A New Hunting Tool, At Least For Me! Larry Weishuhn

I have frequently stated the Choctaw Hunting Lodge, owned by the Choctaw Nation in

southeastern Oklahoma, is one of my favorite places on Earth. I love the land and life it

supports both wildlife and human. I head whenever there is an opportunity.

“I’m not sure I believe what I am seeing! Is it really you?” chided Dusty Vickrey manager of the

Choctaw Nation’s Choctaw Hunting Lodge. “You are actually leaving your handgun and rifle in

camp and going hunting with a TenPoint Crossbow? That’s got to be a first!”

“Now don’t push too hard…” I warned my dear friend. “Remember I borrowed your beautiful

wife Nacolh’s TenPoint a couple of years ago to hunt black bear during the archery season here

on the Choctaw. Unfortunately, on that hunt I relearned the valuable lesson of hunting with a

scope that has a lighted reticle. A black reticle against a black bear under poor light conditions

makes for a near impossible shooting situation. I simply could not see the scope’s reticle well

enough to make a killing shot. This crossbow is topped with a TenPoint EVO-X Marksman Elite

scope that has either a red or green lighted reticle. I shot it earlier at 30-yards which should be

about right, if we’re hunting the blind you mentioned during lunch.”

“Yes sir, the past few days we’ve had fallow and Axis does there pretty much every afternoon,

just about sundown. Too, there’s a black sow coming there as well. She’s a feral hog, not one of

our Choctaw mule-footed hogs. If she comes in she’s fair game as well. I’m coming with you for

moral support and hopefully watch you take your first animal with a crossbow. It will be your

first animal, won’t it?” questioned Dusty.

“It will be my first real kill with a crossbow. A couple of years ago I used the TenPoint Turbo S1

crossbow I have to put the coup-de-grace on a couple whitetails, a buck and a doe that I had to

follow and finish for a couple of hunters on the lease I was on in western Texas.” I continued, “I

learned a valuable lesson the first two times I shot it at 20-yards. Shooting TenPoint Pro Elite

410-grain bolts, it is dangerously accurate, and, that accuracy is repeatable. My first bolt was in

the center of the bullseye. My second bolt destroyed the first one, I “Robin Hooded” it

perfectly. Lesson learned, I started shooting at multiple bullseyes, or if there was only one on

the target I was shooting, I retrieved my bolt after each shot rather than “Robin Hooding” a

second one.”

“I did hunt with that set-up this past hunting season on my little place, where I grew up in the

Zimmerscheidt Community, west of Houston a way. But, the only deer I saw deer on those

hunts were 300-yards away. The times I hunted with my crossbow in northeast Texas I failed to

see any deer or hogs. The only time I saw mature bucks was after dark on trail camera pictures.

I did finally shoot some does there and one management six-year old forkhorn, but those were

with rifles and handguns. All were well beyond what I felt comfortable shooting a crossbow.”

“You really think I might get a shot this afternoon?” I asked Dusty. He nodded an affirmative.

That was good enough for me. After many hunts with my friend I had learned to trust him. If

Dusty thought I might get a shot, I would be ready!

We got to the blind about four; a short time later started seeing whitetails, a few does and

grown fawns but mostly recently shed bucks. It seemed most every deer we saw was a buck,

certainly not a complaint. With what we saw I found myself wishing my life away, anticipating

the coming fall whitetail season.

The sun had just gone down, long shadows were gone. “Hog..get ready!” whispered Dusty.

Before raising the crossbow to my shoulder I switched on the lighted reticle to green, then

tracked the hundred-pound hog with the scope. Dusty warned, “Remember to keep your

fingers below the platform and mind the blind so the limbs don’t hit the window.”

I nodded and heeded his advice then “planted” the 30-yard green dot reticle immediately

behind the slightly quartering to hog’s shoulder, flipped the safety to fire, then pulled the

trigger. I watched as the lighted-nock arrow headed to the hog, hit it exactly where I had held,

passed through and skid on the grass beyond my target. The hog ran away to our immediate

right for about thirty yards, then turned and ran directly toward us, dying fifteen steps of where

Dusty and I were in our blind.

“Congratulations on your first crossbow kill. But you should have hit her so she died at our feet!

Now it’s gonna be a long drag!” Said Dusty bordering on laughing.

Upon closer inspection I was impressed with what the Nemesis Titatium 100-grain broadhead

had done. The cut was wide. The hog had expired very quickly.

“What do you think?” Asked Dusty as we loaded my hog for the trip back to camp.

“I like it! Can we do it again? I’m starting to see what others really like about hunting with a

crossbow.”

Indeed, I did like how accurate the TenPoint crossbow was, repeatedly accurate, how easy it

was to load and unload, and the fact it had a really good trigger and a buttstock. As a younger

person I had shot vertical bows and used them hunting rabbits, deer and later javelina. But

hunting with them, even later with a compound, to be truly proficient I had to practice a lot. I

did not have time to spend doing so. As a youngster growing up, I had bought a cheap crossbow

with which I could hit the broad side of our rather larger barn, but little else. I soon lost interest

in any hunting tool with limbs, strings and arrows.

