First crossbow kill

[coyote101]

I have been thinking about buying a crossbow for several years now. A couple of months ago I finally broke down and did it.  It is a Ten Point Titan HLX. I have been hunting with it a few times, and in fact shot a turkey with it several weeks ago.

It went down hard, flapping and flopping around and I thought it was finished. But, it just kept on flapping and then took off out of the woods. I looked for about an hour but all I found was my bloody bolt and some feathers. It is always disappointing to lose a wounded animal, and this was especially so since it was the first animal I have ever shot with archery equipment.

Crossbow season is open for both deer and turkey until the end of December and I decided to give it another try today. I was in my tree stand shortly after six this morning hoping for a shot at either. The woods I was in are full of turkeys and we have been seeing flocks of sixty to eighty birds lately. 

About seven o'clock the woods came alive as all those turkeys started waking up. There were none close, but I could hear them and saw several a hundred yards or so through the tree tops as they flew down. Unfortunately, they were headed out of the woods in the other direction.

So I sat and waited. And then, a little before eight, I spotted three long beards coming through the woods behind me. They were eighty or so yards away, but were working their way in my general direction. Two of them closed within range and I picked the nearest one. I was hoping for a facing away shot, but he was standing broadside and I decided to take the shot. I estimated the range to be twenty five yards, but it turned out to be closer to thirty.

He jumped when I shot and I knew I had hit him because he was dragging his right wing. But he didn't go down and didn't act as if he was hurt too bad. He was still within range so I re-cocked the bow and loaded another bolt hoping to get another shot. No such luck of course, the noise and movement of re-cocking the bow spooked them and they headed back the way they had come. I tried to keep an eye on them, but lost sight of them in the woods. I was pretty disappointed, thinking I had wounded and would likely lose another animal.

Just then, I see one of the gobblers running back the other way and then fly up into a tree. He was followed closely by another one who was being chased by a coyote! Obviously that was my wounded turkey because he couldn't outrun the coyote and didn't fly away. They battled each other for several minutes and the wounded turkey put up a good fight, but the coyote won. Once the turkey was down, the coyote repeatedly ran off ten or fifteen yards and then ran back over to the turkey and attacked him again. 

So now I knew where my turkey was. Laying dead in the woods about eighty yards away. Unfortunately the coyote was trying to make a meal of him. I tried to call him off, but he wasn't interested. So I decided to come down out of the tree and see if I could get close enough for a shot at him. Of course I was busted long before I got to the ground and I never had a chance at the coyote.

It took me several minutes to find the turkey. It's amazing how much different things looked when I got to the ground after being twenty feet up a tree stand. The coyote hadn't really torn the turkey up too bad. There were some bite marks on the neck and some bare spots where he started plucking him, but other than that all the damage was from my crossbow bolt. It had passed through and broken the right wing, then gone completely through his upper chest leaving a gaping hole, but apparently not damaging anything vital.

I tried to get some hero shots, but my brand new 12 megapixel Polaroid camera wouldn't power up. I was wishing it was a Canon because I know Jim is in tight with Iris and could probably help a brother out, but it's not. Anyway, I took him home and got a few pictures with the old reliable Samsung.


Here he is with the Ten Point crossbow:


Three bladed RAGE went through the right wing and into the upper right chest then ......


........ exited the upper left chest. Hard to believe it wasn't an instantly incapacitating wound.


That bare spot is where the coyote started plucking him.


Pretty nice beard and ......


...... spurs.


All in all a very interesting day in the woods. I don't know if that coyote had followed those gobblers into the woods or if he just happened to spot the wounded one as he was leaving the woods and gave chase. I do know I would likely have never found that turkey if the coyote hadn't finished him off. I wish that they had been close enough for me to get a shot at the coyote after he killed the turkey. But then I would have been that much madder when my camera wouldn't work. 

Another great day to be hunting.

Pat

[Hawks Feather]

Pat,

Congratulations on the turkey - especially with a crossbow.  Not that a crossbow isn't accurate, but you need to be "dead" on.  Now the deer is next.

Jerry

[slagmaker]

Congratulations on the first blood. Would have been really nice to see a pic of a gobbler and a coyote but hey ya get what ya can get.

Looking forward to seeing a deer taken with it and the left handed knife I made for ya a skinning it

[HaMeR]

Cool deal Pat!! Congratulations on a fine bird with the cross bow!!    Woulda been neat to see the coyote in the pic too but I think you know which tree to find that one from with a rifle later. 

