If you are planning a trip to remote Alaska, Northern Canada like Newfoundland for Caribou, Bear or Moose and really off road from any civilization the ARGO ATV 8×8 is a big name among Outfitters. Whether carrying sportsmen and women, hauling wood or game, crossing rivers (It floats and can cross water). The Aurora 8×8 is a new model that has accumulated the best in function.
In a world of super fast and ultra long distance we, me included, get carried away with Ballistic Coefficients in the 0.5 to 0.7 range. The fact is when hunting east of the Mississippi it is often not necessary to use high BC bullets (bean fields excluded) and certainly not in New England. Yes it is fun to write about!
For mid-range hunting say out to 150 yards that your bullet need not have a BC above 0.3 or so for mid range hunting say out to 150 yards. Here in New Hampshire most shots are in the 40 yard range. Many deer over the years have been dropped in their tracks with 240 grain flat nose bullets as well as round nose with sufficient mass and sectional density and modest muzzle speeds of say 2300 fps. The advantage of shooting a round, semi-spitzer or even flat nose bullets is that upon contact the bullet is already formed into a pseudo mushroom shape on contact. Thus this shape provides a audible whack sound and radial energy on contact with the hide of the animal.
Just imagine getting hit with a 100 mile per hour brick verses a pencil point. Put a sheet upon a clothes line and throw a dart at it. What did the sheet do? Not much but punctured. Now throw a fast brick at the sheet. What did the sheet do? It likely was torn off the clothes line. If that were a game hide, it would have created a large radial tissue crushing dent and shock wave at the skin level before it passed through game.
I believe that the brick (round/flat nose) will shut out the lights of a game animal “instantly” more times than the sharp pencil which deforms and will kill in seconds but not often as instantaneously as the brick. Shotgun slugs do that trick all the time as do most 50 cal in-line muzzle loaders. Dangerous game calibers like the 416 Rigby, 458 Win Mag and 500 Nitro Express shoot round bullets for a reason. To provide instant bone crushing energy at the getgo. Odds are very high that this drops them where they stand provided you hit the vitals and the animal provides a vital shot angle.
I was very happy that I used a semi-spitzer round point 50 cal muzzleloader in Texas with 150 grains Pyrodex. I did not want to walk 20 yards into cactus to recover my deer. In fact, the guides don’t want to follow a blood trail in Texas if they don’t have to. I mentioned my .375 Ruger I left home and got lots of approval to bring it next time. My friend Larry Weishuhn calls the .375 Ruger a one gun for the world as I do.
I shot a large 6 point buck way up in Errol, NH years back with a .338 Win Mag 250 grain round nose. That buck never took a single step, he just crumpled right there. My nephew was very impressed as he was beside me when I shot. The bullet entered the lungs and missed the heart but the heart was not edible as it was flat and totally bruised purple. Lights out!!
So don’t forget ( I remind myself too) that round, semi-spitzer and flat point along with mass and Sectional Density are great game stoppers.
For all the years I shot bow and arrow for hunting deer and 3D, I have never used a crossbow because I loved the basic bow so much and could shoot it well in long bow, recurve and compound. After I crossed the 60 mark, my shoulders and arms and eyes had minds of their own. The rifle has always been my favorite for longer distances thus after 60 it became my hunting tool of choice. I thought that perhaps I could be satisfied to give up the bow, arrow and my favorite Muzzy broadheads.
Along comes the crossbow which is half rifle and half bow for me to test like this one from PSE.
I chose the PSE Thrive because the PSE name and quality have been around for many years and I am familiar with PSE Compound bows. Second, I wanted a bow that had a CNC machined barrel which launches consistently tight groups yet does not rob my wallet (MSRP $499-$599) . Sorry, I am not spending over $1000 on a Crossbow at this time. I need to hunt and practice with an affordable crossbow.
