bowdeerhunter

Hey Guys,
I want to get the final word on some things. I have heard that if you sight your bow in on the ground then it will still be on if you are shooting out of a tree stand (approx 20 ft). This is assuming that you measure the distance from the base of the tree you are in to the object you are shooting. Sois 20 yards from the base of the tree the same as 20 yards ifI was on the ground? Do I have to compensate in anyway (aim high or low) if I've sighted my bow in on the ground and then hunt out of a treestand?

Another question I have is similar. I like to put my tree stand on ridge tops so I can see the valley on both sides. Sometimes these valleys are pretty steep and a deer might be on a bench below me. Even though the deer is 50 or so actual yards away if I look at a tree that right beside him its top (which will be eyelevel to me) is only 20 yards away. So would I shoot at the deer as if it were50 yards away (since he is far below me) or 20 yards away. Basically, if a deer is over the hill it looks really far away but if it were raised to your level then it wouldn't be as far.

I hope these make sense. Can somebody help me out

aeroslinger

I've heard not but my experience is it does make a difference. If you are not very high up maybe not much but the higher you go the more difference it will be. I have taken my target out and shot it from my stand and I had to use shorter pins than what the target was from me. I also have a book that has an article by a guy named Ray Howell that talks about using a clinometer and range finder and making a chart with distance and angle to figure out which pin to use. It was semi-interesting but way to complicated for me. Easier for me just to actually shoot some from the stand and figure it out that way!

BOWFANATIC

With todays speedier setups your normally right on if you bend at the waist. With the older/slower bows you'll have to aim lower to compensate for the arch of the arrow.

rybohunter

My bow shoots the same from a tree as it does from the ground. 20 yds on ground = 20 yds to base of tree. I hit a little high around 10 yds, both from the tree and ground. You need to shoot from a tree to know best. It's all about form.

PABowhntr

I would tend to agree with this statement. On a few occasions when I have gone up to nose-bleed levels I have missed deer. In the heat of the moment I cannot honestly say that I bent at the waist but I think I did. In which case the arrow did not follow the same trajectory as it would when I was on the ground as I had the distance down pat.

tmcj

i've always tried to bend at the waist also,it's worked fine for me so far.

Bees

trouble with climbing to high is that the kill zone appears smaller. it does take much of a shakey pin to miss the kill zone.

if you bend at the waist on flat terrain the pin would be the same as on the ground. on hilly terrain things change. severe down hills shoot shorter than they are for me. if I got a target at 40 yards down a severe hill it will shoot more like 32 to 33 yards instead of the 40...

wis_bow_huntr

Ive learned from experience that when youre on the ground your shooting flat, ok.....you aim and shoot, mark that spot that you hit withanything that will stick to thetarget like a piece of tape and color it orange. Now change the angle...climb into the stand that you be hunting out of at the same height anddistance that you were shooting at on the ground. Aim and shoot at that exact marked spot on the target. You should hit slightly higher. You need to compinsate this by aiming a bit lower at the area you want to hit. its not a large amount that you need to drop but enough to get a clean shot and to make up for the angle. I like to practice year round out of my 16 foot ladder stand since that is the oneI use most often. I sight in on the ground, shoot 5-10 arrows and then climb into the stand and learn the compinsation from the stand, then I have a friend move the deer target around the yard and at different angles, distancesand obsticles between the deer and the stand while Iclose my eyes. When I open them its an entire different situation, its like being out there hunting. You never know when, where, or how a buck will come in or approach your stand. Practice from your stand, learn from your form and keep the form you have. Do not adjust the bow sights once sighted in on the ground or you could miss a great oportunity while walking into or out of your stand.

Charlie P

No

bowdeerhunter

Here is a better example. IfI used a range finderto judge the distnance to atarget then it would be farther away (the higher you go in the tree) than if I measured from the base of the tree.If you used a range finder then you would shoot a little high wouldn't you because thethe actual horizontal distance between you and the target would be shorter than the range findersays it is. So wouldn't it be more accuratetojudge distance from the base of the tree and not from the stand to the target?

That being said, if you used a range finder on a deer that was in a steep valley then it might read 50 yards. But would you actually shoot as if it was 50 yards or should you find the distance to thetop of a tree (that is eye level to you) that is growing beside the deer?