Category Archives: Crossbow for Hunting and Target

Wild Alberta Bear Hunt – Encounter With An Angry Bear

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Saddle Hill Outfitters is a Trophy bear camp owned and operated by Rob and Kristie Sawyer. https://www.saddlehillsoutfitting.com/ 

I hunted June 1 to June 6, 2025. 

In camp were eight hunters, including myself. Most hunted with rifle. A few of us came with bow and I came with my 10 Point Turbo S1 crossbow.  I also rented a Savage scoped rifle in .270 Winchester for backup and for wolf. Yup, I had a wolf tag too.

We hunted from 5PM till dark, in Alberta’s Saddle Hills County. Guides drove us many many miles to each baited stand. In most cases, hunters and guides communicated via phone text. 

The Hunt

Rob and guides place white tipped stakes at bait sites so we could see bear shoulder height as the bears walk near. If the bears shoulder height was equal to the top of the stakes or higher, you had as trophy boar in your sights.

Trophy bear were taken by lucky hunters. The largest was around 300 pounds taken by Cason with 6.5 PRC rifle. Holy mackerel! What a trophy bear!

 

Some hunters misjudged some bears and harvested a few sows to the chagrin of the outfitters.  The sow is essential for producing and caring for the cubs and the future adult bears. 

Harvested bears are skinned and measured. Rob is a taxidermist and can create your mounts or you can take you skinned bear home to your own taxidermist.

I was not that lucky but observed many lesser black, cinnamon, and blond bears during the week.

I double lunged a smaller boar with my crossbow during the last 3 hours of my hunt after observing over a dozen bears during the hunt. At the shot, the boar ran 20 feet up the nearest tree, only to discover he was clearly hit in both lungs. He fell 20 feet straight down like a heavy sack of potatoes only to emit his erie death moan.

 

Encounter with “Angry Bear”

Upon getting the bear back to camp, my hunt friend excitedly said, “Ed, you shot  Angry Bear!”

I responded, “Say what?” 

He said, “You shot the bear that attempted to attack a sow with three cubs and aggressively attack me in my treestand a few days earlier. I had to fire my rifle to get him away from me, but after 5 minutes he came back snapping teeth and growling.

And he was trying to kill the three cubs with the sow at the bait.” The cubs climbed nearby trees!

The mother bear chased the angry bear up a tree three times, all the while the boar was growling and popping his teeth. 

After hearing this crazy encounter, my hunter friend was so glad I had killed that bear with my Swhacker 2 1/2 inch cut mechanical broadheads. Love those swhackers!

 

Mother bear also climbed up the tree-stand to check out the hunter. Peek-a-boo I see you!

Hunters, be aware that most of the bears I observed will climb up tree stands to see who is in it. I shout hey! The bears leave the tree but remained to eat the bait.

Below, my crossbow view overlooking the bait site of Angry Bear. On the ground behind the bait barrel lies Angry Bear. Quite dead!

Arrow Shot Placement on Black Bear

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Hunting black bears with bow or crossbow requires some study of bear anatomy for correct shot placement. When I taught bowhunter education years ago we focused largely on whitetail deer.  My Outfitter will cover shot placement as well.

The National Bowhunter Education Foundation sells small synthetic 3D black bears, deer, etc. ($65) where the anatomy can be seen and a pin representing the arrow can be inserted to see what vitals were hit. The next best is a special target sold by Amazon. The company is called “ethikill” anatomy targets. On one side is a broadside bear and the opposite side is the anatomy, bones, heart lungs, liver and intestines. The hunter can shoot it and see the opposite side, e.g., what vital organs were hit. Many experts prefer a slight quartering away shot so the arrow enters and penetrates forward. 

The downside is that bears don’t often stand quartering for such a shot for any length of time. Broadside is still a great shot.

A video from “Bowhunting road” does a great job to educate. Here it is…

The Ethikill target is excellent for broadside shots. 

A double lung hit and your bear won’t go any distance at all, sometimes just feet. 

Good Bear Hunting!

 

Todays Hunting Crossbows Live Their Useful Lives In Between A Rifle and a Bow and Arrow.

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I am both a bowman and a rifleman and I shoot both very well. Todays crossbows can launch an arrow/bolt at sizzling speeds of over 500 fps, faster than the best compound bows.

Most crossbows today shoot bolts typically in the 300 to 400 fps but the 500’s are out there now. I own two crossbows, a Grizzly recurve from Excalibur which shoots at 300 fps and has taken wild boar and turkey. Full penetration.

Grizzly by Excalibur

My main crossbow is a 10 Point Turbo S1 which launches a 425 grain arrow at around 360 fps. Fast enough and with enough momentum to penetrate the largest of wild game.

Both rifle and bow are great hunting tools. We just need training and practice to master them!

Good Hunting!

Compact Tripod for Crossbow or Rifle

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I happen to own a great shooting tripod, a Bog Death Grip.  But it doesn’t pack well for air travel especially with my crossbow and hard case.

