Judging Distance?
 

Myself and a buddy have been talking about learning to judge distance in the woods,without a rangefinder.We've come up with a few things but not much and would appreciate any input. Being accurate at a known distance is one thing but accuracy at an unknown is quite another......<center></center>

RE: Judging Distance?
 

it takes pratice over time.just guess a distance,then step it off.after time you will get better and better at it.
pratice,pratice,pratice.
good luck.


I am not a hunter I am a whitetail population reduction specialest

remember keep your back to the sun, your knife sharp, and your powder dry.

RE: Judging Distance?
 

same as above. do it every where when you think about it.I figured out how many of my &quot;Mosying&quot; steps it took to make ten yds----13, Then guess how far it is say to the door of the store from your car, from the garage to the curb when you carry out the trash, from the stairs to the dog pen.....
you get the drift and you will start getting pretty good eventually.

RE: Judging Distance?
 

This is an old 3-D trick. look at your target, then find something,rock,branch etc halfway between you and your target. Judge that distance and double it. Another way is it find something 5 yards out then 10 then 15 etc till you've reached your target. Then pace it or measure it to be sure. Shooting 3-D's is the best practice of all!

Edited by - BTBowhunter on 01/12/2002 05:45:39

RE: Judging Distance?
 

Like was said above, practice it every day but also vary your sight picture from everyday activities. Go into the woods and practice it there. Trees can throw your sight picture off a lot. Take a cutout lifesized deer and a friend into the woods and one of you lean it up against a tree while the other can't see it so he/she can make the guess and pace it off and then reverse the roles. Also, when you choose the tree for your stand and get it placed, pace off landmarks and either mark them or remember how far they are from the tree.

RE: Judging Distance?
 

I use my experience on the range and 3-D courses to estimate distance in the woods. If you're not used to seeing 20, 30, 40 yard targets outside then your sure not going to judge distance well in the woods. I also take a tape measurer in when I setup my stand sites and remember the distance of specific landmarks on the ground. However it has been kind of useless since I usually setup in thick cover and can never get a shot outside 25 yards so I'm always using my 20 yard pin. But you should always know the distance of those one or two shooting lanes that might present a 30 or 35 yard shot.

Lefty Llewellyn

RE: Judging Distance?
 

Pretty much covered above.The only thing I would add,is if you hunt from treestands,you should practice guessing yardage from them,because it's a different perspective from above.I keep a stand set up out back and shoot from it often.I just keep moving one of my targets so I have to guess the new yardage.Hope this helps.Brian

RE: Judging Distance?
 

One thing I do (besides many,many times practicing with 3-D targets) I step off and mark different yardage of the places I bowhunt,I do it because I am walking around the area scouting anyway. I usually only Bowhunt about 3 or four places so it isn't that hard remembering. Also the spots where I am hunting I usually have a 30 yard shot max.

RE: Judging Distance?
 

Well since I got a range finder I will guesstimate the distance and then check it with the rangefinder . I'm getting better but a long way from perfect.I find the distances in the mountains the hardest to estimate .

RE: Judging Distance?
 

My first years of Bowhunting, After setting up my stand I will pace off or measure any of the distances: 10 yds, 20 yds, 30 yds, then mark them a couple different ways, Either with colored tape or a piece of dowel colored to mach my pin for that distance. From there I will use the marked distance as a starting point to estimate the equal distance around me. I also use my pins on my bow to help estimate. I will put the body of the deer between the 20yd and 30yd pin. If it just fits it is about 20yds. This only for a quick estimate because deer are of different sizes, and buck different from does.

EAT What You Harvest, Mobrandy