i dont own a range finder....and i will admit if you put me in a tree i suck at estimating range. i THOUGHT i knew what 20yds looked like....but what i thought was 20 in the heat of the moment was actually about 10-12...what i thought was 30-35 in the heat of the moment was actually 21 or 22....

ive learned that i typically cannot see a shootable portion of a deer past 21-22yds in the woods in bow season from a tree in most my setups(borrowed a buddies range finder one time)

last year when i shot my buck, i had no idea how far he was...i actually thought he was farther and settled the pin high...then looked and said IDIOT! thats dang near 20yds!!! actually ranged the tree near him earlier that morning(buddies range finder) and knew it was under 25 and a top pin shot...so i settled it lower and sent it....dead deer

if i take my time i can "do it" but first glance, i suck...

last year opening day i had a buck at 21 or 22...i thought FOR SURE he was 30-35...didnt even think about shooting....i get tunnel vision and it kills me....i gotta start taking my time...

on the ground i got to be accurate within a yard or 2 pretttty consistantly to 40 or so..by using my buddies range finder at 3d shoots after we all "called it" we would check...then shoot...(saved us arrows) and we got good enough at ranging and quit using it...

lots of ways to go about it while hunting...landmarks, ribbons, ranging the actual target etc...

like GMMAT, id rarely ever have time to range a deer from the bow stand...if i did id probably loose my opprotunity to shoot...what i do now is find 20-25 and if its outside that zone i aint even drawing....i can shoot well at yardages much past 20-25...but deer hunting, in my woods, and knowing i cant range within a few yards from the stand, i wont shoot anything that isnt top pin...unless for some odd reason im 100% confident its 30 or whatever...