Anyone hunt with crossbow?

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Tikka6xc

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I've owned one but never hunted with it. Sold it long ago. Tended to use a rifle in rifle season. I have bow hunted in bow season as well tho.


Anyone hunt with one and have some pics or cool stories?

Years long away but thinking of next years hunt tactics is fun.
 
I do occasionally hunt with an excalabur , all i will say is it hit's like thors hammer. Never had a deer even run. The rage broadheads i use, probably play a big part.
 
All my bowhunting is done with an excalibur excocet 200. It hits like a train. The excalibur scope is a perfect peice of kit. and the boltcutter broadheads fly like darts.
 
Years ago when I lived in Ontario my first deer killed with archery tackle was with a crossbow. I got rid of it when I moved out west as you couldn't use them in archery season. There would be lots of interest in them if they were recognized in bow seasons, especially since we now have one general tag in the province. They're a fun weapon to hunt with, much like pulling out the old Savage 99 for a hunt instead of the scoped Sako.
 
Big Game said:
Years ago when I lived in Ontario my first deer killed with archery tackle was with a crossbow. I got rid of it when I moved out west as you couldn't use them in archery season. There would be lots of interest in them if they were recognized in bow seasons, especially since we now have one general tag in the province. They're a fun weapon to hunt with, much like pulling out the old Savage 99 for a hunt instead of the scoped Sako.
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not a weapon


ive hunted mostly with my crossbow here in zone 94 its bows only for deer unless you have a party hunt
 
Here are a couple pics of my 2011 deer that I harvested with my Excalibur ExoMax crossbow. I'll start by saying that 2011 was a tough deer season for me, and even though I am a meat hunter & had a doe tag, I put a bunch of time in the stands! I will also say that my wife tagged out with a spike horn buck, and she sat for all of 2 hours in the rifle season... Some folks have all the luck, ha ha ha.

Now, here is the story.

Here in Ontario, we have bow season, followed by rifle season, followed by a limited muzzleloader hunt & bow season again. By the end of all this, the deer are 'educated' and alot of them have gone nocturnal. In fact, we caught VERY few deer on camera during the day, they were moving about at night...

Anyhow, here's how I punched my tag this year BEFORE timing out...

I was sitting in my 16 foot ladder stand next to the stream that crosses a friends farm property. About 45 minutes before dark, I saw a deer cross the field over my left shoulder, jump the stream and walk into the hardwoods towards the field beyond. Dang I thought! At that moment I wished I had my rifle & wasn't limited to archery!!! Ah well...

About another 20 minutes passed & I heard something behind me but the sound stopped & I assumed it was a squirrel... Roughly another 10 minutes passed & I then heard the sound again & it was close! I looked over my right shoulder & a deer was walking on an angle into the field about 10 meters from my stand... So, I believe that doe had been standing just back in the hardwoods waiting for it to get dark...

Now here is where it gets interesting! I am a right handed shooter! So, I start slowly switching my bow over to shoot LEFT HANDED!!! The doe stops about 20 meters into the field & was slightly quartering towards me. I tried to locate the deer in the VariZone scope & had some difficulty because I am not a left handed shooter!!! (Mental note, PRACTISE shooting left handed for just such situations!)

Once I had the crosshairs on the doe, I pulled the trigger & immediately heard the bolt hit the ground & the deer took off... I listened carefully for any sound that would indicate she had gone down, but I heard nothing. Wondering if I had hit the deer, I cautiously climbed down from my stand & located my bolt. Upon first inspection, it was not immediately obvious that I had hit the deer, but a closer look revealed blood and hair on the arrow & broad-head. (Excalibur's BoltCutter 100 grain fixed 3 blade broadhead)

I then thought I should give the deer some time because I was not sure where I had hit the deer... So, I collected my stuff & walked back to the farm house. I spoke with the farmer & we both went back to look for the deer. We started where the crossbow bolt had been stuck in the ground & slowly tracked the blood through the lightly snow covered field. She didn't even make it out of the field, having run about 75 meters in an arc & fell just on the edge of the bush.

This is the FIRST deer I have taken with a crossbow! I have taken them with rifle, compound bow & shotgun... But this was the first with a crossbow & LEFT HANDED at that!!! The bolt had passed completely through the deer & imbedded itself deeply into the plowed field. (I am amazed at the power of a crossbow, both deer I had shot with my compound bow, the arrows stayed in the deer...)

And, as you both know, once the animal is down, the work begins... So I tagged & field dressed the deer, all the while chatting with the farmer & telling him just how much I appreciated his allowing me to hunt on his property. While field dressing her, I collected several litres of blood to use for training my dog (Nos) to blood track & carefully packaged the heart & liver. I hung the deer in my friends barn for a week & brought it into the butchers.

I hope the two pics & story put a smile on your face...

Cheers
Jay
P.S. I am 5'10" and 200 lbs, so you can see that the doe is a real decent size. I was very happy to eat venison all winter!!!

