1.) Tunein - 04/28/2013

Nhey just wondering what everyone has seen regarding the use of crossbows at local 3D shoots? I am on the board at our club and brought it up at our annual meeting and it was decided that since it was becoming more common for them that we would have no issue in allowing them. Well since I shoot one I thought it would be a good intr to my fellow shooters who feel it is cheating to use one. Of course being a shooter of one, I know first hand it is not cheating and takes skill to shoot them well. You cannot just point and shoot and hit the 10 ring. They are not rifles, do not shoot as fast as most common bows today and you still must hold on the target guessed at the correct yardage in order to shoot well. I did manage to outscore my brother, but only because he had a miss, otherwise we would have tied or he would have beat me. Out of the 4 shooters my score was not the highest, nor was it easier to make shots. My yardage estimates were not spot on and on those targets I scored poorly.

So just curious of others thoughts on the subject.

2.) crookedeye - 04/28/2013

it should be in a seperate category..like they have... super shot division..hunters division... Jr's division.. and 10 yrs and under division.. then thats were the crossbows come in .."oldman divisions" thats where all the old guys who's minds are thinking that crossbows are equivelent to the compound bow because there shoulders and elbows are shot and arre not effective anymore with a regular bow..

did you ever see an old guy trying to pick up on a 20 year old??? they think they still have it! its almost sad..

3.) Go Bucks - 04/29/2013

my uneducated gut says their own division, but that's more for appearances than anything else. at the club level, it wouldn't be much fun to have 1 or two people competing in the same division.

if you want to make a case, grab the ibo triple crown scores for the appropriate divisions and compare scores to vert bows with the same yardage. perhaps take an average of the top 10% scores of each, then run the same comparison for the top 10 shooters. If there is an advantage to the xbow, put a handicap on it. attaching numbers makes for a much better case.

4.) Go Bucks - 04/29/2013

personally, I find the xbows cumbersome, heavy, and harder to balance. I would think shooting them offhand over 30-40 shots would be quite tiring and harder to hold on target over the course.

5.) Tunein - 04/30/2013

[QUOTE=Go Bucks;5495]personally, I find the xbows cumbersome, heavy, and harder to balance. I would think shooting them offhand over 30-40 shots would be quite tiring and harder to hold on target over the course.[/QUOTE]

That is what I personally have found. The people who believe they are like a laser and it just goes where it's aimed have more then likely not shot one or not at varied and unknown yardages. My Xbow shoots almost 30fps slower then my compound and therefore requires more precision in yardage estimation. It might be "easier" because you are not holding the poundage back, but they are heavy and unless you have a place to rest it on, they are not all that easy to hold on target. All of our local shoots are for fun, no $$ involved, except the entry fee, so no concern about beating a compound shooter, and like I said, it's all about yardage estimation. I still shoot compound bows too, but I like xbows too and the 3D course offers me more realistic practice then shooting the same target over and over again.
I would bet that if you gave a Xbow to a compound bow shooter that was already sighted in for given yardages that they would not score better then they would with their bow.