Well guess what, it worked! I hunt a shallow creek that allows me to wade in the usually shallow water and monitor trail use. I decided the set up about 20 yds. downstream and downwind of a primary crossing on a slightly elevated embankment. I clipped a shooting lane the day before and set up the next moring about 8:30. It was a cool, sunny morning but the wind swirled for the first hour before it settled. Forearm resting on shooting stix pointed at the trail 20 yds. away.
Two mature does eased down the sandy bank into the shallow creek. I eased my right eye up to the lumizone and slid the safety up. Just short of the other bank the lead doe paused and I settled the 20 yd. crosshairs tight behind the shoulder. A squeeze and the lumenok disappeared right where I aimed. The lead deer wheeled and ran back up the bank it had decended. The second doe crossed, paused and bounded away. A smile, a prayer of thanks and I slowly rolled the blind material up, collapsed the chair, and eased down the bank. I walked over to where it had stood and found a large quantity of blood and my firebolt tinged in red and in two pieces.
I eased over to the bank where the deer had exited and saw a blood trail that made me pause. The stricknine 3-bladed broadhead had lived up to my expectations. After a short 50 yd. trail there was my first Exomax harvest. A short drag down the creek and onto the four wheeler for the trip home.
Thanks for all the great advise and suggestions from the many forum members who helped make this first crossbow deer a reality.
