EP424 How to Realistically Pick a Crossbow for Deer Hunting

You could spend hours, days, weeks, months researching every crossbow on the market, putting together a spreadsheet, of every feature, every spec, every data point, the pricing.

You could talk to lots of people, and then you could put together an analysis that determines what the best one is for you.

Now, I'm a research guy.

I like to research stuff from time to time, sometimes things that I'm about to buy, things even like a crossbow.

But that process sounds somewhat exhausting to me.

And I don't think this needs to be that complicated.

Now, I'm talking primarily, I think, with this content, with this particular episode, to newer hunters, people that are looking at buying their first crossbow or maybe upgrading to an intermediate second crossbow.

Not necessarily going to be talking about the highest of the line crossbows that are out there, the best of the best.

I'm talking about realistic hunters that are newer to the sport, that have newer to the sport budgets, those kinds of things.

And I don't think you have to invest all that kind of time.

And I don't think this has to be a three-hour podcast episode either.

There are certain principles that I think are important that you should consider and keep in mind.

And at the end of the day, a crossbow is a tool.

It does a job.

It has a purpose.

And we want to get a tool that will do that job effectively and that will help you.

accomplish what you want to do in the woods which is pretty likely to shoot a deer at regular crossbow type ranges that will do the job and so let's talk about some of these features and factors and things that i think you should consider and things that are maybe just not all that important or at least not all that important right now So number one on my list is going to be the weight, the balance, and the size.

And I think all of these work together.

so you want to be able to shoulder the crossbow comfortably you want to be able to hold it on target for a reasonable amount of time so that you can take a shot at a deer or whatever animal you're after maybe you're hunting bears or something else but whatever it is you want to be able to shoulder it from an offhand position for a reasonable amount of time and so the gun the bow can't be too heavy It can't wear you out if you're just holding it for a few seconds.

If you start shaking after having it up for five seconds, that's not a good sign.

It's probably too heavy.

But weight is not the only thing.

Balance also matters.

So I don't think you should just try to get the lightest weight crossbow on the market because if the balance is forward heavy... then that bow could feel heavier than it is.

Whereas if it's better balanced or the balance is more towards the back, it could actually be a little heavier, but feel more comfortable in your hand.