Tonight I was in my homemade permant treestand and finally got the opportunity to shoot a doe at 20 yards. I was a little nervous but steady. I drew and grunted, she stopped and offered a perfect broadside I released the arrow and it sailed just over the top of her back. Which is what? 3 or 4 inches higher than I aimed. She ran about 20 yards and stopped in the brush. Well a second doe and 3 yearlings were in the field behind me at the same time. They didn't bolt either. They just stood there and stomped and snorted looking around. So I notched a second arrow and drew on the second doe at 25 yards and the same thing happened just high over the front shoulder. I have praticed a great deal with my bow in my backyard and can make a kill shot anywhere inside 30 yards with it. So please advise me as to why I missed 2 shots in 2 minutes and what I might have done wrong. Thank you.

Either -

She was closer than you think
- or -
You bumped your sight and it's out of alignment
- or -
You are not bending at the waist for your shot alignment
- or -
You are anticipating the shot and looking up - kinda like in golf - keep your head down - ie. focused on the target - not on the arrow flight...

just my .02

Hey - you are VERY LUCKY (or the deer are). You could have wounded one and it's be limping around out there somewhere.



&quot;It's not the kill, it's the adventure and challenge! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>&quot;

I'm confused?.......If you shot over a deer's back, you didn't shoot 3-4&quot; higher than you should have. More like a foot or so. Are you really aiming that high when you shoot?

I think you might have your numbers a bit underestimated......if not YIKES.

But if you ARE aiming where you should be (1/3 to 1/2 of the way up the chest just behind the front leg) and still shooting over you might be &quot;Peeking&quot; in the excitement, overestimating the range, or something changed in the way your bow shoots.
Have you shot your bow lately? I shoot mine EVERYDAY even if its just a few arrows to stay in practice and make sure there are no surprises.
Check your bow and where you are aiming AND PICK A SPOT on that deer's chest and shoot at it......not just the whole deer.

Estimating the distance wrong is my first guess. Distance looks very different in a stand in the woods! Second, do you practice out of your treestand, its a must! ( or at least practice from the same height)

PRACTICE....PRACTICE....PRACTICE......SUCCESS!

Yes I shoot my bow 3 or 4 times a week. I know it's sighted in properly. I can make kill shots constistanly inside 30 yards or so on my target in the back yard which is 3 straw bales stacked up with a silouette of a deer on it. The kill zone on that target is completly wiped out from practice. As for the comment of 3 or 4 inches high, yeah, I admit that was in error. My 20 yard pin was right behind her front shoulder under half way up. On the second shot, My 20 yard pin was just above halfway up. I check my bow by shooting 2 target arrows at my target when I got back to my yard. My hunting stand is only about 150 yards away from my backyard so it would have to be the same. I hit dead center on both practice shots.

What about using the wrong pin on your site. In all the excitement you just might have picked the wrong one and thats easy to do. Just a thought. Good luck and go get them next time.

brian

Sorry to hear, but we've all had similar experiences. Here is a checklist:

1. Are you hunting with the same apparrel that you practice with? This one got me after 20 years of bowhunting this year on a miss I had. I had on a pull over hood, that changed my anchor point at full draw, I missed (glad I did w/o wounding) low and left. Even gloves, or bulky clothing can change things ALOT.

2. If you are 12 ft or over, its very important to bend at the waist when shooting at a deer. If not 6-8&quot; high is not uncommon. Its hard to know if you even did in the excitement, its something that needs to be practiced. Sometimes, brush, or tree limbs can cause you to distort your form significantly, effecting arrow placement.

3. Was your arrow nocked where it should be? If the arrow slips on the string in your excitement, a high or low shot will result.

4. Did you hold at full draw a long time? Sometimes, &quot;forward creep&quot; will occur if you did. Its Important that just prior to release - you pull back all the way again, and settle at your normal realease point. If the arrow is released forward of your normal anchor point, a high shot can result.

5. Someone already mentioned it - maybe the deer was closer than you realized.

6. If you are hunting extra high, or on a downhill slope, gravity tends to work with the arrow speed, meaning that you might have to use your 10 yd pin, at 20 yds to compensate. A pendulum sight, or again, practice from high up will help.

Regardless of whether any of these things are the result or not, its important for you to fing out the cause. Shoot a few practice shots from the same stand, see if you hit where you want to.

Good luck

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.

When practicing your shots do you use field points or your broadheads. If you are using field points, are they the same weight as your broadheads?

Shoot straight and shoot often.

In my humble opinion most bows today only need one pin when hunting whitetail. They shoot relatively flat out to 25 yards.

I have one pin which I set at 20 yards when practicing and siting in. Even back to 30 yards it is dead nuts without compensation, and I do not have one of the new really fast bows.

Take if for what it is worth.

&quot;Kill'em and Grill'em&quot;
By The Nug (aka Ted Nugent)