Spent a couple of hours on Saturday at the range with the Maximus Bone Splitter 225 learning the trajectory of the crossbow. Shooting different ranges to see how much I had to hold for different ranges. 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 yards. Was shooting 4 inch group at 40 yards with the broad heads off hand so I was confident to take it hunting on Sunday.
We headed out Sunday morning in the Nitnat area and arrived to where we wanted to hunt by 11:30am. Just as we head into the first spur there is a nice bear on the road. I probably could have taken him with the 45/70 but I wanted to try and get a bear with the crossbow. I got out of the truck, cock the bow, but the bear was nowhere to be seen.
We head into another spur and on the way back out we see a very young bear that looks injured. We let him walk and head out for a break before we start our evening hunt.
We decide to make our way back and take the wrong road back delaying us by a couple hours. We then turn around and head back. We come around a corner and there is a bear in the road. He runs across the road and peers over the bank watching us. I get out of the truck with the 45/70 and ask my buddy if I should take this guy. My wife wanted me to get a meat bear as she was getting tired of eating ducks and geese.
We notice the bear still isn't moving, I tell my friend to go and grab the crossbow. I unload the rifle and try to cock the crossbow by hand. I try it twice with no luck it's to heavy of a pull. I scramble in my pocket to pull out the cocking aid. I'm getting the bow cocked and my buddy tells me the bear has now gone down the bank.
I get a bolt on the crossbow and go to the bank to see if I can't see the bear, he's nowhere to be seen and there is a good drop down to the river.
Just as I was just about to give up hope and talking out loud to my friend the bear breaks from cover and climbs a tree and is pretty much the same hight as me. I sit on the bank and range him on the range finder. He's only 16 yards away. I put the cross hair on the bear and think to myself if I fire this bolt I'll never recover it as there is a gully directly behind the bear.
I'm waiting for my my friend to grab the video camera but the bear starts to climb higher and soon to be obstructed by some branches so I decide to take the shot.
the bear is broad side to me and I'm trying to determine where to shoot for 16 yards. I pull the trigger and 10 seconds later the bear is tumbling out of the tree. He hits the ground and manages to crawl another 5 feet before he expires just short of falling over the edge of the gully.
We head down to the bear and to our amazement there was blood everywhere. When I looked to see where I had hit the bear it was a perfect shot placement just behind the shoulder. He was a decent bore of 5 1/2 feet and his front teeth were worn down pretty good. The bear was shot at 7:42pm, we gutted the bear and tossed it in the back of the truck and hightailed for home. We didn't get home until after midnight, the night was cool and the skinning and de-boning was done at 7:00am this morning before the sun came up.
After getting the bear cleaned out and we then realized why he expired so quickly and why there was so much blood. The bolt cutter broad head smashed through a rib, went through the heart and slipped out between two ribs on the other side.
We ended up seeing another 3 shooter bears on the way out during legal time. Looks like the boys are out and looking.
I have to say I'm quite pleased with the performance of the cross bow, the firebolts, and bolt cutter broadheads. The 3 seem to make a deadly combination.
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