Today is August 23, 2024 and getting ready for the upcoming 2024 archery season.  I have continued to broadcast shelled corn at one of my favorite hunting places throughout the year and getting antsy to say the least.  I have yet to check the POI of my crossbow to ascertain that it is still zeroed in and will do so shortly since our weather has been exceptionally cool for this time of the year and the weather prognosticators have the weather cool the rest of this week with low in the mid 50s .

Using a crossbow makes it easier to harvest deer and requires practically no prior season practice other than checking the zero of the scope point of aim, etc.  I have harvested scores of deer with traditional and compound/cam bows over the decades, but I believe the most thrill was using traditional equipment seeing the flight of your arrow and shooting instinctive watching the arrow disappear where you were looking at a specific place on the deer's vitals.

I pulled the camera SD card yesterday and observed four or five bucks at one of my feeding stations and hopefully they will return during hunting season.

I plan to set up a hunting blind next month, but will not do any serious deer hunting until October when the weather cools down.  I also plan to have our youngest Grandson Xander McKnight Gonzales crossbow hunt with me during November when the annual deer rut is getting in high gear which is usually around the mid of November.

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 08-23-2024.

STAINED "SNAKE GUARD" UPPER PLATFORM 08-22-2024

I stained the upper platform "snake guard" that is inside blind to help protect it when the hunting blind is removed.  I had to build the upper platform since the shooting window on the hunting blind was too high to be able to sit down and shoot.  I should have checked the blind specifications more closely; my bad!

A snake could easily get under the outside edge of the hunting blind and get under the upper platform, therefore I sealed the open area underneath it with plywood.  I had a 4 x 4 wood block and a 2 x 4 block under each corner to give me the elevation needed. Prior to putting the plywood to seal the opening, I felt uncomfortable entering the hunting blind especially while dark.

There is a wood track to the rear of the upper platform that allows the castors of a swivel office chair to ride in and helps keep one from rolling to far to the rear.

Since my youngest Grandson wants to deer hunt with me, I have to come up with a means to secure myself a chair and/or stool preferably with a back inside the hunting blind since there is not enough room on the upper platform for such.  I will measure what room I have from the edge of the upper platform to the hunting blind side and go from there.

The portable addition to the upper platform for a chair will have to be stored in the front of the upper platform where there is adequate room.  I will have to put my thinking cap on for this project.  Hopefully I will have enough 3/4 inch plywood and some 4 x 4 material to make it happen.

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 08-26-2024.

REMOVABLE PLATFORM EXTENSION

I had scrap aka unallocated wood available to construction the platform extension for myself to sit upon when Xander is in the hunting blind with me hunting deer with the crossbow.  I have two or three nails shortened and holes drilled for the nails to help secure the platform in place and easy to remove them when the platform is not used.

I installed a runner from Eastern Red Cedar onto the side of the platform deck at the proper height to allow the edge of the removable platform to be flush with the deck of the upper platform, whereas the 4 x 4 legs are the appropriate height to have the platform extension level.  I also placed a border on the portable platform extension to keep the chair from moving off the platform for safety reasons.  I will see how the platform performs when I get the hunting blind on the platform deck.

I will take a pix of the platform in place when I get the hunting blind set back up on the platform deck.

I foam brushed a coat of stain on the platform extension.

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 09-13-2024.

CHECKING POI CROSSBOW

I am currently caught up on home and yard projects as of 08-26-2024 for the moment and decided to check the POI (point of impact) on the TenPoint Titan DeCock Crossbow.

With this crossbow, I started using the Executioner Black Eagle crossbow bolts and the Rage 100 grain Titanium expandable broadheads.

I had three spare Executioner Black Eagle crossbow bolts and for some reason I placed a 125 grain field point on a couple of them for testing out the crossbow; my bad for sure!  The first couple shots, the bolts were low and to the right and made some adjustments to the scope and the light bulb finally came on that I should be testing with a 100 grain field point.  I changed the field point and re-adjusted the scope for the prior adjustments that I made and shot a few more bolts to get the POI close enough at 20 and 30 yards.

Above is the set-up and target is at 20 yards.  I used a surveyors tape to measure the distance since my normal stride now is shorter than it use to be and didn't have to use a tape measure or electronic range finder.

This is the first bolt shot at 20 yards and probably should have left everything alone, grin if you must!

The above is the bolt at thirty (30) yards and close enough.  The 20 yard bolt was very close after changing the field point and re-adjusting the scope for the POI (point of impact.)   I didn't take a pix of the re-adjusted scope for the 20 yard shot.

Target at 30 yards.

The crossbow should be ready to go for deer hunting and now it is a waiting game.  Plan to put a blind up next month, but will not be hunting until October and only then when it cools down and ascertain from the StealthCam that deer are feeding some in the early morning daylight hours and before dusk dark.

I believe I crossbow hunted 14 (fourteen) times last season during October and never saw a deer during daylight hours.

I will check out the Bowtech backup crossbow point of aim and let Xander shoot it since it has a light trigger pull, whereas the TenPoint Titan has a heavy horrible trigger pull.  The Bowtech is much faster than the TenPoint Titan with a heavier 50 +- grain bolt.  You have to manually cock the Bowtech which isn't that bad, however the black shims keep working their way out of the limb pockets, but should not effect accuracy that much.

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 08-26-2024.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be attained.   

Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Open this link about faith in the King James Bible.