CSE-Carrying Your Crossbow Afield

In order to get from your vehicle or home to your tree stand or ground blind, you're going to have to carry your crossbow. There are many options when it comes to carrying your crossbow afield. Should you carry your crossbow in your hands the entire time, or maybe on a backpack? Should you cock your crossbow and carry it loaded, or wait until you get to your hunting location? In this segment of the Crossbow Safety and Education series, we'll take a look at carrying your crossbow afield, show you some methods of transporting your crossbow, and discuss whether or not to walk with your crossbow cocked or loaded to and from your hunting spot. Let's first take a look at methods of carrying your crossbow. The first and most basic way is to carry it by hand. Many times, this is the way I personally walk in the woods with my crossbow. You can carry your bow in the same ways you would carry a shotgun or a rifle. You can carry it in the ready position, across your body, or most times, I just put it over my shoulder when walking in. If you decide that you want to carry your crossbow by hand, then use whatever method that you feel most comfortable with. For most of you, you will use a shoulder sling to carry your crossbow to and from your hunting location. Shoulder slings are good because they free up your hands to carry other items you might need, such as a seat or a stool or maybe some rattling horns. One thing you'll find different with crossbows as compared to guns is that crossbows are top heavy, so you may find that your bow wants to keep sliding off your shoulder when using the shoulder sling. Some guys will actually carry their crossbows in the downward position so that they're not fighting gravity the entire time they're walking to and from their hunting location. If you have a long trek to and from your hunting location, or you'll be hunting out west, you might want to take a look at a crossbow specific backpack, such as this one called the Bolt from Boning Archery. Most of these packs securely hold your crossbow in place while walking or hiking, and they allow both hands to be free. And if you should find yourself in a situation where you need to quickly grab your crossbow, most have a quick release feature that allow you to grab your bow without removing the pack. Okay, now that we've discussed ways to carry our crossbows afield, let's talk about when you should cock your crossbow and also when you should load your crossbow. Unless your state game laws say otherwise, I always cock my crossbow at the truck before entering the woods. Even in the morning when it's still dark out, I'll cock my crossbow. That way I'm not making any extra noise in the woods cocking it, especially if I have a crank style cocking aid. Or if I forget my rope cocking aid in my crossbow case, it'll be right there in the vehicle and I won't have to walk all the way back from the woods to get it. Now as far as when to load an arrow into your crossbow, in many states it's illegal to have a loaded crossbow before or after legal hunting hours. So if you're walking in or out of the woods in the dark, there's no reason to have a loaded crossbow. But during daylight hours, if you're still hunting your way to and from your stand or ground blind, then there's really no reason you shouldn't have a loaded crossbow if you feel comfortable doing so. On the flip side, if you're riding a four-wheeler to your hunting location and your crossbows interact, there's no reason to keep your bow loaded at that point. Walking with a loaded crossbow can be a controversial topic. Many crossbow hunters are for it and many are against it. But the decision is yours to make based on your comfort level with your crossbow. You should, however, treat a loaded crossbow like a loaded firearm and always be aware of the direction it is pointed.