I have to see a occupational therapist and pay $207 and then hope she ok's my permit.Our DNR really makes it tough to hunt with a crossbow.I have degenerative disk disease in my neck.I'm looking at excaliber crossbows and like what i see.I'm going to cabelas and check them out!

Good Luck. I sort of wish you'd fail, just to indicate that you were in too good shape!

I would loan you one of my bows if you want to try one before buying one. I'd just ask you to cover shipping. I'm not concerned about a bow getting harmed. About the only way that could happen would be from a dry fire or putting it right up to your campfire, or hitting it with a sledge hammer.

Thanks for the offer.I've been on the excaliber forum talking to the experts about which Xbow to get so i have it narrowed down to a couple of them.I'll, check out cabelas maybe on sunday.Thanks again for that web site.

What's your handle there?

Riflemanz

Who'd have guessed?

I hadn't noticed your posts there. I've been off line mostly for the past few days.

Don't worry about the degree of difficulty in cocking a crossbow. I almost never cock mine by hand. I want the absolute best chance of consistently loading each limb the same way for each shot. So, I use a cocking device. I have two types, the one is a simple rope with pulleys, and the other, a crank ratchet. If you might have to cock your bow from up in a tree stand, or if you really have to treat your back/shoulders/neck gently, get the crank device.

I would go with the model that gives the fastest arrow speed. If you aren't concerned about trajectory, you can sacrifice some speed and use broadheads with a wider cut. A bigger cut bleeds more. That would only become a negative factor if you are concerned about penetration.

The fastest models cost a bit more and wear a bit faster and do make more noise. Like they say, you don't get nothing for nothing. Unless you plan to do a lot of target shooting, such as competitive 3D shooting, wear or noise just isn't anything to worry about.

By the way, a crossbow will seem horribly noisy to a vertical bow shooter. It sure did to me, and also to others I have spoken to about it. That also is nothing to worry about. The arrow will have blown through the deer before it realizes something is wrong, provided your range is a sane one. By the way, a crossbow isn't inherently more accurate than a vertical bow, nor shoots an arrow any faster.

I went to cabelas today and got the saleman to let me cock the excaliber by the rope and the crank.The rope hurts my neck pulling it up and the crank is for me.I also shot both the excaliber and the 10 point Xbows.One thing i like about the 10pt is the crank is built in already,no removing it.I shot bullseyes with both models.The salesman did a great job and i'm leaning towards the 10pt Xbow due to the built in crank.The bows seemed loud but i'll get over it.I was unable to pull the bolts out of the target due to my neck.I'll keep reading up on these and then make a decision.

Get a bag type target for shooting field points. Arrows will pull out with two fingers. (Or make your own. Do a search on the Excalibur site and you'll find out how easy they are to make.)

I bought some field points at Cabela's that have a green plastic ring where the shoulder of the field point butts against the shaft. They pull out much easier than any other type I have used.

I like having the crank off my bow. It's one less thing to catch on brush or clothing.

Whatever you buy, I hope you enjoy it. Keep us posted if you don't mind.

I'll check out those target bags.The crank handle removes from the crossbow on the 10pt.I'll check out those field points next time i go to cabelas.

Here's the field tip to which I was referring.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

Looks good! I never knew they even made those.