deer reaction to noisy crossbow?
Equipment
Contributors to this thread:
blew out my shoulder. Someone gave me a noisy crossbow to hunt deer this season. as fast as whitetails react, I wondered what advice you might have for distance and aiming point on a buck?
Too many things can go wrong using top notch equipment. Why risk wounding an animal with a noisy crossbow? I wouldn't play the "Where do I aim, because I know he's gonna jump the string, game."
Aren't all xbows noisy ? A couple buddies hunt with them and they all make a loud crack, so don't worry about it.
I wouldn't give it a second thought. Aim a touch low and go hunting!
Target Practice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never been around one yet that's not noisy, and yes deer do react.
I know of two deer shot at around 40 yards last year with crossbows that turned 90-degrees before the arrow got to them. Both hunters got lucky and had good hits and found the animals. but had the whitetail's turned the other direction, or been a tad faster or slower it may have been different.
Saying they're accurate to 80-100 yards doesn't mean crossbows should be shot at extreme distances.
I'd consider them a 30 yard weapon, kind of like my compound.
Hope you enjoy your fall, but you may want to make sure your first shot's pretty close until you find out how they're reacting.
If you'd load the arrow up with sand, or weight tubes, you'd quieten it down tremendously and have a real hammer head then. God Bless
I'm with writer on this one. One of the biggest problems with crossbows is that people think it increases distance you can take a shot. It is the opposite. Keep it short. They also lack penetration at longer distances.
Aim at the same place you would with any bow. I don't even bother to try and quiet mine down. Never had a problem in over 40-kills. I also never shoot over 35-yards and can't recall shooting one when it was on super alert.
WV is right. If one would build a heavier bolt instead of trying to be so light it would eliminate a lot of the noise.
Wait a minute! Its a crossbow! Why are we even having this discussion? :)
If you are right handed maybe you could switch to left handed or vise versa.
Try going to a 2219 shaft. Depending on what length your rig uses, a 20 inch shaft with 4" vanes and a 125 head comes in right at 500 grains. This will soak up a lot of excess noise but like others have said crossbows are just loud by design. You won't have a problem with trajectory out to 40 yards. If you keep your shots at normal bow hunting ranges you won't have a problem.
I was hunting with a buddy last season. He was using a crossbow. He was about 1000 yards away on another ridge. I heard him shoot. He hit that buck high and never found it. He swears he was aiming right in the lungs behind the shoulder. He said he was calm as he aimed. It was a very expensive crossbow but still very loud. That deer definitely ducked as he shot. I would say aim a little low. Its better to be lower than higher.