hey guy's i'm new here but have been checking out this forum for a long time, thought it was gone for good, but i see it's back.anyway as far as crossbows being so easy to use that even an 11 year old girl can master one in minutes comment, i just have to clarify.
yes a crossbow can be more quickly mastered by almost anyone as far as shooting very tight groups at any distance compared to someone shooting a vertical bow when shooting from a resting position, but try shooting a crossbow free hand and that advantage quickly dissappears.
i have also read more than a few too many comments on how a crossbow can hold 2 inch groupds at 50 yds all day long. well this might be true for some but shooting a crossbow at a whitetail deer at more than 30 yds is a sure recipe for disaster due to the noise a crossbow makes on release, where with my Mathews Drenalin i would easily take a shot at 45 or even 50 yds on a whitetail and have done so in the past with success.
i hunt in PA with crossbows now and hunt and have hunted with vertical compounds here in NY for over 20 years. and i can honestly say crossbows offer no advantage to hunting the northeastern whitetails by any means.