Jumping the string?
 

I have had a question burning in my mind for a while. I have heard that once you get out so far (30+ yards) that the deer will not jump the string. I have also heard from some people that 20 yards is the perfect reaction distance for a whitetail to hear the bow and react to the shot. With these two statements, it makes sense that a longer shot would result in less reaction from a deer.

For all of you that have shot deer at further distances, what has been your experience? I have yet to shoot a deer past 25 yards and cannot put this to my own test.

Thanks for your time,

Trent

i personally dont believe in them hearing the string persay. i believe it is the arrow and BH itself.

But for the most part for your original question. for this instance. the speed of sound would still travel at a constant speed. therefore you would think that the sound would reach the deer at the same time. so why would they not jump it this time.

In a dry air situation at approx. 70 degrees the speed of sound is around 340 fps. so the sound of your string is almost gauranteed to beat the arrow. at least under 20 yards. the thing is that at 30 yards you get more "objects" in the way to slow it down. so the arrow has a possibility of reaching the deer before the sound of the string.

Interesting question and I cannot say I have ever put a bunch of thought into it. I will say that after reading your post, I thought back over the years and tried to figure out how many deer have jumped my string and at what distances they were.

I could only remember 3 cases of a deer jumping my string. In the cases I remember, the only thing in common was that the deer was alert/uneasy before the shot. The shot distances were (best I can remember) 15ish yards, 25ish yards, and 35ish yards. It has always been my belief that if a deer is not alert, you are shooting a fairly quiet bow, and at a decent speed, there is little chance of them jumping the string to begin with.

i believe most deer duck because of the sudden movement of a bow going off...i try to shoot deer when they are lookin away or when they cant see me with their peripheral vision...call me crazy but my theory is if sound travels at 300 fps and a bow is shootin that or better, then at 20 yards the arrow will hit the deer before it hears it...jus aim at the heart-that way if he ducks you still have a double lung and if he doesnt duck you get a perfect heart shot

I've tried to apply scientific reasoning on our Ga. lease but the dang deer just don't want to pay attention to that class. lol They absolutely will jump the string at distances beyond 30 yds. where I hunt. I'm so used to holding low to compensate that most of my misses are caused by them not dropping like they're supposed to.

Dan

I believe that most of the time the deer are not purposely "ducking the arrow" but rather dropping down as they gather their legs under them to turn and run. It stands to reason that Kickin_Buck is on the right track with an alert Deer being more prone to "jumping the string". I tend to believe they are reacting to the sight or sound of a bow being released than an arrow flying at them. One last thought, the speed of sound is about 1125 fps, so the sound reaches them long before an arrow does!

I've had one "jump the string" almost last year. I killed a doe out at 42 yards last year and when I shot she dropped down a slight bit and I hit her high. Regardless she didn't go but 80 yds but it definitely affected the shot placement. The conditions for that shot were perfect and I wouldn't usually take a shot that far.

Being film producers, and watching lot's of shots on-camera in slow-motion, I can assure you - every whitetail drops upon the release of an arrow. The sound of your bow, arrow, and sight of the arrow are all factors in why a whitetail moves.

Last year, I killed a buck at about 12 yards. He didn't have a clue we were there, and he dropped about 2" by the time the arrow reached him. The year before, I shot the "Tall Brow 8" on video, he dropped about 6" before the arrow got to him at only 25 yards.

The problem with bowhunting, is that regardless of how good you are - a whitetail moves at any shot. You can't beat the senses of a whitetail. The farther the shot, the greater the chance you take at hitting a whitetail in a spot you weren't aiming at, because the target moved before the arrow got there.

For that reason, I try to limit my shots to 30 yards. Beyond that is a crap-shoot! Are you feeling lucky?

Guess I'll never know...I'm an OF and just don't shoot past 25 yards...I still believe it ain't how far you shoot them but how close...

I also believe that they jump the string because they are already skiddish...

I have been hunting these critters for over 25 years. I have never had one jump a string on a compound. Even out to 50+ yards. I have had two jump the string with a recurve (once in the 80s and one two seasons ago), and both were at close distances. Around 10 yards. Never had one jump the string with a longbow. I guess that is due to how quiet a long bow is.

I agree with that assesment.

