Sounds good boys! I just checked Triggers and Bows which is just down the road from me and they have a Phoenix Lite Stuff Package for $663 which has the scope and 4 arrows. Looks like that is calling my name!
I do not want to sound like I am talking down to anyone, I just think that new archery hunters should know a few things, and through experience I have found that most of those without good mentors do not.
Above all else - your broadheads must be RAZOR SHARP! If you have shot them even one time into a foam target or hay bale, they are no longer sharp enough. If you want to practice with your broadheads on every arrow, use the same one for each arrow, or use practice blades, or buy replacement blades for your heads when you buy them, then you can replace them just before heading out hunting. The difference between sharp and razor sharp can be a couple hundred yards of trailing, or worse yet, a lost animal.
As others have already said, you need to limit your shot distance. Just because your scoped x-bow can split arrows out to 100 yards, does not mean it is appropriate or ethical to do so. FYI, a WT at 35 yards can drop 2 feet and move 1/2 a body length in the time it takes for even the fastest arrow or bolt to get there.
Shots on bedded, or otherwise completely preoccupied deer (i.e. tending a scrape, mounting a doe, etc.) MIGHT be stretched out to 50 yards if all the stars line up, however, any other situation needs to be shortened up considerably. A feeding, relaxed deer, maybe 25-30 yards. An alert, set to run deer, 15 yards or closer, 20 yards if you compensate for the drop of the deer on release, but no farther.
Some of us have learned these rules from hard lessons, and I advise all new archers to take heed of the real world experience of others, for yourself and for the animals you hunt.
I hope this helps.
Ian