[FinsnFur]

That'd be crazy. I wish I coulda seen that
I wonder why he kept running off 10 or 15 feet and coming back? The whole thing would be cool to have on film.

For it being your first archery harvest you did better then I would expect myself to do. I'd still be looking for the arrows.
Oh and you bet your boots Iris and I would be more then willing to fix you up.

[kyfuzzyface]

Congratulations Pat That would have been pretty cool, Turkey and Coyote both, Don't worry you will get the Coyote later,
I have a Horton supermax (older model) crossbow and have planned on getting out with it some but haven't made it.
I hear that 10 point is dead on

[coyote101]

I hear that 10 point is dead on

This crossbow is extremely accurate. From a rest I can hit a dime size target at thirty yards. I don't shoot twice at the same point for fear of hitting the first bolt.

My problem with this turkey was not the accuracy of the crossbow, but the accuracy of my distance estimation and choice of aiming point. I have some twenty yard distance markers in this area and knew the turkey was a little beyond that. I misjudged how far, thinking he was at twenty-five when he was actually closer to thirty. I aimed at the base of his neck hoping to hit spine, but hit low and got nothing vital. If I hadn't broken his wing, he may very well have gotten away from the coyote and died a slow miserable death. That is not acceptable. I knew that given a broadside shot I should have aimed for the body where the vital organs are but chose not to. Next time I will aim for the chest cavity or wait for the facing away shot.   

The tom was more broadside when I shot than the one pictured, but you can get a pretty good idea of what happened. I aimed about where the green dot is, but hit about where the red dot is.

There is a lot of turkey season left and I can still take two more hens. I'll be back at it this afternoon or in the morning. Plus I still need to get a couple more deer.

Pat

[Okanagan]

Fascinating.  Thanks for the report and story.  The coyote part adds an unusual twist!  You make it tempting to take up a crossbow.

[vvarmitr]

Wow what a story Pat.    Congrats on the turkey. 
That poor ole turkey ... what a bad day he had. 

[HuntnCarve]

Way to go Pat!  Maybe not quite the way you had planned things.  But what a story!  The bottom line is "The proof of the pudding is in the eating.."  And you are eating turkey.   Congrats once again on your first kill with the new crossbow.  I'm sure a deer is not too far off in the future for you...

Dave

[KySongDog]

Congrats, Pat!  Getting one with a crossbow is awesome!       Great story too!

[Carolina Coyote]

Way to go Pat, sometimes even bad luck turns out good, now you know where that old Coyote is hanging out so maybe you can stick him. Congratulations on the Turkey. CC

[Biscuit]

Way to go Pat Great story too

[FOsteology]

Pretty cool when you get the added bonus of watching a coyote attempt to take advantage of a free meal. Can't beat ring side seats watching nature unfold before your eyes.
Congrats on your cross-bow kill. Turkey will likely tastes 'mo betta! 

[nailbender]

 Pretty cool! Congrats. That crossbow hunting is on my to do list. Have the permit,  Need to go shopping.

[nastygunz]

That turkey pic has Gobbler Guillotine or Magnus Bullhead written all over it

I hear that 10 point is dead on

This crossbow is extremely accurate. From a rest I can hit a dime size target at thirty yards. I don't shoot twice at the same point for fear of hitting the first bolt.

My problem with this turkey was not the accuracy of the crossbow, but the accuracy of my distance estimation and choice of aiming point. I have some twenty yard distance markers in this area and knew the turkey was a little beyond that. I misjudged how far, thinking he was at twenty-five when he was actually closer to thirty. I aimed at the base of his neck hoping to hit spine, but hit low and got nothing vital. If I hadn't broken his wing, he may very well have gotten away from the coyote and died a slow miserable death. That is not acceptable. I knew that given a broadside shot I should have aimed for the body where the vital organs are but chose not to. Next time I will aim for the chest cavity or wait for the facing away shot.   

The tom was more broadside when I shot than the one pictured, but you can get a pretty good idea of what happened. I aimed about where the green dot is, but hit about where the red dot is.

There is a lot of turkey season left and I can still take two more hens. I'll be back at it this afternoon or in the morning. Plus I still need to get a couple more deer.

Pat

[Dave]

Wow, that sounds like an exciting morning to be in the woods.  To see a coyote and a Tom do battle must've been incredible.  Congrats on the bird!

[iahntr]

Nice Pat ! Congrats !