Feb 20 2015

Killer Instinct KI-365 Crossbow Review

I had the opportunity to own and shoot the Killer Instinct KI-365 in Mossy Oak Camo. I have never owned a crossbow in my life. This was my first crossbow I’ve ever owned. I also bought KI-350 for my girls for their Christmas present. I have shot others in the past but never hunted with it…

I had to make the switch because I had a rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder, last summer..I held out until end of the deer season to get my surgery done. I tried to toughen it out but as the season went on, late after Thanksgiving, I could no longer pull back the bow without being in pain. I decided to get the Kl-365 crossbow to ride out the season before getting the surgery.

This crossbow was shipped to my home in December of 2014 from Killer Instinct…It had an adjusted forearm stock, thumb guard rail, and came with illuminated red/green mil-dot scope. It also came with 20″ Black Eagle Killer Tech Arrows with brass inserts.

This is the first evolution of KI high performance crossbows. The KI-365 produces speeds of 365+ FPS and is still one of the most compact and well balanced crossbows on the market. Included is Killer Instinct’s Pro-Grade illuminated glass multi-reticle scope, which allows you to confidently put the improved speed and power to use at vary ranges. The additional of our deadening string suppressors reduces sound and vibration. The highly detailed Mossy Oak Break-Up Infinity finish adds depth, detail and definition.

Package Includes:

  • OWN THE HUNT™ PRO-GRADE ILLUMINATED GLASS RETICLE SCOPE
  • DEADENING™ STRING SUPPRESSORS
  • THREE (3) KI™ CARBON CROSSBOLTS
  • TACTICAL SIDE MOUNT QUIVER SYSTEM
  • ROPE COCKING DEVICE
  • STARTER PACK OF RAIL LUBE
Specifications:
  • FEET PER SECOND: 365+
  • KINETIC ENERGY: 115 FT LB
  • DRAW WEIGHT: 175 LBS
  • POWER STROKE: 14”
  • WEIGHT: 6.4 LBS

It came in a box and I had to assemble it together. It was not very hard to assemble it. Next day I went to the range, to zero in the scope.

It took few shots to zero in, once I zero in at 20 yards, the rest was dead on out to 60 yards without any tweaking! I was very impressed…I tried 50 yards and it kept hitting the bullseye! I was surprised how much I enjoyed shooting it cause I am a die hard vertical bow hunter!

I finally took it out for hunting…I killed a nice Texas Hill Country 10 pointer with it. I have never killed anything with a crossbow before and when I shot the 10 pointer…It was dead on where I was aiming for. I used a Magnus Stinger broadhead. www.MagnusBroadheads.com It caused a devastating entry wound on the front shoulder and stopped on the opposite side of the shoulder bone, almost a pass through. It left a serious blood trail which made it for an easy tracking job!

I was able to see the Pros and Cons of this Killer Instinct’s KI-365 when I took it out on the field…

Pros:

– VERY Reasonable price for a Ready To Hunt Crossbow package

– It has string dampener..it is not as loud as older crossbow…

– It is deadly accurate out to 60 yards!

– It is fast…at 365+ FPS!

– Weighs only 6.4 lbs

– Easy to handle

Cons:

-Quiver doesn’t secure the arrows real good, lost two arrows while walking to the blind

-Scope lens cover comes off real easy, had to use electric masking tape to keep in its place

– Trigger is at 5.5#…very heavy

– Quiver mounting location is awkward, placed parallel to the crossbow rather than by traditional front of the foot stirrup handle

– No carrying strap

– String, in some area are loose when not in cocked position

– No cranking device, using rope cocking device is real hard to pull back with

– Could use an extra room for picatinny rail on the front for hog light or other accessories for night hunting in Texas

Overall:

I give it a 7 out of 10 but because of it is reasonable price at $599.99 for a Ready To Hunt Package. Can’t really beat that and it is fun to shoot, deadly accurate out to 60 yards. Could go beyond, if use HHA Sports Inc.’s own Optimizer Lite Speed Dial Crossbow Sight Mount. This gives you the capability of shooting out to 100 yards or more with HAWKE scope mounted on it!

2015 Improvements-

The KI has made a huge improvements to their crossbow line ups!

-Better adjustable trigger

-new cranking device

-Tactical foldable stock

Quiver could use a better materials, a way of securing the arrows on there, nice and tight…Be aware of your arrows when walking to your hunting spot…

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Apr 10 2018

Turkey Hunting

What is a Mind over Matter?

