Crossbow modifications - Mission Sub One Lite

[Mennoniteman]

Well, it doesn't look like I'll get any verification on deer till next year. I hunted tonight and didn't see any deer but had a great hunt. I'm headed to PA to visit my mom in a rehab for a couple days and our muzzleloader season come in on Saturday, so this was my last archer season hunt.

While I didn't see any deer, I had a great time! I was driving in slowly on my E-bike and just as I came around the corner where I park the bike for this particular stand I ran into a family flock in the middle of the road. We saw each other at 20 yards and there was a perfect breakup. Some of the birds flew in front of my stand to the right of the road and some flew to the left of the road behind my stand into a ravine. My box blind was in the perfect regrouping position.

Now, let me say up front, I was not interested in shooting a hen or jake, so this was just for fun. After getting into my box blind, I waited about 20 minutes and did one series of yelps and shut up. There was no response. About 20 minutes after that, the woods lit up. The boss hen was down in the ravine behind the stand, so I started yelping at her. She did not like that and did not want her flock to come to me so she headed to me to challenge me.

The birds regrouped directly in front of my box blind just inside the woods across the small field. They were in range for my 10 gauge (although I wasn't hunting turkey and didn't have it). The boss hen was bearded! Some biologists seem to think that bearded hens are more reliable at raising poults successfully. I decided to stop calling and let things settle down. Once I shut up, it was only about 5 minutes for the boss hen to settle down. They worked their way back into the ravine to collect the rest of the flock.

I saw nothing else, but it was a fun evening!

What area of PA are you visiting?

 

[catscratch]

The turkeys sound like fun. Lots of times hunts like that are more memorable than the ones you draw blood on.

 

[yoderjac]

Waynesburg. My mom lived in Johnstown most of her life and we finally talked her into moving in with my sister in Greensburg. A few years back my sister and brother-in-law moved to the country and Waynesburg is the closest place with medical care.

 

[yoderjac]

The turkeys sound like fun. Lots of times hunts like that are more memorable than the ones you draw blood on.

Absolutely!

 

[Mennoniteman]

Waynesburg. My mom lived in Johnstown most of her life and we finally talked her into moving in with my sister in Greensburg. A few years back my sister and brother-in-law moved to the country and Waynesburg is the closest place with medical care.

About 4 1/2 hours west of us, beautiful country out around Waynesburg.

 

[yoderjac]

You must be around York. My stomping grounds and favorite area was central PA.

 

[yoderjac]

The final solution to this issue worked very well. In a related thread, https://deerhunterforum.com/threads/hunting-e-bike-upgrades.7810/, you can see how I transport the crossbow on my e-bike. Now the next solution has to do with x-bow storage. After adding the Oracle-X (discussed earlier in this thread) the sub-one lite no longer fits into the original soft case. It was time to get a new case. I first looked at commercial cases and could not find anything that worked for me with the OracleX, so I decided to build my own.

I started with a simply tub type container that was large enough to hold the crossbow. It has wheels on one end, so I can roll it rather than carrying it. I then decided to use the same approach as the e-bike. Next, I designed and 3d printed some brackets to hold the commercial bow grips with rubber straps. I designed them to straddle some oak 1x4s. I then bolted the brackets through the oak boards into the bottom of the case. I used the middle section where the floor of the case was raised so the bolt heads don't touch the ground. I then used L-brackets and bolted near vertical oak boards to the base oak boards. Since the base boards sat on the raised area, there was room under the board for the bolt heads for the L-brackets. On the uprights, the bolts go through the case again.

Next, I purchased some replacement arrow grips that are used in quivers.

Again, I designed and printed some brackets. The grips slide into the brackets using the slots in the grips and the brackets simply have tabs with bolt holes in them. I then bolted these to the end of the case. You can see a couple of extra arrows in the grips in the case.

The final touch is storage for string wax, manuals, broadheads, and such. I simply added a washer and nut to the end of one of the vertical oak board bolts and hooked a bungee strap around the bolt. That strap should hold a .30 cal ammo box in place along the side of the case. I still need to swing by Harbor Freight next time they have .30 cal ammo boxes on sale to finish up, but I'm pretty much done with the project.

 

[Mennoniteman]

The final solution to this issue worked very well. In a related thread, https://deerhunterforum.com/threads/hunting-e-bike-upgrades.7810/, you can see how I transport the crossbow on my e-bike. Now the next solution has to do with x-bow storage. After adding the Oracle-X (discussed earlier in this thread) the sub-one lite no longer fits into the original soft case. It was time to get a new case. I first looked at commercial cases and could not find anything that worked for me with the OracleX, so I decided to build my own.

I started with a simply tub type container that was large enough to hold the crossbow. It has wheels on one end, so I can roll it rather than carrying it. I then decided to use the same approach as the e-bike. Next, I designed and 3d printed some brackets to hold the commercial bow grips with rubber straps. I designed them to straddle some oak 1x4s. I then bolted the brackets through the oak boards into the bottom of the case. I used the middle section where the floor of the case was raised so the bolt heads don't touch the ground. I then used L-brackets and bolted near vertical oak boards to the base oak boards. Since the base boards sat on the raised area, there was room under the board for the bolt heads for the L-brackets. On the uprights, the bolts go through the case again.

Next, I purchased some replacement arrow grips that are used in quivers.

Again, I designed and printed some brackets. The grips slide into the brackets using the slots in the grips and the brackets simply have tabs with bolt holes in them. I then bolted these to the end of the case. You can see a couple of extra arrows in the grips in the case.

The final touch is storage for string wax, manuals, broadheads, and such. I simply added a washer and nut to the end of one of the vertical oak board bolts and hooked a bungee strap around the bolt. That strap should hold a .30 cal ammo box in place along the side of the case. I still need to swing by Harbor Freight next time they have .30 cal ammo boxes on sale to finish up, but I'm pretty much done with the project.

That's giving me some good ideas, thanks for sharing.

 

[yoderjac]

That's giving me some good ideas, thanks for sharing.

If you need brackets for the arrow grips let me know. The ones I printed have tabs with holes for 1/4" bolts.