Hello All,
CT bow season just opened up last week. On my first day out my bow, while pulling it back in the cellar it blew up (botton limb delaminated). Seeing asI wasn't drawing back on an animal&thebow being 8 years old, I went out& bought a BT Tomkat. I love it!

Anyhow...now to my question. How many of you use range finders while in your stands (tree or elevated)? I am a very good judge of distance while on theground...not so20" off the deck. I havebeen looking at the Bushnell yardage pro sport 450& wanted to know what Ya'll think about it..or range finders in general. Keep in mind..because of the cost of awhole new bow & set-up....I want to spend as little as possible. Also this will be just for bow hunting...not muley huntingin the nothwest. I really do appreciate any & all feedback!

Good luck this hunting season,
Ryan

Ryan,

I have the original version of the Bushnell Yardage Pro Sport. It was just upgraded to the 450 this past year. It is a good, basic rangefinder. Excellent for bowhunting in my opinion.

Drawbacks to the original...

...no scan, zip or rain mode
...not waterproof
...poor optics

None of those have actually stopped me from using it successfully over the past few years. At $150 it is a good buy in my opinion.

I bought the Nikon 440 last year at $199.00 and the only reason i didnt buy the bushnell is because the optics where better on the Nikon, but i didnt have to buy the new bow at that time so the extra 50 dollars wasnt as big of a deal as say it may be to you.But yea the Nikon is excellent choice, and im sure the Bushnell works just as well......

I have a Bushnell Yardage Pro as well and it's been great. I use it for about 2 minutes each time I get to my stand just to take some readings. Typically what I'll do is range a few trees that are in the general area ofmy shooting lanes. Then I use those trees as yardage markers when deer are passing through. If I used the rangefinder more often I'd probably have bought a better quality one like a Leica. But for my practical needs the Bushnell is just fine.

Ahhhh...finally some reply's! I was beginning to think no one was using them. Thanks for the replies guys! In past years I would pace& tagoff 20 & 30 yards in 3 different directions. Getting kinda sick of doing that..plus I get a bit freaky about leaving more of my scent out there by trapecing around my stand hanging ribbons. If you hunt out of the same stand all the time..granted you should no your distances pretty well. I have a certain nack (aka luck) of having a deer come right bye me when I set up a new stand....so thats when Im gonna need it.

Thanks again,
Ryan

They are a great tool well worth the money.

I've used the one bushnell originally had come out with for 6 or7 years now and I like the confidence it affords me.I use it in the same manner Jeramy does.I range various tree's and rocks in a circle around my stand.My depth perception varies with stand height or how the terrain falls away from the tree.For archery hunting I will always have one.

Just got the Bushnell 450 last night...I will let ya'll know in the next week or so what I think. I got it brand new off ebay for $175 w/shipping. Its a nice small unit...hope it works well.

henny

This will be my first year using the Bushnell Pro Trophy rangefinder. One thing I've come to realize...I pretty much suck at judging distances. This little contraption should (hopefully) help me out.

bushnell scout for me fits into my pocket great!!! least yardage 10 yards optics good not great but works for me!!!