As y’all know that I may be a Profound Deaf guy but man, there is nothing like my love for calling in some big Ol’ Toms! What a rush!

My friend, Alan Gallagher take me down to his lease every year to hunt turkeys and he has become my ears…he tells me when the birds start talking and lets me know when they respond to my calls.

Many people ask me, how do I do this if I can’t hear. I say, My friends, when a person lose one of the sense, other senses heighten.

I use the vibrations on my calls to distinguish which sounds I’m making…which call I should use. Another hearing friend taught me what each motion/action on box and slate calls were, what each sounds like and I memorized it.

I love to find that sweet spot and start doing my thing. Whether it be yelp, purr, gobble…I pay attention to the vibrations on my slate and box calls.

This is why I love the challenge of every hunt, whether be it hogs, whitetails, turkeys, I challenge myself to bring them in close, beat their game, on their home turf, and overcoming my deafness on every hunt.

The kill is my reward, I get to bring sustenance to my family, an organic meat, from the field to the table.

Even though, Nothing is ever guaranteed. I’m always a student of the game and always ever learning of things I learn out in the woods. None are ever the same. Each hunt are always an unique one. Adapt and overcome on every hunt.

Deafness is not disability. It is a gift. I’m thankful being deaf everyday.

Don’t let anything stop you. Mind over matter…

Cowboy up and Carpe Diem! Happy hunting!

FNI Outdoors Valkyrie Archery Systems

Jun 16 2016

The perfect shot and marginal error can make a huge difference while bowhunting!

We know that deer season is not that far away. I’m exciting!

I hope my left shoulder heals up by the time deer season rolls around…that got me thinking…

I have seen some of my friends, on Social Medias, on the hunting forums, in recent years where some of them practice shooting their bows in preparation for hunting.

Just like rifle shooting…target is static.

It doesn’t move and makes it easier for them to become complacent with their shooting, at the target. Thinking they are that good.

Shooting at the target and at the animals are two different beast!
Out on the field, things change! A lot of variables come into play…

Adrenaline pumping, heart rates are at 100 mph, breathing becomes more of hyperventilating in sort of way. Your brain is over-thinking, doubting your shot and all these things combined can cause hunter to mess up. Bad!

I have seen friends messed up their hunting so bad because of this…thinking the way they have been shooting at the target then they go out and hunt…when all these things hit em hard, they mess up their shot and injured the animal. Because the animal moved then the arrow may not hit the vitals or hit high which means the blood trails may be sparse.

We owe it to the animals we hunt more than anything else, for ethical kill. I know no one is perfect and I am not but putting this into consideration can decrease the chance of messing up your hunt…

I think by hunting year round or more kills under the belt makes those things less of an impact while in the stand.

I remember my first deer! Oh man! My 60# bow felt like a 1000# to draw back and the sitting position felt so weird than standing up. My heart was racing! My thought process was off the chart! I was shaking so bad and couldn’t breath right.

I had to learn the breathing technique, to control my heart rate, know how to draw back while sitting on the chair.

I know I am no professional or an expert but what I’ve learned over the years is that the more kills I have under my belt, the more easier it seems.
I have learned a lot from my trial and errors.

I’ve learned a lot by being out in the field a lot, study the animals’ behavior and their patterns. Their behaviors are as important because then you can predict what they will do next when the arrow fly!

Being out on the field a lot more makes you more successful hunter than not.
Lesson I’ve learned, no matter how much you practice, if you’re NOT out in the field often, the chance of messing up are high, because one haven’t experienced enough of these things or practice their breathing techniques, control the heart rate or sitting in the chair while drawing back the bow.

Patience and confidence are also very important part of hunting as well.

Things I have learned from trial and errors made me a better hunter.
My reason for this is to try help others learn from my experience and apply this to real life experience on the field.

I learned how to hunt by poring over the internet, hours and hours of studying and talking to my friends who have more experience then apply that forumla out on the field.

I never had anyone hunt with me when I first started out, I hunted solo for long, long time, I had to think for myself, I usually hype myself up and tell myself that I can do this despite me being deaf, not being able to hear my surroundings. I rely on my vision a lot.

I learned a lot about myself while hunting, gained confidence, I realized that like any sports I’ve played whether high school team, semi-professional or what not, short memory is a must!

