Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Crossbow problem

Well, been hunting a little for the last three weeks, trying to get a doe for breakfast sausage. Have seen lots of deer but nothing close enough to shoot. Then last evening, here come 5 does lined out to a clover patch and they will pass right under my tree. As they go behind a cedar tree I raise the crossbow and push up on the safety. RATS! Thing will not come off safe.

I push and push and finally it goes up. But by now the does have passed the cedar and are looking up at me. (bow wobbled while I was trying to get the safety off) Spend the next few minutes with them looking at me and me trying to get the crossbow back up without spooking them. Finally get it there, put the red dot on the lead doe and pull the trigger. NOTHING. Try it again and again.....NOTHING. All that time spent hunting, I finally get a shot and the darn thing will not work.

It had worked fine that morning, as I always shoot it into a target to unload. Worked fine for the last few months but would not work when I finally get a shot. Still sitting in the truck, cocked. Will take it by the pro shop tomorrow and beat them over the head with it. :-) Hey that's better than my first thought about what to do with it! (grin)

Have hunted with a crossbow for about 5 years due to back/shoulder problems and never had an issue. Why does something like this always have to happen when you have hair in the sights and not just a target? TM

Murphy's law.

What brand is it? I have a Horton and if you don't cock it all the way, yes you can semi-cock them, the safety is very hard to disengage and sometimes the bow will fire when it does. I'm not sure if this goes for all the other makes, but always be sure to pull all the way to the back, not just until it clicks. Easily made mistake while in a treestand.

I could very well be wrong, but my bet is that it's a Barnett. You can physically see if it is cocked correctly or not on all the ones I've seen. No offense, but I've only toyed with crossbows enough to figure out that I dislike them. Love guns, love bows, not even slightly interested in crossbows. Unless you get one with a cocking device, I don't really see how they are any easier for people with various injuries to use. I understand the 100% letoff part, but cocking it is still just as hard or harder than pulling a bow back if you ask me---2MG

You use both shoulders to pull it back instead of one. My horton will not cock when it gets dirty. You pull it back and it will trip the cocking piece but will not catch the string. I suppose that it could lock up in the cocked position as well, just never had it happen. A cocking device is cheap and easy to make. Take an couple of small pulleys with solid tops and grind out one side of the eye to make a hook. Run a small rope through them and put a couple of handles on the rope ends. Hook one pulley on each side of the bow on the string and the middle of the rope across the end of the stock, put your foot in the loop and pull the handles. miles

You use both shoulders instead of one, but at around 150lbs you are still pulling back twice as much weight aren't you?---2MG

Mostly you use your back and arms. Not as much strain on the shoulders. miles

I use the little wench to cock mine.(bad shoulder)