Lots of hunters want a tripod that grips your bow or firearm like an extra hand. For several years the Bog worked for me with that vice like clamp. My search has found a new more compact tripod and clamp from Fooletu on Amazon. It has a saddle clamp and 360 deg. ball and height adjust from 25″ to 75″ high.

 

Pictured, is the new tripod holding my crossbow steady at chair height and stand up height. The clamp works great.

I can swivel and tilt at will. Cost $129.00 with a fabric case. That is a great price for the engineering that went into it. And it fits into my new hard bow case adding 4.4 pounds bringing my loaded bow case to around 40 pounds for air travel. See the fabric tripod case Below. Fits perfect in the case!

Safe Travels!

Spring Canadian Black Bear Hunt; How Big is Big? Update

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As most of my readers know, I am hunting massive male bears in Alberta, Canada in May/June this spring with my Ten Point 360 fps Crossbow.  This black bear species is known as Ursus americanus like the bears of eastern canada and USA and americanus is extending its range to 75% of Alberta. Spring Alberta male bears are lean but often exceed 300 pounds. They live in proximity to the Olympic black bear which earned the sub-species Ursus americanus altifrontalis and the grizzly bear – Ursus arctos horribilis.

https://www.alberta.ca/black-bears-overview#jumplinks-0

Encounters of grizzly can happen but are rare because the grizzly does not frequent thick boreal forests like the black bear. I will have a rifle for backup especially when I exit the stand in the darkness. 

A black bear near a 50 gallon bait drum will aid very well in determining size. If the back of the bear is near to or greater than the top of the drum, then you have a “big very likely male bear” say 300 to 400 pounds.

UPDATE

If looking for Boone and Crockett trophies, check out Jim Shockey’s article on field judging black bear. 

https://www.boone-crockett.org/field-judging-black-bear

Shockey says, “Big bears are the toughest, meanest sons-of-a-guns in the valley, and they act it.” 

For me, the fur must be in prime shape as well, not rubbed off. 

END UPDATE

Look to identify male from female. Outfitters train hunters to avoid shooting female bears.  Additionally, female bears are not unusually large as the massive 300 to 400 lb males.

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Image Courtesy Wikipedia

Females with cubs or even older cubs give their sex away simply by being with cubs. 

Further, female front legs taper from wide to narrow all the way to the narrow front paws, where male front legs are like large stove pipes like the above photo with no leg taper. Old mature bruins have smaller ears more on the side of the head and fat wide heads with a crease down the center of the skull as shown above.

If I encounter a black bear of the size above, I would make every effort to harvest him. If I could not arrow him, I would take him with rifle. 

More soon….

 

 

Ten Point Crossbow and Oracle X: It’s A Packer Of A Swhacker For Big Black Bear

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In less than 50 days I’ll be flying 2200 miles across the USA and arriving in Grande Prairie Alberta, Canada for a week of  “two-fer” crossbow black bear hunting.

Tenpoint Turbo S1 Crossbow Package (Vektra Camo)

 

I chose to travel specifically to Alberta to hunt these unusually large color phase black bears. My Ten Point Turbo S1 Arrow/Bolts are equipped with Swhacker 231 broadheads.

With my Burris Oracle X Laser Scope, I practice at 15 to 30 yards for deer and bear and target shoot well beyond to 60 yards and more with supreme accuracy.

 

The laser works best after 20 yards by lighting the aiming point. 

Back to Swhackers; It’s cutting sharp hardened steel trocar tip leads the entry till the sharp swhacker wings enter tissue and swing the 2 1/2 inch razor sharp blades to bear, (pardon the pun).

Literally, broadside exit wounds are nearly assured with crossbows shooting 360 fps. I remember in the 1960’s, reading Fred Bear, said of his two edge broadhead blades…”It makes them lay low.” The swhacker does that in spades. I shot a red practice swhacker head out to my 60 yards target yesterday. Here is a entrance and exit picture.

I was impressed and hit the bullseye too.

Good Shooting!

 

 

 

Setting My Sights On An Adventure Filled Maine Bear Hunt – Updated

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An Adventure filled Solo Maine Black Bear hunt is in my plans for September 2024. Come on along as I film some video clips too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear

 I have not hunted black bear for quite some time, but it can be very exciting with a good outfitter and remote land access. I estimate the weight of this bear in the above image near 400 pounds. 

What is even better is that very often you will see more than one bear or two or more on a 6 day hunt.

Most hunting is done in afternoon and evening on ground blinds or tree stands over bait. 

Baiting is a great way to hunt bear, in particular, because you can be selective; e.g., to pass or shoot a smaller or larger adult bear.

The tough part is to gage the size of a bear coming to bait. Often, bears, particularly big ones, come to bait just minutes before dark, making judging size, and fur color even harder.

I am very pleased with my 10 Point Turbo Crossbow (390 – 400 fps) and my NAP Killzone Cut-on-Contact 100 grain mechanical broadheads.  Bears often hit with a razor sharp broadhead in the heart/lung area, will run flat out for 10 seconds and then collapse deader-than-a-door-nail… never knowing what bit them. Too far forward may result in the arrow hitting the scapula bone and tough tracking so the shot must be true. 

