Are Crossbows More Fun Than Guns?

Bo Morgan, Guide To The Stars, Is All In On Hunting With A Crossbow

By John Geiger, SAFARI Magazine Managing Editor 

Originally published in the September-October 2024 issue of SAFARI Magazine. 

You might not expect someone hunting for record-book animals in the far reaches of the world to choose a crossbow over a rifle. 

Well, you don’t know Bo. 

Bo Morgan is one of a kind. He’s Western through and through, a guide who specializes in mountain goats and rams on the world’s highest peaks for sport and for first-class international hunters. He’s a Marine, a maverick and detail-oriented jetsetter with a gritty side. 

Morgan has won some top awards in the industry with a rifle and crossbow. He’s earned SCI’s 4th Pinnacle of Achievement and is just three animals away from the Zenith Award. He’s very close to the North America Super 10 with a crossbow, which he’ll attain after scoring a mountain goat. Anyone who’s tried knows that getting close to a big Billie is not always easy, even for a rifle shot. Imagine the difficulty of getting close enough to take a mountain goat with a crossbow. 

“He’s a killing machine who has great eyes and knows the animals’ behavior so well,” said Tim Haught, a client and hunting buddy. 

Morgan was born in California and grew up hunting squirrels and rabbits in southwestern Montana. Today, he travels the world and hunts it, so when a client asks him where to hunt in Mongolia for an argali ram, Nepal for a blue sheep or New Zealand for a tahr, he’s been there and done that. 

Yet, if he had his way, this hunter and his clients would always shoot a crossbow instead of bolt-action rifles. 

“I have nothing against rifles, but crossbows are just cooler,” said Morgan, who splits his time between Montana and Arizona when he’s not on a lonely mountaintop glassing rocks.

With a gun, you have a better chance from a long distance and it will deliver much more killing shock on impact. With a crossbow, you need to get extremely close, which means a reduced chance of success. 

“I’ve got a buddy with a California desert bighorn tag in his pocket,” said Morgan, recently noting how rare that tag is. “I told him, ‘Let’s do it with a crossbow!’ Could you imagine that? How cool would that be? That record would never be broken!” 

Along those lines, Morgan recently returned from a muskox hunt in the Northwest Territories. He shot a fine old bull that would probably make the record books in the rifle category but wouldn’t be at the top of the heap. However, he shot it with a crossbow, so it will rank very high. It’s actually the only one on record; it’s the new SCI No. 1 Barren Ground muskox in the crossbow category. 

Looking for a record? Bring a crossbow, Bo says. 

“I know it sounds like I am a trophy guy, but really I am not,” said Morgan, who is immediately recognizable in hunting websites and magazines by his omnipresent Boonie-style Marine hat. “Sure, I like being on the list, but my focus is on hunting and the challenge,” he said. “And to be honest, I got to say, it’s good for business, too.” 

Morgan says he stays relevant in the rarified world of international hunters by keeping his name in the books. That way, people who do look for record opportunities or who are hunting to attain awards, like the International Hunter Award or the Weatherby Award, will see his name in the books and realize that Bo knows Iberian mouflon (Toledo, Spain, 129 4/8 SCI), or Gobi ibex (Mongolia, 98 4/8) or an elk (Wyoming, 326 2/8). He’s got 88 of his own SCI entries — Bo being the hunter — dating back to 1994. He’s got many more as a guide. 

Morgan has helped clients get listed in many books, such as Rowland Ward’s Record of Big Game and Boone & Crockett Club’s World Record Gallery. However, he prefers the SCI Record Book overall. 

Morgan says the difference is the way SCI adds up antler size. Many record-keeping bodies deduct for non-symmetrical antlers. Others add in subjective criteria, like “beauty points,” that might include coloring or shape. However, SCI uses the total number of inches, measured at specific locations on the antlers, without deductions. Morgan says that is important to him, especially when it comes to a big ram. 

Unlike ungulates, rams never drop their horns. The older warriors, the true trophies, often have chinks and chunks taken out of their horns from fights and tough living. Yet, those marks of character, which make them unique, are often deductions. SCI’s scoring method doesn’t take inches off for these kinds of differences, horn-to-horn. 

“Plus, you can tell that SCI wants people to be in their book, and that’s pretty cool,” Morgan said. 

Morgan also noted that the SCI book and others are excellent sources of conservation trends. They contain thousands upon thousands of verified records that show whether species are growing, herds are healthy and conservation methods are working. 

You might think this incredibly successful guide and hunter would be a stickler for certain bows, arrows and broadheads. Not really. When going on a hunt, Bo wants to see his client shoot a few practice shots to get an idea of their maximum ethical range. Can he hit a pack of cigarettes at 75 yards, or is 50 his max distance? 

Alexey Kim is a highly respected international hunter, who shot a bighorn sheep with a rifle with Bo. Then he had some time to kill, so to speak. 

“I always dreamed about learning how to use a crossbow,” said Kim. “But I thought it was too difficult, and you needed to study it for a long time. But I was able to get a boar after a couple of days with Bo. It was an incredibly exciting hunt.” 

Kim, who has won the Zenith Award as well as Grand Slam Club’s 30 Capra and 30 Ovis.

“That crossbow was so accurate and effective,” said Kim, who is from Russia. “In my near future, I want to buy one.” 

Morgan shoots a Ravin R26 for his bow — not so much because he wouldn’t shoot anything else, but because a friend (Haught) gave it to him, and it’s been flawless. Morgan also prefers mechanical broadheads that weigh in the 100- to 125-grain range. He shoots Ravin arrows, changes out his strings every few years and waxes occasionally. Most importantly, he says, is to practice at home at long range with whatever bow you are shooting. If you practice at longer ranges — 100, 125 and farther out — you’ll be accurate and confident inside 100 yards. 

Morgan has no reservations about saying that today’s crossbows are capable of shooting game animals at this range. But to shoot long ethically, you have to know your equipment and the behavior of the animals you’re targeting. 

“That gives more value to every hunting trophy, whether it makes a book or not,” he said. 

John Geiger is Managing Editor of SAFARI Magazine and former editor of Crossbow Revolution magazine.