Rob Pincus
New member
I spent the first half of the day at a Crossbow seminar in South Carolina. 90% of the people at the event were SC DNR employess. I was shocked at the prejudice AGAINST this weapon. The prejudice was only rivaled by the ignorance.
Most of them had this picture of the Xbow as the ultimate silent weapon or something.. like a quiet rifle. The perfect poahers tool and a real "devil's weapon".
I was sorta under the same impression about 8 years ago when I bought a top of the line Barnett Xbow. I fired it a few times, found out that it had about the same ballistics as a compound bow, yet was much slower.. and it has either hung on a wall or sat in a closet 99.99% of the time after the first two months I owned it.. it looks pretty darn cool, but it is just a simple bow, when it comes down to it.
Apparently the confusion comes from a combination of myth and misunderstanding. Some pope outlawed them in Europe centuries ago, so they have a mysticlaly evil nature. On top of that, The box they com ein says that they are strung to over twice the usual hunting wieght of a powerful compound bow, which makes people think they are ungodly powerful. Add to that the fact that they are quiet and yet they look like a rifle.. and WHAMMO, that is apparently where all the problems come from.
These guys were really AGAINST the use of teh Xbow as a hunting weapon. (note that half of SC canuse the Xbow for 4 months, while inthe other portion of the state it can only be used by handicapped people). even the DNR personnel from the area where Xbows are legal were very ignorant of their operation and effectiveness.
So, given that the BOW portion of the Xbow is half the size of the compound BOW, the end reuslt of teh high pooundage is about the same. thus, the arrow of a given wiehgt will fly with about the same energy from a Xbow ans a Comp Bow.... furthermore, the MAX effective range for a Xbow is right around 45-50 yards, under PERFECT conditions.
So, in addition to wanting to clear up any misconceptions that people may have had, I also wanted to ask the following:
1. anyone have any practical (hunting) experience with a Crossbow??
2. Any hunters not understand that the more weapons available to hunters, the more hunters and hunting there will be.. hence the better off the industry and the traditions will be ??
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-Essayons
Most of them had this picture of the Xbow as the ultimate silent weapon or something.. like a quiet rifle. The perfect poahers tool and a real "devil's weapon".
I was sorta under the same impression about 8 years ago when I bought a top of the line Barnett Xbow. I fired it a few times, found out that it had about the same ballistics as a compound bow, yet was much slower.. and it has either hung on a wall or sat in a closet 99.99% of the time after the first two months I owned it.. it looks pretty darn cool, but it is just a simple bow, when it comes down to it.
Apparently the confusion comes from a combination of myth and misunderstanding. Some pope outlawed them in Europe centuries ago, so they have a mysticlaly evil nature. On top of that, The box they com ein says that they are strung to over twice the usual hunting wieght of a powerful compound bow, which makes people think they are ungodly powerful. Add to that the fact that they are quiet and yet they look like a rifle.. and WHAMMO, that is apparently where all the problems come from.
These guys were really AGAINST the use of teh Xbow as a hunting weapon. (note that half of SC canuse the Xbow for 4 months, while inthe other portion of the state it can only be used by handicapped people). even the DNR personnel from the area where Xbows are legal were very ignorant of their operation and effectiveness.
So, given that the BOW portion of the Xbow is half the size of the compound BOW, the end reuslt of teh high pooundage is about the same. thus, the arrow of a given wiehgt will fly with about the same energy from a Xbow ans a Comp Bow.... furthermore, the MAX effective range for a Xbow is right around 45-50 yards, under PERFECT conditions.
So, in addition to wanting to clear up any misconceptions that people may have had, I also wanted to ask the following:
1. anyone have any practical (hunting) experience with a Crossbow??
2. Any hunters not understand that the more weapons available to hunters, the more hunters and hunting there will be.. hence the better off the industry and the traditions will be ??
------------------
-Essayons