Best Crossbows for Hunting

"Crossbow hunting" pulls 5,400 real monthly searches on its own, more than double "best hunting crossbow" (590), a sign that most people landing here are still researching the activity itself, not comparing two specific models. This guide covers what actually separates a hunting-capable crossbow from a target or backyard one, using real, confirmed specs from the two merchants we track rather than a generic checklist.

What actually makes a crossbow hunting-ready

Three numbers matter more than any marketing copy: speed (fps), kinetic energy (ft-lbs), and draw weight. Speed and energy determine how flat the bolt flies and how much force it delivers on impact; draw weight determines how hard the bow is to cock and, on a traditional (non-cam-assisted) design, contributes directly to that energy figure. A crossbow with no published speed or energy figure isn't necessarily bad, it just means we can't confirm how it performs, and we say so rather than guessing.

Among the models we've fully confirmed, CenterPoint's compound lineup sits at 400 fps across its AT400 and Hellion 400, with the AT400 rated at 200 lbs draw weight and the Hellion 400 at 185 lbs. Ravin's flagship models take a different engineering path entirely: the R470 XERO XK7 (470 fps, 196 ft-lbs of energy) and the R500 (500 fps, 222 ft-lbs) both use Ravin's own cam system to bring the felt draw weight down to just 17 lbs, despite generating more speed and energy than CenterPoint's traditional 185-200 lb designs. That's a real, citable illustration of why draw weight alone is a poor stand-in for hunting power, see our full explainer on draw weight for the mechanics behind it.

Real confirmed hunting-capable models, compared

That table tells a real budget story on its own: CenterPoint's two fully-spec'd compound models get you a genuine 400-fps hunting rig for under $900, while Ravin's fully-spec'd flagships start well above $2,600 and buy you higher rated speed, a dramatically lower cocking effort, and, on the R470 XERO XK7, a built-in Garmin Xero X1i rangefinding scope bundled in the price. Sixteen of Ravin's 18 listed models and three of CenterPoint's remaining five models have a confirmed real price but not yet a confirmed spec page, so we've left them out of this table rather than estimating numbers we haven't verified.

Matching a crossbow to your specific hunt

Not every hunting situation calls for the same crossbow. A deer hunter shooting from a fixed blind at 20-30 yards has different priorities than a turkey hunter who needs a shorter, quieter setup for a bird with poor tolerance for movement, or a parent buying a first crossbow for a teenager who needs something they can safely cock and hold steady. We cover each of those specifically:

• Best Crossbow for Deer Hunting, the single largest named-game cluster in this niche's real search data (1,300 monthly searches).
• Best Youth Crossbow: A Parent's Buying Guide, what actually changes for a smaller or less-experienced shooter, beyond just "buy a lighter one."
• Best Crossbow for Turkey Hunting, a smaller but real, distinct cluster (110 monthly searches) with genuinely different range and noise requirements than deer hunting.

Check your state's regulations before you buy

Crossbow hunting is now legal in some form in the large majority of US states, but the specifics, legal seasons, minimum draw weight, cocking-device rules, and hunter-education certification requirements, vary by state and change from year to year. Nothing in this guide substitutes for checking your own state wildlife agency's current hunting digest before you buy a crossbow or head into the field with one.

How we verify this guide

Every speed, energy, draw-weight, and price figure above comes directly from CenterPoint's and Ravin's own product pages, fetched and checked individually rather than copied from a competing "top crossbows" list. Where a real, currently-sold model's full spec sheet hasn't been fetched yet, we mark it as unconfirmed instead of estimating from a similar-looking model.

FAQ

Do I need a 400+ fps crossbow to hunt deer?

No. Plenty of deer have been taken with slower crossbows than the models in our table above. Speed and energy matter for a flatter trajectory and more margin at longer ranges, but shot placement and a properly matched broadhead matter more than chasing the highest fps number on the shelf.

Why does Ravin's draw weight look so much lower than CenterPoint's?

Ravin's compound models use a proprietary cam system that changes how the crossbow stores and releases energy, which lets the company advertise a much lower felt draw weight (17 lbs) while still hitting a higher rated speed than CenterPoint's traditional 185-200 lb designs. It's a genuinely different mechanical approach, not a smaller, weaker bow, see our draw-weight explainer for the full mechanics.

Is a $349.99 crossbow actually hunting-capable, or just a starter model?

CenterPoint's AT400 is a real, confirmed 400-fps compound crossbow with a published 200 lb draw weight at that price point, a legitimate hunting-capable rig, not a toy or backyard-only model. It won't match a $4,000+ flagship's rangefinding electronics or cocking convenience, but the underlying speed and energy numbers are genuinely in the same performance range.

Read Also

• How to Choose a Crossbow: Complete Buying Guide 2026
• Best Crossbow for Deer Hunting
• Best Youth Crossbow: A Parent's Buying Guide
• Crossbow Draw Weight: What It Means and How to Choose

Sources

• [S001] CenterPoint Archery : AT400 product page, (accessed 2026-09-09)
• [S002] CenterPoint Archery : Hellion 400 product page, (accessed 2026-09-09)
• [S003] Ravin Crossbows : R470 XERO XK7 product page, (accessed 2026-09-09)
• [S004] Ravin Crossbows : R500 product page, (accessed 2026-09-09)