Don’t dwell on your mistakes! It is gonna mess you up bad.
Had a friend who used crossbow, injured a deer, then year after that, shot him with his bow but hit high and never recovered the buck.

Tracking is another thing, learn and master the blood tracking but that is another topic for another time!

I hope this will help even if one person then I am happy cause I had to learn the hard way when I first started out!

People out there with their dads, uncles, grandpas or friend that taught their youngins are very lucky to have them in their life…I wish I came from a long line of hunters in my family. I am the first generation hunter and bowhunter.

I tell myself better late than nevee cause hunting has always been in my blood! Always wanted to hunt all my life but nobody in my family hunted. My dad’s brother hunted but my parents would not allow me to hunt. By the time I graduated, his health and mental started to deteriorate and ended his life way too soon at 38 years of age. At least his pain and suffering are no more. Rest his soul!

I wish my two girls would hunt with me but they don’t like the idea of killing an animals. They love to shoot at the targets with rifle and bow. So I can’t complain.

Good luck this season! Shoot straight and let your arrow fly true!
Nock up!

SAOutdoors

Silent Assassin

Silent Assassin Chronicles

Feb 10 2016
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To Single or To Multi Pin Sight is the question!

Whether to choose a single pin or a multi pin sight for your bow can be a daunting task and hard to decide for some people. Most are just a personal preference but it does have a great beneficials of owning single pin over multi.

For me, it was no brainer. When I started out bowhunting, I have had a hard time seeing through multi pin, it was way beyond worse when hog hunting at nighttime. It just clutters my vision out to the target, it greatly diminish when the target is even further…past 30 yards for me during the daylight, much less 15 yards at nighttime, with low light condition. That shows you how much it cuts in, more than half of distance between day and night for me.

First of all, both have their pros and cons! I feel strongly that a single pin has more pros than there are cons as opposed to multi pin.

As far as seeing through, to the target, single pin gives you a very clear view of the target than multi will. Like a day and night difference!

Multi is very nice when you can not adjust the yardage marker on the fly, especially bowhunting. Multi gives you a quick target acquisition, but blurs out the target.

This question was asked by a lot of Archers, how do one quickly acquire the target, without having to worry about dialing up or down the yardage marker, to match the target’s distance?

This is something I have learned over the years, when I switched up to the single pin. I freaked out every time my first season I had a HHA Single pin on my bow, thinking about that until I competed in 3d tourney, unknown distance. That is when I really practice and hone in my skill adjusting the pin on the fly, without even touching the yardage knob!

I know that may sound crazy! Trust me, with enough practice, you can do this without even thinking about it.

I like to shoot critters at or under 20 yards at my spot. I would range my area real quick, to figure out the distance, pick a spot then memorize how far that spot is and so on…this way I know when critters come in, I will know how far the critter is at.

I would set up my pin at 15 yards, this way if the deer come to the area, even if it was 20 yards, it does not make a big difference, just raise the pin a tad bit, same with 25 yards, 10 yards increment is not really much to raise as opposed to 15-20-25 yards further.

So if you actually look and watch your dial marker, to see how much the pin moves…if I know I am not able to shoot at that distance but up to say, 25-30 yards. I would set up at 20 yards dial marker. Adjust it on the fly when it is time to shoot, without even messing with the yardage marker knob.

By competing the 3d tourney, I was able to tell the difference between 5-10 yards increment on my single pin alone, whether it be a 1/2 inch or an inch raise on the target.

This gives me a confidence to know when to raise my bow a tad bit to put the pin marker on the x spot, to still accurately hit the spot I want it to hit.

Some people feel that may be too much thinking process during hunting, I have another solution for a single pin shooters.

You can always paint a glow in the dark paint, using a pin needle, dip the pin needle thick enough then dab it just right under the pin, for your 10 yard increment once you figured out where that 10 yard increment is at right under the original pin…so that way you will not have to raise your pin on the fly, use the second pin as your 10 yards increment and you are good to go!

With Multi, you are at mercy of how good your vision is, seeing out the peep to the sight then to the target. This is why most 3d tournament shooters use single pin, to clear up the clutter on the target, for precision shooting.

Anytime, anybody ask me about Multi or Single pin, I would tell them this…I would also tell them to actually go out and try both! So they can decide for themselves.

