How to Decock a Wicked Ridge Crossbow Safely

If your Wicked Ridge crossbow is equipped with ACUdraw De-Cock, it's designed with a specific decocking procedure built into the cocking device itself, per TenPoint's design. This lets you safely reverse the cocking process using the crank mechanism rather than discharging a bolt. The exact steps (how far to turn the crank, what to watch for, how the mechanism signals it's fully decocked) are specific to your model and are covered in your owner's manual - follow that procedure exactly rather than guessing.

If your crossbow's cocking device doesn't include a built-in de-cock feature, the generally accepted safe method across the crossbow industry is firing a discharge bolt into a safe, appropriate target rather than attempting to ease the string down by hand. Manually releasing tension on a cocked string is dangerous - it can injure your hands, damage the limbs or cams, or cause an unexpected discharge. A controlled shot into a proper target is the standard safe alternative.

This bears repeating because it's a genuine safety issue, not just a best practice: a cocked crossbow string stores a large amount of energy, and trying to control that release manually - by hand, slowly letting it forward - is unpredictable and has caused serious injuries across the industry regardless of brand. Always use either the built-in de-cock mechanism (if equipped) or a discharge shot into a safe target.

Whether you're cocking with ACUdraw, ACUdraw Silent, ACUdraw 50, or a manual method, a few principles apply broadly: always point the crossbow in a safe direction during both cocking and decocking, keep your face and body clear of the string's path, don't load a bolt until you're ready to shoot, and never leave a crossbow cocked and loaded for extended periods without consulting your manual's guidance on storage. If you're unsure which cocking device your model uses or how it behaves, check our reviews hub for model-specific coverage.

We're keeping this guide general on purpose: the exact decocking steps differ by model and by which ACUdraw variant is installed, and we don't have a model-specific step-by-step manual to reproduce here responsibly. Your owner's manual (or a replacement copy from TenPoint's official site if you've misplaced yours) is the correct source for the exact sequence for your specific crossbow.