Manual being a long bow, recurve, compound.
Guys, with the new law in OK, many are buying crossbows or contemplating it.
However, before you jump on the bandwagon, please realize that although there are advantages to a crossbow, there are also disadvantages. Whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages is debatable, and will vary person to person, among those who are not disabled/injured and thus have no choice.
I initially got the crossbow for the first time this year, due to shoulder injuries to both sides, after years of shooting compounds and recurves (got the doctor's note before the new law). However, both shoulders have healed some recently, and now, even though it's legal with or without doctor's note, I'm contemplating hunting with manual bow, at least under certain circumstances, after shooting the crossbow yesterday and realizing several disadvantages.
Here's what occurs to me, which are specific to the PSE Tac-10 / Tac 15 bows:
1. (probably the biggest one) You're not going to load/cock the bow before going to your hunting spot. You're going to cock it after you get to your spot. So, when you crank the PSE or other bows with a crank, you're making a hellacious noise right there in your hunting spot. Depending on wind and other conditions, and how heavily pressured the deer are, this may make all the deer within 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile stay away for awhile. Maybe half hour if not pressured, but maybe a few days if pressured deer. Obviously, this is not a disadvantage of a manually cocking crossbow, unless you have to grunt and groan to pull back and cock a manual one.
2. If you hunt for hours on end, as most of us do, that bow is gonna be cocked for a long long time, several times per day, every day you hunt. That's gonna put strain on the limbs, and cause their lifespan to be much less than a manual bow. Could get frustrating and expensive replacing limbs & crossbows, if you hunt a lot.
3. They're long / awkward / unweildy -even this relatively compact PSE Tac-10. They are more front-heavy than even a heavy rifle, so unless you're pretty dang large & strong, you're almost gonna have to have a bipod like a stoney point to make them work well, which gives you much less flexibility relative to a regular bow, in terms of quickly adjusting for shots at different angles left to right, and depth/distance as well (and also, if hunting from a tree stand, where do you rest the bipod if all you have is a wire mesh floor?). And, in the event you do wingshoot, you'll be more quick to fatigue yourself and start shaking.
4. Accuracy just really ain't *that* much better than a regular bow, so this is more of a limitation on their advantage, than a disadvantage. Yesterday I was shooting at about 19 yards, and I'm crappin ya negatory, although it's accurate, it's not really what I'd call *uber* accurate. I was shooting from a rested position, and still could not hit within my 1.5" wide circle bullseyes every time - I could only maybe 1/2 the time. I'd get jerk-fliers like I do with a rifle of 2" or more, whereas with my bow, I can do about the same. Granted, with my bow, I will sometimes get bigger fliers, at 3" or more, at that distance, but I also can hit the bull with about the same frequency after I knock the rust off each fall.
5. De-cocking. After most hunt sessions, with no action, you're gonna have to de-cock. This may or may not be a big deal, depending on your strength, etc. But de-cocking is a little trickier than cocking, because you have to activate the trigger or some secondary release, to release the string, at the same time you hold the string and let it down. Now, on the Tac-10, this is *supposed* to be an easy procedure, with the crank, but *right now*, this is an extremely huge disadvantage to the Tac-10 for me, because I cannot get it to work at all, following their procedure. Maybe I'm attempting to do it wrong, or maybe it's defective; I'm not sure yet. But be very careful about this before you shell out $1,300 on a Tac-10 or Tac-15, because it may be somewhat defective - follow up with me and others before you buy. According to the PSE video, you're supposed to hold the crank with the right hand, then push down the release lever with your left thumb, while simultaneously pushing UP on the little steel bar with your left index finger, to pop it loose out of the groove, then slowly let it down by backward cranking the crank. But I've tried it several times and it doesn't work for me, because no matter how hard I push, the bar doesn't want to pop the trigger thing up out of the groove - and I'm afraid to push super hard or else I might slip and lose my grip on the crank, and let a bolt fly up in the air unsafely.
So if I cannot figure this out, then the alternative is either (a) shoot at something in the field, which is a horrible idea, because you have about an 80% chance of breaking or losing your arrow, or (b) going back to camp, where you have an archery target stashed, walking/riding all the way back cocked & loaded every time, which is also a bad situation.
OK, just some food for thought there. Point is, it's not a panacea / no-brainer decision, but like everything else, a series of tradeoffs to be contemplated and applied to your specific situation.
