Best Youth Crossbow for Hunting in 2023 [Updated List]

The younger generation is playing all kinds of sports today, and crossbow hunting is one of them. Crossbows are not limited to grown-ups only,  if you love archery and have children who really enjoy it, just like any other sports. then it’s a great opportunity to pick the best crossbow for your younger one. Well

There are numerous health benefits of hunting and archery for younger players, as it is a game that requires accuracy, control, focus, athletic strength, and dedication & making crossbow hunting an ideal sport for youth to keep them mentally and physically fit

but, investing in the right crossbow can help your child to learn how to hunt.  There are several models to choose from in the market, each offering different sets of features and specifications.

Some options are designed specifically for younger people, whereas other options are basically engineered for adults but offer the flexibility and ease-of-use that children and teenagers can benefit from.

A good crossbow for youngsters should have the following characteristics:

•         Lightweight
•         Manageable Draw weight
•         High speed
•         Improved Safety features
•         Affordable
•         Convenient to maneuver
•         Easy to maintain     

Looking for the best crossbows for youth with such features? 

Well, I have reviewed some of the best youth crossbows in this article and highlighted their distinctive features and functionalities along with their pros and cons. Let’s begin!

Our Top picks of Youth Crossbows of 2021:

Best Overall 🏆: Arrow Precision Inferno Fury
Best Budget Pick ⭐⭐: Parker Bushwacker Crossbow
Best Powerful: ⭐⭐⭐ Tenpoint Wicked Ridge

Looking for the best crossbows for youth? Well, we have reviewed some of the best crossbows in this article and highlighted their distinctive features and functionalities along with their pros and cons. Let’s begin!

Best Youth Crossbow for Hunting 2021 – Comparison Table

IMAGE	PRODUCT	DETAILS
Arrow Precision Inferno Fury	Arrow Precision Inferno Fury Crossbow	Arrow Precision Inferno Fury	Draw Weight: 175Pounds Speed: 235 FPS Length: 31 Inches	Check On Amazon
Parker Bushwacker: Powerful Youth crossbow	Parker Bushwacker: Powerful Youth crossbow	Parker Bushwacker: Powerful Youth crossbow	Draw Weight: 150 Pounds Velocity: 285 Fps Power Stroke: 11 inches	Check On Amazon
Tenpoint Wicked Ridge:	Tenpoint Wicked Ridge Crossbow	Tenpoint Wicked Ridge:	Draw Weight: 150 Pounds Speed: 300 fps Power Stroke: 108 Inches	Check On Amazon
SA Sports Fever:	SA Sports Fever: Powerful crossbow	SA Sports Fever: Powerful crossbow	Draw Weight: 175 Pounds Velocity: 240 fps Power Stroke: 10.25 Inches	Check On Amazon
Barnett Youth Recruit	Barnett Youth Recruit: Best Beginner Crossbow	Barnett Youth Recruit: Best Beginner Crossbow	Draw Weight: 100 Pounds Velocity: 256 fps Power Stroke: 12.5 Inches	Check On Amazon
Daisy 4003 Youth Crossbow	Daisy 4003: Youth Crossbow for Kids	Daisy 4003: Youth Crossbow for Kids	Draw Weight: 29 Pounds Velocity: 120 fps Power Stroke: 11 Inches	Check On Amazon

1-Arrow Precision Inferno Fury: Best Overall

For a long time, the Inferno Fury by Arrow Precision is spot in our list of  Top rated Youth Crossbow to get in 2020. It has been regarded as the ultimate choice for beginners and young hunters. It features an easy-to-handle, compact and lightweight design in an affordable price tag.

The Inferno Fury crossbow Kit weighs only around 4.8 lbs. and is a compact crossbow that can be operated easily by almost anyone.

The lightweight construction helps ensure that you can aim and hold the bow comfortably without straining your arm which can throw off the shot’s accuracy.

The fiberglass limbs provide a lightweight and robust build while the aluminum barrel enables the arrow to follow a smooth track. The rear stock is also made from a lightweight carbon polymer and is ambidextrous in design.

The Arrow Precision Inferno Fury comes with a practical and powerful build that looks fantastic too, and measures 31 inches making it the perfect length for young shooters. This crossbow is all covered in a camouflage pattern to merge in with the surroundings while hunting.

That in itself is a benefit for shooters seeking to stay undetected in a blind and also offers a professional and elegant look to the crossbow. It also provides a padded shoulder harness for additional support.

Inferno Fury is a compact yet high-performance crossbow that can hit mobile and stationary targets easily and accurately. This recurve bow, along with its stellar performance, comes with an impressive speed that is quick enough to keep up with running targets.

Moreover, this crossbow comes with a handy rope-cocking tool to support you in a smooth and efficient draw and for the included red dot scope it incorporates an adjustable weaver style mount.

