Crossbow article

[Munsterlndr]

Informative article written by someone who has actually hunted with both a compound, long bow and a crossbow. Imagine that, someone with actual experience that knows what he's talking about! ;)

It's kind of funny, I've read dozens and dozens if not hundreds of articles over the years about crossbows and hunting and have yet to read one written by someone who has successfully used one to harvest a deer, who then supports all of the arguments put forth by the anti's. There might be one out there but I seem to have missed it. It kind of seems like almost everyone who actually has the experience to make an informed judgment seems to agree that the whole "It's a bow/It's not a bow" debate is just plain silly.

http://www.biggamehunt.net/sections/Archery/Dispelling-the-Crossbow-Myth-01220812.html

[Swamp Ghost]

Nice Op-Ed piece. :rolleyes:

[TOW]

This is an article that I wrote a few years back.

Yes, I have hunted and killed deer with longbows, recurves, compounds and crossbows. My hunts are exactly the same. I'm setting up on bucks the same way, killing them at the same distances - most times from the very same trees that I used a vertical bow out of.

My first year crossbow hunting…

After a couple weeks of steady deer hunting I was super tired when the alarm went off. I just about rolled over and went back to sleep. But the rut was on and my favorite saying of “Hunt Now, Sleep When You’re Dead” got me up and out of my warm bed. The rut is in full swing and that’s NOT a good time to be sleeping in.

The stand that I was going to hunt that morning was in a cut over area that had been logged 5 years ago. The thicket that I was in hadn’t been touched by the loggers and had good runs and buck sign. Unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot of trees suitable for treestands. I was situated 20 foot up a maple close to a couple fairly used runs. I was sky lined somewhat so I had on my Predator camo. As day was breaking good a spike walked right under my stand and proceeded on down through the thicket. I watched him intently as he would nose the ground about every 3 or 4 steps. Hmmm...

He went on down through the thicket, then made circle and came back crossing below me at 15 yards. He was still smelling the ground. That gave me some hope that maybe I had a hot doe in the neighborhood.

Not long after he had left my cell phone rang (Sorry - this is a Mrs. requirement) and my son asked,” Hey, What are you doing?” I said,” What the Hay do you think I’m doing. I’m hunting. What are you doing?” He said,” Getting ready to drag out a good 8 pointer.” He had been hunting my stand in another county. After an abbreviated version of how he got him we hung up.

I saw nothing for about and hour when I caught hurried movement south of me. The blur of brown was a doe being chased by a decent buck. They both ran by so quick at 40 yards I couldn’t tell how big the buck was or how many points that had. I eased around in my stand to watch back the way that they had run. After constant watching that way for a half hour I returned my attention to the other areas of the thicket.

A half hour passed and a cough was building up in my throat. I was still recovering from a chest cold and had forgot my cough drops. I did a hand muffled clearing of my throat and as soon as I did I heard a noise to my right. I eased my head around and there stood a big doe. It looked like she could have been Horsehead’s daughter (a legendary matriarch local doe). She was good 135 pounds or so. Evidently she had heard me, but didn’t make out what it was. Her rapid steamy breath exhalation gave me a clue that she was being pursued. Where she stopped was a non-shot because of the abundance of small trees that there was no way to get an arrow through that tangle. As I watched her she started walking away down the thicket. Out popped Mr. Big Boy. A nice white racked 8 pointer with excellent mass and length of tines. He, of course, was in the same no shot area as the doe was. As much as I moved around to try and find an opening to squeeze an arrow thrugh I just couldn't do it. They meandered on down through the thicket. The spike that I had seen earlier popped out and was following them, the big boy would run him off and then return his attention to the doe. The big boy and the doe finally left.

My cell phone rang again. It was the wife this time. “Did Mark call you?”, she asked. “Yes, but I can’t talk I have deer all around me. Bye”

After awhile the spike gave up and walked back and went by me again at 10 yards. I thought,” Why couldn’t that have been the big boy?”

About 10 minutes after he left I saw another deer come out where the doe and bucks had came into the thicket. It was a button buck. I surmised that it was probably the big doe’s young and had been run off by the big boy. He picked around in front of me and then turned and went the same way as the spike. Again I thought, ”Why couldn’t that have been the big boy?”

An hour later I catch the sight of white antlers in the thicket where the doe and buck had gone. The big boy stepped out and was smelling the ground over where the spike and the button had been. I thought I just can’t just sit here and watch him walk off again. Desperation time! I pulled my grunt tube out for a try at calling him in. The grunt tube that I have is an early version that makes a grunt when you blow and a pretty good bleat when you suck in on it. I sucked in on it. WAHH! His head popped up and he looked my way. He turned and started walking towards me and then made another turn giving me a broadside. He put his nose down to the ground and stood there sniffing. It was a dead on 20 yards but try as I might I could NOT get the crossbow into a shooting position because of the tree. The horizontal limbs and the string just would not allow it at all against that vertical tree that I was in. Basically anything behind the treestand is a no shot with a crossbow.

This was on the path that the button buck had walked on. He then lifted his nose and started following the button bucks trail. OH, my stars and garters!! He’s going to walk within 10 yards of me. I slowly eased my crossbow into shooting position and took it off of safety.

I’ve got it on the run waiting for him to come into the scope. The first thing was his nose, his head with all that magnificent headgear, his neck and all of a sudden he was looking right up at me. ARG! The crosshairs were on his neck and the bow stock was against the tree. Now, ladies and gentlemen, try as you might a crossbow stock does not bend around a tree, so I had to shift my body to get the crosshairs back to where they are supposed to be. All the while he is watching me and I am thinking,” Please don’t run!” The Predator camo paid off as I finally got the crosshairs back and eased them down low in the body to compensate for the 10 yard shot. I popped the trigger. The arrow entered 6 inches down from the back and buried to the fletch. That means at least 15 inches of arrow in him. He buck wheeled and ran in a race horse gallop back into the thicket.

While waiting for my nerves to calm down I called my wife to tell her to tell my son to come up and help me blood trail and hopefully drag out my buck. She got a hold of him and he called me telling me he was 45 minutes away.

I sat and waited for 30 minutes before getting down. I eased over to where I shot the deer and found blood immediately. I began trailing for a short ways picking up good blood with air bubbles from both sides of the body. That meant complete penetration. 25 yards into the trailing I found the broadhead end of my arrow. My son would be here soon, so I backed off and exited the thicket in the opposite direction. I went back to my truck and poured myself a small cup of coffee to help calm my nerves.

My son showed up with a nice 8 pointer in his pick up bed. His buck looked to be 3½ year old with good length and mass. He later rough scored at 127 +/- a couple of points. After listening to his story about how he killed it and ran into a bigger buck while dragging his out we went in to trail my buck.

The trailing was short and sweet. The blood was good enough for a blind man to follow and we hadn’t went another 65 yards from where I had quit the earlier trailing when my son turned around to me and said,” There he is!!” Besides “I love you”, there is no three greater words in the English language.

Hugs and high fives were exchanged. I could have easily found the deer earlier, but I am so glad to have waited to share that moment with my son.

The hit had been perfect with the exit hole right at heart level.

The buck later scored out at 142 1/8.

This is a day that neither my son nor myself will ever forget.