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I've put a bit of time in with my bow over the last couple of years, but no luck so far. I've had em close a couple of times, but couldn't close the deal. But here's a pic of my "happy place" with my excalibur phoenix.

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To OP: works well but you need to get much closer to your target than rifle range.

Unless a heart shot or broken spine, stay at your spot quiet and motionless a minimum of 30 minutes after shooting the arrow to let hemorrhagic process take place. A wounded animal will get up and travel further if hears something tracking them. An increased difficulty is that deers often show up at dusk. It is difficult to track and find in the dark, especially if it is running away. Think of you in the dark with a flashlight tracking a drop of blood on dirt every 50'... Add rain for fun...

Every year we hear of bow/crossbow hunters not finding their kill because of a) not allowing enough time for the deer to die and b) poor shot placement. That is a shame and its giving us all a bad reputation. As Jay wrote wisely above: practice in all kind of situation/position. Practice, practice, practice.

Hope this help.
Shoot safe & tight groups


PS: This season's catch with Excalibur Equinox (made in Kanukistan) & Rage broadheads.
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I shot a buck with my excalibur exomag last season. Not much challenge, point and shoot from the blind. First time out with the bow, first day of bow season. I've sold it, may get a compound bow or recurve for next year....something a bit harder without a scope.

I agree with waiting 30mins!! and might as well nock another arrow in the meantime in case another deer comes along....if you have tags that is...

one thing I DID notice with the exomag-when I pulled the trigger the buck heard it. He crouched down slightly getting ready to bolt. The arrow hit him before he did, but hit high because of it. Still dead, but he diddd hear it.

Matt
 
I've taken 26 deer with a old bear devastator cross bow. I love the bow but its time to switch to a lighter smaller bow as my devastator is a real beast and I have a shoulder injury. I'm going to go with the horton team real tree 175. Its small aand light and has enough speed
 
I enjoy hunting with a crossbow because we have a long season here Oct 1st- Dec 31st so I manage ti find some time to get out with it. I hunt with an Excalibur Exomag......in fact I sat out till dark today waiting for my Christmas eve buck - he never showed. But his ex-girlfriends did ;). Any way only a week left to get him or gets away for the second year.

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awesomeame said:
I shot a buck with my excalibur exomag last season. Not much challenge, point and shoot from the blind. First time out with the bow, first day of bow season. I've sold it, may get a compound bow or recurve for next year....something a bit harder without a scope.

I agree with waiting 30mins!! and might as well nock another arrow in the meantime in case another deer comes along....if you have tags that is...

one thing I DID notice with the exomag-when I pulled the trigger the buck heard it. He crouched down slightly getting ready to bolt. The arrow hit him before he did, but hit high because of it. Still dead, but he diddd hear it.

Matt
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Hunting with my compound bow i allways aim a touch lower since they allways hear me on the release and tend to duck into my arrow.
 
He's correct. By the books all hunting tools are weapons. That is why we must use them safely.

I've taken 2 deer by compound bow and 9 with rifle. Scoped and from 10y with a win 94. Missed a doe with a slugged shotgun.

Crossbow seams pretty wild. If only we could use it in archery season maby I would buy one.
 
I took this nice 52 1/4" bull moose with a crossbow. It came down a cutblock towards me & stopped at 42 yards out. I made the decision to take the shot, & hit him in the throat. Massive blood trail, located the bull about 100 yards away. Crossbows are very potent close range weapons! As others have mentioned, practice alot with your crossbow & know it's limitations. It is NOT a rifle!!

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I use an Excalibur Exocet crossbow, and have taken many dear with it over the years, before that I used an Onieda compound bow and that was great as well. In fact Ive never shot a deer with a gun yet, maybe someday.
 
antiqueguy said:
not a weapon


ive hunted mostly with my crossbow here in zone 94 its bows only for deer unless you have a party hunt
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oh forgot to add my bow is the cheapest ontario legal crossbow i could find back a few years ago the panzer v and its lasted me quite a few deer now ontario took away the regs where the blades have to be straight im now using the nastiest broadheads i have ever seen crimson talon the black ones mad for crossbows
 
just brought a Horton Yukon home today... a few years old, discovered it belonged to my hunting 'mentor' years ago.

anyone near 92A in ON want to go out tomorrow? I have a buck tag I need to fill!
 
ALLS London said:
anyone near 92A in ON want to go out tomorrow? I have a buck tag I need to fill!
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you're just a tad far for me, but i will be out tomorrow stalking mr buck.



excailbur gets my vote. that rabbit on the left caught a broadhead just below the eye at 38 yards, offhand.

i swapped out the factory 4" vanes for 2" blazers and i'm now getting honest 1", 50 yard groups. to aim at the same point on the target shot after shot would be a waste of good arrows :cool:

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their newest bow is sending arrows at 380-385 fps in a 6" narrower and 4" shorter package....
 
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I have tried with my Excaliber crossbow for a couple of year and this year I came really close. I think next year I will be good to go. It is much harder than it seems to have the deer in the right spot, position to make a good kill.
 
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