Picked up a compound bow and a crossbow last year on clearance at Walmart.  I'm not a huge hunter, but have always kinda wanted a crossbow (wanted a Barnett Commando back when I was a teenager, never could afford one at the time), so I kept an eye on my local archery section when they started marking them down last year.

The compound is a Bear Pledge.  Got it for $99.  Came with a whisker biscuit, and I picked up a quiver for it for $5 at a nearby store.  Got quite a few arrows on clearance too, and some hunting points and field points.

The crossbow is a Barnett Whitetail.  Got it for $30.  Again, got some arrowheads and bolts to go with it, along with a padded case.  I've shot it twice, and lost the bolt both times, so decided to shelve them until I could pick up something to shoot at.

Sooo, this week I finally picked up a couple of targets, again on closeout cause I'm a cheapskate.

https://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=26536381

https://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=16940661

Anyhow, since I'm new to this archery stuff, I got to thinking about how to maintain these things.  Does the fact that these always have some tension on them not have a bad effect on them over time?  Growing up I had a couple of the old Ben Pearson kid's bows and I always unstrung them after I used them.

I'm also wondering what are wear parts on these things?  I know that over time parts and components for these will no longer be available, and I like to be able to maintain and repair things, so I tend to try to keep extra common wear parts on hand.

Any comments are welcome.

Going to hopefully get out in the yard this weekend and finally try these things out.

I think that’s a great buy on the whitetail a friend has one and they are lightweight and sling a bolt at close to 400 I think. Leave them strung.