New to the Game

[scottb]

Hello every one, I am new to this hunting game but did a lot home work on which crossbow would be best for myself. There are a lot of good bow makers out there but until i came across Excalibur and ALL the great things i hear, not to mention they are local, Hands down the best choice for me. I live in Kitchener Ontario Canada and im finding it hard to find used stuff. I would love to buy the new Eclipse from Excalibur but I do believe for my first bow might be a bit overkill. Can anyone recommend besides ebay and kijiji where to pick up a used Excalibur bow and equipment?
Im not even sure what type of equipment i am looking for or need to start?
any help would be much appreciated
thank you
Scott Bieth
new guy

[Boo]

I don't see an Eclipse as overkill. All you need is broadheads and a deer to poke a hole in.

[Woodspike]

The Eclipse was/is my first X-bow... If you have the funds, do yourself a favor and buy new. You will NOT regret it.

Welcome to the forum!

Woods.

[mr meat]

Keep your eyes on the tradeing post and welcome to the forum! any excal will fill your needs!

[Boo]

Keep your eyes on the tradeing post and welcome to the forum! any excal will fill your needs!

Yep, with the new bows coming out there may be a few!

[BigBadJohn]

scottb: I'm new to the crossbow game as well. I've done a little hunting earlier in my life, but seldom had time to really get into it. Now that I'm a bit older, I do.

As far as the Excalibur line of crossbows goes, I really don't think you can make a bad choice. I didn't want to spend a fortune to get started, so I ended up with the IBEX SMF. Comes as a complete kit for $539 and includes everything you need to get started shooting...add in some broadheads and you're hunting. A relatively low-cost, low-pain way to get started with crossbow hunting. I'm sure I'll add accesories later and will likely upgrade to a more powerful bow down the road, but for now I'm very happy with my decision to purchase the IBEX SMF in particular and Excalibur crossbows in general. With the well-earned reputation for accuracy, durability, and reliability that Excalibur has how could one go wrong?

Anyway, welcome to the fold. I've only been here a short time and this forum is one of the most welcoming communities I've been a part of on the web. Hope you find your bow soon and enjoy God's great outdoors. BBJ

[scottb]

Thank you guys for all the great information and welcomes to the forum. Of course if money was no object then Eclipse all the way, and I don't think there is any bad choices with Excalibur. I did look at the Ibex SMF kit and I really like that. I actually went out to the Bow shop here in Kitchener and i was able to shoot the Ibex and WOW if that doesn't poke a hole in a deer then i will be extremely surprised. So now its off to Write Santa my letter for my new Ibex.
Thanks again
Scott

[BigBadJohn]

Scott - Let us know when you get the new Ibex and let us know how you get along with it. Hope you like yours as much as I like mine. I really like how light mine is. BBJ

[awshucks]

Excals hold their value so well, it doesn't pay off much to go used.

I've heard a rumor prices are going up soon..........

[Hester0305]

The Ibex is a great xbow and is 175 lb where the Eclipse is 200 lb model just like the Vortex. The new Excals will be coming out soon so I;m sure they'll be some used Excals around to buy if you want to wait. You can also go to www.Archery Talk.com and join that forum and look under the crossbow ads for sale they're a couple of used Vortex's on there now. There is a 2012 Vortex package on there now for $675.00 with lots of extras and thats a great deal for the money.

Welcome to the Forum and good luck with whichever one you choose.