(Or is that Moron ?) I got to keep saying to myself “CFAB!” “CFAB!”

You’d think, starting way back in July, I’d be all ready for my first season with the crossbow. I am, but just barely. Honestly I missed my target of hunting with it last weekend for the first time, but I got things working Sunday morning, and I’m ready to hunt now. Of course this weekend I’m taking Angus out for Yute Season and then there’s Early Muzzleloader and I probably won’t actually hunt with it until the end of the month.

My ultimate goal is to have something ready for those two weeks before rifle season, which is the also the peak of the rut. However, I do not want to waste a tag on just any old deer to say I ‘d waxed one with a crossbow. It is going to be something very special before I flick off that safety.

Kentucky’s seasons are such that it’s hard to be a bowhunter. The season starts early enough, but it’s way to hot. You have the whole month of September and one week in October and then there’s two firearms-related weekends back -to-back. Then there’s 2-3 weekends (one of which is Fall Turkey Season) and then then there’s 3 weeks of rifle season.

Just to fill you in, I decided to break down and buy a used crossbow over the summer. I had been nursing a bad shoulder for a few years , and decided to go to the doc and get my medical waiver. If a doc writes you one, you can hunt all of Kentucky’s archery seasons with a crossbow. Otherwise a lot of the choice dates, especially just before the rut, are closed to crossbow. The one I found was a Horton Yukon with a 4X scope. I got a good deal on it through Craig’s List. For a 25 year compound bow hunter, this looked like a cakewalk. It wasn’t. Here’s what I found out.

It did not actually take 3 months to get the system working. Yes, I started in July, but frankly I lost heart after my first experiments with the crossbow. Every few shots I was sending one over the top of the target and losing bolts. I tried a bunch of things that didn’t work. Bolts are $35/6– not something you want to waste willy-nilly. It took a few tries to figure out what was wrong.

This crossbow, and I will assume all of them, are extremely finicky when it comes to bolt weight, head weight, etc. I finally got some new bolts, mounted 100 grain field points and started getting consistent groups. The bad groups and 3foot high fliers were the result of a minor variation in bolts that came with the used crossbow in the deal. I don’t fault anyone. The guy I bought it from– it was his father’s– hadn’t a clue. Some of the bolts were old and were losing vanes on the way to the target– that didn’t help anything either. I think some of the field points that came with it weren’t the same weight, and my original choice of 145 grain were just not suited for the system at all. Once I redid everything with new Horton aluminum bolts, 100 grain heads, etc. it all fell into place. The problem stems from the draw weight. When you think about it, things aren’t all THAT bad with a compound bow. A 15 grain difference throws off your aim a little. If you broadhead planes a little you’re going to have to adjust your point of aim a little. With crossbows, everything is magnified. If there’s a slight difference, your bolt is going into the next county or going to try and find its way to China. Be ready for some embarrassment if you try to repeat what I did at a public archery range.

I tried to get the guys at Bass-Pro to give me some help. The said it was going to take a complete recable and re-string job to get the crossbow shooting properly. I took a chance they were wrong, and I’m glad I was right. I ordered Horton arrows, 100 grain field points and used some Bass-Pro 100 grain broadheads I had laying around, and I was within 6 inches at 20 yards switching between the field points and the broadheads. Both are shooting really good groups. Yes, it’s tighter than a beginner with a compound, but once you get past keeping them all on a pie plate at 20 yards, there’s really no arguing any more. It will take a deer. By the time I declared Victory on Sunday my bolts were holding to the same hole at 20 yards. At $35/dozen, I’m not going to try a Robin Hood trick.

It is hard to get the old habits to die. I feel like taking a marker and writing on my boot: CFAB– “Cock First (then) Apply Bolt.” If you’re used to a regular bow, you always want to grab for the next arrow after you shoot. No. That’s not the way it goes. Besides, if you did manage to do it that way, think where you boot is going to be when you pull back the string. No shaman. Put the bolt down, shaman. Cock it first, shaman.

The cocking is all done with a cocking aid. The total exertion is minimal, even though it’s a 150 lb bow. The cocking aid was an extra 25 bucks, but it was worth the money. Forget follow-up shots. Fumbling your cocking aid out of your pocket will leave the deer laughing at you.

I am hear to dispel several evil rumors about crossbows:

1) They shoot like a rifle. Absolute bunk. Mine shoots about like a compound bow as far as range. To pull one back without the cocking aid is worse than trying to pull a recurve that’s too stiff. Mine is ungainly to handle. They are a chore to load– as bad as a muzzle loader. Crossbows are probably the worst of all possible worlds instead of the best. I would put them on a par or slightly below a single-shot shotgun –smooth bore and punkin balls. 20 yards? No problem. Past 40? You’re praying. I’m not talking Foster Slugs, I’m talking the old stuff that used to corkscrew to the target, and was so slow you could watch it going.
2) They offer no challenge. No. I gotta say, that if I shoot a deer with this Horton Yukon, I will have accomplished something. I’m sorry. I’m not buying the purists’ lines any more. My limit is going to be about 30 yards. If I can get a nice buck in that close that is challenge enough. 0-30 yards works off the same crosshair on the scope.
3) They offer an unfair advantage. I’m the first to agree that this is not an elegant hunting method. Ugly? Yes, but “unfair advantage???” Yow! Once the bolt is off the rail, it’s just like any other bow shot. The smallest leaf is going to deflect it. You take a deer with this system and you can hold your head up as high as anyone.
4) Only a couch potato or black-hat wannabe would want to shoot one. My shoulder is bad. My eyes are bad. I’m 51. I’m neither a couch potato or a black-hat wannabe. I tried crossbow. I’m going to keep it. I will hunt with it. I will probably kill with it. The idea that this system is going to get folks to put down the remote and fill all the WMA’s is bunk. Most people can’t stand the cold, the privation, and being away from the refrigerator that long. You can be a real deer hunter with a crossbow– make no mistake.
5) They are inherently unsafe. Once I got the concept of CFAB down, things got safe in a hurry. You need to be vigilant. I would not want to go stalking with one of these puppies, but out of a treestand or ground blind, they are as safe as any bow or firearm system I would chose to hunt with. Just remember to keep a bolt with a field point handy. There is no elegant way to uncock a crossbow. You need to be able to fire a bolt into the ground to make them ready to carry.

One last word: If you follow my stuff regarding firearms, I’m the kind of guy who likes to find a $150 deer rifle and make it shoot as well as a $1000 deer rifle. This ended up being different. I got a working system for total expenditure of under $300, using a used bow to start with. I’m out of work and on a very tight budget, but I also wanted to see how low you could go and still have something that functioned. My recommendation is to spend more money on your first crossbow if you can. One guy on here said he was shooting good groups the first time out. I’m sure I could have too with a $600 system put together for me by a guy who knew something about what he was selling. It took some fumbling, but I got there trying to go the cheap route. There is value in a better bow and paying for someone to do the original set-up for you. This is a technology that seems to lend itself to “you get what you pay for.”

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