7 Approaches to Crossbow Hunting For Forward-Thinking Preppers
Have you had a hard time getting into crossbow hunting lately and need a little kick in the pants for better luck in 2017?
Then consider these great tips. We have compiled some of the most innovative, fun, and exciting crossbow hunting breakthroughs that are currently impacting the sport. By understanding these ideas, you can integrate them into your routine.
Not all of these ideas might be right for you, though, so make sure you carefully research or try them out first. Integrating at least a handful of these ideas should get you all the help you need to create an incredible crossbow hunting experience.
1. Don’t Be Afraid to Go Mobile
Crossbow hunters like you shouldn’t be afraid to get out their cell phone and use it to increase their mobility.
Obviously, you need to turn your ringer off. Better yet, let everyone know you’re in the woods and cannot be reached. However, you can use its GPS devices, download hunting maps, and many other bowhunting apps more to create an immersive and efficient bow hunting experience.
Even better, you can use your phone to take pictures of your game and text them to your friends and family.
There’s nothing like showing off your trophy, especially to your buddy who always gets a bigger deer than you every year. Show off that huge rack and make him hilariously jealous.
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Super Tune
So what exactly is super tuning? It requires adjusting your crossbow lines before you go hunting.
Most crossbow hunters tune their bow once before the season starts and figure that is good enough. Not usually, especially if you use broadheads. These arrows require a more precise tuning that can be tricky to maintain.
First of all, you need to shoot your bow at a target, see where the arrow lands, and adjust the tuning. This process requires many subtle adjustments, some of which might be very minute.
However, increasing your accuracy in this way at least once a week (or more) ensures quality shots.
3. Study Your Game
New crossbow hunters often fail to consider their game before going up in the tree fully. But even experienced hunters sometimes don’t know exactly what they are doing.
There are many strategies and tweaks that you can utilize to increase your bowhunting success. For example, it is important to know how to spot deer runs and to guess where they end.
Look for rubs, broken twigs, droppings, fur, and even shed antlers in the woods. These are areas where deer are concentrated.
However, if you’re hunting other animals, like bears, you need to look for rubs and broken soil. These spots indicate a hungry bear that is looking for grubs to eat.
4. Pay Attention to the Wind
Obviously, crossbow arrows aren’t as affected by the wind as traditional arrows. They move faster and typically strike the target a lot more accurately. That said, wind can still capture your shot and take it just enough off path to ruin your accuracy. So make sure to gauge the wind before shooting to see how it will affect your chances of success.
The best way to do this is to wet a finger, hold it up to the air, see which side dries first, and how quickly it dries. If you are shooting into the wind or if it is blowing too hard, wait until it dies down.
If it doesn’t calm, adjust your shot location based on the wind. Practice this skill on a course before real hunting to ensure your success.
5. Invest in a Scope
Do you have a scope on your crossbow? If you don’t, why not? Scopes work as well for bows as they do for rifles.
Unlike other bows, which typically use sites, crossbow scopes allow you the chance to use superior zooming options and increase your accuracy. If you do have a scope, maybe it is time to update it to a great red dot scope. What are these scopes and how can they benefit you?
A red dot scope is a very accurate and high-powered scope that sends a small red laser dot towards your target.
This dot helps you know exactly where your crossbow arrow should land, excluding any influence of the wind. These scopes not only increase your accuracy, but they also make you feel like a sweet sniper in an old spy film.
6. Try Out Tarsal Glands
Are you looking for a way to attract a deer closer to your shooting spot? Try tarsal gland scent. This attractant is potent and should attract a broad range of bucks.
It simulates the smell of a doe in estrous and is irresistible to any male deer. What we like about this particular attractant is that it tends to bring in many bucks, especially those with huge racks.
You should spread this scent in an area that is within the range of your crossbow. Thankfully, that should be quite an extensive area.
Put the scent on the base of trees near you and wait until they show up. If all goes well, you should have many choices from which to choose and shouldn’t have a hard time getting one.
7. Hunt During the Midday
As a hunter, you’ve probably had it drilled into your head that you need to hunt in the early morning and just before the sun goes down. Sitting out during the middle of the day is usually talked about as if it hardly matters. That advice ignores the fact that most big bucks aren’t active until the middle part of the day.
This fact is particularly the case if bucks are in the rut. They tend to sleep heavily until the middle of the day and get up looking for love. So you don’t necessarily have to get out into the tree at the crack of down to be successful. In fact, your chances of spotting a great buck are pretty slim if you try that during the rut.
These Tips are Just the Beginning
As you can see, bowhunting doesn’t have to be a major pain in the you-know-what if you follow these tips.
Hunting fans like you can get the chance to enjoy a significant resurgence in their favorite sport without having to learn how to hunt again. You should also get better equipment that improves your accuracy heavily.
Do you have any hunting tips you’d like to share with us? Please comment below or e-mail us and let us know! We love connecting with our readers and learning more about our favorite sport.
Even better, share this article with friends to help improve their crossbow hunting game.
This is an archive of: http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/2017/07/7-approaches-crossbow-hunting-forward-thinking-preppers.html
