Whats the effective Range of a Crossbow?

[firestorm89]

Last time I went bow hunting, crossbows required a special permit. Now that you can hunt with them withoutjumping through hoops, I was wondering what the effective range was? I would be looking at 175lb draw.

Thanks

 

[Jasonshooter]

I was thinking the same thing , I've got a 150lb crossbow ,, and I'm very , very new to archery ,,,I'd like some input as well ,, thanks for starting this one ..

 

[ken792]

Depends on your setup and how accurate it ends up being. I usually see crossbowmen at the archery range (right off MD-193 outside of UMD) sighting in no further than 50 yards.

 

[firestorm89]

When I bow hunted in the past, I saw a guy take a 75 yarder.. He aimed 5 ft over and it still fell short. Just curious as I am sure technology has gotten better. Also, I live in a neighborhood, so it may be an option for all these dam foxes in my yard...

 

[Rhino]

I have a 10 Point which i think is a 185 lb draw, IIRC, and although the longest shot on a deer i have made with it was about 40 yards, i suppose for me, I would take a shot up to as much as 50 yards. Beyond that, based on targets I have shot, i do not trust my abilities to think it responsible. I would think that with a more skilled archer than myself, 75 to even 100 yards could be possible, but the chance of injuring the deer are too great for me to consider the shot.

 

[MikeTF]

For Tenpoint crossbows that are scoped, you have 3 lines for 20, 30, and 40 yard shots. The last deer that I shot was at 20 yards. The closer the shot the better. I personally wouldn't take a shot that was over 40 yards.

On the other hand, if you have a PSE TAC 15, you can easily shoot out to 60 yards. Here's a video of someone shooting out to 100 yards:



I have a friend that has the TAC 15 and he still prefers to take shots that are no further than 40 yards, even though he has the exact set up that this guy does.

 

[woodstock]

not an archery guy, but um, the hits looked to be somewhat non-fatal to a large mammal. maybe 75 yards would have more of an impact in terms of lethality. just my humble opinion. i hear multi-round crossbows are gonna be banned next.

 

[miben]

75 yards poses too much risk of injuring the animal non-fatally. You have to be 100% sure you can accurately hit with lethal power in archery hunting. 40 yards is probably the maximum for most hunters. A few may be able to accurately shoot a lethal bolt to 50 yards with a higher power crossbow. Shooting 4 feet over the target is not ethical hunting.

 

[Franklin]

Shooting at a block of foam and shooting at a live animal with ears and eyes is somthing different.

I've heard of people target shooting out to 150 yards and being pritty accurate with that tac15.

50 yards on a relaxed deer shouldn't be an issue if you have some experience with reading deer and low wind.

 

[Omnipotent]

No disrespect but if you are asking this question, you're asking the wrong question. What I can shoot at and have a lethal shot and what you can shoot at are vastly different. Practice and learn your limits. Most archery shots are from 20 yards and in.....just because someone shoots 70 yards doesn't mean one should...it's all about ethical hunting. If not, that is what gives archers a bad name.

Practice 20-40 yards, become a dead aim, take a few deer or turkey or whatever...then stretch it out if needed, really only need something more than 40 yards if you are out west and hunting Antelope or something.

 

[riss6270]

These are my thoughts on crossbows. Yes they are nice and i have shot deer with them. They do have a scope which help a lot of people. I hear of guys shooting 70 80 90 yrd and hitting deer and never finding them. ITS NOT A GUN. I only bow hunt never shot one with a gun, i have never take a shot with a compound over 30 yds. I dont like to wound deer. I have killed several nice bucks. With a crossbow i never shoot over 50 yds. I saw a graph that the kenetic energy at 20 to 100 yds with a crossbow. Wish i could find it. It showed that anything over 60 yds your chances of killing a deer are about 40% less than if at 50 yds. If i saw a wall hanger at 80 yds id let him walk, theres always next time.

 

[mark71211]

People with crossbows think that cause it has a scope and you can see it, you can kill it at any distant. Well that's wrong! A crossbows bolts KE drops off very fast the farther out it gets. So I say the longest shot should not be more then 35-40 yards tops. I want to say that I read somewhere that a bow has more KE at 40 then a crossbow.

 

[VNVGUNNER]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVxA1KP_k90

 

[willtill]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVxA1KP_k90

That's very informative. Thank you for finding and posting that. I'll look at my Excalibur a little differently from now on.

 

[Nimrod]

The effective range of the crossbow, or any bow, is not limited by it's accuracy or lethality at distance, but rather by how fast it fires its bolt or arrow. At 50 yards, it takes a bolt or arrow fired at 300 fps 0.5 seconds to get there. A deer can move quite a bit in 0.5 seconds. If the deer flinches or jumps, it will probably no longer be where you were aiming, and you will probably miss, even if you can hit an apple at 100 yards.

 

[VNVGUNNER]

Indians were killing deer with slow arrows for many years.

Shot placement is the key.

 

[Nimrod]

The Indians solved the slow arrow problem by getting closer. Even if you are Byron Ferguson, proper shot placement can be pretty difficult if your target moves before the arrow gets there.

 

[VNVGUNNER]

The Indians solved the slow arrow problem by getting closer. Even if you are Byron Ferguson, proper shot placement can be pretty difficult if your target moves before the arrow gets there.

I agree, but speed is not everything.

 

[rickyp]

my last pin is set for 43 yards and I can make clean shots out to 50 yards with my crossbow, however that doesnt mean that I will take that shot at a deer. most of my shots are around the 20 yard range and under.

 

[possumman]

Stick to 20-30 yards- bolts are not very heavy-and shed energy quickly,most of my treestand shots have been 10-20 yards.