OhiobowHunter56

as i sighted my bow in this year i stepped off the yardage all the way up to 30 yards in my perspective... but i mustve stepped it off wrong...i am bad on guessin yardage...i went to a football scrimmage last week and realized that wat i thought was 30 yards was actually around 50.......i've been shootin all summer and i can group pretty tight kill shots at fifty yards and under...So i am no expert on bows as i am only 15 and only been shooting for a couple year...but to you experienced guys i was just wanting to kno if i should limit my yardage to 30 yards? or if my 50 would be an ethical shot since i am accurate at that yardage and the arrows still penetrate deep into the target?...long question but thx for reading plz give me some opinions...

Bravak

This is a very good question and it is smart that you ask...

First of all...if you take normal long strides, like you see a ref at a football game do, you will be pretty close in accuracy, so your initial 30 yard estimate might be correct. Also, when you are in a different environement, the way the yardage looks may be off, hence, why you think it might be closer to 50 yards. I bet your first guess is correct.

Next, when you are hunting, everything changes. Your setup, nerves, everything is different. You might be better limiting yourself to 30 yard shot on in. That is just one persons opinion. You will find that hitting a deer at 30 yards is a heck of a lot tougher than a target at 50.

Still, it all comes down to you. Use this rule. At what yardage do you think their is a fair chance that you might wound, not kill, the deer, and that you may have a too difficult tracking job. Whatever this is, go back from that spot. For me perosnally, it is around 35 - 40 yards.

Whatever you come up with, kudo's to you for asking that questions. Successful, and rewarding, hunting is not jsut about what you harvest, but about HOW you hunt.

Good luck bud!

Nanook85

I have the same problem, I can't judge distance worth a darn. I just go by my pace. It's one measure you always have with you. Because of the density where I hunt, I shoot 15 paces (about 15 yards)

Bees

Ok if you thought 30 yards was 50, how far away was your fifty?? to answear your question you should endever to get as close to the deer as you can. the reason being the farther away things are the more things can and do go wrong. bowhunters in general want to see how close we can get, 15 yards being prefered.

rybohunter

I know so much depends on skill, and other factors, but there is no way I could recommend to a young new hunter, regardless of shooting skill level, to take anything over 30 yard shots. I think the newer and less experienced a hunter, should tryto keep thier shots to not much over 20 yds.

BobCo19-65

This is what my grouping with my longbow looks like at 25 yards, but I will not shoot past 20.

RackLuster

My guess is if you have problems identifying 30 yards while practice shooting you are going to have tons of problems with a big buck in front of you. Sounds like you need to work on your 'range finding' more then your shooting.

I bought a rangefinder for about $150 (bushnell), works great and has really helped me estimate distances while practicing. i just walk to where i think is 30 and then range it to be sure. i'm usually off my no more than a couple yards now.

besides, distances look different 20 feet up in a tree.

OhiobowHunter56

well from your guys opinions i am thinking about limiting down to thirty yards as like i said i've only been bowhunting for 3 years...one thing i left out earlyer was that i also judged my distance on where i see deer in the woods wich could have been a big problem to me to...i will limit hunting to 30 yards and .. use 50 and so on for target and having fun with the friends...thanx for ur opinions.....if its not to much of a bother i would yetlike to ask another question....i both hunt on the ground and from a stand...i've only ever shotdeer from the ground though....i was wondering if wat my uncle says is true that shooting from a stand at a target or deeris different then from the ground that from the tree u tend to hit higher....so once again any of ur opinions or comments would be helpful...thanx ...
ps... Rackluster ur right about distance being differant in a tree i just never got to experience shooting at a deer from a stand even tho i had the chance but i refused because of the size of the deer and sex....but thanks for the reminder i will be sure to put marker ribbons or some way or markin my distance so i kno how far when i'm on the ground and in the tree...thanks again people

ELKINMTCWB

Here is some help for judging distance. Take the distance for what you are shooting at. Look at it and find the mildle than find the middle of the section close to you.at this piont it should be real eazy to figger out how far the 2nd split is. than just times 4 in you head.

youhere / / <= target here
/ /
/ /= = this is 5 yards so you would be shooting 20 yards to the target This will put you close to the distance.It will not be right on the butten but close.It is not to hard to do up to about 10 yards so 40 is not to hard.

Good luck
Charles Bradford

DoctorDeath

I have bow hunted for over 20 years and I have one piece of advice.. Pendulum.. Pendulum.. Pendulum sight if you hunt from a treestand! Why take a chance in guessing the yardage and wounding or missing an animal?We ALL have trouble at times figuring yardage on the ground but thats NOTHING to trying to figure it out 20ft up in a treestand with your heart pumping 90 miles an hour, your mouth dry and chill bumps as big as gold balls. I still hunt with a pendulum sight from an elivated stand and always will. This takes all the guess work out of the shot as far as yardage is concerned out to about 30 yards ... why spend ALL the time, sweat, practice, and money just to blow a shot at the time of truth??? Just my humble opinion ....

DD