There’s so much emphasis on crossbow speed these days, but in my experience, it’s overhyped and not as important as it seems. That’s why I chose a Mission crossbow, they prioritize quiet operation, which is far more valuable to me than sheer speed.
I can remember when crossbows were first legalized in our state for the general hunting population. I'm a hunter education instructor and we had several crossbow manufactures come in to provide training for the instructors at our advanced training that year. Now this was back when crossbows were only slightly faster than the fastest compound bows. We shot each of the brands at the range. One brand was so loud, it sounded like a .22 when shot.
We asked the manufacturer's representative about it with respect to jumping the string. His response was "Our crossbow is so fast a deer doesn't have time to jump the string." That drew a laugh from the instructors. He was embarrassed that he had to spout the company line to a group of hunter ed instructors that clearly knew better.
When you do the math, you need to get over 1,000 fps before string jumping ceases to be a factor. No crossbow is close to that.
The only thing that speed does is reduce the impact of ranging error. There are many ways to do that. Whitetail hunting is a short range sport. It takes very little interference to deflect an arrow. Beyond about 30 yards, you can not see small twigs that don't have leaves. Under a canopy shots beyond 30 yards are risky. Some guys mistakenly think that because they can hit the bullseye consistently at 50 yards at the range, they can take long shots. Field conditions are much different than at the range. I want to be able to consistently hit the bullseye at 50 yards at the range in order to have confidence at a 30 yard shot in the field.
We can compensate for ranging error by simply flagging at 20 and 30 yards from our stands. Of, if you are using a mobile stand like a climber and want to minimize disturbance, you can simply use a range finder to range trees from your stand an memorize them at the beginning of the hunt before a shot presents itself. Technology is another answer for ranging error for those who can afford it. Several years ago, I bought a Burris OracleX crossbow laser ranging scope. After sighting it in with your crossbow, it stores the ballistic curve for your setup. I simply put the crosshairs on the target and push a button. It ranges the deer, calculates the drop, and illuminates an aiming point on the horizontal crosshair for that distance. I prefer it because there is less movement than trying to deal with a handheld laser ranger in the presence of game.
At 20 yards, the check of a deer can drop 18-20 inches by the time an arrow arrives. I have it on video that I use for our hunter ed classes. The dow drops and the arrow flies over her back. Quiet beats speed hands down!