While recurve crossbows are usually noisy, the Inferno Fury is much quieter than most of its pricier competitors. However, investing in dampeners will be a smart idea, because it would both minimize the sound and vibration helping you to take accurate shots. The Inferno Fury provides an anti-dry fire, an automatic safety system, and a thumb guard to reduce the chances of accidents.

The package includes everything a beginner needs to get started; red dot scope, quick detach quiver with 4 arrows, padded shoulder sling, adjustable scope mount, and a convenient instructional manual.

Inferno Fury boasts a robust and durable structure and is engineered to offer excellent performance, all at a price that suits almost every budget.

2-Parker Bushwacker: Powerful Youth crossbow for the money 

Young hunters who are excited about starting crossbow shooting need a crossbow that can easily take down small to medium games safely. Ergo, the Parker Bushwacker is one of the best compound crossbow for this matter offering Parker’s hard-hitting performance with superior accuracy.

The black ballistic polymer stock with cool SpiderWeb design can deliver up to 300 fps of power with precision. Parker’s latest solid limb technology with built-in Pocket offers greater speed and agility by making it light and stable.

The 3X scope that comes with the package requires only minor adjustments for acceptable clarity. Since this crossbow is specifically made for beginners and young archers, the lens is pretty good and easy to sight in for proper aiming.

In comparison with other compound crossbows, vibration and noise are minimal, mainly due to low firing speed. The Parker’s trigger system offers two security mechanisms: dry fire inhibitor and auto safety activation which can be disengaged with both hands.

It has a single step setup, as all the essentials such as cams, cable, and strings are already mounted. You only have to attach the prod on the stock, screw in the foot stirrup and arrow quiver, and finally install the scope.

The package includes The Parker Bushwacker 150 Crossbow, Foot stirrup, Multi-reticle scope, quiver, manual, assembling hardware, and a warranty card. Parker provides a lifetime warranty on all of its crossbows but the warranty will be terminated in the event of misuse and dry fire.

Since the rope cocking aid is not offered in the kit, you can buy one to make the cooking process easier, smoother, and more efficient.

Overall, it is the best choice for both young hunters and target shooters. Thanks to the low draw weight, small price tag, and consistent performance, it is the best-rated youth crossbow for hunting.

3-Tenpoint Wicked Ridge:  Ladies Crossbow 

TenPoint is the biggest US-based crossbow manufacturing company, popularly known for its wide range of high-end crossbows. We also got covered on best of ten-point crossbow models available in market

Ten Point’s spectacular Wicked Ridge-Lady Ranger has been designed to introduce women and young people to crossbow shooting.

This youth crossbow is built specifically so that you can comfortably cock it with your hands if you have any knowledge of doing it.

However, if you’re having trouble cocking it with your hand, you can still use the ACU-52 cocking aid that comes with the package.

Cocking with ACU-52 is recommended for inexperienced shooters, as it is not only easy, but also safe.

Wicked Ridge comes loaded with smart safety features such as the Auto Safety feature and the Dry Fire Inhibitor to avoid unwanted fire and thick nylon wings for comfort and convenience.

The stock of this crossbow is semi-skeletonized to minimize the total load, while the anodized riser lowers the frontal weight. The pass-thru grip helps the hunter to keep the crossbow tightly and also reduces the danger of fingers entering the string path.

The non-illuminated optic that comes with the kit has many target points and is a great pick for an inexperienced shooter. Lady Ranger is very fast and easy to assemble with the aid of guides or online videos; showing you how to mount any Wicked Ridge Crossbow piece by piece.

The package includes all you need to start shooting straight away; a Tenpoint Scope, a fast detach quiver and three carbon bolts.

4-SA Sports Fever: Strongest & Powerfull crossbow

If you are new to the world of archery and looking for a crossbow to start shooting for the first time, SA Sports Fever would not disappoint you.  The fever recurves crossbow is ideal for newbies and sport veterans alike and comes in a ready-to-shoot package so you’ll have all you need to get started.

While the SA Sports Fever does not all under the best crossbows available on the market and offers just a 1-year warranty, however, it is capable of providing good enough performance to refine your archery skills.

It is one of the most compact and lightweight crossbows with a weight of only 4.8 pounds so you can practice shooting without having any discomfort.

It also contains an integrated, stock-molded broadhead wrench and a flip-open storage space, so you can place extra bolts for convenience here.

Sports Fever has an extremely practical design. The limb is made up of fiberglass that significantly contributes to its low weight. It also has a gentle curve on the forearm to improve grip while the ergonomic shoulder sling makes carrying much comfortable.

Unlike most other lightweight bows, the Fever is pretty stable at shooting and remains perfectly steady. The scope that comes with the package is pretty good and provides crisp images and fog protection.