Where did you read that. just wondering because for one the speed of sound is not constant. it travels through diferent mediums at different rates of speed.
The one i stated was only an example. and lets be honest how many people are actually shooting over 340 fps with their setup. and i am talking about an actual speed not the IBO.

The speed of sound is 343 meters per second (1,125 ft/s).

Deer may very well move on distance shots and imo,those deer are ducking at the sound of the arrow but when out at 35 yards,imo,they don't get out of the way in time as much.

At close distances,I feel they are ducking the bow/string noise and in both cases,alert deer will move more than those that are not.


I have only had 1 duck that I missed and it was at about 6-7 yards.Very alert,and looking at me.


The reason deer don't duck at distance as much as close imo is what I like to call the "boo" factor.If a deer ran at every noise they heard at 35 yards,they would be constantly running around.It is like jumping out from behind a wall and screaming boo,you will jump if you are right on them but if they do it from 40 yards away,you are just going to look at them.

Good points, TFOX. With that deer looking at you at close range, though, I'd bet a paycheck that deer didn't duck at the sound of the shot, but rather at the movement of the shot.

I know folks say that it's possible for a deer to "jump the string", but it's hard to imagine them doing it with today's compounds. Even my 500 grain arrows trudging along at 270 fps will cover 30 yards in one third of a second. Subtract the fraction of a second it takes for the sound to reach the deer and also subtract their reaction time and it doesn't leave time for significant movement.

As to them ducking the sound of the arrow - maybe on long shots, but at 20-30 yards, I don't buy it. By the time they hear the arrow, it's practically there.

I'd bet that most of the deer that "jump the string" on todays compounds were deer that were staring right at the hunter when he touched the release. Factor in the speed of light and things change...

I disagree with a lot of what you said. Yes the deer hear sounds. The sound of unknown origin to them is a lot more scary at 20 than it is at 30 or 35 or whatever. I've found that most deer at 30 and beyond usually just turn their heads and look for the source more than drop to take off. Definitely at 40 they just turn and look usually... unless you got one hell of a noisy bow.

It all depends on the deer and the pressure they've been under. Deer dropping at the sound of the bow going off is exactly why I will take a shot at a walking deer at 25 and under any day vs. trying to stop him with a bleat or mawww or whatever. When they're walking they're making noise and not forewarned of an incoming arrow.

Let's see if I can explain this.

Imagine you walk into a dark room and someone is standing(you don't know is there) behind the door. They yell "BOO!"

What do you do? You jump back automatically because you didn't know they were there and got caught bit surprised.


Now imagine you walk into a large gymnasium that has the lights out. From across the gymnasium floor, on the other side, someone yells "BOO!"

How do you react now?

Will you jump?

Probably not but then again you just might depending on your mood.

Maybe you feel like you aren't supposed to be there. Maybe you are a little spooked and not sure if there is an intruder.

Under certain circumstances you just might jump, even if the prankster is at a distance, depending on you mood.

This is how it works with deer.

If they are at a distance and relaxed when you shoot, there is a good chance they won't jump.

Now, if they are keyed up or nervous about something, they will probably jump.

Absolutely agree and do the same,unless I have no other choice.The one I stopped had to be stopped because the next step would have been in thick cover and no more shot opportunities.

Of course I didn't aim low for the heart which in this situation should have been done and the deer ducked.I caught hair on my broadhead,that was it.Amazing an animal can do this at 6-7 yards.

As pointed out in a previous post, I think you're confusing yards with feet. While several atmospheric conditions affect the speed of sound (temperature, barometic pressure, altitude, etc.) it doesn't vary too much from 1125fps. And lets be honest, the only medium we're concerned with here is air. Just google speed of sound. :biggrin:

The average speed of sound is 1125fps, and that is the consensus between most physicist. Just as the average rate of gravity pull is 9.8m/s^2

My huting setup will shoot 340fps:rock: Its not gonna beat the deer tho;)

Derek

You took the words out of my mouth Kent, neither have I and I've been bow hunting since 1966.

Thats amazing! I hope I have that kind of longevity in my bowhunting career!

Hmm, I must be shootin a quite ass bow (Matthews w/ 2 leeches and 4" merc filled stab) ...cuz I have had deer damn near drop where they stood from pass throughs....although I will COMPLETLY agree with the talk about shooting at an alert deer...I wait for a shot, either looking away or down...and prefer not to shoot alert deer...think smart shot timing and a quite bow are the key elements here.