Check out this video on Crossbow Hunting | Follow the Blood Trail. Mike follows the blood trail on this crossbow hunting trip, to find a beautiful 8 point white tailed buck.
This hunt started out in the summer of 2020 when Mike started setting up deer feeding areas in 3 different locations. This is more than a hobby for Mike and takes a lot of time and money to get these bucks coming in regularly through hunting season.
Mike’s weekly chore of lugging in 50 pound bags of corn to each area became much easier when he started using the Gorilla Cart instead of his shoulders and back.
- Versatile Wagon: Get heavy loads of any kind where you need them to be quicker with this sturdy garden wagon designed for all kinds of outdoor scenarios such as the beach
- Cart Specifications: Wheeled cart measures 44” x 25.7” x 26.2” (L x W x H) with a weight of 54 lbs and a maximum capacity of 1200 lbs’ worth of heavy items
- Durable Structure: Heavy-duty poly bed resists rusting and innovative steel frame design reduces assembly time while offering improved maneuverability with the yard cart
- Reliable Features: Utility wagon comes equipped with 13-inch pneumatic turf tires with 5/8-inch bore size can haul heavy loads and balanced 4-wheel stability for heavy landscaping or garden projects
- Easy Unloading: The all-terrain wagon has a patented quick-release dump feature to make unloading fast and easy; Offers a spacious and portable option for all of your essentials
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After several months of feeding and watching his trail cameras, he normally can tell what site is going to be his best bet for the fall hunt. This is where Mike re-focus his feeding efforts on the one promising site, packing in corn twice each week and checking the trail cameras each time.
Mike uses several trail cameras but here is one of them below.
- Cellular game camera sends trail camera images from the field to your smartphone and computer.
- Operates on Verizon 4G network for the most reliable and trusted cellular service in the world.
- 16MP images with vibrant, colorful daytime photos. Thanks to the Illumi-Night Sensor, nighttime images are just as bright as clear as the daytime photos.
- 0.9 second trigger speed captures the fastest of game animals as they pass in front of the camera.
- For the ultimate in game surveillance, record HD video to reveal where deer are coming from and where they are going.
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Finally, it’s hunting season and Mike has done is research and prep work to give him the best odds of shooting that trophy buck. It’s time to set up the deer blind and wait for opening day. It’s fascinating hearing of Mike’s hunting stories and all the experience he has gained hunting over the past 50 years. I never thought that weather would play an important role in a hunt as the bucks will show up more regularly in certain weather patterns. It’s actually not a secret, and I would tell you, but I have forgotten what he said about what weather is better for a good hunt.
All I will ad is that this November morning, was overcast, cool but not extremely cold, with some light rain falling.
There are so many things to do in order to prepare for a successful hunt, and sighting in your weapon is number one. Next, get out to the deer blind early, before daylight, and make sure you don’t leave your scent anywhere near your hunting area. Mike has a great hunting tip for this and it’s extremely simple and cheap. More on that in another article.
Mike uses an inexpensive Ameristep Deer Blind seen below.
- Ameristep Hunting Ground Blinds & Accessories. Hunting success begins with the element of surprise. That’s what Ameristep has given hunters for over 20 years: Ground blinds & accessories that cleverly conceal positions from up above and down below
- The Care Taker comfortably accommodates two hunters, but its small size makes it easy to transport and deploy in a variety of environments such as heavily wooded areas
- Integrated wheels for easy transport
- Mossy Oak Break-Up Country camo covers the entire blind and shoot-through mesh windows. Inside, black ShadowGuard coating ensures shadows and silhouettes won’t give away your hideout
- Dimensions: 55 L x 55 W x 60 H Inch. Window System: Silent Toggles. Shell Fabric: Durashell Plus. Footprint: 55 x 55 Inch Shooting Width: 60Inch; Includes: Hub blind, carry bag, ground stakes, high wind tie-downs
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This November morning was opening day for rifle season in Oklahoma, but Mike chose to use his crossbow instead. The buck came in early and ate enough corn to fill up his belly but decided not to stay around to long. Mike was hoping to get more video but had to take the shot when the buck turned and started to leave.
Mike had to take a quick shot and hit it right behind the right shoulder and the buck took off like a shot, but not before bucking wildly, which actually caused the arrow to break off in three pieces, as we found out later.
