Hey Guys;
Here are a couple pics of my 2011 deer that I harvested with my Excalibur ExoMax crossbow. I'll start by saying that this was a tough year 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. Now the deer is hanging in my friends barn till Saturday when I will skin the carcass & bring it into the butchers.
I hope the two pics & story put a smile on your face...
Cheers
Jay
P.S. I am about 5'10" and 200 lbs, so you can see that the doe is a real decent size. I am very happy to be eating venison all winter!!!
Here are a couple pics of my 2011 deer that I harvested with my Excalibur ExoMax crossbow. I'll start by saying that this was a tough year 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. Now the deer is hanging in my friends barn till Saturday when I will skin the carcass & bring it into the butchers.
I hope the two pics & story put a smile on your face...
Cheers
Jay
P.S. I am about 5'10" and 200 lbs, so you can see that the doe is a real decent size. I am very happy to be eating venison all winter!!!
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