My First Crossbow Kill

by Diane
(Ohio)

My fiance is an avid crossbow hunter and has been all of his life.

Though I had gun hunted a few times in the past, it was not something I truly enjoyed.

Watching his enthusiasm for crossbow hunting made me want to give it a try.

After several lessons of shooting the bow, and basic hunting tips, I was ready for my first hunt, but wanted him to go with me.

We decided to hunt over a deer feeder and our position was sitting on the ground, using a blown down tree as a backrest and for camouflage.

After we had been sitting there for about 45 minutes, we could hear very loud crunching of leaves, as something was coming down the trail from behind us.

It was so loud that at first we thought it was a person walking, but we could not see behind the tree to tell what it was.

Then in the corner of my eye, I could see a doe. I could not believe she was walking down this trail, right next to us.

When she got directly beside me, she was so close, that I could have simply extended my arm and would have been able to touch her! She went a couple of feet past me, then stopped to turn and looked my fiance right in the face!

My first thought was “We're busted” but neither of us moved a muscle, and after she looked him over for a few seconds, she continued down the path towards the feeder.

I could not believe it! I raised my crossbow and shot. Since she was close and I had not yet learned to judge distance very well, my shot was a little too high and I hit her in the spine.

She dropped right there. As soon as she dropped, I saw another doe that had been coming down the path several feet behind her, turn and run off.

I've been hooked on crossbow hunting ever since, and eagerly look forward to each and every new season with great anticipation!