i really struggle with judging distance. anyone out there ever make their own ranging device or have some tricks they could share. thanks

A 250 fps or faster bow and a good pendulum sight, you are good to 35 yds with a single pin. It is as easy as that.

Get yourself a spool of braided nylon string 90' in length, tie one end to your tree and stretch the other end out into your shooting lanes. Where the string ends, tie a piece of colored surveyor's tape. Do not shoot past the surveyor's tape as this should be your limit if you cannot judge distance. As you get more experienced, you can invest in more string and tape. This concludes my homemade range finder lesson.

I have a nice range finder now, but I actually used a golf distance finder from the golf shop. It is only about $30, but does the job for bow hunting. I only purchased my nice range finder for long distances like 200 yards. But, the golf distance finder works great for bow hunting.

That's a great idea ATC. I don't chase the little white balls around yet, so I wouldn't have thought of it. Very good tip.

I find the best way to learn estimating is to shoot 3D.
Either use a rangefinder and burn the images of the different distances in your mind, or go without the equipment and make note of guesses that are off. Pace it off when you get your arrows back.

Than practice from your stand if you can. Things look further away from up there and may cause you to aim a bit high.

Get em' in to 10-15 yards and don't worry about it.

I'VE found I can use my sight on my bow. If you shot at a lifelike target like a mckenzie or delta at 20 yards see how much of the deer fills the the ring surounding your pins. Then move back to 30 yd its not to the yard accurate but will give you a good idea as to an estimate of distance

I have thought aout making my own a few times. It is a very simple circuit, the problem I have is getting a case to put it in.

You just need a proximity sensor and a microcontroller. Press the button it sends the signal and starts an internal clock. Once the return signal is received it stops the clock. And you can now turn time into distance because you know the wavelength of the signal.

I am going to make one and I will let you know how it turns out.

tanks for the info. should have known there would have been at least one smarta@# comment.

Thanks. You are correct in saying the best way to earn estimating is to shoot 3D. I have access to a bow range about 10 minutes from the house and they have about 10 acres set up in the woods with a walking trail through it. About every 100 yards down the trail, there are side trails with 3D targets. Each side trail is set up different and the distances are all marked off with colored stake markers. They even have a few blinds to shoot from, one ground blind and two tower blinds. It really helps me to shoot from the tower blinds because of the hypotenuseside of the right triangle along with gravity affects the shot.