I see many people are influenced by the market hype for the latest, biggest, baddest equipment available thinking it will improve their hunting success. It very well may improve their odds a bit, but I’m a believer in “paying your dues”. By that I mean there is no effective shortcut to experience! You can envision that a high speed arrow will overcome your inability to get close to the quarry, but nothing will make you a better hunter than developing those skills that enable you to actually get close to the game in my opinion.
A bow capable of an ethical 50 yard shot is still lethal at 10 or 15 yards, and nothing can compare with the feeling of satisfaction a close shot opportunity provides. If you can get no closer than 50 yards (I’m just using 50 yards as a number, it may be double or half that in real life situations) to a deer perhaps the key to success might not be buying more equipment, it might be as simple as putting in more time learning. Observe, learn the deer’s habits and reactions, and THINK about what you are observing and have heard others tell of their experiences.
If a deer has shown it’s alarmed or alerted to your presence it’s sometimes wise to just laugh and tell yourself you missed your chance this time rather than try an “iffy” shot. My philosophy is that “there’s always tomorrow” and there’s nothing worse than the feeling of making a poor shot and loosing a wounded deer. (And I’ve experienced it firsthand.)
There are a few members here that are “happy as a clam” with their old, outdated, slow, short range, but deadly accurate crossbows. Those people are for the most part a bit older in years, but a lot wiser in their ways when it comes to deer hunting. They have “paid their dues” by not only hunting for years, but also observing and learning from what worked and what didn’t! Those old “slow” bows have been converted from a liability to an asset, not by physical alterations, but rather by mental “attitude adjustments”. In other words, if I can’t shoot “far”, then I’m going to have to get close! They could still be just as successful with a faster, bigger, better, badder bow, but they have also learned to be gratified by success with something that requires a bit more personal effort.
I’m far from being a deer’s worst nightmare, but I usually manage to put some meat in the freezer each year and I credit my success to experience, not some new product that can “guarantee success”, because no such product exists! I get “busted” at times, I have screwed up a few “sure shots” over the years, but I did learn something each time I screwed up, and today those mistakes are much less frequent. The result - a much higher percentage of dead deer to shots taken!
I post those success stories (as most of our members do), but I'd hate to tell all the stories of hunts where the deer were "just out of range" or a "bit too smart" for this old hunter. It would not only sound discouraging to new hunters, but it would make me sound like a bumbling oaf in a lot of cases.
I hate to sound like I’m saying don’t buy that new crossbow Excalibur is going to introduce next year, but I will say don’t feel like you might as well not hunt if you can’t afford it.
Take your best weapon (your mind) and go with whatever you have to launch arrows with. Get close, make a good shot, and you’ll be as happy as any of the rest of us who “get lucky” once in a while. Luck plays a part, but so does skill - and skill comes from experience many (or most) times.
Dang right!