"Own the [Bow]Hunt!"

It’s back to bow blogging for me after spending part of last week on the “Porter’s Pursuit” page tracking NRA President Jim Porter on his quest to claim a turkey grand slam. After dropping three of the four U.S. subspecies in five days, he'll be back at it in mid-April when we meet in New Mexico to take on subspecies No. 4: the Merriam’s.

I spent the back half of the week in Knoxville, Tenn., attending the 2014 Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) conference. Amid the informative sessions on video editing, social media and photography, a few hunting and shooting sports manufacturers were on hand to promote their products and offer opportunities to test them Saturday at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's (TWRA) John Sevier Hunter Education Center.

Considering winter temps have been in the 20s and 30s in Virginia all winter, it was fun to spend time in 70-degree weather and shoot a few crossbows. One of the models I tried is the compact, nicely balanced Killer Instinct (KI) 350, which offers 14 inches of powerstroke on a solid machined aluminum rail. Width drops from 18 inches to only 14 inches wide in the cocked position with limbs featuring KI’s Compression Molded Limb technology. As the name implies, the KI 350 shoots bolts at 350 fps with the KI 365 clocking speeds of 365 fps. The two models are priced at $499 and $599, respectively, and come with a “ready to shoot” package including KI’s “Own the Hunt” 4X32 illuminated glass-reticle scope, three 20-inch carbon crossbolts, a quiver, cocking device and rail lube. The KI 365 also comes with string suppressors. With a KI tagline of “Own the Hunt,” how could I pass up the chance to shoot a few bolts? KI bows also feature precision CNC cams, anti-dry-fire technology and smooth, ambidextrous, 5-pound triggers.

“The biggest thing about Killer Instinct bows is that they shoot like higher-end products so you get high-end performance at a mid-range price,” said Jason Reid with the company's sales and marketing department, who kindly offered to do all the cocking for me so I could keep on shooting. The fact Reid says the Killer Instinct line was specifically designed with value in mind means hunters’ hard-earned dollars can stretch that much further.