Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 56

Striking a rock under the surface of the ground could cause the arrow to kick back or the shaft to shatter. Firing the bolt into a target is the safest thing to do. Some hunters carry a small target in their vehicle that is used for strictly that purpose. Normally, crossbows are discharged into the target at point blank range, so only a small target is required. Some hunters who do not want to carry a target afield simply remove the bolt from the bow, making sure the bow is on safe, and transport it home where the bow can be loaded again, and then shot into a target, discharging the bow. Although my wife has taken more than 40 deer with a vertical bow, she has been using a crossbow for several years due to a shoulder surgery. I keep a small target in the garage, and when we return home after a hunt she fires a field tipped arrow into the target to safely discharge her bow. Equipment The one thing bowhunting is not short of is gadgets to buy. However, when it comes to crossbows there are two items that warrant some consideration and in my opinion are well worth the money. The first is the lighted nock. Lighted nocks are just that, nocks with lights in them that allow the shooter to visibly track the flight of the bolt and easily locate the shaft after the shot. Lighted nocks are not lit all the time; they actually turn on when fired from the bow. Lighted nocks have been available for regular arrows for several years, but are now increasingly available for crossbow bolts as well. The heart of the nock itself is a tiny battery and an illumination circuit. Different circuits are triggered in different ways. Some simply make physical contact on the shot, while others use internal accelerometers. I prefer the simpler physical contact models such as the Lumenok by Burt Coyote (www.burtcoyote.com). Regardless of how they are triggered, the nocks light up when fired and the shooter gets a visible streak of light right to the target. Not only do lighted nocks aid in seeing the flight of the bolt to the target, but they also help locate the bolt after the shot. In most cases crossbow bolts pass through the animal, which means they bury themselves in the grass, leaves or soft earth somewhere downrange. Finding them is sometimes difficult if not impossible. Lighted nocks can change that dramatically. Even in bright daylight, the trail of a lighted nock is easy to follow as it makes its way to the target. When fired in overcast woods or in early morning or late afternoon light, the flight is even easier to see. One late afternoon this past season I got a call on the walkie-talkie from my wife telling me she had hit a deer. By the time I got to her stand, about a mile away, darkness had fallen. She told me she knew she had a hit, as she saw the lighted nock on the bolt disappear right behind the buck’s shoulder. She then walked me a few yards beyond where the buck had been standing and pointed in the knee high grass to her lighted nock glowing brightly. Her bolt had buried itself in the ground and only two inches of shaft was protruding from the soft earth. The lighted nock allowed us to not only locate the arrow, but to also find the start of the blood trail that led to her buck. While I’m sure we would have located the buck without finding the bolt, the fact that she knew she had a hit and that we found the shaft gave us positive proof of a hit. This evidence may have been lost if a less experienced hunter could not have verified the hit and just assumed they missed and the arrow was lost in the grass. On another occasion, when I was using a lighted nock with my vertical bow, I downed a nice buck and drug him to a nearby logging road. It was my intent to get my cart from my truck to more easily transport the deer. I stuck the arrow in the ground next to the buck with the lighted nock still lit as a marker for my return, as it was getting dark. After retrieving the cart and returning to the site I could see that GAME NEWS
http://www.burtcoyote.com

Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010

Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010
Life & Times of the Whitetail Biologist
Contents
A Chocolate-Covered Cream-Filled . . . Gobbler
The Close Call
Silent Whispers
The Shot Not Taken
Eastern Coyote
A Grandparents’ Pride, A Grandson’s Gift
In the Company of Children
A Jake for Ben
Early Bear Management
Field Notes
Conservation News
Off the Wire
Another View
The Naturalist’s Eye
Straight from the Bowstring
Lock, Stock & Barrel
Fun Game
Crossings
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Life & Times of the Whitetail Biologist
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - A Chocolate-Covered Cream-Filled . . . Gobbler
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - The Close Call
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Silent Whispers
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 12
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - The Shot Not Taken
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 17
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Eastern Coyote
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 21
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - A Grandparents’ Pride, A Grandson’s Gift
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - In the Company of Children
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 25
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - A Jake for Ben
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Early Bear Management
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 34
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Field Notes
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 39
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Conservation News
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 45
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Off the Wire
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Another View
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 49
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - The Naturalist’s Eye
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 53
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Straight from the Bowstring
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 57
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 58
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Lock, Stock & Barrel
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Fun Game
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Crossings
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - BB1
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - BB2
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - Cover4
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