Missed 2 last week.......
 

I took last week off to hunt. Temp's here in Central Indiana have been a little warm and most of the movement I've been seeing is before 10am. Have seen a few in the last hour of light.

On Oct 2nd, 2nd day of our season. I had 3 does pass by my stand in the worst place (behind me) around 9am. I had a beach ball sized lane to shoot thru at 30 yds. They were feeding on acorns on the main trail and were passing back and forth. There was a young doe, another that was a little bigger, and one that was obviously older. I wanted the older one. She finally passed thru my lane. I let out a little bleat to get her to stop, she did, had my 30yds pin on her shoulder, released a good shot..............and it was deflected by a tiny branch that I didn't see. Went right over her back.[:@] ARGH!!!!!

On Oct 5th, I was in another stand near a beanfield. It was about 6:60pm.....maybe 30 minutes of shooting light left. I could see ALOT of deer crossing a creek going into the beanfield about 80yds from me. While I was watching them, I heard a stick break. I looked behind my stand and at 15yds saw a good 6pt also watching the deer cross the creek. The way the ladder stand is, there is a branch that kept me from turning to shoot. I had to let him continue down the patch to a clearing to be able to shoot.

By the time he got to a clearing, he was at 42yds (a distance I practice frequently and am comfortable with). Release my arrow and it went over his back by about 6 inches.

As I'm sitting there puzzled, going over what happened and wondering if I had some how bumped my sights at some point to knock them off I came to realize that I didn't account for the change in elevation. The ladder stand I was in is 15ft. By the time the buck got to a clearing to shoot, he was down a fairly steep hill. I'm going to guess I was at least 40ft higher than him.

I assume at such a steep angle my arrow trajectory was a little flatter causing the high miss.

The good news is, I took my 16yr old cousin on Sunday and he got his first deer with a bow. A doe out of the same stand I missed the doe out of. His kill was at 14yds. I was very proud of him!

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

Outside of sighting in from an elevated position (treestand, etc). Does anyone have any steps they take to insure you're sighted in from treestand height?

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

I always aim a bit low...!

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

bend at the waist!!!!! and PRACTICE FROM A STAND!! i did both and was right on the money..

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

Besides practice from stand height, I've was told to shoot a little lower then you think you have to. I finally did that and wack a dead deer. Never looked back since after over 20 years of bow hunting.

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

Remember to shoot the distance from the base of your tree to the target, not from where you are to the target. If you shot figuring 42 yards from where you were, and you were 15 feet in stand the actual distance from the base of your tree will be shorter than 42 yards (not much, but maybe enough to sail an arrow over the back...especially if you misjudge yardage by a couple yards)

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

A buddy of mine sets his pins at 15, 25, & 35....but uses them at 20, 30, & 40. His theory is that since he sighted in at 15, at 20 yards it will be slightly low......which should compensate for elevation.

Does that hold water?

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

Sloppy...aim for the hair you want your arrow to hit and hit it. Practice from elevation...guessing is not what you want to be doing when you have drawn back on an animal.

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

I guess we will have to start calling you NOT SO LETHAL DIAMOND.:D

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

I guess I earned that one! [8D]

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

Need to bend at the waist, very important.

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

Im in the same boat man, I had a doe come in 20 minutes after I got in my stand on opening day 26 yards broadside. I drew aimed and let'er rip. She jumped the string and the broadhead ( I just switched this year to expandible Rockets Wolverine 75 grains) skipped off on of her ribs. The reason it did this was because when I was watching her she dropped and rolled onto her side just enough to flatten out the angle my arrow was on. I looked for her for 2 hours just to follow up and make sure I wasnt leaving a dead deer in the woods. Very little blood did I find. But I think you should always follow up.

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

I shot my bow ALOT over the spring and summer. I am comfortable shooting up to 40yds with groups of about 4 to 6 inches. At 20yds I can almost "drive tacks" in. However, what I did not do is shoot from an elevated position. I shot from my deck on the back of my house (maybe a 2ft elevation) towards the back of my yard. I'm going to guess at 40yds it's more like 5 or 6ft of elevation.....not much, and probably not enough to matter.

The only thing I can do at home to shoot from an elevated position is get on my roof. I just think that's a little redneck to do. I don't have any mature trees big enough to put a stand in.

I'm a little frustrated with practicing right now. My muzzy's and field points fly completely different. My 4-blade (100gr) muzzy's are the same in elevate but as for windage, they are about 5 inches right at 30yds. So I moved my sights to compensate for that.

Now, my field points are the same amount to the left........which makes sense. I don't want to practice with my broadheads too much because of the amount of damage they do to my Block 4X4 (which by the way, does hold up remarkable well combared to other targets I've had).

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

With my 2nd miss at 42yds, downhill. I had to bend at the waist.....well, maybe it was more of a lean over. The ladder stand I was in would not allow me to stand up because I would not have had clearance due to branches.

I shot sitting down directly to my left (9:00 position). Probably the easiest place for me to shoot being right handed.

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

PRACTICE FROM YOUR STAND AT THE HEIGHT YOU ARE HUNTING AT!!!!!!

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

I don't think your bow is tuned in right besides your elevation practice problem. The reason I say this is because my muzzy's always fly the same as my field points. While watching your arrows fly to the target are they going straight or can you see them wiggle a little? You may also try shots in between you marked distances i.e. 23 yrds instead of 20. The reason I say this is because you can hit the harmonic of the arrow wobble perfectly when you sight it in at your preset distances and believe it's shooting great and tuned. Move the target in between your preset distances and find it's off which it means it's really not tuned. I hope this makes sense.

For elevated shoots, don't you have a friend with an elevated deck? If not can you located a hill side somewhere?


Good luck

RE: Missed 2 last week.......
 

I have all white fletchings and occasionally shoot with a lumenock and my arrow flight is pretty stable. I don't get much wobble or porpusing (sp?).

I could paper tune it I guess. Don't run into many knowledgeable bow "techs" at the local stores. Just some dude who also hunts and works in the Archery Dept.

As for elevated practice.....everything around my house is FLAT. It's Indiana, nothing but flat cornfields. My best chance is to practice out of a tree stand but just can't bring myself to do it now that bow season is open.