbow was an effective weapon whose mere presence demoralized many an opponent whom believed (rightly or wrongly so) that it could pierce their armored defenses. Even the fastest of those antiquated crossbows loaded with primitive broadheads (or merely sharpened shaft ends) was nowhere near as fast as modern Excalibur's slowest hunting crossbow!
I believe it was one of the ladies here who responded once that she preferred a 150 lb Vixen. She went on to say that given the hog hunting she did, that she needed a crossbow she could cock by hand without any aid whatsoever. Hogs can be ornery on a good day and sometimes even ornerier after you poke a hole in them. She wanted a model that would be fast on the draw to allow her to load another bolt in case she needed a second shot. That, my friends, is baseline wisdom.
Though not all of us, myself included, are even physically capable of hand-cocking every (or any) Excalibur model. So too, are not all of us going to be in a position where we would need to depend on an "Oh chit!" second shot. Yet, the fact remains, the perfect hunting Excalibur crossbow is the 150 lb or 175 lb model. It's amply fast, quieter, easier to draw, less stressful upon the limbs, and absolutely lethal on anything within reasonable crossbow ranges. Any model above and beyond that is merely a choice.
There are flatter shooting bows, but up to 20 yards (well within the ranges most game are taken) trajectory is virtually identical regardless of crossbow speed or model. If proper shot placement is applied, a deer is not going to know whether he was shot with a Vortex or a Vixen. He will not know whether the arrow was traveling at 285 ft/sec or 350 ft/sec...the fact is, at the end of the blood trail he won't know anything at all.
I have owned a Black Vixen (why oh why Bill don't you bring them back?!?!?), it was a sweet shooting bow and a pleasure to pack. Of course, being a man, I liked the word "Mag" - so I originally bought, and still have, an ExoMag
