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Hickory Creek Koolaid

I hunted with the Mini and Ravin R26 this year. The R26 is twice the bow compared to the Mini. Killed two doe with the Mini. One I gut shot at 10 yards. Not sure if I caused this or Mini
And one I heart shot at 20 yards. This kill was a pass thru but not impressive. Arrow laid on top of brush 10 yards down the escape route. I looked at hit site amazed it was not sticking in the ground. Appears doe carried arrow a bit.
Killed two bucks with R26. 20 yards and 40 yards. One heart shot and one double lung. Both arrows passed thru and hard into ground.
All kills were with Rage Hypodermic. I’m very thankful the bucks showed up while hunting with R26. I did not see the 10 point until in my last shooting lane. Stopped him, removed bow from hanger and shot him at 40 yards. All in about 15 seconds.
I hunt with crossbows to minimize mistakes and I’m just not a good shot with compound. My Mini will be going in the classifieds. Just can’t take the risk of missing or wounding animals. Nice concept, but doesn’t perform up to my expectations.

the Mini has the exact same potential energy as my 70/30 compound bow. Which will deliver the right arrow through any North American game animal.

bows have a limit on how much energy they can produce. Arrow mass and broad head choice are bigger deciding factors on penetration once you’ve reached a certain threshold.

I wouldn’t shoot a deer with any crossbow at 40 yards, and the bestest one won’t change that. I can shoot a 525 grain arrow 280fps and feel confident it will penetrate any part of a whitetail and reach vitals I’m willing to shoot at. Yes, so will any of the high end crossbows. But at what price, and for what advantage gained? I’m all for Going over and above what’s needed. But to say the mini is somehow underpowered for whitetail is flat out ignorant. If it is,90% of compound bow users are under powered, and every trad bow user is underpowered.

it has its warts, and if you’re someone who has no patience for details or a little critical thinking involved with your hunting, it may not be for you.

but acting like it is a toy is just silly.
 
the Mini has the exact same potential energy as my 70/30 compound bow. Which will deliver the right arrow through any North American game animal.

bows have a limit on how much energy they can produce. Arrow mass and broad head choice are bigger deciding factors on penetration once you’ve reached a certain threshold.

I wouldn’t shoot a deer with any crossbow at 40 yards, and the bestest one won’t change that. I can shoot a 525 grain arrow 280fps and feel confident it will penetrate any part of a whitetail and reach vitals I’m willing to shoot at. Yes, so will any of the high end crossbows. But at what price, and for what advantage gained? I’m all for Going over and above what’s needed. But to say the mini is somehow underpowered for whitetail is flat out ignorant. If it is,90% of compound bow users are under powered, and every trad bow user is underpowered.

it has its warts, and if you’re someone who has no patience for details or a little critical thinking involved with your hunting, it may not be for you.

but acting like it is a toy is just silly.
You seem to embellish on my post to discredit my opinion and call me ignorant and silly. I did not say the Mini is under powered for killing whitetails and I did not infer the Mini is a toy.
You also have an opinion on whether a hunter should shoot out to 40 yards. Remember what opinions represent.
You also state that I may not have the requisite qualities to hunt with the Mini.
You do know me and you need to think before you start running your mouth behind your keyboard. Embellishing on facts, and making ignorant comments about forum members is unacceptable. You are welcome to your opinion but not while bashing forum members.

Stick to the facts and be respectful.
 
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the Mini has the exact same potential energy as my 70/30 compound bow. Which will deliver the right arrow through any North American game animal.

bows have a limit on how much energy they can produce. Arrow mass and broad head choice are bigger deciding factors on penetration once you’ve reached a certain threshold.

I wouldn’t shoot a deer with any crossbow at 40 yards, and the bestest one won’t change that. I can shoot a 525 grain arrow 280fps and feel confident it will penetrate any part of a whitetail and reach vitals I’m willing to shoot at. Yes, so will any of the high end crossbows. But at what price, and for what advantage gained? I’m all for Going over and above what’s needed. But to say the mini is somehow underpowered for whitetail is flat out ignorant. If it is,90% of compound bow users are under powered, and every trad bow user is underpowered.

it has its warts, and if you’re someone who has no patience for details or a little critical thinking involved with your hunting, it may not be for you.

but acting like it is a toy is just silly.
You seem to embellish on my post to discredit my opinion and call me ignorant and silly. I did not say the Mini is under powered for killing whitetails and I did not infer the Mini is a toy.
You also have an opinion on whether a hunter should shoot out to 40 yards. Remember what opinions represent.
You also state that I may not have the requisite qualities to hunt with the Mini.
You do know me and you need to think before you start running your mouth behind your keyboard. Embellishing on facts, and making ignorant comments about forum members is unacceptable. You are welcome to your opinion but not while bashing forum members.

Stick to the facts and be respectful.
Alright enough. Let's drop this now.
 
