judging yardage help
 

what are some ways to help me learn to judge yardage better?

RE: judging yardage help
 

Practice,practice,practice!!!!!!!!! That's the only way I have found. If you don't have a rangefinder,get one. Taking short walks and estimating the distance to something,then shooting them with the rangefinder works great. I do it a couple days a week all year.

RE: judging yardage help
 

I use a small inexpensive range finder that measures up to 50 yards. I only paid about $30 for it and it works fine. I use it when I set up in a new spot and identify some land marks such as trees, rocks ect. I found it very helpful this past year when I hunted a gully area. I shot a deer that was standing at 28 yards from me, however, it sure looked like it was 35 yards because it was across the gully. When my friend helped me track it, he thought that the shot was around 40 yards. It was very deceptive. I'm glad that I trusted the range finder and not my own judgement, which I consider pretty good.

RE: judging yardage help
 

This may not be the way for you to go but I have always had trouble judging yardage no matter how much I tried I just couldn't do it. I hunt from a tree stand always never from the ground and so I thought I would try a pendulum sight and now I will use nothing else just point and shot all I have to know is were 35 yrds is that is my max. distance on my pendulum. This may not be what you are looking for but if all else fails try one you might like it. When you think about it is a really helpfull tool, how many people do you here say I shoot over or under it and another thing to consider when people say this how many times they hit the deer really high of low and possibly lost it.

RE: judging yardage help
 

Like OHarcher said Practice!!!!!!!!!! Also I found that going to as many 3-D shoots as I have over the years really helped on judgeing yardage for me. Althuogh nothing beats a laser rangefinder or so I'm told by my buddies! I'll have one myself in a few days!

RE: judging yardage help
 

My hunting budies and I have a game we play at the range. We all get one arrow and take turns making up shots on 3-D targets. The first hunter will step up without say what distance he believes it is and take the shot. The next hunter will take the same shot and so on. After everyone has shot everyone says what distance they believe the shot was. It is then checked with a range finder. Out of all three of us we now guess withing about three yards of each other and withing five of the range finder. The trick is to try and come up with deceptive shots.

RE: judging yardage help
 

All you can do is practice. Practice,practice,practice!!!! It cant be stressed enough<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: judging yardage help
 

Practice! It has really helped me this year a bunch on judging distance.

mark trees in shooting lanes with ribbon when setting up stands so you have an idea of yardage and wont have to mess with a rangefinder in the stand when the deer in near

Practice and get rid of all but one pin on your sight. You don't have multiple pins on your shot gun do you? Only have one on your bow and set it at around 20yds. Adjust you elevation from there.

Im failing to see how having one pin is gonna help judge yardage? Anyway to the op, going to 3d shoots is a really good way to practice judging yardage. Since ive been going to shoots, ive become a lot better at judging yardage.

When sitting in your stand, try breaking distances down in 5 yd increments. I started doing this up to 40 yds and then checking with one of those cheap rangefinders I got on ebay for $20. It wasn't long before I didn't need to use the rangefinder.

Exactly how I do it.

That is simply the easiest and quickest way to judge a deers distance. :party0005:

Why don't you try it before you knock it? It all has to do with size, simplification and practice.

I wasen't knocking it i was just asking. I dont see how shooting with one pin is gonna help things. You still have to know the yardage weather your shooing one pin or 5.

Nikon Archers Choice....I carry with me when scouting and pick out trees and try to determine distancem then I range it to see how far off I am.

I mentally count out 5 yard increments when practicing. Gauging a 35 yard shot in seven 5 yard increments it way easier than just trying to guess 35 yards in one lump sum. for weird or really tough stand placements, I also place florescent clips at 5 yard increments. You can get them at most sporting goods stores.

not sure if you played football in your life but thats how i judge. i played from 5 years old-18 years old so i try and think of how far the yardage markers (sticks) were and apply it to hunting. so im doing it in 10 yard increments. and like the other guys said...3D shoots help so much

I don't claim to be great at judging distances, but here's how I do it:

I sit in a different tree almost every time I go into the woods. After I get my sticks and tree stand set up, I go out to what I think is my best shooting lane opportunity and pick a landmark tree/bush, etc. Then I pace to the tree where I'm set up. Sometimes I do this for a couple of what I think will be my most likely productive shot spots. Then I get up in the tree and the first thing I'm doing when it's light enough is picking out those landmarks and slowly turnign my head, mentally making a circle around my stand at those distances and seeing other landmarks. For some reason I find that, once I have a good bead on a specific distance, it's easier to just draw a circle (mentally) around my stand and I feel much more confident in my distance judgment.

I should probably also point out that I am fanatical about scent control, so I haven't had problems with deer scenting me along my "pacing paths". Also, I won't shoot at a deer that is more than about 25 yards from me. And I generally stay within 20 yards, unless it's just a perfect shot at a relaxed deer. There are just too many twigs, etc. in the woods I might not see if they were further than that, and I really don't want to wound a deer unless I kill it. I mention this because it means that my distance estimates are going to be fewer and simpler than people who shoot out to 30 or 40 yards.

I always pace off 25 to 30 yards from where I think the action is gonna be, and set my stand. you can pace off your target at home and get an idea. I also pace off when hunting the edge of a field and stick a stick in the ground to give me an idea of my range. cant fork out the money for a range finder soo thats my way... hope this helps

I've done all the other ways. Pace off, mark ribbons, set my scents out at known distances. Nothing beats a single pin and adjust your aim off that pin at 20 +/- . All I can say is that it works. Think KISS principle.

yardage
 

Blocks of 10yds. use this block of 10 method and draw an imaginary circle in 10yd increments......

the biggest thing that helped me is to grab a tennis ball and some judo tips toss the ball out in the yard and shooot it, and just mix up how far you toss it. go to a lake or pond and toss ping pong balls and shoot them. you will get good. in the stand disect your yardages like the other guys said.

Rangefinder then practice

How do you guys judge elevation difference. Say you are 20 ft up in tree and the deer is 30 yards out. Do you aim directly at the vitals for a 30 yd shot or compensate for elevation?