Well, those of you have read a couple of the stories here know that the Ontario bow season for deer opened in quite a few areas on 1 October. We are allowed to use crossbows during the bow season, and in some areas we have multiple tags, a three month season, and party hunting where any member of a party can tag any deer shot by a member of the party, providing they have the correct tag for the deer.
I hunt with an Excalibur crossbow, have been bow hunting for about 25 years, and have about 20 or so bow kills to my credit, including two on opening day ten days ago. But yesterday was, shall we say, not as good a day. I had a triple D deer hunt. Read on.....
Disgraceful, disastrous, distressing.
Depressing, despicable, dreadful.
Four bolts, five shots, no deer, busted bow, do the math, it is not good.
I got out of my truck in my street clothes at about 1630 yesterday to change into hunting garb. Went to the back of the truck to get my clothing tote, and a doe walked out of the treeline into the field less than a hundred yards away and started grazing, absolutely unconcerned about my presence. And there was a big round hay bale between me and the deer. So I took the bow out of the case, cocked it with my hands (mistake #1), nocked a bolt, left the quiver at the truck (mistake #2), and snuck up using the bale as cover, wind completely in my favour. I was wearing a red and black hat, blue jeans, and sunglasses, amongst other things. I caught my breath behind the bale and slowly poked my head over the top. The doe was grazing away, completely oblivious to my presence. She was head on to me, head down and if I had any firearm in the world I would have pulled the trigger RIGHT NOW!!! But she was a goodly distance away...........but how far??? (My range finder is at home....) I watched for a few minutes and finally decided she was about 45 yards, which is the highest elevation increment on my bow scope. Finally she turned sideways to me and I took a normal aim (mistake #3, I should have aimed for the top of the back to give me another ten inches of Kentucky windage...) When the bolt went, she jumped, looked at me, and started walking towards me, curious about what I was. DO I HAVE A SECOND BOLT TO SHOOT??????
(BTW it was 55 yards, not 45 yards, when I went back and measured it.....)
So I turned around and walked slowly back to the truck, never making eye contact.
I went to the back of my truck and OPENED THE TAILGATE, BANG!!! She still kept looking at me but did not spook. So I took my tote around to the front of the truck and got into my camo clothing, cocked the bow with the cocking aid (I can learn sometimes from my mistakes....), and carefully peered around the end of the truck. The doe had been walking towards the truck, and was now just behind the hay bale that I had used as a blind!!!! OK, I snuck up in a crouch , keeping the bale between her and I, stopped once when I saw the tail flick behind the bale. Got to the bale, and VERY slowly poked my head over the top. There she was at about 20 yards. I put the crosshairs on the bread-box, and ...............did you notice that I did NOT say "I nocked a bolt"?................I fired my EMPTY BOW at the doe. (mistake #4, and a biggy!) I have never dry-fired a crossbow before, it being one of those things one is never supposed to do. It does make quite a racket, and it surprised both the doe and myself. She took off with her tail up and I ducked behind the hay bale, realized what I had done, said some bad words, and cocked the bow again, with the cocking aid. I did not examine the limbs in any detail since it appeared they were OK. (mistake #5) I nocked bolt #2 of 4, and peered over the top of the bale. She was still there!!!! At about 25 yards, I took a good aim and let the bolt go. Somewhere, Lord knows where............
I ducked behind the bale and discovered that my string was attempting to part company with the limb on one side, not a good thing. I got the string back into location, cocked the bow with the cocking aid, nocked another bolt (#3 of 4) and peered over top of the bale. THERE SHE WAS still looking at me. At this point you are allowed to ask who is stupider, the doe or me. I took aim again at the doe, who was in something of a thicket but still highly visible, and took the shot, which went SOMEWHERE.......
I repeated the last step with bolt #4 of 4, whereupon the doe decided she had enough of this foolishness, and left, flag up. I did go look for bolts and blood in the clover field, neither being probable and indeed neither being found. I bounced the doe again a few minutes later and off she went, obviously unharmed.
It was now 1650, prime time to get into our best stand, and I have no bolts and a probably busted bow. So I came home...................and decided that rye was a good antidote to my rather black mood........
