Strangely, the buck didn't react to the loud pop of the crossbow's string. The deer didn't charge off toward parts unknown. It merely stood there, sort of bobbing its head and pawing the ground.
"I thought he was just peeved," remembers Jerry Bryant.
There was no way that the hunter from Peoria, Ill., could shoot again. He can only cock his 10-year-old crossbow from the ground, where he can get a boot on it.
Unaccustomed to missing, Jerry stood immediately - the Mountain Dew tipping from his lap and hitting the ground in a neon yellow spray, drenching the front of his Scent-Lok suit en route.
"My God, I missed," he gasped, oblivious to the intrusive clatter of the drink can's descent. He'd never missed a deer so close. Never! He won't even take a shot at a deer unless he's convinced that he can hit it.
Jerry is not among the hunters who believe that a crossbow's effective range is two or three times farther than a compoun...