Big Uncle

I spent a few hours on Christmas day and into the night looking for a deer that a neighbor's daughter had wounded and had come onto my property. A teen age girl's first buck will be a bad memory for her.

Her proud Daddy was busy filming when his daughter made her long crossbow shot. The film shows the arrow flying and arching into the small buck's shoulder, and of course the post shot celebration. The video looks to me like she took a very long shot and hit the shoulder bone without enough penetration, but Daddy calls it " A perfect shot!". The two of them found blood and tracked it for two hours or so until it crossed onto my area of the world where he stopped and phoned me for access permission and tracking help. I was happy to help and hopeful that the nice young lady had taken her first deer.

To make a long story short, the blood was bright red with no foam and the blood trail simply petered out after about a half mile. Another wounded buck thanks to a proud Daddy, an inexperienced young hunter, and a crossbow shot that was way too far. The search for the deer will continue this morning with very little hope of recovery.

grouch55

we are now seeing the results of the almost like a gun marketing from some xbow manufacturers !! Thanks Idiots ! 100 yard shots with a bolt or arrow have to many variabkles in the flight path and deer reactions to ever be tried

rogerstv

Yep. So sad. I initiated my kids to hunting early. My daughter never wanted to shoot a deer which is fine. She turkey hunts with me. My son shot a couple deer and a turkey, but has since lost interest. Never pressured them into any of it.

I made darn sure they were fully capable of shot placement prior to season. And, I made sure they only took high percentage shots. Neither one wounded and lost their quarry as I knew the potential bad experience.

Today's social media almost seems to promote a challenge to see who can post a video of the youngest hunter harvesting game.

Crossbows are a mixture of opinions for me.

Timbrhuntr

Unfortunately you see this on the tv all the time with hunting shows. The guy makes a shot on a deer and they immediately start to celebrate with the high fives etc without even really knowing if they are going recover the deer. Also I have been hunting with a crossbow for over 20 years and always considered it a short range weapon. When I started to see the new crossbow ads that say here is your new rifle and deadly accuracy at 100 yards I just cringed. Sounds unfortunately like this father fell into all those falsities and then passed them to his daughter too bad. Only possible good outcome is the shoulder shot doesn't hit anything vital and the deer survives . As far as wounded animals I hunted with an outfitter last year and 4 guys that were there hunting with compounds wounded 5 bucks over the course of a week so its not just a crossbow thing !

rogerstv

You can't blame the inanimate object. Blame the perceived increased distance thoughts.

I see the crossbow as a "crutch" (used loosely) for those who cannot draw/hold a non-cocking bow anymore. Shots should still be within similar maximum yardages.

Champlain Islander

I look at the crossbow as just another advance in technology. Back in the day all there was to hunt archery with were traditional bows. Along came wheeled compound bows, aluminum then carbon arrows and then advances such as cams in place of the wheels. The crossbows had a following mostly for older people who could no longer operate a compound or trad bow. Different state laws changed to allow for their use and today at least in my state anyone 50 and older can hunt with them without any additional permit. Some places allow them wherever trad or compound bows are allowed. There are certainly some pluses for crossbows with a few minor negatives. So far I am still using my compound and at age 70 can see how my results might get better with a compound but am reluctant to change. Deer react to the noise of a bow and since a crossbow is faster the effective distance is more. Personally, my limits are probably 35 yards with my compound. I can still hit accurately at 50 but feel that additional distance just gives the deer more time to react and duck the shot. Seeing how crossbows shoot I imagine a 50 yard limit would probably apply but not sure since I don't hunt with one.

Big Uncle

I just came back into the house for a cup of coffee and a snack. I can not find even one more single drop of blood on the leaves after another three hours or so of attempted tracking. My current opinion is that the deer finally quit bleeding and hopefully will make a recovery. I backtracked and can not find the arrow or anywhere the deer bedded or stood for a while. He just a made a steady walk from near the site of the shot and is apparently headed to another zip code.

It is hard to see exactly where the shooter and target initially were as the area is all tracked up by now but my guess is that the shot distance was somewhere in the neighborhood of 50+ yards. I think the father, daughter, and a couple more helpers are going to spend the afternoon looking for the deer or more sign, but I am done with this. I hope this does not turn the young lady off to hunting in the future, but I also hope she learns something from this.

Champlain Islander

Great post and attitude BU. Most of us have probably lost a deer or two and it never feels good. I have learned from my failures and hopefully this if it turns out as a lost deer will leave a lasting mark about deer hunting. The worst thing would be if it turns her off to hunting.

billyboy

Always hard to lose a deer ,hate you didn,t find it .

Big Uncle

The Christmas deer was never found.