For hunters with a taste for tradition and a challenge of skills, hunting crossbow style is the ultimate sport. If you’re not sure what’s meant by the skill challenge, then imagine hitting a five inch target circle at fifty yards. For some people, it’s hard just to find that type of target, using binoculars. Those men and women who can hit a small circle at fifty yards with a hunting crossbow possess a skill that most of us can only dream of. Most of these men and women took up hunting crossbow style after first mastering the vertical bow or archery. What’s the difference?
A hunting crossbow is not a bow and arrow setup. The shape of the weapon looks like a cross…sort of like a rifle with a bow laying across the barrel, perpendicular. Actually, it not only looks like a cross between a rifle and a bow, it is exactly that in function. The hunter or sportsman is using a trigger to release a bow. In fact, many misinformed people think a hunting crossbow is a rifle that shoots arrows. This is not true.
Hunting, crossbow style means that the hunter will not be drawing the arrow with his or her own strength. A vertical bow hunter, on the other hand, draws the arrow back with one arm and holds the kinetic energy until releasing the arrow towards the target.