Guys, with the new law in OK, many are buying crossbows or contemplating it.
However, before you jump on the bandwagon, please realize that although there are advantages to a crossbow, there are also disadvantages. Whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages is debatable, and will vary person to person, among those who are not disabled/injured and thus have no choice.
I initially got the crossbow for the first time this year, due to shoulder injuries to both sides, after years of shooting compounds and recurves (got the doctor's note before the new law). However, both shoulders have healed some recently, and now, even though it's legal with or without doctor's note, I'm contemplating hunting with manual bow, at least under certain circumstances, after shooting the crossbow yesterday and realizing several disadvantages.
Here's what occurs to me, which are specific to the PSE Tac-10 / Tac 15 bows:
1. (probably the biggest one) You're not going to load/cock the bow before going to your hunting spot. You're going to cock it after you get to your spot. So, when you crank the PSE or other bows with a crank, you're making a hellacious noise right there in your hunting spot. Depending on wind and other conditions, and how heavily pressured the deer are, this may make all the deer within 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile stay away for awhile. Maybe half hour if not pressured, but maybe a few days if pressured deer. Obviously, this is not a disadvantage of a manually cocking crossbow, unless you have to grunt and groan to pull back and cock a manual one.
2. If you hunt for hours on end, as most of us do, that bow is gonna be cocked for a long long time, several times per day, every day you hunt. That's gonna put strain on the limbs, and cause their lifespan to be much less than a manual bow. Could get frustrating and expensive replacing limbs & crossbows, if you hunt a lot.
3. They're long / awkward / unweildy -even this relatively compact PSE Tac-10. They are more front-heavy than even a heavy rifle, so unless you're pretty dang large & strong, you're almost gonna have to have a bipod like a stoney point to make them work well, which gives you much less flexibility relative to a regular bow, in terms of quickly adjusting for shots at different angles left to right, and depth/distance as well (and also, if hunting from a tree stand, where do you rest the bipod if all you have is a wire mesh floor?). And, in the event you do wingshoot, you'll be more quick to fatigue yourself and start shaking.
4. Accuracy just really ain't *that* much better than a regular bow, so this is more of a limitation on their advantage, than a disadvantage. Yesterday I was shooting at about 19 yards, and I'm crappin ya negatory, although it's accurate, it's not really what I'd call *uber* accurate. I was shooting from a rested position, and still could not hit within my 1.5" wide circle bullseyes every time - I could only maybe 1/2 the time. I'd get jerk-fliers like I do with a rifle of 2" or more, whereas with my bow, I can do about the same. Granted, with my bow, I will sometimes get bigger fliers, at 3" or more, at that distance, but I also can hit the bull with about the same frequency after I knock the rust off each fall.
5. De-cocking. After most hunt sessions, with no action, you're gonna have to de-cock. This may or may not be a big deal, depending on your strength, etc. But de-cocking is a little trickier than cocking, because you have to activate the trigger or some secondary release, to release the string, at the same time you hold the string and let it down. Now, on the Tac-10, this is *supposed* to be an easy procedure, with the crank, but *right now*, this is an extremely huge disadvantage to the Tac-10 for me, because I cannot get it to work at all, following their procedure. Maybe I'm attempting to do it wrong, or maybe it's defective; I'm not sure yet. But be very careful about this before you shell out $1,300 on a Tac-10 or Tac-15, because it may be somewhat defective - follow up with me and others before you buy. According to the PSE video, you're supposed to hold the crank with the right hand, then push down the release lever with your left thumb, while simultaneously pushing UP on the little steel bar with your left index finger, to pop it loose out of the groove, then slowly let it down by backward cranking the crank. But I've tried it several times and it doesn't work for me, because no matter how hard I push, the bar doesn't want to pop the trigger thing up out of the groove - and I'm afraid to push super hard or else I might slip and lose my grip on the crank, and let a bolt fly up in the air unsafely.
So if I cannot figure this out, then the alternative is either (a) shoot at something in the field, which is a horrible idea, because you have about an 80% chance of breaking or losing your arrow, or (b) going back to camp, where you have an archery target stashed, walking/riding all the way back cocked & loaded every time, which is also a bad situation.
OK, just some food for thought there. Point is, it's not a panacea / no-brainer decision, but like everything else, a series of tradeoffs to be contemplated and applied to your specific situation.
