The Up North Journal Team has officially kicked off our crossbow review for the 2009 season.  We recieved the new 2009 Excalibur Phoenix crossbow in yesterday’s deliveries.  I was excited to get things rolling when the box arrived so I tore into it not knowing what to expect.

     The purpose of this year’s review is to check performance and learn as much as possible about crossbows to pass along to you the readers.  Michigan and Pennsylvania both passed legislation this year allowing the use of crossbows in their archery deer seasons.  Since these weapons have now been included for use in these two states and a few others, we thought it would be a good time to see what the buzz is all about and learn a few things along the way.   We hope to either prove or disprove any myths about crossbows and find out just how viable they are to use in the field.  We have confirmation from three companies this year to help us in the testing, with that said, lets get to it!

     Upon opening the box, I knew I had an assembly job in front of me!  At first glance I was glad to see that most of the detailed pieces had already been assembled.  I then began my reading of the manual!  Yes I read the intructions, I know most men don’t but I figured this was a little too important to pass them by.  The kit also came with an instructional DVD which I refered to quite a bit.  It was easier to use and it was nice to see how a particular item was assembled, that made the job a lot easier.

     After unpacking the box, I checked the inventory of the items to make sure everything was there and began the task of assembly.  It took me about an hour or so to finish the job.  The hardest part was stringing the crossbow.  This model is a recurve style crossbow, so I naturally thought it would be an easy task of putting the string on.  Let me say this first, my compound is set to a 60lb. draw weight, I had to use all the strength I had to put this string on manually.  They offer a stringing device that would have made the job much easier, so I suggest you purchase one for this bow.  With that said, I do like the idea of being able to string this bow yourself.  I can see this being very useful in the field incase a string breaks, you can restring the bow in the field and get back to hunting!  This is something we will be checking on the compound style bows to see if it is possible.

     Everything went together with ease and I was off to the range to sight in the scope that came with the bow.  When I arrived at the range, I got everything out and was getting ready to start shooting, when I noticed that the box of bolts that was sent with the bow was missing the nocks!  I searched everything I had and then searched again at home with no luck.  I then went to my local proshop to obtain some nocks for the bolts only to be told they were already on the bolt!  These bolts use the flat style nock on them, but these have a screw insert which led me to believe they were missing something.  I was told by the tech at the shop that this is a new style nock system that allows a screw in insert to be attatched for fletching purposes.  This is an interesting and inovative design to help re-fletch the bolts.  Boy did I feel stupid! 

     The first impression of the bow is good, it is extremely light weight and sleek looking.  It came in Realtree camo and outfitted with everything you need to hit the field running!  Now I just have to get back to the range to do some testing!  Stay tuned for the other bows as they come in for our reviews and testing of them.

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