My Equipment, a 10 Point 400 fps Turbo S1 Crossbow Arrow Flight with Killzone Broadhead or my Browning 7mm Rem Mag.

Killzone provides a practice blade. It isn’t easy to assemble the practice blade but once done, it works. Note; that the there is a pencil point type head that you can get as well for this broadhead but i prefer a cut-on- contact point.

Haven’t killed a bear with the Killzone head yet, but we shall see. Many experts suggest fixed blade broadheads on bear. I have some to experiment with as well.

I will have my backup Kimber 45 ACP and my Browning Speed 7mm Rem Mag Rifle along with me as well.

X-Bolt Speed

I called to further discuss rifle at 75 yards vs bow at 20 yds and will decide when I get there. Rifle setups are further away from bait thus allowing less human odor at dusk near bait. Big bruins didn’t get big by being stupid. They use their nose and minor noise to determine when it is safe to approach bait, often after dark. Take away noise and smells at the bait site and maybe enough to to make a show. 

What will I do with the hide, skull and meat? If the bear is large, I will make a rug and have the skull cleaned. I am a meat-eater and home-made butcher and self- trained chef. Bear fat can be rendered for lubricating/rust protection and also the lard makes a great ingredient for pie crust. Bear meat and fat was a real commodity in early America for its versatility in cooking/frying and for both lubrication and rust prevention and even lamp oil.  

My Outfitter “Foggy Mountain Guide Service” hunts deep in the wild woods of Maine. Driving from southern New Hampshire to my Maine hunt location will take me about 5 hours, where I’ll spend up to six days hunting.

https://www.maine.gov/ifw/hunting-trapping/hunting/laws-rules/licenses-permits.html

Fishing during morning and mid-day will be my pass-time before the hunt. 

Stay posted for more on this Adventure filled hunt.

Good Hunting!

© Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved.

 

Arrow Hit Where On The Deer?

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So you shot at a deer with Bow/Crossbow. It all happened so fast and you are not sure if the hit was in the vitals or in the gut. Here is an indicator wrap or a wipe (if you dislike the wrap) to tell you the kind of hit that was made. Wipe the arrow and it changes color. This helps you plan for a recovery of game, to follow now or wait hours or overnight before following up. I like the idea and I will likely buy the wipe type indicator for this fall.

https://www.gutcheckindicators.com/shop-now

We all want to recover and eat the game we hunt, here is a tool that can help.

Good Hunting!

Crossbow Targets – Some Thoughts

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Let me break bow/crossbow portable targets into two categories, bagged targets for field points and block like foam targets which can be used for both field points and broadheads. Bag targets often cost less and foam types often cost much more. What do you really need?

Bag type targets such as the Morrell Crossbow Yellow Jacket YJ-425 are cost effective $30 to $40 dollars for field points and the arrow/bolts are easy to remove.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001RE6ZPW?tag=sa-b2c-new-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

Morrell Yellow Jacket YJ-425 Field Point Bag Archery Target - for Crossbows and Compound Bows. Packaging may vary

 

On-line customer comments say it can handle 400 fps crossbow bolts. Wow! Cost effective and easy to remove the arrow? I like that! Most foam targets really hold on to your arrow and significant effort is often needed to retrieve the arrow.

Foam type targets on the other hand, are great for both field points and broadheads but they often cost up to 2 or 4 times more than bag targets and the arrows are harder to pull out of the foam blocks.  The advantage of this target however is that “one target does it all”.

Example: The BLOCK Vault below does it all for $95 dollars. But you often will have a tougher time removing arrows and in some cases you will need an bolt/ arrow puller for fast bolts stuck deep.

https://www.amazon.com/Block-Vault-Archery-Polyfusion-Technology

Block Vault 4-Sided Archery Target with Polyfusion Technology - Available in 4 Sizes!

 

 

Many quality foam and bag type targets are rated these days, e.g. 300 350, 400 450 fps etc., so look for the speed rating!

This summer I will likely purchase a very cost effective field point bag target for general target practice. I have 2 foam block targets now but hate to pull the arrows out!

Hope that helps!

©2019

 

 

 

New Excalibur Takedown Crossbows and Cases?

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Take it from me, its worth checking out these new TD crossbows like the Assassin 400 but there is so much more… Wow!

. I will try to get one this coming spring to test.

If you are in the market for a compact crossbow that is designed to be a takedown model and the bow portion easily reassembled, take a hard look at Excalibur’s new 2020 TD crossbows that can be assembled and disassembled in seconds and still maintain their accuracy.

The new 2020 Excalibur TD (takedown crossbows) with QUICKLock™ technology are here and reassemble/un-assemble in seconds such as the Excalibur Assassin TD, Suppressor, or the Micro 360 TD.

https://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/crossbows

 

A softcase to store the crossbow is available. The only thing they need is a hard crossbow case that can be ordered separately for air travel. My guess is that a hardcase is in the works.

 

Check it out!

Good Hunting!