This best recurve crossbow for youth fires arrows at a speed of 240 FPS that can work effectively for smaller targets crossbow. However, it isn’t enough power to knock down the large game. The power restricts its use to around 30 yards if you want to ensure accuracy and fair grouping of shots.

There is a significant increase in the steady decline of arrows past this point, resulting in much less accuracy and speed. A problem with the SA Sports Fever is that the four arrows in the packet are of very low quality and can break easily on impact; however, the use of higher quality arrows increases the efficiency of the bow very significantly.

Fever is good for use even by young archers as it is hard to fire off unanticipated shots on this weapon due to the anti-dry fire system and automatic safety. Although no suppression is applied to the crossbow, this is not a major problem because the bow is naturally quiet because of its low power.

All in all, with a velocity of 240 FPS and a weight of only 4.8 pounds, Its perfect crossbow for deer hunting specially for youth or beginner to experince hunting at a very low price tag.

5-Barnett Youth Recruit: Best Beginner Youth crossbow 

BARNETT is one of the most widely known crossbow labels amongst professional hunters and recreational shooters. And, the Youth Recruit is one of their best-selling products to fulfill the desires of crossbow hunting for beginner and young hunters when it comes to diving into this sport.

Barnett is best known for employing new designs and materials to introduce high-quality crossbows to the market. for complete information>> check out the latest best barnett crossbow model reviews 

Well talking about Youth Recruit Crossbow. It’s a compact and portable crossbow with customizable stock to suit any body type and structure.

Barnett did a very good job by utilizing composite laminated limbs and stockings for this crossbow.

Crafted from durable material, although the design is not as impressive and refined as the high-end models, this bow will serve your young kids well for a very long period of time.

The Youth recruit strikes the perfect balance of low-draw weight and strength to offer an amazing hunting experience to people with small frames. It does a pretty good job for its size, replicating the appearance and feel of advanced and expensive crossbows.

A rope cocking tool is included in the box, making this one of the simplest crossbows to cock. It can deliver a velocity of about 256 FPS which is more than adequate to chase larger games like an elk or bear.

This crossbow performs pretty well in short to medium-range shooting within 30 to 40 yards. In terms of accuracy and precision, it does a fairly decent job, kudos to the included Red Dot sight.

It does not produce as much vibrational noise as we had expected from a crossbow at this price range. Obviously, it’s not going to be completely silent, but adding a few string dampeners here and there should make it a fairly silent bow.

Like all other Barnett crossbows, special emphasis is placed on the safety mechanism of the bow and an anti-dry fire feature has been incorporated since newcomers are more likely to misuse the bow.

Its very simple to assemble with the help of the provided instruction manual; place the riser in the stock, make absolutely sure it is secured in and bolt it down.

The package includes an adjustable red dot sight, lightweight quiver, three-20” arrows, rope cocking device, and lubrication wax. For a perfect hunting experience, the Barnett Recruit Youth 100 comes with a customizable butt pad and also includes finger reminders and pass-through foregrip.

6-Daisy 4003: Youth Crossbow for Kids

For many years, Daisy youth crossbow is a very trusted name when it comes to teaching kids how to hunt and shoot safely. The Daisy 4003 is a magnificent kids crossbow  under 10 that introduces the basics of using a bow to younger enthusiasts. It is a fairly convenient and lightweight bow, ideal for children to learn to hunt under adult supervision.

The Daisy Youth hunting crossbow is made of a composite frame and lightweight fiberglass with a color theme in black and red and not a Camo pattern as it is intended for home practice.

The Daisy Youth Crossbow is lightweight and easy to carry, it only weighs 4.4 pounds, making it extremely easy for kids to maneuver and take a perfect aim comfortably.

The draw weight is also very low which makes it simpler for the kids to cock their own crossbows, making them feel more confident with the process and training them up to take on a bigger bow without parental assistance in the coming years.

With its fast shooting and simplistic design, the Daisy 4003 has impressed a lot of people. This youth crossbow for kids has a fully adjustable rear sight for elevation and windage which helps to improve the shot accuracy.

It’s a pretty simple and user-friendly weapon, although the younger children may find it a little bit difficult to cock the crossbow, older kids won’t have any trouble using it for training with its easy to pull drawstring.

Daisy 4003 is very safe to use as a children’s crossbow, it has the mechanical safety that automatically engages when the crossbow is cocked, and also the bolts have rounded tips to avoid injury while hunting. The Daisy crossbow for kids arrives with two-16″ aluminum bolts with fixed target points.
The Daisy 4003 Youth Crossbow, with its low weight and draw weight, serves its purpose extremely well as being a children’s crossbow.

Buying Guide of Hunting Crossbow for Youth 

When it comes to choosing the best youth crossbow for hunting, you would need one with all the attributes that will help you develop your archery and hunting skills. Moreover, it is also essential to have safety features in the bow to protect you and those around you while practicing.
Things to consider while buying youth crossbow

• Safety:

Juveniles and children can struggle while handling potentially dangerous equipment such as guns and crossbows. Addition of safety features to the youth crossbows can effectively reduce the chances of youngsters hurting themselves or others around them while using a crossbow.

