Elknut 1,
agree that at the ranges most people (myself included) shoot deer with a well tuned modern bow you will be " well within the kill zone" . Of course given you dont punch it, flinch, hit a twig you didnt see or just plain ole aim a little off. Hours and hours of practice will minimize the chances of that happening but *&%# happens.

So, I dont really use my range finder to range deer in. As a matter of fact I' ve never looked at a deer through it. When I get on stand, if it' s a new stand I look at shooting lanes and give my best guess at what the yardage is. Then I take the range finder and zap it, if I' m within 2-3 yards I forget about it. But sometimes I' m 4-5 yards off because of the lay of the terrain, shadows and other features that make the range visually ambiguous. Those spots I remember using a prominent ground reference ranged with the range finder.

Could I shoot anyway with a 4-5 yard range error? Sure, and if I aimed perfectly and shot perfectly I would still be in the kill zone. But if I didnt aim perfectly and I didnt release perfectly, coupled with my misjudged yardage I would more than likely wound the animal or miss all together (a better option). That' s why I use a range finder. I have found the best use for it on the 3D range after I shoot, I range it and see how far my guess was off. I' ll also take it on walks with me and guess at yardages to just about anything. I' ve found that at yardages inside of 30 yards I tend to guess a little short and at yardages outside 40 yards I tend to guess long. Over all it makes me a better " guesser" .

Cargo