bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

does anybody ever use ribbons or something to mark away how many yards it is when your bowhunting? like at 20 yards you put a marker, and at 40 yards put something?

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

Have done that before, yes. It works very well.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

x2.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

i range bushes, trees, trails, etc. before getting in stand so i know every distance that a deer could be. And if possible i even range a deer before i shoot.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

You guys who range your animals befor eyou shoot them.....wow. I know there are some seasoned guys who say they do this every time.....and all I have to say is.....kudos. I've never done it.

Irange some trees "when I take my rangefinder".....but to be honest....I've gotten to where ....if I have to think about the distance....I'm probably not going to shoot. I shoot enough from 20yds to know what that looks like in the woods. The doe I shot last Monday (2nd one).....I pegged her at 23 yds....and held just a hair high on my intended POI. Elevation was great. If I'd thought she was 28yds....I wouldn't have shot.

If I thought I was going to take shots over 30 yds in the woods....I'd take my rangefinder, more. I've learned (the hard way) that I'm not great at those distances from a tree. So....I don't shoot that far.

If you don't know what 20yds looks like.....you need to range it "somehow". Ribbons will work great. If you do know what 20yds looks like.....you know it's likely a top pin shot....and I don't see the need for one in that instance.

Know your limitations.;)

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

I'm a very seasoned 3D veteran and I still range my animal every time right before the shot be it 20 yards or 42 yards.

I wear my rangefinder on my chest with a Crooked Horn Outfitter bino strap. I know what 20 yards looks like, I know what 30 yards looks like but I don't want leave anything to chance. It's just a habit, rangefinder in one hand, bow in the other, range, release on, draw, anchor, aim, release..it's mechanical.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

Part of the fun of bowhunting is ranging the animal yourself...IMO. Maybe it was years and years of football and having to know distance in yards, but I can range to usually within 2-3 yards all the way up to around 35 yards out. I just pick up my bow, pick a spot that I believe is within a 5 yard mark, estimate the range, and then shoot when the time is right.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

Rob....I was thinking of you when I wrote that....and I think that's great. When I think back to some of my encounters....I just don't see how I could have done what you do. My '06 8-pointer......was on a dead run two times I came to full draw. Ranging him would have been pointless. He never stopped. When he did finally stop to work a scrape.....I shot him. I took a guess (that was wrong....but off by 6 yds). It all worked out. If I'd waited to range him.....he could have been gone. He was 2-3yds from the park entrance.

NO WAY I range the first buck I ever killed. He was looking right at me.

Last year's 8-pointer.....hell he was chasing a doe, too....and I "maaaa'd" him to a stop on my second attempt to stop him. No time to range him, either. I don't know the circumstances of the animals you've killed......but I think the fact you range them all is commendable.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

Most of my shots could not be past 35 in the thick woods I often hunt. I have a rope I cut 35 yards long and also marked it with a knot at 20 yards. Well before season, during the summer, I mark off the distances with the rope from the tree stand or blind spot. Then I use the same rope to mark off my target range in the backyard. Since I shoot only one pin within 35 yards, lots of practice on the range gives me a pretty good idea of where the pin needs to be within that 35 yards. I have been thinking about getting a rangefinder too but until I do, this system has worked pretty well.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

i don't use a rangefinder. during the off season i just practice ranging off random things. i guess the distance in my mind, and then pace it out. i do this everywhere... ina large room, walking down the street... etc. after a while you start to get pretty good at it, and 99% of the time you can get within a couple yards. and it saves me from spending a few hundred bucks.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

This may sound weird to some of you, but it makes sense to me and it hasn't let me down.

When I sight-in, I pace off distance. I set my top pin at 20 paces, my second at 30. Between a month and no later than 2 weeks before opening day, I go out and trim shooting lanes and clean trees for my stands, and then I pace off distances to trees or trails. Nothing farther than 25 yards. I'm always really close, my paces in the woods compared to my paces in my back yard when I'm sighting in. I've watched my arrow disappear behind my pin a few times on deer, so I know it works.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

3D archery shoots on the weekends have helped me a ton! I learned how to judge yardage down to only 1 or 2 yrds off. If it's 24 yrds and i judge it at 23 yrds, i still hit my mark!

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

When I shot a compound I didn't have a range finder. For me It's taking way to much of the hunt out of It. I learned my yardages very well and I put up little markers when I 1st started bow hunting at 12 years old so I knew were 10, 15, and 20 yards was.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

i dont own a range finder....and i will admit if you put me in a tree i suck at estimating range. i THOUGHT i knew what 20yds looked like....but what i thought was 20 in the heat of the moment was actually about 10-12...what i thought was 30-35 in the heat of the moment was actually 21 or 22....

ive learned that i typically cannot see a shootable portion of a deer past 21-22yds in the woods in bow season from a tree in most my setups(borrowed a buddies range finder one time)

last year when i shot my buck, i had no idea how far he was...i actually thought he was farther and settled the pin high...then looked and said IDIOT! thats dang near 20yds!!! actually ranged the tree near him earlier that morning(buddies range finder) and knew it was under 25 and a top pin shot...so i settled it lower and sent it....dead deer

if i take my time i can "do it" but first glance, i suck...

last year opening day i had a buck at 21 or 22...i thought FOR SURE he was 30-35...didnt even think about shooting....i get tunnel vision and it kills me....i gotta start taking my time...

on the ground i got to be accurate within a yard or 2 pretttty consistantly to 40 or so..by using my buddies range finder at 3d shoots after we all "called it" we would check...then shoot...(saved us arrows) :) and we got good enough at ranging and quit using it...

lots of ways to go about it while hunting...landmarks, ribbons, ranging the actual target etc...

like GMMAT, id rarely ever have time to range a deer from the bow stand...if i did id probably loose my opprotunity to shoot...what i do now is find 20-25 and if its outside that zone i aint even drawing....i can shoot well at yardages much past 20-25...but deer hunting, in my woods, and knowing i cant range within a few yards from the stand, i wont shoot anything that isnt top pin...unless for some odd reason im 100% confident its 30 or whatever...

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

No ranging here for the most part. My shots are close enough to where I don’t need to. It’s either a shoot or don’t shoot situation.
Since I do have a range finder, I will range some trees & other “landmarks” just in case. If the situation arose where a deer was hanging out for a long time & tempting me out near my max range, I’d zap & then decide on shooting it. I’ve not run into that case yet.

RE: bowhunting. how to know how many yards away a deer is?
 

I take and use my range finder on every trip to the woods. The last thing that I do before settling in is to range every possible "shot zone" that I can find...out to, but not beyond 40 yards. I'll use my first 15 minutes to carefully look over my current hunting area and try to visualize where a deer could come from and where I may be able to stop them. I'll memorize the 5-6 shot zones that I pick and then put the RF away for the rest of the hunt.