• Size and Weight:

One big consideration while purchasing a youth crossbow is its size and weight. You have to make sure that the weight of the crossbow you are going to buy should be manageable by the kid. The bow size should also be small and compact so that it can be handled by the youngsters conveniently.

• Budget:

Price is another essential aspect to consider, as you wouldn’t expect to pay much on something that is meant to be used only for training purposes by children and youngsters. There are youth crossbows available so children / young lads/newbies should practice on and opt for better high-end options later on as they progress.

• Draw Weight:

The draw weight is the amount of power that is applied to draw back the arrow to take a shot. Higher draw weights ensure increased range and higher velocity. However, it can also add up to fatigue and affect your accuracy. If the draw weight of the crossbow may appear to be greater, there are systems such as rope-cocker that help in making the cocking process much easier. It’s highly suggested to check whether the children’s crossbow you’re buying comes with a rope cocking device or not.

• Velocity:

Velocity is directly linked with the amount of power with which the bolt will hit the target. It is recommended to go for options that propel the bolt faster so that you can achieve the kill with a single hit.

Types of Crossbow for Professional Hunting Experience

You can choose from several types of crossbows, such as:

• Compound:

A compound crossbow optimizes the stored energy by using cams or pulleys and drawing up the string to let-off that stored energy. Since cams and pulleys take over the operation it substantially decreases the draw weight. It also helps to make cocking smooth and simple, which is ideal for young hunters.

Certain other mechanisms make the front of the crossbow a little heavier and make it difficult to aim. Often the firing can be a little loud and string is prone to damage so you need to always carry an extra string.

• Recurve:

Recurve crossbows are much lighter than the compound bows, and even if you carry the bow for extended hours you are less likely to feel any strain. The recurve bows make less and are also very easy to manage because of the simple and direct mechanism.
On the downside, recurve bows are incredibly hard to cock, because it demands that you move the weight to the cocked position.

• Reverse Limb:

Reverse limbs are new to the sports; created by reversing the limbs of the traditional compound crossbow. These bows have a distinctive look and perform more effectively while retaining a fairly low shooting noise.
This modification further stabilizes the crossbow and improves overall balance while shooting. Also, the power stroke is also much better in reverse limb bows.

FAQs

1- What arrow size is good for Youth Crossbow?

The recommended length for a youth bow is between 16 to 22 inches. Always try to purchase the bolt length specified by the seller in the manual.

2- Do you need a license to own and shoot a crossbow?

Crossbows are declared by law to be offensive weapons and require a license to be held by 16 and under. It is however legal for youngsters to carry one when there is a competition or during the hunting season.

3- Can a felon own a crossbow?

Felons can carry a crossbow, as their firing method does not contain exploding gasses when fired and therefore not forbidden by law. Check out our complete guide on felon’s own crossbow. 

4- At what age you can start using a Crossbow?

It has been observed that children aged between 8 and 9 years old are able to operate a crossbow. However, they might need high levels of supervision to ensure safety standards and in certain labor-intensive tasks such as cocking the crossbow.

5. How Much should a Crossbow for youngsters’ weigh?

Standard crossbows used by youngsters can weigh between 6 and 9 pounds on average. However, the weight can increase with the addition of accessories such as bolts and sights.

6. How to Unload a Crossbow Without Shooting?

There are many ways to unload a crossbow without shooting. Using a crossbow diffuser can be one the most convenient ways to do so. The user inserts the diffuser and slowly decreases the tension of the string, followed by taking out the bolt from the crossbow.

Wrapping Up

The editor’s choice is the Barnett Youth Recruit 100 for best youth crossbow. If your child is just getting started, the Recruit Youth is an ideal weapon to consider, with an array of useful attachments, simple-to-use functions and features.

The TenPoint Lady Ranger Wicked Ridge is our best hunting bow for girls. It weighs much less than the Barnett with a draw weight of 150 pounds. In addition to being lightweight and user-friendly, it can deliver maximum power with satisfying precision.

The Daisy 4003 Youth is the best budget youth crossbow. We found it to be very impressive, after comparing it with other products. With its low weight and draw weight, serves its purpose extremely well as being children bow in an affordable price tag.

Watson R

Master of Modern Bowhunting, Watson knows archery equipment forward and backward. An accomplished bowhunter in his own right, his successes in the field demonstrates to novices that bowhunting isn’t something to be kept behind closed doors. Making it more accessible to beginners and advanced bowhunters alike; Watson has become an expert in the construction and use of longbows, compound bows, crossbows, archery and bowhunting gear; he now shares his knowledge openly.