For many years I made my living as a “gunwriter” specializing in writing about rifles,

muzzleloaders and handguns and hunting with them. I love hunting and shooting conventional

hunting rifles and handguns. To me one of the finest and most alluring aroma in this world,

perfume if you wish, is the smell of freshly burnt gunpowder shot at an animal.

One of the challenges I enjoy when hunting is getting as close as possible to an animal before

squeezing the trigger. I enjoy shooting my rifles out to 1,200-yards and my Taurus Raging

Hunter handguns out to 600-yards, and often do. The reason for shooting at those extreme

distances is so when I stalk or crawl within a hundred yards or less of the animal I am hunting is

so I can precisely place my bullet for a quick and humane kill.

Hunting to me means getting close. With a crossbow that is a necessity, one of the reasons I

was curious and enthused about initially hunting with a crossbow. Another reason I was

interested in a crossbow is they can be used during most regular archery seasons, including

hunting black bear on the Choctaw, as well as hunting whitetails and other animals. Too, years

ago I had learned the best time to take a particular animal you are after, especially older

mature whitetails, is the first legal opportunity, i.e. archery season.

I have no intention of hunting with a vertical bow. I am not opposed to anyone doing so and I

have great respect for those who do. I consider them “real hunters” rather than simply

“shooters”. Me? I am simply not interested in hunting with a bow.

Hunting with a crossbow? I am most interested, partly because while being proficient with a

crossbow takes practice, but it does not take as many hours as becoming proficient with a

vertical bow. And, as much as I hate to admit my arms and back are not as strong as what they

were up my sixties and before. Thus, the crossbow is a great hunting tool for those of us who,

like me, now lack the strength we once had.

I recently asked a couple of friends about why they started hunting with crossbows. Both had

hunted the world with rifles during their younger years. They did not want to quit hunting, but

started looking for a new challenge. They did not want to nor could they hunt with a vertical

bow because of past injuries to their shoulders or now like me questioned if they had the

strength to pull the weight needed for a killing bow. They too, did not want to spend much time

practicing.

“Learning to shoot and hunt with a crossbow was easy to pick up and to become proficient with

out to ranges of fifty-yards. I having shot a lot of animals with firearms. Hunting with a

crossbow adds a new challenge which I dearly love and enjoy. It’s been like starting to hunt all

over again! I’m even thinking of returning to Africa with my TenPoint crossbow to hunt Cape

buffalo and especially kudu and other plains game.”

I talked to Stan Christiansen a dear friend of many years from Kansas. Stan switched from a

vertical bow to a TenPoint Crossbow shortly after the company started. He has used his

crossbow to take elephants, Cape buffalos and a myriad of plains game in Africa, as well as,

several Asian buffalos, banteng and numerous species of deer in Australia, and a great variety

of big game in North America. “I long hunted with a bow and a rifle. When I got to the point

where it was difficult to pull back my compound bow, and was no longer challenged by hunting

with a rifle, I became mostly a crossbow hunter. Love it!”

While on the Choctaw prior to my afternoon hog hunt I spent time with Mark Sidelinger, owner

of Media Direct Creative and with TenPoint Crossbows for many years and Brian Flaherty,

TenPoint’s Director of Marketing. I wanted to learn all I could about crossbows and specifically

those made by TenPoint. They provided me with answers to all my questions as well as gave me

tips on how to care for my crossbow. It was they who encouraged me to try to take a second

animal with a crossbow while on the Choctaw.

Frankly it did not take much “arm-twisting” on their part for me to want to hunt another

animal. Dusty agreed, and volunteered to again accompany me.

Next morning well before first light Dusty and I were in a blind in the middle of a huge stand of

oaks. I had hunted the blind several times in the past. “Lots of whitetail bucks been showing up

here, but so have Axis and fallow does. The latter two are fair game.”

Shortly after first light we were surrounded by whitetail bucks which had recently cast their

antlers, seventeen to be exact. Twenty minutes after the whitetails arrived, Dusty whispered,

“Fallow doe coming. Get ready!” I positioned the crossbow locked onto my Axis tripod, pointing

it in the direction Dusty pointed.

“Shoot her! She’s missing her lower left hind leg and in really bad shape.” I waited until the doe

got with 30-yards. I had earlier ranged several trees and rocks. She turned quartering, nearly

broadside. I pushed the safety to fire, then pulled the trigger. The arrow struck her immediately

behind the shoulder, exited, and hit rocks behind her in a spray of sparks. “Won’t go far!”

commented Dusty. And she did not. My second animal taken with a crossbow, albeit a three-

legged doe. I could not have been happier. Taking her had been the right and proper thing to

do. The crossbow quickly, cleanly and humanely dispatched the animal.

Back at camp, I could not wait to tell Brian and Mark as well as Avient’s Jesse Baird about my

morning’s experience and how I looked forward to doing more hunting with a crossbow. Will I

quit hunting with rifles and handguns? No! But I certainly intend to spend more time hunting

with a crossbow!