Chad,

I should have mentioned the ballistics chart values are from a straight 90 degree angle to the earth and should be divided in half because we shoot in an arch.

At our range where I shoot alot of field archery we have about a dozen or so 3-D animals set out along the range to shoot. So I get quite a bit of 3-D shooting as well. Its kind of fun to shoot at them at odd distances of 40 to 60yds and see how you do. I can tell you that there is a big difference in shooting a 35yd shot vs a 40yd shot in arrow performance. I am with you, I'm a 20yd trad bowhunter for the most part. Why???? Mostly because I don't feel comfortable beyond that range unless everything is perfect. Then too much can happen between the time of the release and arrow impact. I don't make any conscious adjustments either between the time of draw and release.

Alot of shooting at longer distances has to do with the performance of your bow. Meaning at 40yds I am not gap shooting, that generally comes into play at 50yds because my bow setup is point on at 55yds on my target bow, and 60yds with my hunting setup. So if I tried to gap at 40yds my arrow tip would be in the dirt somewhere well below the target. Since my bows are fairly good performers, I use a system called drawing the line where I put the arrow tip on or near the target draw the bow and release. You have to learn to trust the bow and there is some learning as to where you start to draw the line. But it works well out to where I pickup the gap at 50yds. The only time I shoot instinctive for the most part is hunting and even then I draw the line, its a learned skill. For the most part only the first shot is ever instinctive, after that your mind has learned how to adjust.