This is my first year using a crossbow and it's been a hoot!! While I still consider myself a traditional bow hunter - I shoot a 55# Hummingbird longbow- sore shoulders, etc. made me consider getting a crossbow, which I did last spring. After spending the better part of a day at a big bow show shooting several crossbows, for the money and performance I came away impressed with the Parker Buck Buster (150#).
Crossbow deer #5 came last evening as I sat in a tree stand bordering a picked corn field. A couple of small bucks passed within 70 yards of me, too far to shoot and I've only got a couple of doe tags left anyway. At 4:30 p.m., a doe came down the same old logging road I'd used to get to my stand. She had her nose to the ground and I though she'd blow and take off, but at 40 yards she turned, maintaining her distance as she walked broadside to me through the woods. She stopped between two small trees, offering me a shot. I placed the single red dot just above her shoulder and squeezed the shot off. (With my orange ribbon pieces placed at 30 yard intervals around my stand, I knew that the arrow would hit 2" low at 30 and 10" low at 40.) The usual WHACK didn't happen, but instead a soft "plop" resulted. Ducking her tail, she bolted and headed back the same way from which she came. Carefully marking the spot from my tree stand, I lowered my crossbow, climbed down, and walked to the mentally marked spot. The bloody arrow with the mechanical three-bladed Trophy Ridge Steelhead was resting on top of the leaves some 15 yards away. Darkness and threatening rain made me decide to follow up on the shot, so I headed in the direction she ran. After about 50 yards, I spotted the unmistaken sign of relief for any deer hunter, a white belly shinning my way. A liver shot had delivered the fatal blow. Fortunately, she fell within 20 yards of the logging road, so field dressing her in the dark and four wheeled drive made the job relatively easy. This deer, like most I've taken this year, will go to a family that could use the meat. (I'm even attempting my first-ever tanning. If the deer hide turns out satisfactory, I'm going to attempt a buffalo hide!) Man-O-man, I really like this crossbow hunting!!! I can hardly wait for turkey season!!!
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