I hunted with the Mini and Ravin R26 this year. The R26 is twice the bow compared to the Mini. Killed two doe with the Mini. One I gut shot at 10 yards. Not sure if I caused this or Mini
And one I heart shot at 20 yards. This kill was a pass thru but not impressive. Arrow laid on top of brush 10 yards down the escape route. I looked at hit site amazed it was not sticking in the ground. Appears doe carried arrow a bit.
Killed two bucks with R26. 20 yards and 40 yards. One heart shot and one double lung. Both arrows passed thru and hard into ground.
All kills were with Rage Hypodermic. I’m very thankful the bucks showed up while hunting with R26. I did not see the 10 point until in my last shooting lane. Stopped him, removed bow from hanger and shot him at 40 yards. All in about 15 seconds.
I hunt with crossbows to minimize mistakes and I’m just not a good shot with compound. My Mini will be going in the classifieds. Just can’t take the risk of missing or wounding animals. Nice concept, but doesn’t perform up to my expectations.
I see you finally threw in the towel. I'm glad others have their minis dialed in, but I could never get consistent grouping with it.
 
if you’re someone who has no patience for details or a little critical thinking involved with your hunting, it may not be for you.

This type of response is pretty typical for you. If you disagree with me, you must not have any patience or the ability to think critically. I'm not sure if you intend to offend or not....I suspect at some level you do.

I think if you mainly are coming from a compound background, the mini is probably impressive to you. If you come from a crossbow background you may realize (as I have) that you are leaving a lot of capability on the table by choosing the mini over other horizontal crossbows. I've owned the mini and probably 10 different crossbows. Even under 40 yards, the mini has some deficiencies. So, here are the reasons I prefer other horizontal crossbows to the mini (of course other than my lack of patience or ability to think critically):

1. I get much tighter circles with my other 2 crossbows I currently own (Scorpyd DS and Ravin R10). Significant difference. Even under 40.
2. I might want to go above 40 yards if conditions are perfect, the difference in accuracy and speed become even more important then.
3. The mini is the only crossbow I've ever owned where I managed to fire off an arrow accidentally while the safety was supposedly on. That was scary.
4. If you want to adjust illumination on your scope (at least the one I had on the mini), it's hard to do without reaching through the "triangle of death".
5. I had a hard time shooting the mini lefty.
6. Speed/Power is less (still sufficient, but I like having excess).

The vertical orientation is a clear advantage but with newer horizontal bows getting smaller, not that much of an advantage in my mind to offset the disadvantages.

BTW: I think if you like the mini, you're still smart. You just have different preferences than me.
 
An r26 is actually pretty close to "twice the bow" if we're comparing ke, and it's a good bit more than twice the bow if we're counting dollars. I looked at one back when they first came out and my store got the first shipment in. Ultimately didn't like a few design features and quirks that may have gotten resolved over the past 3 or 4 years. But I think it's about the only thing that can be compared to the power/compactness that the mini delivers.

The quick and dirty realtree calculator shows the r26 producing 142lbs (400 grain arrow at 400fps) vs 82lbs (350 grain arrow at 325fps) for the mini. That's using stock arrows and advertised fps. Real world may vary, but that's quite substantial at first blush. But, like ole kyler points out that 82 is nothing to sneeze at. Here's gold tips thoughts on minimum ke to ethically harvest game:


You'll notice both bows are not only good to go for deer, but for musk ox and cape buffalo as well. If you like excess, you have it? How much is enough? Well, a 30-06 is excessive for whitetail, and we make .300 Remington Ultra Magnums. But if you failed to recover a deer or just "weren't impressed" with the performance of the 06, I'd bet all my money every time that it wasn't the calibers fault.

The idea of not having enough POWER to ethically harvest whitetail, even at the 40 or 50 yards, with the mini, seems highly unlikely to me. The math doesn't suggest that as a problem, and neither does my own personal experience over 2 years and 8 or so deer. I have achieved the results the math predicts, which is pass throughs even with twizzlers and flappers unless heavy bone is encountered. In those situations, the deer has still been recovered with that bone quite messed up.

I think the only logical way to account for losing deer with the mini (assuming a basic level of competency and common sense that I'm comfortable assuming most folks reporting problems have) is poor tuning and missing. I do not think a mini is as forgiving of poor tuning and marksmanship deficiencies as most well-regarded crossbows, and while I think it's a fair trade off for what the mini offers, I don't mind calling a con a con.

A "normal" crossbow basically cannot be in good operating condition, shoot the manufacturer's proprietary shafts, and be out of tune. With the theoretical exception of some cam timing issues which I personally haven't ever seen come into play in the 15 or so years I've moneyed with them (5 professionally). The centershot is set from the factory and the end user cannot change it without damaging the bow. At most, you can put more pressure on one Limb or the other when cocking it, but most bows will self-equalize once your grubby mitts are off the string. Usually, manufacturers get these things right. If they don't, your only real rexourse is to return the bow and try again. But most crossbows are setup and ready to rock provided you can sight them in. Heck, every tenpoint, Horton, and wicked ridge used to be boresighted and dang close to hunt ready without the user doing single thing besides screwing on a broadhead.

