With Pennsylvania opening its deer season this weekend, Alex and JoAnne Zidock asked me to appear on their popular TV show, Out In The Open, which airs across Pennsylvania and New Your State. Since both states allow crossbows during their archery seasons, I brought a batch of gear items that hunters can use for a successful opening day.
Tuning Broadheads
One of the least expensive, yet critical, pieces of gear every archer should have is the “arrow inspector,” which lets an archer spin arrows at high speed and check that the broadhead is aligned properly. If the insert isn’t perfectly aligned with the arrow shaft, the head will wobble and won’t impact consistently at point of aim. It weighs just a few ounces, and you can order it from Pine Ridge Archery.
Excalibur REVX
Some hunting regulations limit how narrow a crossbow can be, so I wanted to showcase the Excalibur REVX, which shoots at 400 fps yet uses a simple recurve design with no wheels or cables. Since modern crossbows are machines, the more moving parts a bow contains, the more that can go wrong. I’ve used Excalibur recurve models for years and love their simplicity and performance.
Super Speed
At the other end of the tech spectrum is Barnett’s Hyper Raptor T-REX that launches a .204-diameter arrow at 440 fps. This bow cocks and decocks with a crank and is very simple to use. Topped with a Burris OracleX range-finding scope, it’s an extremely effective deer-hunting machine. We also had fun with the “can call,” which is incredibly simple to use yet very effective, especially during the rut.
Meet in the Middle
This is the third TV Show I’ve done with the Zidocks, who live in the Poconos, nearly a six-hour drive to my home. As a compromise, we meet in the Cabela’s parking lot in Hamburg, PA, to make the distance more manageable. As if any hunter ever needed an excuse to visit Cabela’s, it’s a bonus for a long drive on crowded highways. Here’s a preview of the show and details about where it will appear.
