Crossbow hunting has become very popular in resent years, here in the United States and World. Hunting in the United States with the proper licenses, a hunter can hunt for deer, bear, turkey, elk, moose, and different species of sheep ( big horn, dall, desert, and stone,) wild hogs and small game. When hunting in Africa there are the plains game animals to hunt, the dangerous game such as the lion, elephant, cape buffalo, hippo and leopard. When hunting in Africa the meat from the hunt is eaten by the villagers, nothing is wasted. When buying license to hunt, it will help the economy and help manage the wild life. Professional hunters like Jim Shockey, Craig Boddington, Jim Zumbo hunt all over the world and have taken many trophy class game animals. Crossbows with brand names like Excalibur, TenPoint, Barnett, and Parker to name a few, these are quality crossbows. When buying a crossbow get the best quality that money can buy, then you will have years of service and enjoyment. Enjoy hunting with your crossbow and shoot straight!
In 1965 when I was 12 years old the first year I could legally hunt, my 2 uncles and my dad and cousin hunted for small game on a farm, my dad rented the house on the farm this was in York Springs about 15 miles north of Gettysburg Pa.. Back then it was huge corn fields, fence rows, brush and hay fields. The corn roes were full of weeds lots of cover for the wild pheasants [ cock birds, ring-necks, rosters male, hen birds female ] they were everywhere, lots of rabbits to. Now there is no weeds in the corn fields due to Round Up ready corn, that can be sprayed to kill the weeds, there are no fence roes, brush patches, the cover for the game has been eliminated to plant more crops. The last wild ring neck I shot was in 1979, I have shot a few ( chicken coupe bird the PA. Game Commission has put out for pheasants ) they are nowhere near what a wild pheasant is or was, I don”t see pheasants any more, the last one was 2 years ago when I was looking for a deer I shot with my crossbow. There are a lot more turkey today than when I stared hunting, I’ve never seen a wild turkey while hunting. It has been in the last 15 yr. or so that I’ve seen turkey, this yr. I’ve seen a flock of 15 seven with beards while deer hunting in Dauphin County.
For big game deer and bear, I remember seeing herds of deer when I was 12-20 years old on public land, now I can hunt all day and not see a deer. When I was 12 only one deer per year was allowed, now with doe permits hunters can shoot up to four deer including a buck. Now a buck has to have three or four point to one side 1″ and longer depending on the WMU you hunt, before a spike buck with one horn 3″ and longer was legal, I have seen more rack bucks now then before, gives them a chance to grow into a rack buck, I know it is a pain to have to look and pass up a buck, but I think it is for the better. Another thing that is different is that there are fewer hunting accidents thanks to the blaze orange that is worn while hunting today. There is more high tech equipment that is used today that was not available when I started hunting such as range finders, ladder tree stands, portable climbers, fall protection such as Hunter Safety Vest, cell phones, and GPS so one don’t get lost. This year was the second largest bear kill in history, there are far more bear now then when I started hunting, back then you went to Potter or Tioga county to the big woods to hunt, now they can kill bear in the lower counties [Cumberland unheard of] Dauphin, Perry to name a few.
Today there are the youth mentored hunting under 12 yr. old with a person 21 and over, the youth can’t carry the rifle of bow till he or she gets to the stand to hunt, the mentor will then give the rifle or bow to the youth, must be within arms length of youth. Today the youth can kill a doe and the tag of the mentor will be used to tag the deer. Youth must be licensed to hunt, permit cost is $ 2.70 per youth. I am happy to see children being introduced to hunting with an adult to supervise.
Hunting with crossbow for each state is different such as the minimum draw weight. There is a lot of people that don’t know the facts about crossbow hunting each state is different. Crossbows varies form 50 lbs. to over 225 lbs. depending on what type and brand of crossbow is used.
Hunting for small game such as rabbits, groundhog, turkey, a person can get away with the state minimum crossbow draw weight, but for deer, antelope I would shoot 150-175 lbs. range. For elk, caribou, and black bear I would use 175-200 lbs. draw weight. For Grizzly bear, brown bear, moose, or large and dangerous game I would use 200 lbs. draw weight or over. I would use a good quality fixed or expandable broad head such as Muzzy, G 5 Striker, Trophy Ridge, Rage Broad heads to name a few. For deer to grizzly bear always get a broad side shot or quartering away shot so you get both lungs or lungs and heart for quick kill.