Anybody got a metal detector and a couple days to go looking for bolts???
Doug
I hunt with an Excalibur crossbow, have been bow hunting for about 25 years, and have about 20 or so bow kills to my credit, including two on opening day ten days ago. But yesterday was, shall we say, not as good a day. I had a triple D deer hunt. Read on.....
Disgraceful, disastrous, distressing.
Depressing, despicable, dreadful.
Four bolts, five shots, no deer, busted bow, do the math, it is not good.
I got out of my truck in my street clothes at about 1630 yesterday to change into hunting garb. Went to the back of the truck to get my clothing tote, and a doe walked out of the treeline into the field less than a hundred yards away and started grazing, absolutely unconcerned about my presence. And there was a big round hay bale between me and the deer. So I took the bow out of the case, cocked it with my hands (mistake #1), nocked a bolt, left the quiver at the truck (mistake #2), and snuck up using the bale as cover, wind completely in my favour. I was wearing a red and black hat, blue jeans, and sunglasses, amongst other things. I caught my breath behind the bale and slowly poked my head over the top. The doe was grazing away, completely oblivious to my presence. She was head on to me, head down and if I had any firearm in the world I would have pulled the trigger RIGHT NOW!!! But she was a goodly distance away...........but how far??? (My range finder is at home....) I watched for a few minutes and finally decided she was about 45 yards, which is the highest elevation increment on my bow scope. Finally she turned sideways to me and I took a normal aim (mistake #3, I should have aimed for the top of the back to give me another ten inches of Kentucky windage...) When the bolt went, she jumped, looked at me, and started walking towards me, curious about what I was. DO I HAVE A SECOND BOLT TO SHOOT??????
(BTW it was 55 yards, not 45 yards, when I went back and measured it.....)
So I turned around and walked slowly back to the truck, never making eye contact.
I went to the back of my truck and OPENED THE TAILGATE, BANG!!! She still kept looking at me but did not spook. So I took my tote around to the front of the truck and got into my camo clothing, cocked the bow with the cocking aid (I can learn sometimes from my mistakes....), and carefully peered around the end of the truck. The doe had been walking towards the truck, and was now just behind the hay bale that I had used as a blind!!!! OK, I snuck up in a crouch , keeping the bale between her and I, stopped once when I saw the tail flick behind the bale. Got to the bale, and VERY slowly poked my head over the top. There she was at about 20 yards. I put the crosshairs on the bread-box, and ...............did you notice that I did NOT say "I nocked a bolt"?................I fired my EMPTY BOW at the doe. (mistake #4, and a biggy!) I have never dry-fired a crossbow before, it being one of those things one is never supposed to do. It does make quite a racket, and it surprised both the doe and myself. She took off with her tail up and I ducked behind the hay bale, realized what I had done, said some bad words, and cocked the bow again, with the cocking aid. I did not examine the limbs in any detail since it appeared they were OK. (mistake #5) I nocked bolt #2 of 4, and peered over the top of the bale. She was still there!!!! At about 25 yards, I took a good aim and let the bolt go. Somewhere, Lord knows where............
I ducked behind the bale and discovered that my string was attempting to part company with the limb on one side, not a good thing. I got the string back into location, cocked the bow with the cocking aid, nocked another bolt (#3 of 4) and peered over top of the bale. THERE SHE WAS still looking at me. At this point you are allowed to ask who is stupider, the doe or me. I took aim again at the doe, who was in something of a thicket but still highly visible, and took the shot, which went SOMEWHERE.......
I repeated the last step with bolt #4 of 4, whereupon the doe decided she had enough of this foolishness, and left, flag up. I did go look for bolts and blood in the clover field, neither being probable and indeed neither being found. I bounced the doe again a few minutes later and off she went, obviously unharmed.
It was now 1650, prime time to get into our best stand, and I have no bolts and a probably busted bow. So I came home...................and decided that rye was a good antidote to my rather black mood........
Anybody got a metal detector and a couple days to go looking for bolts???
Doug
I don't think I'd even tell this story to anyone..
