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Looks great. Challenger is one of the best looking cars out now.

If not more. They talk about how light it is, but that's without essential items like sticks and then steps to sit on. I saw somebody set one up on youtube yesterday and it seemed a huge pain. I can see some benefit to them but they also look a bit annoying to be in for many hours (partly because field of view is substantially covered by a tree trunk).

So nobody here appears to be using a tree saddle.

Excalibur are far pricier than the centerpoint. There have been many threads and posts about the centerpoint and it is the go-to crossbow in this price range. There has been no unusual tendency for these to snap, explode, etc. that I have come across. Lots of reviews of these and the general take away is that the trigger is horrific but the bow is accurate, and powerful. Oh, not sure I mentioned for broadheads I have found that the montec G5 (only fixed I've tried) don't have a great POI vs field point in my centerpoint. Out to 20 yards it would be a non issue but at 40 where I test out to with broadheads it can be off a few inches--randomly--so i cannot adjust scope to accomodate. That said, I imagine that this xbow with G5 would go through the thickest part of any deer's shoulder. I use Rage 2 or rage hypodermic with my centerpoint. Three deer I've hit have been complete pass throughs.

On mine I use decimator bolts from field and stream. The stock ones are probably usable but very wobbly/low quality. Also replace the scope with a Nikon xbow scope for a hundred bucks or so and it makes for a really solid deer harvester.

This is why I like it when forums do not auto lock old threads. I would have guessed the original problem to be scope related but I guess not. I believe these MOA-range groups people claim out of semi autos to be more rare than people want to admit.

Definitely above the going rate. I have a guy I normally get a set of pics from for $20, $30 if freshly washed.

Trust me, the land I go to is pressured. It's the closest state land east of Rochester, not very large (western part of lakeshore marshes). There are cars for sure. I get the best impression of this place when I've walked it a few days after a snow fall because that's when you can really see where the deer are or are not, and the area everyone parks when I walked it two 2-3 years back was completely devoid of any tracks at all. Then I found where the deer had all gone (where nobody was), based on gobs of tracks. Problem is that land is almost impossible to get to without trespassing.

Oh, I've seen tree stands deep into state land in spots even I would not want to bother with--but I'll put it this way. I hunted all 2015 and 2016 around 20 times each season in bow and I only ran into a person--once--during 2015 and he was in a lazy spot (I was basically on the way in). Whenever I still go to state land, which last two years has only been lazily during gun season (my private spot I'm only using for bow), the only cars I ever see parked are in the easy-to-access areas. Stuff that the DEC has kept mowed basically, so they don't have to do a tough walk in. Multiple cars.

Well...more of the cheddar slims by Costanza's in Webster. They were a hit last year and we cranked through them. They are brutally expensive, but I will buy more nonetheless.

I also have had 100% recovery 3/3 on the xbow. It simply causes more damage when it hits, accuracy/shot placement aside. So when not doing a double-lung due to a dubious hit, that's what you want.

I seem to recall having my xbow read last year and I think it was doing about 340 and like you said that's a 400+ grain projectile. My 315 IBO bow only shoots around 240 or so. 29" draw, 60 lbs, also around 400 grain. As for KE, I can tell you of the half dozen deer I've hit with my vertical I've never had a pass through, and of the three I've hit with xbow all had pass throughs. That's the benefit of KE

It's not at all common. 370 is IBO, which is with a 30" draw length, 70 lbs, nothing on the string, and a 350 grain total arrow. My Crossbow, which cost me $350 shipped with a nikon scope on it (centerpoint sniper 370 is the bow), has more energy than any off the shelf compound bow.

It's a difference, but I bet if every gun hunter only used xbow all season long you'd still see a lot of pattern changes and going nocturnal. Full inclusion absolutely would change patterns. The biggest losers in all this would be gun-only hunters, who instead of having light pressure from vertical for six weeks prior now have ever-increasing pressure from xbow as well, leaving them with even slimmer pickings and tweaked out deer come the start of regular.

The same argument could be made about allowing full gun season to start Oct 1. How would that change you? You can still hunt with a bow if you like.

Frankly, people pretending that hunting white tail deer with a crossbow is no easier--all other factors equal (e.g. distance, temperature, etc.)--are either lying or ignorant. I've yet to see a third option. Anybody who has hunted with a vertical bow and a crossbow and pretends they are net equal is either using a child's crossbow or they are the world's best archer. Xbow groups better, has optical zoom, shoots flatter, hits harder. I also like how the seasons are setup.

Summit climber. I tried a hang on one year and it was a hassle plus not comfortable at all. I've always managed to find a tree in a good location. The summit is large and super comfortable. I've used a ladder stand a bit last year on private land. If I had my own land it's a no brainer: ladder only, all the time. I agree they silhouette badly away from the tree, and when I spot deer I do my best to immediately stand and lean in close against the tree to minimize that.

Looks like nice stuff. I'm always surprised how lazy people are on state land. Most people don't seem to bother going more than a couple hundred yards in.

Fly out and rent a car for the drive home if you're successful. Elk hunt sounds amazing. I wish it was better/more tags in PA. It's definitely something I want to do, even more than moose actually. I've a coworker that has gone a few times to Colorado and got one a year or two back after a couple of failed hunts--although those were with a bow.

I think it's fine and absolutely worth any risk. The fact you can't find anything about it impacting deer likely means it doesn't--particularly given how many people use it. If in doubt, spray down and leave clothes out for a week to aerate. Obviously I cannot say if I've been winded by deer I never saw, but I can say that with one single exception (I still blame it on an all-black shirt against a bare tree), I can not ever think of deer that have walked around my stand (including coming from upwind to down) and ever made me unless I either made a noise or moved.

Overthinking is my middle name

Uncle Charlie's on Harris Rd in Webster, NY. He processes a ton of deer for around $90 all nicely bagged and packaged.

Not sure on the math here. In this scenario: 20 feet up, and deer is 25' from the tree, the deer is 32' from the base, but you should aim as if it's a 25' shot; it will drop similarly to if you were shooting 25' horizontally. There is some negligible variance not worth bothering with, but when I'm in a tree and I want to know how far a given distance is I will range a tree at the same height I'm at, so that I adjust my elevation based on the horizontal, not diagonal distance. As for stand height I like to be 15' because it seems like a magic trick to me. The deer just become completely oblivious to me at 15' or higher, irrespective of wind condition frankly.

My definition of packed to the brim (of hunters) is--and I've seen this last year and laughed as I drove by--10 cars or so parked in front of a 100 acres of public land, and one guy in head to toe blaze orange sitting in a tree several hundred feet from one of the cars. Drive past Shaker Tract rd by the lakeshore marshes on opening gun day this year and you'll see the same thing. I feel sorry for those poor sons o' bitches. Around my way once you get east of sodus there is land, but you're still walking good distances through heavy brush in many cases if you can find a spot.

Truth. Actually the tacoma holds its value so well I've seen some amazingly good lease deals on them, because the lease payments are based on the difference between the sale and residual. People have been leasing brand new tacomas for mid $200-s. With nothing out of pocket at signing. https://forum.leasehackr.com/t/2019-tacoma-double-cab-off-road-mt-36-12-251-15-mo-10msds-1st-das-msrp-38-070/116390 (for those not familiar with terminology an MSD is a "loan"--you get it back when you turn the car in at the end of the lease).