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Crossbow and dropping an animal

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Speedwell-Hunter

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Say a crossbow with a 400 ft./s energy and a well-placed shot, well that drop most deer in their tracks. Are they going to run?

Gotta buddy hunting with his crossbow at my place, and it's not very big, so I'm afraid it's going to get to other peoples private property quickly if he doesn't get a good shot.

Just curious what peoples experience is, thanks!
 
Crossbows are not magic….they will take an animal but no quicker than a vertical bow. I have taken deer with high powered rifles and good hits behind the shoulder that have traveled nearly 100 yards in a death sprint. Bullets and broad heads both take animals by hemorrhage, but bullets do impart some hydrostatic shock.
 
No a crossbow shot to the vitals will not drop a deer. 400fps doesn't do any more damage to vitals than 200fps. It gets the bolt to the animal faster but it doesn't kill any faster.

My brother and I were hunting and I asked him to shoot a young deer for me if he got the chance before me. My freezer was empty. As it happened he had a few does walk by him and he shot the smallest using a crossbow with 2" mechanical head. At the end of a nearly 300yd blood trail that looked like it was painted with a fire hose, we found a heart shot button buck. No idea how it ran so far or how it had so much blood, but it did. Heart shot with crossbow and giant mechanical head did not drop even a button buck.
 
In terms of lethality, a crossbow is zero different from a regular bow.
Same broadheads, and they kill by blood loss.

Speed of arrow is pretty much a non-factor.
Sharpness of broadhead is a major factor.

TNTreeman said:
Very unlikely it drops . Most likely a death run.
Click to expand...
Only get a death run with a good hit.

Little too high, little too far back, little too low, little too forward, going to be a long tracking job with low odds for recovery.

I've had heart-hit deer death run over 100 yds, and same for great double-lung hits.
 
Talk to your neighbors and get prior permission to recover. I have had to go 100 yards or so beyond my place, and that is with a rifle and well placed shots. My neighbors and I have a mutual agreement to recover deer from each others property, one even lets me shoot them if I see them from my stand.
 
I have been crossbow hunting for about six years now. And I have never dropped one in their tracks. I do take well placed shots just like I did with my vertical now but never had them DRT. Usually on average about 40-50 yards but have had them go 100-125 yards. I do use a broad head with a ton of cutting surface. The KE is so minimal when compared to a gun I like more cutting surface. One of my crossbows shoots 385 fps with a 455 grain arrow and my other shoots 440 fps with the same arrow. I would tell your buddy to look at using a three blade head like a Grim Reaper (I have had really good look with these) or the G5 Mega Meat. These are good sized three blade heads with large cutting surfaces.
 
You just so happened to ask me the question where I actually am CERTAIN about the answer.
I have been studying the lethality of broad heads vs deer for 42 years. And I can tell you with EXTREME confidence your answer is NO!

I have personal experience with EXACTLY 366 compound bow kills, 61 in just the past 3 years. And with every type of broadhead known to man.

And 20 different bows.

I have also been involved personally with a total of just over 1000 blood trails.

I can honestly and accurately say this...all deer are different. It is extremely difficult to categorize them into distinct groups when it comes to behavior, especially when it comes to different herds of deer in different counties, states, regions.

But in general, calm, lone deer, with floppy ears and relaxed tails, licking, scratching, and chewing, are your best target animals. But in order to keep this deer within a few yards of the arrow impact there are a few other variables that need to be present.

NEVER use a crossbow if keeping a deer close after the shot is desired. The noise from the shot is terrifying.
Never use a mechanical that opens with a "whacking" sound as the blades slam open.
Never take the shot in calm, quiet conditions as a background noise like wind, traffic, leaf blower, overhead airplane, helps dramatically to cover the sound of the release of the arrow.

An EXTREMELY sharp cut on contact head is best.

Remember, heart shot deer often run HARD AND FAST.

Bone shot deer run hard and fast.

Double lung shot deer through center lungs are your best bet.
 
On average a well placed arrow or bolt will kill an animal as quickly as a bullet when shot through the lungs. The distance the animal runs depends on if or when they perceive danger. I've had deer walk a few steps not knowing what happened and wag their tail and then faint and die. The same thing happens when shot with a gun if shot from a greater distance say over 100 yds.
 
I have shot several deer with my crossbow and all have ran depending where I hit them. All of the ones I double lunged ran 50y-40y, liver and 1 lung 150y. I wont take a 1/4 away shot at a deer with a arrow, with a gun I have had heart shot bucks run 100y+, lung shot drt-50y. They are tough animals with a great will to live and sometimes even if no mistakes are made it goes south, I used spitfire mechanicals and had good pass throughs no matter the angle, no hard bone ribs only. If I picked it back up I would use the same heads.
 

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