Owning a single pin does not have to be stressful for you or for hunting. It was one of the best decision I’ve ever made, by switching to single pin!

I have HHA King Pin Tournament Edition on all of my 3 bows. It also has 6x lens, with sunshade, to help decrease the sun’s glare. I would recommend light burst, for dawn or dusk even inside the ground blind, to light up the pin, for clarity.

When an Archer switch to single pin, they rarely ever go back to multi! That is how good single pin is.

It also depends on personal preference, too…Some like ease use of multi due to quick target acquisition, not having to worry about changing the yardage marker, or thinking about how much to raise or lower to hit the target on the fly.

Cameron Hanes, prominent bowhunter who have explained in how to use single pin to your advantage. It can be found in his Facebook Post. He goes in a great detail how it has helped him while hunting backcountry.

I hope this article will help you understand the difference between Single and Multi Pin Sights.

Check out SAOutdoors Hunting and Apparel Store 

If you want to learn more about single pin, feel free to ask me and I would be glad to help you! 

Tell me why you think Multi is better than Single, if you are shooting the multi pin.

Regards,

Silent Assassin

 

Oct 13 2015

Bowhunting season are upon us!

As for many hunters, we count down the days to the opener, before we can see the hard work we put in months prior, for it all come to fruition. then to bag and tag our first deer is indescribable feeling…Something only we as hunter understand so well…This is what we live for.

Bow season is an awesome season, we get to hunt before the rifle hunters! We get to bag and tag deer before the rifle hunters. Not dogging the rifle hunters but it takes a special skill set to bow hunt. For me, it is up close and personal because I am deaf, it adds a certain set of challenges for me and for everything to come together, gives me a pure pleasure of knowing that I beat the odds.

As a Hunter in general, we share the same goals and passion…

We get up early in the morning, get everything ready before we sit in our spot, watch nature come alive in the woods, beautiful sunrise where the Good Lord himself paint the sky for us, to be in awe…feeling serenity, solitude in the woods is the most amazing feeling, it really does soothes your soul…this is never about killing, but being part of the nature, watch critters doing their thing…reminisce the things we have done that accumulate to this day, being thankful for things we have in our lives,

Being able to kill, I refuse to use word, Harvest, because that is for farmer/gardener, this is not gardening and I am no farmer…I am a Hunter and I kill with sympathy for the animal cause I have so much respect for the animal, because animal gives us a food to feed our family. We are not a heartless soul who is out for fun and killing everything in our sight. That is not a true hunter. and is a Privilege.

We as Hunter are very selective, we choose the most mature one, not for trophy but for conservative and management purpose. When we do kill, we pay our respect for the animal, we kneel down, we take a moment to say grace and thankful for being able to provide us the most organic, free ranging meat for our family.

Hunting is a lot of work, we put in so much money and time in, for conservation, management and as stewardship of land, not to mention hours of sitting in the stand, working the food plot, or setting up on the trails and so on…if you put in work, you will reap what you sow…

You can not expect to come in and expect to kill right away, without putting in work. You will not have a successful season, if you do not put in any work. Scouting, patterning the deer, knowing where they bed, feed, and where they use the trails, to be a better hunter.

And we do this all over again when the season ends, it never stops, this is what we live for, this is never about killing at all…

That is who we are, as a Hunter.

This is what I live for as a Hunter. Only Hunters understands…outside world looking in, wondering why we take a pleasure, if you are not a Hunter, then you will never understand. If you are not a hunter, you are missing out on a lot of things.

Some see this as a barbaric, but in reality, farm raised animals are by far the worst, because if you see what is going on inside the farm, regarding to a farm raised animals, you will become Hunter instantly.

So much hormones being injected in those farm raised animals, so much abuse and neglect when we as Hunter takes care of our critters by far better than those farm raised animals would be treated. We do not pen them up, in a crowd pen, filthy, no room to roam as it should be, or live free as it should be.

Before you cast stone to us Hunters, go see the farm raised animals where you get your meats from, at the grocery store. You will have a change of a perspective on how you eat your meat and where you get your foods from…

This is why we like to hunt, we know where our foods come from and we know how to provide for ourselves…this is how you came to be, your ancestors hunted and to feed themselves, otherwise you wouldn’t be here…it is in our blood, it is our way of life.

We were born to be hunter and to die as a Hunter.

Happy Hunting!