Barnett Whitetail Hunter STR Crossbow

I purchased this crossbow hoping for increased speed and accuracy out to 70 yards. The Barnett Whitetail Hunter STR delivered both. I bought this xbow last Spring 2021. Assembly was rather easy with the bow portion to stock being the most difficult. The fit was extremely tight After assembly I tried one shot at 10 yards at a crossbow target. The 125 grain field point on the included 22" bolt buried this self about 8" into the target slightly higher than the point of aim without any adjustment to the scope. The next several shots were from the 20 yard distance. Bolt point of impact at target was the point of aim. I had a better quality lighted crossbow scope available that I mounted on at this time. The next sighting in shots were done with 20" bolts and 125 grain field points out to 70 yards. Accuracy was very good at all distances, but opened up as the distances increased. At 70 yards groups were slightly greater than 3". PROS: Price Accuracy, use different points ofaim so as not to destroy bolts. Light Weight CONS: Scope of Good Quality, Could Be Better String Cocking Device, Hook Axle feel out after 50 shots Picture of target at 70 yards, outdoors with slight wind. Deer taken with Whitetail Hunter STR at 45 yards, Buck went 40 yards after hit. I would definitely recommend this crossbow.

2nd year, 2nd deer . I'm a new hunter. My buddy did days of research and landed on this. I couldn't find something that looked better in the price range so I went with the Whitetail Hunter STR too. Glad I did. Consistently impressed. Good scope, very rugged design, easy to set up and use, easy to maintenance, fine to get wet, very accurate, holds zero, detachable quiver with built in broadhead wrench, aftermarket straps aren't expensive, great pattern and style, not too heavy, very ergonomic, easy to cock (just make sure you cock it all the way, not hard to do.) The more built-in style stirrup design is way better, more compact and rugged than traditional stirrups. Safety operates well. Literally zero complaints after pretty heavy use in warm, cold, wet conditions, going through lots of thick foliage, etc. I wouldn't buy any other model even close to its price range, there's just no reason to. Go for this.

The only negative thing I have to say is that shipping was stated as 2 days (it took 6). Other than that I’m extremely happy with the crossbow. I had it put together within 15 minutes (including the scope upgrade I purchased separately). The instructions were fine but the pictures showing the bow were very bad (hard to make out the details). The cocking rope is sufficient length for me at 6’2” (the instructions say it can be shortened, but I’m not sure how as mine is very tight already and I need to pull the string back a half inch to get the second hook on the string). The bow has a lot of power and Easily reaches 60 yards (and still drives a 22” bolt up to the vanes in a block target). I made the first 20 shots and tightened the bolt as instructed. I’ve shot at least 50 times today since I got it. No problems, quality craftsmanship, consistent groups and a good price.. I also have already realized that if you put a decent scope on this bow it will pile bolts one on top of the other (I’ve already split a carbon express in half at 40 yards and took the nocks off of 2 other bolts). I’m happy. It doesn’t disappoint and actually exceeded some expectations.

I bought this new Barnett Whitetail Hunter STR crossbow to replace a 175 lb Barnett Predator crossbow I bought new in 2006. The Predator was awkward and front heavy but deadly to hunt with ( I killed some really nice bucks with it over the years). I'm 70 now with arthritic hands and a newly replaced shoulder and need something lighter and better balanced but just as powerful. This bow fits that perfectly. It cocks using the same effort as the old crossbow and shoots perfect groups out to 50 yards using the same bolts and field points. I did replace the included scope with a much better lighted one. I also had a little trouble with assembly because of the arthritic hands but other than that I highly recommend this.for purchase.

I would give the bow a 4.5 star rating and the scope an absolute 0 rating. I spent quite a while trying to zero the scope. Half the time I couldn’t even get the crosshairs to adjust even with tapping on the turrets. I probably shot 50 shots from 20 to 40 yards with zero shot placement consistency. Back and forth, back and forth, over and over still suffering 6” or worse variation. Was about to give up and send the whole thing back as I definitely wouldn’t feel confident using it for hunting with the high probability of leaving a wounded animal in the woods. As a last resort I switched out the scope with an extra I had. Had this one zeroed at 20 yards in 3 shots, small adjustment for 30 yards and no adjustment at 40. The shots were then very repeatable and accurate. (I didn’t go out past 40 yards as I generally have a max 30 yard shot from my stand, and also feel the delay from shooting to strike is too long beyond 40 yards giving the animal too much time to move.) Conclusion, the bow is accurate, but the scope is absolutely unusable. As an added negative, if not being able to sight it in isn’t bad enough, the eye relief is terrible too. I had the butt-stock fully extended and the scope mounted as far forward as possible and still had to back off further for proper sight view. This left me with an uncomfortable shouldering of the bow. Just figure you will have to buy a different scope which definitely affects the price as you need to consider this as a bare bow purchase without a scope. Not even sure why you would put this piece of junk on the bow. Sell the naked bow and lower the price or put on a better scope at a reasonably higher cost.

Opening the package I had some light struggle reading the assembly instructions but everything went smoothly and was very clear. The scope is bigger than I thought and looks very well made. Ive only fired it once into a targetting block but sighting the scope is very straight forward. I cant wait to go Wild bearded turkey hunting this spring. Lots of reviews made me buy this and im not dissapointed.

I checked out alot of crossbows and this one was nicer then most at a higher price it's a little longer but not overly heave like other ones I tried . The only weak point is the scope and that's like all of them tell you get up on the 700- 900 dollar range so I got a new scope at a good price but as for it all it's a good crossbow and get some bowjax limb bampeners these thing are fast and it helps to silence bow and take vibration out will save bow in the long run. And a bow that shots little lower then 400 fps wont plane asmuch and can use more different broadheads

Amazing quality, love the brand it’s my second one and I loved it

First shot on a deer. Abit loud but powerful. Quiver is terrible and sits parallel with the stock. Fingers in the way. Quiver holds 3 arrows only. Comes with only 2 arrows . Thats a bit cheap for such a big company.

My husband’s father gifted this to my husband before he died last summer. We received it the weekend before he passed away and wanted to show it to him but realized upon arriving at the hospital that bringing a weapon into a government building was not the brightest idea… That being said, he took down a large male moose (1593lbs) in October of 2024 (Gaspésie, Qc)