With the mini, you have all the possibility to get stuff wrong that you do with a compound bow. Your rest can be too far left, right, up, or down. Your nockpoint can be incorrect. You can be improperly spined. You can have cam timing/synch issues or out of tiller limbs. The works. And, since you're shooting a very short shaft very quickly out of a short ata and powerstroke bow, those issues can become magnified.

It's a double edged sword. On one hand, you can make adjustments and you aren't reliant on the manufacturer to get it right and to provide you arrows. You shoot what you want and can tweak to accommodate. On the other hand, it's not plug and play or set it and forget it.

As far as accuracy, the mini is easy to shoot poorly. It has a fairly heavy and creepy trigger. Or at least mine does. It's light. And while 325fps is fast, its slow enough that that arrow can't leave before you've had time to push, pull, and/or flinch at the shot. I know I personally have to really focus on making good shots if I'm shooting targets at 40 or 50 yards. Luckily, deer are big and I shoot more of them inside 20 than outside 20. I've noticed the shot isn't always exactly where I thought it would be, but the only deer I've lost have involved deflections or poor yardage estimates. My fault, not the bows.

Ultimately, I get that not everybody will like the same thing. I get no kickback promoting or defending the mini. I just think it's slick and don't want folks interested in it to not try it because the world's most overly analytical hunting forum is also now about the first Google result when you type it in your browser.
 
You seem to embellish on my post to discredit my opinion and call me ignorant and silly. I did not say the Mini is under powered for killing whitetails and I did not infer the Mini is a toy.
You also have an opinion on whether a hunter should shoot out to 40 yards. Remember what opinions represent.
You also state that I may not have the requisite qualities to hunt with the Mini.
You do know me and you need to think before you start running your mouth behind your keyboard. Embellishing on facts, and making ignorant comments about forum members is unacceptable. You are welcome to your opinion but not while bashing forum members.

Stick to the facts and be respectful.
I think you've been posting on the wrong thread. This is HC fanboy thread, not r26 fanboy page. Maybe start one....
I'm done now Red
 
I’m sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings.

I addressed a very specific implication - that the hickory creek is inferior to faster crossbows. And the implication was based off of extremely anecdotal evidence which contradicts millions of bow kills.

and my charge that the bow requires a little effort and thought, is not aimed at anyone. I have made it clear that I don’t like to think when I’m hunting. I like to have things simple and no fiddle. The mini is no different than any other bow at home. I’m also clear in saying it has drawbacks.

I didn’t say that anyone was ignorant. I said that implying that the mini wouldn’t have been effective “when the bucks came through” is ignorant. I do and say stupid things often. It doesn’t mean I’m stupid. Sorry for the confusion.

I didn’t say anyone was silly. I said making a public statement with very little in the way of quantifiable information, with the implication a tool isn’t effective, is silly. I say silly things all the time, and that doesn’t mean I’m silly. Sorry for the confusion.


@dlist777 gives a good breakdown of useful information, with some differences between options.

@larasea you said the mini is “half the bow”. I assume you mean that the R26 has some specific advantages over the mini? If so, care to share what those are?

I don’t run my mouth, I don’t attack members of this community. I think before I speak or write. I’m careful with words. My apologies if that isn’t clear in my post.
 
Here's probably the honest answer at least for me @larasea. I don't want to accept the fact that the Ravin is superior because the price tag is crazy (for me) and I already have the Mini, ha!
 
Black friday had crossbows locally that were $150 bucks... It was hard to justify the price tag on the mini honestly. I can't even begin to fathom the Ravin price tag.
I do like the vertical orientation, the fact it shoots arrows not bolts, the string and cable are easy to change out and the tunability. It's an acceptable price point for me and for what I've used it for. I guess for $150 a guy could buy 5 cheapos before hitting that Mini $750 mark though.
 
I hunted with the Mini and Ravin R26 this year. The R26 is twice the bow compared to the Mini. Killed two doe with the Mini. One I gut shot at 10 yards. Not sure if I caused this or Mini
And one I heart shot at 20 yards. This kill was a pass thru but not impressive. Arrow laid on top of brush 10 yards down the escape route. I looked at hit site amazed it was not sticking in the ground. Appears doe carried arrow a bit.
Killed two bucks with R26. 20 yards and 40 yards. One heart shot and one double lung. Both arrows passed thru and hard into ground.
All kills were with Rage Hypodermic. I’m very thankful the bucks showed up while hunting with R26. I did not see the 10 point until in my last shooting lane. Stopped him, removed bow from hanger and shot him at 40 yards. All in about 15 seconds.
I hunt with crossbows to minimize mistakes and I’m just not a good shot with compound. My Mini will be going in the classifieds. Just can’t take the risk of missing or wounding animals. Nice concept, but doesn’t perform up to my expectations.
When do you plan on listing it?
 
This was just posted on FB. Someone asked what was updated, Jerry responded "Take a close look at the tubing, it is corrugated, stronger and lighter. It also has a pull spring in the front trigger, instead of a push, compression spring that had some friction, this was upgrade from the later part of last year.". I don't have a mini yet. Are these older updates (like updates from the end of last year or some time earlier this year)?

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