Y’all seem to have some good knowledge of cross-bows. I’ve been thinking about buying one for hunting, but I keep reading that their range is very short.
Was this true of the war crossbows of the middle Ages?
Any comments or suggestions on a purchase. 150Lb. Ok?
The most common game animal in North America is the white-tailed deer and he is mainly hunted from tree stands. You need to get human scent ten or twelve feet off the ground.
The problem is that there is no totally reasonable way to draw and cock a crossbow from most tree stands. There's no totally good solution. You can haul a cocked crossbow into the treestand with a rope but you only ever have one shot.
The crossbows in war in the middle ages had decent range and good power, but were slow to load. They were relatively ineffective compared to the English Longbow. The English Longbow, however, required incredible strength and skill to master, taking 10+ years of training (they started as soon as they could walk), which is why the English opponents could not simply switch to neutralize.