Tips & Tactics

Covering Ground With Your Crossbow

Covering Ground With Your Crossbow

By Mark Melotik

There are lots of variables when it comes to toting your crossbow afield while hunting, but safety should always be a priority. Let’s consider a couple scenarios that crossbows users encounter regularly.

If you’re on the way to your deer stand in the predawn, your crossbow should be uncocked and unloaded, and a smart addition is a sling that will help you handle the load without bumbling and stumbling. A good sling can be a crossbow’s hunter’s best friend.

Crossbows can be awkward to carry, so you might even want to check out a product called Bow Spider (bowspider.com). It’s a lightweight attachment system for crossbows (or compounds) that allows for easily accessible attachment of bows to a variety of sources, including backpacks or fanny packs, for hands-free carry.

But let’s say you’re hiking to a stand in daylight, it’s the peak of the rut and there’s a good chance you could run into a rutting buck on the way in to your stand. Actually, during the rut, if you’re the type of person who finds it hard to sit still in a stand all day, it can be a smart play to forgo those early predawn hike-ins in favor of a late-morning start. If you leave about 8:00 to 8:30 or so, you will soon be in position — and well rested and alert — to take advantage of classic rutting buck daylight movement that typically occurs between about 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

So in a case like this, it’s a smart play to cock your bow at your vehicle and cradle the unloaded crossbow in your arms as you slowly stalk to your stand. If you hear chasing, or a buck suddenly appears trailing a doe, you’ll be ready. Then, it’s a simple matter to reach into your quiver, and load an arrow for a potential shot. And instead of mourning a lost opportunity, you just might be prepping for a memorable success photo.

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