I don't intend to start another debate about crossbow vs compound vs traditional archery as it pertains to hunting deer. I've been down that road many times. I own all types of bows and intend to continue to use them as I want to.

I just bought a new Excalibur Axiom and I have to say, it's a real pleasure to shoot. I've been shooting bows since 1978 and I'm just as happy to add this weapon to my arsenal as any I have bought before.

At one time in the late 80's and early 90's, I was dead set against crossbows being used in archery seasons. At the time I lived in Arkansas where crossbows were legal to use in the Archery season. I, like a lot of other anti-crossbow people, spewed the same mis information that had been spewed for many years. I called them "crossguns" and all the other nonsense jargon. It wasn't until about 1992, when I finally bought a crossbow, that my views changed. I quickly learned that a crossbow has a lot of the same limitations that any other bow has.

That crossbow was stolen a year later after I had moved back to Oklahoma and I never replaced it, even though I continued to hunt in Arkansas.

I'm glad to see that technology has helped make Crossbows somewhat quieter and with less vibration than my old PSE crossbow had! Still, they can be nosier than most compounds but the speed of the bolt is about that from a compound. That's the primary reason a crossbows effective range is usually around 40 yards. Even though my crossbow is accurate out to 40 plus yards, I limit my shots to no more than 30 yards under most conditions.

So what do I see for the future of archery hunting in Oklahoma? The reason I say that is because some doomsayers predict that Archery season will be abolished in Oklahoma because crossbow hunters will decimate the deer herd. Yeah, sounds silly once you read it doesn't it?

I suppose crossbows will affect Oklahoma deer hunting just as they have in places like Arkansas, Ohio, Alaska, Alabama and other places. Which means there will be little, if any difference in the number of deer taken but more hunters who would not otherwise hunt will be taking to the field, mainly Women, younger hunters and elderly hunters. This can only be a good thing as in most States the numbers of hunters are declining.

And maybe, just maybe they'll actually EXTEND hunting season like they have in some of those other states! I think Oklahoma legalizing crossbows for archery hunting will help our sport, just like allowing inline muzzleloaders and compound bows with sights and releases helped. (although I was against the inline muzzleloaders with scopes at one time also)

What finally made me realize that all these modern forms of hunting are actually good for our sport were the numbers of new hunters that entered our sport. If it wasn't for new technology, just think of how many fewer hunters would be afield if only longbows and recurve bows were legal in archery season and only muzzleloading rifles with size hammers using flintlocks were legal in Primitive weapon season? Simply put, greater number of hunters means more security when it comes to fighting anti hunters trying to reduce or eliminate our hunting seasons.

Besides, once I came down of my high horse, I found shooting inline muzzleloaders with scopes and shooting crossbows were a lot of fun! So yeah, I'm one happy camper that an archer can use crossbows in Oklahoma for deer hunting.

Buy hey, don't take my word for it, see what Uncle Ted thinks about it!

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I'm not sure if it was the extra time in the field or learning how to position my stands to intercept deer at bow range, but my buck kills certainly increased after my Dad bought me that my first bow, a Bear Polar LTD 4 wheel bow. Yeah, it has been that long!

Over the years, Bear bows have been know to be front runners in design and innovations. At some point though, they fell behind in both IMHO. Seems like in the last decade or so Bear bows were known as "starter" bows or "economical" bows.

In my opinion, they just seemed to always be lagging behind the trendsetters.

I think I can safely say those days are over.

'The Truth' Bow By Bear Archery

I stopped by my local Bass Pro Shops store over the weekend to shoot a couple bows for reviews here on the Buck Hunters Blog. The first one I picked out was Bear Archery's 'The Truth' Compound Bow.

Now I'm normally suspicious when one company seems to get another company to "endorse" its products such as Bear Archery has done with Primos. However, since I've used products from both companies for many years with excellent results, that suspicious feeling never materialized. If it did, it quickly left when I started shooting "The Truth"!

This bow is nothing short of amazing. I do have to hand it to the Primos Team and Bear Archery. This bow is Sweeet!

First off, it's lightweight with an axle to axle length of just 33". Now until recent years, I've been an old school finger shooter and the short axle to axle length bows would kill my fingers. Over the last few years, I've shot more and more with a release and I find that I'm getting more consistent over time with a release.

The Truth is also feather light weighing in at 4.2 lbs. Man, the old Bear compound bow I used to own felt like they weighed 10 lbs. I can't get over how light today's bows are.

Another thing I found great about this bow is that it felt good in my hands. Not all these little bows do, but The Truth felt like it was made especially to fit my hands, I like that!

The Proof is in the Shooting

Even though I have a 15 year old Darton bow I still hunt with, I've shot many of the latest and greatest bows over the years thanks to hanging around Archery Shops and friends who have to have new bows every other year!

I can say without batting an eye that The Truthis as smooth as any modern bow I've shot and I've shot all the name brand bows on the market today. I loved how smooth this bow is when coming to full draw. Long gone are the days of the herky jerky grunt and draw!

The 80% let off reduces the poundage your holding at full draw to practically nothing. The older I get the less bow weight I use. I'm now shooting a 63# bow. The fine folks at Bass Pro said the bow I was shooting was set at 65 lbs, but it felt a lot less. If I hadn't seen the scales myself, I would have thought they were pulling my leg.

The most important thing about a bow to me is how quiet it shoots. You can have all the speed you want. Give me a quiet bow any day over a fast and noisy bow. I can't tell you how many deer are dead today because the stuck (no pun intended) around and let me get off another shot after missing with my first one. You don't get those kinds of opportunity's with noisy bows. And a lot of the bows on the market today are noisy. Sure, they're fast, but they're also noisy.

By the time you add stabilizers and shock absorbers to the bow to make it semi-quiet, the weight is back up there around 6 to 8 lbs. What's the use of taking advantage of the new lighter bows if you have to pack so much junk on them to make them quiet? I don't like having a half dozen archery arrows hanging off my bow!

I'm glad to report that The Truth was a very quiet shooting bow. Even when shooting indoors, it was quite a surprise to hear how quiet it was. Shot after shot, I begin to think this would be my new hunting bow!

The next surprise I received was how fast the bow was. Now I've never been a speed freak, believing instead that a slow, quiet and accurate arrow makes more kills than a noisy, fast and erratic arrow. In my experience, there were few fast, quiet and accurate bows! The Truth is the first bow in a long time that I felt was fast, accurate and quiet.

I didn't have to worry about any of that with The Truth. Once I had the pin sighted in for me, it was a simple matter or producing very tight groups with this bow.

Overall I fell in love with the bow. I want one and I have to figure out how to tell the Wife that I'll be purchasing a new bow! Which brings me to my next surprise. The price!

In my opinion, this bow is priced a lot less than many of the high end bows that can't outshoot The Truth. I think many consumers get into the "if the price is high, the quality must be high also" syndrome. I also think many fall for a high price so they can brag about how much their bow cost. Because I've shot many of their bows and that's about the only thing you can brag about! With the money I'll save over the high end bows, I can now afford one of those ghillie suits I've been looking at!

The Truth comes with a very reasonable price tag. It's priced a hundred or more dollars less than many other bows that come with this many features.

If you're in the market for a new bow, give The Truth a try at your local archery shop or at a Bass Pro Shop near you. You won't be sorry.

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