equipment questions..
I shoot some old PSE bow from the 90s, fireflite I think. I really love my brackenbury recurve the best. But it takes time to keep proficient, and as we all know, a compound with a peep and release, you just have to make sure its still zero'd from time to time.
That being said, many will take me to task on this buck.
I have an injury from a fire, in a house that was total loss and we were inside trying to find 2 kids that were not accounted for... yeah I know, sob story and all, but I wrecked my shoulder in a room where a wall collapsed, trying to just make sure we were not missing them...
SO, most of the time now, my shoulder makes me shoot a crossbow.
This was such. Some kind of Barnett. In defense, not that I really care that much, this is just how I hunt, I don't do a damn thing different with the crossbow. Set up for close shots. Refuse to shoot past 15 steps. Take only broadside/quarter away shots. Will not shoot if the head is up or staring my direction. I shoot only low in the body as we know they move. For this, I cannot recall ever missing the heart, even with my compound, in say the last 40-50 deer or so..... it took a LONG time to come to the rules I have for engagement. It makes me happy. I broke my rule about 2009 or so... trying hard to make a hail mary on a big trash buck that I did NOT want breeding, something I would not have done on a true trophy so to speak, shot past my imposed distance with my compound... and broke his back leg 6 inches above the hock when he whirled... Got lucky though and killed him with a rifle a month later to the day...
Have only taken about 5 deer with the crossbow. In my mind the ONLY difference is not having to draw and hold the bow. You can see how holding can be important... due to my injury most years my shoulder won't allow it.
But I've been trying hard.... to rehab it to hold...
more gack... shoot carbons out of everything now... but they are all old carbons... I dont' even know what kind anymore. Even out of the recurve, with feathers, they are just a tad bit faster and help. Even Carolyn shot carbons in the day.
I am a man of fixed blade, COC heads, Zwickey, snuffer are my preferences, MA2 at times if we are into lots of pigs. I did buy quite a few muzzy once on sale, Carolyn shot a few, they were ok, then read here, about slick tricks... still generally shoot snuffers out of the compound and recurve. And razor tricks out of the crossbow.
I actually think I enjoy tiger finding deer as much or more than the hunt nowdays in some ways.
Shot last night, 15 steps, maybe 14, it was raining, and i wanted to see my arrow before it washed off... I was 99% sure it was typical heart shot. Hard heart buck and off he went. Wife texted me right away that he was covered in blood as she was watching me shoot from the carport with her binocs.
I saw him go into the thicket he came from, and I saw a pretty hard wobble and then we was gone. Never any more movement, so I was pretty sure I could see part of him wiht binocs, tip of a tine in the cedars... I slithered down really quick, hunched low and grabbed the arrow on a trot... and trotted home around the back just to leave the area really quick, wind in my favor etc... Gave it some time for Carolyn to get rain gear on, grabbed the harness for the dog and he went nuts.
My normal thing is wait 3 hours if I don't see em fall and be still.... I knew what I had seen, we were in rain, and getting dark quick... dog had the deer in his nose already about 150 yards downwind, and wanted to go bad, but we moved him over to set him on the actual trail, just to be sure, and he took a sniff and said, yeah, I know that azzholes, lets roll... and he missed the hard right that the buck took going inot the brush, about 15 seconds or so came back, took about 30 to work it out in his nose... boom off we went... and he backed way down the instant he saw the buck, for about 15 seconds, and said, yep, lets roll I know what I"m seeing for sure now...
