Nobody has mentioned the effectiveness of using the rangefinder for pre-season practice at yardage estimating. Hike around with a friend guessing the distance to different items then range them. It's great competition and it really sharpens your abilities so that when the time comes you don't need the crutch so much.

When I'm hunting whitetails it's often from unfamiliar stands or from ones that I may not have been in for years. It's helpful to remind myself of the distance to reference markers without trapsing all over the place leaving my sent all around the stand. I find that being higher or lower in a tree really effects my ability to accurately estimate yardage. Often if I'm in a stand I'll take the 4x rangefinder and leave the 10x binos in the truck.

For here at home, I use it for pre-season practice (as stated above) but it's also attached to my bino strap for making sure of that goat across the cliff (with nothing but open air between us; very difficult to estimate), just to make sure on that big bear waddling in, or when stretching one out across the tundra on a reindeer or caribou. It's nice to have that extra edge of confidence on those more nerve wracking shots.

Quite often in the shadows of the woods, distances can be a little decieveing. Last yr. I shot at a doe I thought was around 25-30yds. Turned out she was 40yd. Put the arrow right at her feet. Where I hunt is heavy pine, & it's a little darker in there, vs an open hardwoods area. This yr I bought one to range out a bunch of trees to have a better knowledge of distance. Also, use it for out west.

The way that David Miller responded would match my sentiments exactly.I hang many stands that are of course at different heights and the terrain around them can be and is significantly different.In addition to that I am a one pin hunter,I want my sight picture to be as uncluttered as possible.I hold high or low depending upon shot distance,I can't gap pins if I am not certain of the distance.
I prefer my shots to be 30 yards and in but have shot a couple bucks that were just shy of 40 yards,no way that happens for me without a rangefinder.
I believe that most all of our range estimation is excellent out to 20 yards,some of us would be excellent out to 30 yards and most of our range estimation ability would deteriorate rapidly beyond that.
Of all the gadgets and gizmo's that we spend money on a range finder I believe is worth while.

There real reason I use a rangefinder is that I can't estimate yardage worth a tinkers damn and I know it. I have a Bushnell Yardage Pro 400 and i use it everywhere. I use it at the range to verify yardage to the target, I use it to practice range estimation. Not that the practice seems to help me much. LOL I also used it when I hunt to range nearby objects so I know the approximate yardage for hunting. For me it was a worthwile investment.

HH

I read the thread........I didn't see any good reasons not to use one.

Fair enough, Atlas. THAT assessment is what I was looking for (and not the broad stroke).

In all fairness.....thinking back....I SHOULD have stated that I've ranged my hunting areas enough to know them pretty good. If I can SEE past 20 yds in the early season.....I'm likely not where I should be!

I carried my rangefinder a LOT last year....and ranged my areas pretty extensively (I can still recall the distances to certain trees from my lock-ons). I just never ranged an animal with it. Not once. My areas haven't changed.....so I'll likely use one even less, this year.

Thanks for all of the replies.

So even if you don't shoot past 20 yds you should still have a rangefinder?

Come on Rybo - how would you know that you're not shooting beyond 20 yards unless you had a rangefinder? UmmmDuh. [8D]

Seriously though, for the guys who keep the shots short, there's no real need for it. But, if you're a one-pinner, and would push the limits if you had the opportunity, it never hurts to know your yardages definitively. I don't have one. If I had the spare cash laying around, I would. But I don't, so I don't.

People have killed deer for years without 'em, so by no means are they a necessity, BUT I will say this much:

There aren't many things on the market right now that can actually make the difference between you filling a tag, or going home skunked, but the rangefinder is one of them.

No matter what bow you're using, no matter how expensive your sights are, no matter what kind of cresting tape your arrows are wearing, or what broadhead you have - a misjudged35+ yard shot where you're +/- 10 yards will probably result in a long, sad ride home.

Yes rybo I like the "Challenge" of not using one

Like many have said before me.. confidence. I will use a rangefinder the first day in a stand and range trails and objects (trees, rocks, etc). I then store that info. into my memory and hunt.. never second guessing myself. It is purely for confidence.

And like Kodiak said.. I also use my rangefinder the same way he does.. I always carry my rangefinder into the woods when first hanging a treestand. I do this because like several others.. my comfort range is 20 yards. I will shoot out to 30-35, but I like to keep it closer. A rangefinder helps me estimating just how "off" a trail (or the like) I want to be.

But I do not depend on my rangefinder.. It spends more time in the truck than on me.