Mike uses the ATN Day/Night scope to capture all his great action wildlife video.
- Obsidian IV Dual Core Processor and Ultra HD Sensor - an ideal combination to satisfy your 24/7 hunting needs. Rich color palette for the daylight, sharp black-and-white image at night
- Dual Stream Video Recording - Wifi Streaming and Video Recording now can be turned on simultaneously with no negative effect on performance
- Ballistic Calculator feature makes every shot a kill. Point of impact is adjusted automatically with consideration of ammo type, range to target and environmental data
- Recoil Activated Video - focus on the game, let X-Sight handle the routine tasks. As the scope senses the recoil, video is automatically stored on the SD card
- Ultra Low Power Consumption - over 18 hours of active use. No more lost opportunities due to drained batteries
- ITAR Product: Restricted for Export.
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You can see in the photo above, if you look closely, the end of the arrow breaking off and falling to the ground.
This is where the work get’s more challenging, following the blood trail. I learned something new from Mike when he told me you don’t want to start tracking to quickly as you will cause the buck to keep running or run farther. You want to give him time to stop and bleed out closer to where you shot him so it’s easier to find him.
Mike gathered up his things and started off on the blood trail after about 45 minutes. The blood trail was a little light at first and hard to follow, which made Mike wonder how good the shot was. It wasn’t long though when Mike started seeing a lot more blood and knew the buck couldn’t be far away.
This is where Mike believes he stopped for a short period of time and bled out some.
The buck was only about 30 yards from this spot and had run approximately 200 yards from where Mike shot him.
This was a large 8 point buck that scored 133 on the Pope and Young scale. Mike can kill two bucks in Oklahoma so this is the first of hopefully two trophy bucks this year.
The next step is to gut and field dress the buck, while looking for the arrow, hidden somewhere in side the buck. Sometimes the arrow will pass through but on this shot, as the buck was starting to turn away from Mike, the arrow entered at a different angle and nearly exited in the neck on the opposite side of the body. The arrow missed the heart but nicked the lung and looks like it severed an artery.
Mike found two pieces of the arrow, but the end of the arrow had broken off at the site where Mike shot him. Mike uses the Grim Reaper 100 Grain Broadhead 1-3/4″ Cut.
- Sport Type: Hunting
- 3 per pack
- Cut: 1-3/4 inches
- Grain: 100
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This is the part of the hunt I like the least but it doesn’t seem to phase Mike at all. Mike went to work opening up the buck to get rid of all the internal organs.
It didn’t take long for Mike to field dress the buck and get him loaded into his Gorilla Cart, which makes getting the buck back to the truck much easier.
The last step was to get this big buck back to the truck.
This was a great hunt that Mike put a lot of time and effort into and this was one of those perfect hunting days that went as well as an avid hunter could hope for.
It won’t be long before the meat will be in the freezer and with the buck mounted in Mike’s study.
You can watch the YouTube video of the hunt below.
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- Sport Type: Hunting
- 3 per pack
- Cut: 1-3/4 inches
- Grain: 100
This product was presentation was made with AAWP plugin.
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Thanks for sharing this article which you have written to discuss your hunting escapade. I have never partook in any hunting activity before, but know for sure that hunting is a very interesting and fun activity. As a boy I have always admired hunters and their courage to go into the woods to hunt for animals. I also admired their aiming and shooting skills. Hunters were like super intelligent humans to me then.
I’m with you on not being a big hunter, but I too, admire those who are skilled at it, and others who want to learn and have the guts to get out there in the wilderness. I have to admit that I prefer to buy my steaks at the store but watching Mike do all his prep work for the hunt and then having a successful kill, impresses me. Most people don’t understand the effort and skill that goes into becoming a successful hunter.
Rick
That was a really good shot. And I think that gives confidence when searching for the blood trail. The amount of blood was initially very small so when we start to walk and not much blood is seem, we are doubtfull about the direction we’re taking. But this is something that always happens: we lose the blood trail and find it, lose it and find it again.
Thanks for this good post.
Hey Abel. Thanks for adding your similar experience to bow or crossbow hunting. Actually, I am not the hunter, Mike is the hunter, who is in the video. I am amazed at how much I have learned from him in the past when I hunted with him and now when I edit his hunting videos. Some people may not like these kinds of posts and videos but they are extremely informative and educational, let alone entertaining for many people.
Rick