Why the 400 series? Well, I think the Thrive 365 and 400 are just the ticket to reach out to the farthest 40 yards with plenty of speed for a slight miscalculation in arrow drop and energy for penetration on all North American game. That is provide the hunter can string load the 175lb bow correctly and safely.
The Thrive came in a double cardboard box to protect the contents. As all crossbows do, they come un-assembled. It is important to verify the contents of the box before getting started in the crossbow assembly which is very straightforward.
The assembly comes with Allen wrenches but was lucky enough to have my own set of fold out Allen wrenches making it easier to tighten screws. Basically you take the bow portion and intuitively place it on the square and round barrel assembly. It took some finagling to get the barrel inserted but once that was done you added the foot stirrup over the front of the bow and aligned it with the large bolt hole that holds the bow to the barrel. Now it is a crossbow! Time to assemble this far is in minutes. Next to assemble the quiver on the picatinny rail underside but had to move the fore-stock back a few notches so the quiver mount would sit flat. Next the scope came with scope rings attached. Nice! And easily.mounted on the pre-installed scope rail. I had to adjust the verticle of the crosshairs just slightly and tighten the scope rings.
The string rope that came with it, I discovered was too long and I could not load the bow as I pulled it toward my chest. Bobby Vargas at PSE sent me a YouTube to shorten the rope and then I could pull and load it. See below.
There is an automatic safety that when the bow is cocked, it engaged the safety. Like a rifle, you must push the safety off to FIRE.
I made my own target out of shrink wrap, cardboard and a large zippered vinyl cold food insulated bag . My first arrow bolt struck and the shrink wrap did the job of absorbing the impact with my “block” as a backstop.
I created this target so I can easily pull the arrow/bolts. It works! I have shot 1 bolt at 20 yards and 6 bolts at 30 yards with the crosshair markings and adjusted the scope easily up and left/right. And it didn’t even bother my neighbors. I can hit a baseball size target at 30 yards so far on day 1. I will test this crossbow and write several articles so you can read my evaluation.
Well that is it for the Out-of-the-Box! So far I give it a solid “A”
Next is to shoot it at longer distances with a rest such as a monopod, bipod, tripod and bench rest. Then to shoot broadheads.
From: Bergeron, Daniel [mailto:Daniel.Bergeron@wildlife.nh.gov] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 8:24 AM To: ‘Edward Hale’ Subject: RE: Crossbow use expanded! Great!
Hello Ed,
Glad to hear that law works for you. We also expanded crossbow use in WMU M (which covers about half of Rockingham County) this past season. It is now legal for any hunter to use a crossbow in WMU M (in place of a traditional/compound bow) throughout the archery season with no need for a special permit of any sort. New England is different from other states in its allowance of crossbows because we have some of the lowest relative deer densities in the nation (we are near the northern limit of whitetail range). In NH we are not opposed to their use and have been expanding opportunity with them when we can. However, crossbows are a more efficient weapon than traditional or compound bows and therefore result in higher success rates. Because of this we have to be more cautious when expanding their use, particularly given how liberal our archery season already is. In most areas of the state if we expanded their use we would likely have to drastically reduce the length of the archery season to compensate for increased success rates. As time goes on and deer numbers rise in certain areas of the state I’m sure crossbow use will continue to expand, we just have to be more cautious than states to our south and west that have a more robust deer resource to work with.
Did you know?New Hampshire Fish and Game protects, conserves and manages more than 500 species of wildlife, including 63 mammals, 18 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 313 birds and 122 kinds of fish as well as thousands of invertebrates!
On April 17, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, one of the newest members of the bipartisan Governors Sportsmen’s Caucus (GSC), signed HB 428 into law, which expands opportunities for crossbow hunters throughout the state.
“With the passage of HB 428 in 2017, Granite State hunters aged 68 and older will now be able to use crossbows during the regular archery season for deer, without obtaining an additional permit.”
Previously crossbow use during archery season was relegated to disabled hunters with a special permit, though crossbow use was allowed during the regular firearms season (with additional permit) and the muzzleloading season (with muzzleloading permit). The bill has an effective date of June 16, 2017.”
