The best is having them walk by at 5 yards and drilling them at 25..

I have 4 pins on my sights 15, 20, 25,30. I will not shoot at a deer any further than 30 yards and I dont like taking a shot any closer than 15 yards.

I'm curious to the speed of your bow. My 20 yard pin is 1" high at 10 yards making a 15 yard pin useless.

Not even close to being the same thing.

At 20 yards you don't have the effect of wind, the arch of the arrow, the slowing speedof the arrow, the higher level of concnetration, and a host of other contributing factors.

Trust me when i tell you that the marines, army, or anyone else wanting to be accurate at extended ranges doesn't simply shoot at a smaller 100 yard target. Quite the oposite. They practice regularly at 600, 800, 1000 yards.

The only way to be proficient at extended ranges is to practice at those ranges. No one is saying that anyone has to shoot deer at extended ranges but practicing at those distances does make a shooter much more effective at shorter distances.


Also not everyone hunts in thick woodswhere a 20 yard shot is a long one. Go out west and hunt elk, mulies, sheep, or antelope and you had better be able to shoot to 50 yards accurately or you may eat a whole lot of tag soup.

Hunting Mule Deer here in Washington we're presented with a lot of open terrain, sometimes making stalking within 25 - 30 almost impossible.

When going on mule deer hunts I have my pins set at 20, 30, 40, and 50 yards. I regularly practice out to 70, thus making those closer shots seem like cake.

For whitetail, I set my pins at 20, 30, and 40 yards.

I have my pins set in 10 yard increments from 20 to 60 yards. The 50 and 60 yard pins are for practice only. During hunts, they add decoration!

I have passed up shots below my stand on numerous ocassions because the angel was too steep -- I've had to wait until the deer walked away from my tree and then hope I'd get the angle I needed. We do need to concentrate on getting the deer close, correctly positioned and with the vitals unobstructed. I've already passed a couple shots this past week just because everything wasn't perfect and I don't like to take anything less than a high percentage shot.

I'm surprised at all the hunters that don't realize this. I shoot with a few buddys once in a while and they never want to practice beyond 20 yds. They say they won't shoot that far at a deer anyway.

I try to explain to them how praticing at longer distance makes the 20 yarders seem easy, yet they won't even try it.

it is actually amazing, you can shoot a few arrows at 30, a few at 40, then moveinto twenty and drill the bulls eye np. It is weird how that works just a mental thing i guess but it is true.

Just my opinion..... i think that when you step outside the 20 yard realm and shoot greater distances The intensity of your focus is that much greater to be able to hold steady and have good form. thats why when you go back to 20yards after shooting 30 and 40 even50, it seems easier because you are still aproaching your shot with that same focus you had at longer distances.

I would like to know if there is a scientific way to show how much more "steady" a shooter has to be to shoot well at 30 to 50 as opposed to 20 yards.

example
When shooting 50 yard if you barely move, your shot will be a foot off center.
say i move my arm the same amount at 20 yards how far will my arrow be off center? problypretty hard to figure something like that...any smart people feel free to chime in.

could just daw a straight line(good shot)and an angled line(bad shot)starting from the same point and mark off set points but thats not exactly real world

Theres probly too many variables for real world conditions.

I agree with that. Though my max shot is about 25 yards.