Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010 - 57

good rifle scope. It does not always happen and sometimes it takes 10 shots and other times it might take a hundred, but it can happen and it is not worth taking a chance. If you want to mount a scope on LUMENOK’S are lighted nocks available for crossbow bolts. These your crossbow, buy nocks light up, allowing the shooter to follow the flight of the a scope designed for bolt to the target, and to locate the bolt after the shot. a crossbow. They are less expensive lighted nock from 100 yards or more. than a rifle scope and won’t shake apart. Lighted nocks can be easily turned off afMounting a scope on a crossbow does ter the shot if desired. The tiny battery will not make it a 100-yard sporting implement, keep the nock lit for more than 24 hours if but it does allow the hunter to more easily needed, and on some models the batteries pick his shot within normal hunting ranges. are replaceable. Most commercial crossbow scopes have It is not necessary to equip all of your multiple reticles that allow the shooter to bolts with lighted nocks. My wife has them select from different sets of crosshairs or on just the three bolts in her hunting dots, depending on the distance. quiver. While lighted nock assemblies Multiple reticle scopes are evidence that weigh more than a regular nock, the slight a crossbow is not a flat shooting implement increase has no impact on arrow flight or like a centerfire rifle and should not be trajectory at normal hunting ranges. treated as such. Crossbow bolts, just like Lighted nocks are available in both flat or an arrow from a compound bow, shoot on moon nocks, so you can easily match your a trajectory that must be taken into concrossbow manufacturer’s recommendation. sideration when shooting through brush Most lighted nocks come in either red or and cover as the distance to the target ingreen, while Firenock, (www.fire- creases. nock.com), offers 54 possible color comWhile multiple reticle scopes make it binations. easy for the shooter to instantly select the right crosshair for the distance to the tarTrajectory Compensated Crossbow get, it is necessary to sight the scope in with Scopes the crossbow, bolt and broadhead you inDue to a last minute change before the tend to use on the hunt. Just because the 2009 season, scopes with magnification manufacturer says that if you sight in for were made legal for use on crossbows. If 20 yards the next crosshair is 30 yards, etc., you intend to put a scope on your cross- is not necessarily true. For your particular bow, be advised that there is a dramatic set-up, the next crosshair may be 28 yards difference between a rifle scope and a scope or it could be 32. While this is not a probdesigned for crossbow use. Rifle scopes are lem, you must check the “right-on” disdesigned to absorb recoil while crossbow tance for each crosshair to know exactly scopes are designed to absorb vibration. where your crossbow shoots at various disTrust me, there is a difference. A crossbow tances. My wife does this and then tapes a can easily ruin the internal workings of a small plastic-covered index card with the APRIL 2010 57

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Pennsylvania Game News - April 2010

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