Good to 50 yards?

[Atchman2]

My neighbor has a HUGE yard. You can play football in it it is so big. Tonight I loaded up a kiddy wagon with three targets and went over there with my Barnett Crossbow. I've never really tried shooting it past 30 yards. That is the limit of my yard if I get at just the right angle to shoot. The wind was swirling all over the place, so I really wasn't as worried about left or right, I just wanted to see where it was hitting with the range bands on my Tru Glo scope.

At 20 of course it was dead on. At 30 within 1" of the center. At 40 it was a off but then I realized I was using the wrong range line! Reset and drilled the middle at 40 yards. Finally the 50 yard target. I shot three shots but it was getting pretty dark by then. I had to walk out there and take a look at the target. One was 1" to the left and online. The other one was 1" to the right and online. That last one was exactly 1" low. That was amazing accuracy for a crossbow I thought! Never would have thought it would be that good at 50 yards. Honestly, I think my accuracy with a crossbow is influenced by my air rifle accuracy. You almost need to use the same techniques to shoot a crossbow as an air rifle. The big thing is to keep your eye on the target and follow through with the shot as crazy as that sounds.

Later, I grabbed my PSE Compound. Man I'm rusty! Going to have to do some serious bow practice if I'm going to try using it this year. I didn't even have the two long range pins set. Tomorrow, I'll grab my allen keys and try and sight it in at 40 and 50 yards. I was getting good enough groups to easily kill a deer out to 30, but I need them to tighten up quite a bit before I feel confident enough to hunt with a bow. I've been using the crossbow primarily the last couple of years for turkeys and deer. My poor compound has been gathering dust.

 

[03tr]

My wicked ridge invader is suprisingly accurate at 50 yards as well

 

[Atchman2]

My question to myself is, "Would I try a shot at 50 yards?". In that past I would say "no", but now I'm thinking of spending a few more practice sessions with it. If I'm confident of the shot, and there is little or no wind and no obstructions, I think I would take it now. In the past I wouldn't have considered it since I'd never tried shooting at extended ranges.

With the small size of the deer here in East Tennessee and the sharpness and effectiveness of these new broadheads, an extended range shot is viable. I have one place where I can get back in this brushline in a ground blind. The deer come out in the early season to feed. It isn't a food plot, but they come out there to nibble on something in the evening. What has stopped me hunting there is area is too wide to shoot all the way across it with a bow or crossbow. However, I've had a couple of opportunites past 30 yards that I've passed on there. Might give it a try this year.

(During gun and ML season, I never see them there. Only in the early bow season.)

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Good deal

 

[fishboy1]

My issue isn't hitting a bullseye at 50yds. Its with the deer moving between the time I decide to squeeze off the shot and the time the bolt arrives.
Shot 3 last year with my xbow and all three ducked the string. Thats with a Barnett shooting 368 fps and all shots were under 30 yds.
One ducked so low I backstrapped it.

X-bows are loud and the deer DO react to noise so I am personally uncomfortable shooting past 30yd. Not saying you shouldn't do it, just sharing my experiences. Heck out at 50 the sound might be low enough that they just look at you instead of ducking.

 

[Atchman2]

Very true they are very loud. Mine is a Barnett as well and it has a pronounced "snap" when you shoot it. I shot my compound bow just after the crossbow and couldn't believe how quiet it was compared to the crossbow.

I'd rather keep the ranges short as well. It is just there are these deer that feed at that range in this big open field. They drive me crazy!

 

[TheLBLman]

My issue isn't hitting a bullseye at 50yds. Its with the deer moving between the time I decide to squeeze off the shot and the time the bolt arrives.

An equally big (if not bigger) issue for me is "exacting" that yardage under the typical real hunting field conditions. I don't want to hit any deer in the lower leg simply because it was standing 3 yards farther away than I thought. I would rather measure my success by the percentage quickly recovered than the distance of the shot, especially considering a significant number of wounded deer will become easier prey for coyotes and/or simply die (unrecovered) from their wound.

 

[fishboy1]

Thats why lazy old men use range finders ! :-D

 

[TheLBLman]

I'd hate to bowhunt now without a rangefinder.

But under many field conditions, it's very easy to misjudge the distance enough to cause the shot to be too high or too low, even using a rangefinder.

 

[TNGunhunter]

I experienced a deer jumping string at 42 yds that ended in a bad shot, so I won't shoot at a deer further than 35 yards anymore. I shoot the Barnett Jackal, 150lbs - 315fps, using 125 grn rage broadheads. After that 42 yard bad shot, I've killed 8 deer between 12 and 35 yards, most were complete pass through. Just my 2 cents, good luck this year!!