Crossbow for 2023 Season

[beenthere]

Prolly all heard of the guy dressed up in such a costume, and was killed. Funny trick goes bad. iirc he jumped out of the bush along a trail or road, and a vehicle hit him. 

This might have been the one. 
Montana Man Killed During Bigfoot Hoax - ABC News

[WV Sawmiller]

    Well it has finally cooled off enough to let meat hang and chill before cutting so I decided to go try out my new crossbow. I am happy to report I made a kill on my first hunt and with my very first shot. :D



Unfortunately after 4 hours in my shooting house I decided to pack it in. I replaced my hunting arrow with my decocking bolt and stepped out on my little porch/landing and this little grey squirrel hopped up at the base of one of the trees with my feeder cable. He had tried to get in the house with me an hour earlier. I decided what the heck and got him in my crosshairs and let fly. Even with  the heavy weight and odd shaped point it nailed him dead center. I guess instead of grilled tenderloins we'll be having squirrel and dumplings. :D It kind of made me feel like those outdoor shows where the guys in Alaska or Montana or such go out moose or caribou hunting but don't get one so they shoot a grouse or two on the way home. ;)


 

I did spend the first 1.5 hours with this little doe fawn. My feeder went off at 7:00 a.m. and at 7:02 a.m. I heard crunching in the dark below me as she ate the corn. I don't know where her mom was and would not have shot it with a fawn along anyway but she stayed till she cleaned up the corn I guess. 

   Back at home my wife said a doe and a very late term spotted fawn about the size of my Rat Terrier came out at the house. She said it was very red and still spotted. Most fawns this time of year look like the one in the picture above so that one has to be late. I hope it makes it through the winter.

   I may try my other stand this afternoon.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I was talking with my son the other day about crossbows and something he said made me decide to change my zero from 20 to 30 yards. I will check it  at 40 yards tomorrow but once I got it zeroed I checked and found mine shoots 2" high at 20 yards so aiming center mass for a lung shot should be effective no matter if I misjudge the distance by 10-12 yards. From what I am observing very few of my shots will be beyond 30 yards.

I have several locations with shots steeply downhill so I'm thinking holding dead on should do the trick.

The bucks are moving well for the rut here now but I have some work conflicts for the next couple of days and don't have the time to work on one. Rifle season starts Monday if I don't get one before then.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I got out this afternoon and tried it at 40 yards and the zero is basically the same as 30 yards. I tried it at 50 yards and I had about a 6" drop. That surprised me to see that much difference from the 40 yard performance.

[Ron Scott]

Are you shooting with a scope with range lines?

[WV Sawmiller]

Ron,

   I assume that is what they are called but yesterday and today I was just using the main scope lines. I sighted them in at 30 yards then when I used them at 20 yards I hit about 2" high and at 40 yards I hit about the same as at 30 yards. My one attempt (2 shots) from 50 yards both hit 6" low. What that tells me is shooting dead center at the lungs of a broadside deer anywhere between 20-40 yards I should make a quickly mortal hit.

   I was not using the little tic marks/range lines but now that I know where the bolt will strike I could use them. I'll likely make a couple more shots from the 50 yard line to verify the drop but it was a steady shot using a sawhorse as a shooting bench and all were very consistent.  I am not using "match" grade highly tuned bolts but just out of the box shafts with 125 grain field points. 

   I seriously doubt I would be shooting at those ranges and shots of 15-25 yards are certainly going to be my norm.