My maternal grandfather was the only "serious" hunter in my family, but with a 70 year age gap, I unfortanetly never got to share many hunts with him. Grandpa did pass on one very important thing to me though and that was the desire to get outside, hunt, survive and live life. I love hearing stories of my grandfather's adventures and as I get older I see where I get a lot of my love from the outdoors even though he was not directly involved with my start of hunting and fishing. My grandfather had been in poor health in the last few years of his life and he passed away a year ago this February at the ripe old age of 97.
Since I was the only person in the family that hunted my grandfather left me his guns and bows when he passed. Most of these items are now considered antiques and worth quite a bit of money but I would never sell any of his weapons. One of these weapons was a Tenpoint Crossbow from 2002.
I was at my mom's house the other day visiting for the holidays and pulled the crossbow out of the case and decided to go shoot a few arrows to see if it was still on. The battery in the scope was dead, but we were able to find one to replace it with and I headed out to shoot a couple of arrows. I shot a couple of arrows at 30 yards and it was still dead on. With a couple hours of daylight left I decided to head out and sit in the stand with grandpa's crossbow. I went to the stand that I started deer hunting in and where I shot my very first archery deer over 15 years ago.
I got situated in the stand and familiarized myself with the crossbow one more time and relived all the memories I had hunting and thinking about my grandpa. I hadn't sat there long and my day dreaming was interrupted by the sound of deer in the timber. I saw a couple of small bucks and another deer I couldn't see. I was watching the other deer and then a nice 8 point buck started to chase the other smaller bucks around. The 8 point would never offer a shot opportunity but I was enjoying the experience.
Things started to slow down and the deer seemed to be moving off and I thought that I wouldn't get an opportunity at the buck. After some time the smaller bucks started to work their way closer and then the larger buck followed suite. I guessed the range to be around 45 yards to where the buck would present a shot but I had no idea of where the scope needed to be adjusted to as I only shot it at the 30 yard mark and no further.
I put the red dot on the smaller deer and clicked the scope adjustments to see how far the dot moved to decipher the yardage for each setting. After some time I made an adjustment that felt right and waited for the buck to come into my shooting lane. He eventually made his way to the opening and I decided to take him.
I aimed the bow and pulled the trigger. The 15 year old crossbow was much louder than my newer compound and the buck was ducking well before the arrow got there but the arrow met its mark pinning both shoulders. The deer couldn't get its legs underneath it and expired within seconds and only 20 yards from where I shot it.
I got down out of my stand and headed to the house to get my mother to be there when I recovered the deer. She is not a hunter and doesn't hunt but has always supported me throughout my life. I told her I shot a buck with grandpa's crossbow and wanted her to be there when I recovered it. We headed back out to recover the deer and my mother was brought to tears not because an animal lost its life but that a part of her father was still alive in me.
This deer was not by any means a monster nor was it what I set out to kill this year but I felt my grandfather with me that afternoon in the stand and I wouldn't trade that for any other deer. Sorry for the long story but here is grandpa's and my first deer together.
Since I was the only person in the family that hunted my grandfather left me his guns and bows when he passed. Most of these items are now considered antiques and worth quite a bit of money but I would never sell any of his weapons. One of these weapons was a Tenpoint Crossbow from 2002.
I was at my mom's house the other day visiting for the holidays and pulled the crossbow out of the case and decided to go shoot a few arrows to see if it was still on. The battery in the scope was dead, but we were able to find one to replace it with and I headed out to shoot a couple of arrows. I shot a couple of arrows at 30 yards and it was still dead on. With a couple hours of daylight left I decided to head out and sit in the stand with grandpa's crossbow. I went to the stand that I started deer hunting in and where I shot my very first archery deer over 15 years ago.
I got situated in the stand and familiarized myself with the crossbow one more time and relived all the memories I had hunting and thinking about my grandpa. I hadn't sat there long and my day dreaming was interrupted by the sound of deer in the timber. I saw a couple of small bucks and another deer I couldn't see. I was watching the other deer and then a nice 8 point buck started to chase the other smaller bucks around. The 8 point would never offer a shot opportunity but I was enjoying the experience.
Things started to slow down and the deer seemed to be moving off and I thought that I wouldn't get an opportunity at the buck. After some time the smaller bucks started to work their way closer and then the larger buck followed suite. I guessed the range to be around 45 yards to where the buck would present a shot but I had no idea of where the scope needed to be adjusted to as I only shot it at the 30 yard mark and no further.
I put the red dot on the smaller deer and clicked the scope adjustments to see how far the dot moved to decipher the yardage for each setting. After some time I made an adjustment that felt right and waited for the buck to come into my shooting lane. He eventually made his way to the opening and I decided to take him.
I aimed the bow and pulled the trigger. The 15 year old crossbow was much louder than my newer compound and the buck was ducking well before the arrow got there but the arrow met its mark pinning both shoulders. The deer couldn't get its legs underneath it and expired within seconds and only 20 yards from where I shot it.
I got down out of my stand and headed to the house to get my mother to be there when I recovered the deer. She is not a hunter and doesn't hunt but has always supported me throughout my life. I told her I shot a buck with grandpa's crossbow and wanted her to be there when I recovered it. We headed back out to recover the deer and my mother was brought to tears not because an animal lost its life but that a part of her father was still alive in me.
This deer was not by any means a monster nor was it what I set out to kill this year but I felt my grandfather with me that afternoon in the stand and I wouldn't trade that for any other deer. Sorry for the long story but here is grandpa's and my first deer together.
