Guess I will add mine to the list of firsts. I was injured in a terrible car accident that destroyed my left shoulder. WV finally passed a crossbow permit system for handicapped. I was back in the woods but didn't feel as if I was Bowhunting.
I finally got serious with it and realized it requires the same basic mental shot checklist and followthrough.
Saturday evening I took this WV Forkhorn at dark as he cautiously approached a feeding area. The shot was about 12yds sharp quartering toward me....my favorite shot, but lets not go there again. The Horton Hunter XS 200 completely shattered the shoulder "paddlebone" and continued on to take out both lungs and the liver. He traveled aprox 60yds on a "dead" run (pun intended) complete with the obligatory log crash at the end. He isn't a trophy to some, but to me he is a very important deer. You see since the accident I felt a huge sense of loss in that I was not able to use a bow...my passion in life. Harvesting this buck made me feel like I was bowhunting again and caused my feeling of loss to become one of change. I can handle change.
Thanks for looking and sharing.
__________________
Bowhunting is just like church....only quieter
....................... He isn't a trophy to some, but to me he is a very important deer. You see since the accident I felt a huge sense of loss in that I was not able to use a bow...my passion in life. Harvesting this buck made me feel like I was bowhunting again and caused my feeling of loss to become one of change. I can handle change.
.......................
Congrats on your buck.
To me a trophy (in the outdoor world) is one that gives you a great feeling and great memories. In reading your story, this was indeed a trophy to you. It is a shame that the few in the vertical archery world have spread all that misinformation about crossbows. Then have basiclly brainwashed people in believing that crossbows are not archery but a gun, which is not the case. Crossbows are just another form of archery, which you have just proved to yourself. These same people try to put others down for what they harvest, if it doers not score 150 P&Y then it is not a shooter and should not be taken. To me, that is rediculious, not eveyone has the opertunity or money to hunt these farms that raise deer to shoot. And that treu wild deer are few and far between in most areas to score that high.
As I can see in your post, your passion is in the hunt, so then your throphy is in the taking of the deer (does not matter the size) and the experiance you had in doing so. Again, Congrats and welcome to the crossbow world.
You hit it right on the noggin. I am a hunter. I have passed on 8pts and shota doe the same day. Why, I wanted to! I sometimes like to watch and sometimes that primal urge wells up and.....WHACK!
I am back in the saddle.
You are correct as well in that the masses are brainwashed. I was too. I assumed I could shoot a gun, sight it in and go. Not so. It required tweaking, tuning and developing a new mental shot checklist. It to me is unhandier than a vertical bow, but I can deal with it, I have to!
Again, Thanks for understanding and putting in words for me. It means a lot.
__________________
Bowhunting is just like church....only quieter
I am so proud for you & your trophy. Keep up the excellent hunting. For that's what dreams are made of. I also use a Horton Hunter 200 pounder. It's a magnum of a crossbow.
Hunt like you want, let 'em walk if you may, take 'em out if you wish. That's what huntin' is all about !!!!! MEMORIES MY FRIEND, MEMORIES !!!!
GOD BLESS !!!!
__________________
TWO GUNS
DEEP SOUTH *** LOUISIANA
My First
.....