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As a senior in this category I am heartened by the signing of this bill. We want to keep seniors in the field and forest hunting as long as they are able. Today’s Crossbow’s are used to harvest all North American Big Game.
Has the Crossbow as a hunting tool made a deer population control conservation impact above and beyond the long bow, recurve and compound bows. The answer is a resounding yes, in many states that recognize it as a state of the art archery hunting tool. In fact, there are more deer taken in Ohio by crossbow than by other archery means. The crossbow is particularly useful in urban residential areas with high deer densities. This is because the crossbow like today’s compound bows make little noise and does not bother the neighbors.
NEW HAMPSHIRE IS NOW GREEN. CROSSBOWS ARE LEGAL as specified in new Regs.
“The QDMA is dedicated to ensuring
the future of white-tailed deer, wildlife
habitat and our hunting heritage. As such,
we are more interested in managing deer
and habitat appropriately and protecting
our hunting heritage than debating use of
specific weapons. If the use of crossbows
positively impacts a deer management program
and helps recruit and retain more
hunters, then we fully support it.”
I was a traditional recurve archer most of my young life till the compound bow came into vogue in the 1970’s but archery took a back seat when I had a shoulder issue in 2012 and could no longer get my bow to full draw. Note the Compound bow was seen as a usurper of traditional archery too. It was disappointing as all get-out to not be able to shoot my bow.
If I can shoot a rifle then I can shoot a crossbow. In addition, the same hunting guidelines and distances (40 yards in open terrain only) that apply to archery are the same for the crossbow.
The same similarity exists as the traditional muzzleloader of the revolutionary war began a muzzleloader season and is now supplanted nearly 100 % by in-line muzzle loaders with a 209 shotgun primers and used for hunting most big game on the planet like elk, moose and brown bear. The crossbow is no less the same.
New Hampshire is suffering loss of revenue in hunter volume and license sales. Think out of the Box!!
Further that David Risley is an avid deer hunter in Ohio along with over 140,000 buckeyes take to the woods with a Crossbow. Note that as of 2009 David Risley is Ohio’s Wildlife Management Chief. Ohio hunters and non resident hunters are keeping the financial coffers full with the embrace of the crossbow AND serving the conservation effort of whitetails and human/auto collisions alike.
I personally know of 5 female deer that live between houses in southern NH. Next year there will be 15 deer between houses. Who is going to harvest and consume this surplus deer that live among houses and where the deer aids as a tick borne vector which places humans and our children on the brink of an epidemic. Note that the Coyotes live with the deer too. Hey what happened to my pooch? He just disappeared or was pulled from a leash and eaten.
I give local seminars in Lyme Disease prevention. Most of us today have been or know someone that had a bullseye rash and associated flu symptoms later if not caught to manifest into brain dysfunction, paralysis and joint pain and death.
The state of New Hampshire does an otherwise great job in managing the central and northern herds but there are growing pockets of deer in Southern NH that could use the Crossbow especially in Rockingham County to keep the deer in check and provide added recreation in the archery season and meat for the freezer.
As QDMA states: “If the use of crossbows positively impacts a deer management program and helps to recruit and retain more hunters, then we fully support it. And I support it as a QDMA member.
I have contacted Bobby Vargas at Precision Shooting Equipment -PSE to test a cost effective (around $599 MSRP) crossbow such as the PSE Thrive 400 in Kryptek Highlander Camo. I am hopeful to get one before Christmas and write about it. There is a lot of information out there on the web so you can check too.
Another great tool in the belt of deer hunters who hunt several states that allow hunting with one in archery season and for reasons of preference or physical ability desire to use it.
The facts are that today many long time bowhunters like me are getting older and have stiff joints, shoulder or arm or pinched nerve issues where traditional archery is no longer viable but still love the bow and broadhead and getting close to game.
