james, i re-read your post. you stated you do not shoot the practice bales at the big shoots because you do not trust the bales. may i ask why you dont trust them? is there a safety issue there?

my feeling on the practice ranges is i will go there, warm up, shoot at every yardage, and if my arrows do not hit where they should, i first check the targets with a rangefinder. if the rangefinder is correct, i move my pointer. if it is off, says the 30 yard target is closer and i am hitting higher, i move my sight to 29 yards and double check....paranoid i guess.

bluejacket got a little more in depth than i, but he is right. shooting down hill you will impact the target higher than a level shot of the same distance. some of that smart guy physics stuff i know nothing about. depending upon the angle to the target depends on the amount of yardage i take off. snowshoe usually is set well enough to never warrant over 2 yards being taken off...