Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

Yesterday, while practicing out of one of my treestand, shooting carbon bolts with field tips. I had three 3D deer targets out, One at 10 yards, one at 12 yards, and one at 17 yards. I had use my Bushnell 450 range finder to be sure of the yardage. I took a shot at the 17 yard deer using my 20 yard crosshair line adn darn near missed the 3D. My bolt caught the top 1 to 2 inches of it. When I went back to the 10 yard line it was right on.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience? Do I consider anything out to 20 yards a 10 yard crosshair shot?

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

You do know that you measure your distances from the bottom of the tree and not the stand? Without going into the details of why you have to shoot the bottom leg of an up or down hill triangle to hit right on. Stand under the tree right under your stand and mark your distances and try it. Lee

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

I've got two ladder stands up for bear. they are 12' tall, so w/ me standing up to shoot my bow is about 16' up. My bait is at 17 yds from the tree, and my 20 yd crosshair is dead on at the bait. I think the hifgher up you are the more diff it makes but am not sure.

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

I've not used my rangefinder from the base of the tree but will check it and see what the difference will be.

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

The easy way to picture it is with a 45 degree triangle like they do on that laser range finder commercial,only if I figurad what they said on that commercial right the stand has to be 90 ft high for it to work out.
Assuming your stand is on level ground the differance would be 2.4yards which will make a differance when shooting down at the side of a game animal because the closer they are the narrower the area of the kill zone.
For those reasons I try to set up my shots for at least 15 yards minimum and hopefully 25 max. LEE

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

This is a problem with any fixed-point sight (i.e.--crosshairs, pins,red dots). It's the old high-school physics problem,"If a squirrel was sitting x-feet up a tree,was looking at a gun's muzzle, and a hunter X-yards away shot a projectile moving at x-feet-per-second, would the squirrel be struck?" When I first went archery hunting several decades ago, I was taught to aimlower on the target otherwise I'd overshoot the animal. Knowing the range of the animal from me allowed me to pick a pin, but I still had to pick a lower point of aim than where I wanted the arrow to hit. The whole issue was nullified when I started to use a pendulum sight on a vertical bow. After being sighted in, the swinging sight compensated for the trajectory and distance. At a certain distance all bows will have this same problem. Having just starting to hunt with a scoped-crossbow last year, I had to remember the old rule. Unfortunately, the only way to know if you must aim lower, and how far, is to practice with the bow, and then remember to adjust appropriately when hunting. Incidentally, for a given mass of projectile there is a velocity at which height and distant are irrelevant. This is why you don't have to have a different point-of-aim with most guns fgrom an elevated stand. Since I haven't seen a pendulum sight made for a crossbow, practice at varying heights and distances is key. In your case aiming at a 17-yard target with a 20-yard pin from an elevated position put the bolt's point-of-impact too high. Converesely. aiming with a 10- yard pin at a 17-yard target {which would be the same as aiming low with the 20-yard pin} produced a kill. File that in your memory bank and practice and experiment some more. It's obvious that whomever said all you gotta do is point a sight and shoot did not spend much time target-shooting and hopefully isnot hunting either. Sorry for being so wordy, but sometimes I must remind myself of the basics no matter how sophisticated the equipment becomes.

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

great explaination Hedgie:eek:

This is the main reason that I usually dont' like to go too high in my climber, and why I am going with a vari-zone scope. I don't like to guestimate and hold over if I don't have to.

Mitch

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

I just always aim at lower half of deers chest when i am up in tree stand. Two things happen, the higher you go the smaller the kill area becomes. The farther the deer is from you up high more kill area viewed. I try to stay 20 ft. and lower, only special conditions make me go higher and then i take longer shots![:o][:-]

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

Thanks Mitch. What's a vari-zone scope?
Hedgie

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

A vari-zone scope adjusts to the exact speed of your crossbow (even if you don't know your speed) and removes the need to hold over that you experience with most other scopes.

Example: when shooting my Horton (yes HORTON) with the stock lite-rite red dot scope I had the 20 yard dot dead, but the 30 yard dot was low. So I was using the 40 yard dot at thirty and holding just slightly low. At 40 it was holding over with the 40 yard dot.


http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/demo/m/content/article.php?content_id=98

Mitch

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

Get your calculators out boys! The pythagorean formula is.... A squared plus B squared equals the hypotenuse squared. The distance you aim for is the square root of the downwards visual distance (at an angle) from the shooter squared minus the height of the stand squared . Hmmmm I think I will stick to ground blinds!!!! Conversely (that word just cost me 50 cents) if I have to hunt in a stand I do not put them up high (just like mitchmtm) when I use an arrow so that my aiming errors are not magnified. If we use stands they only go up 12 feet or so. Ok no more thinking for one whole day!

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

This has been debated alot in other forums but I never know who is right? All I do know is that I do about 80% of my pratice off the barn roof, It is flat/shed style roof that is 21 feet up, two feet shorter then my ladder stand. My CB is sighted in at from up there since that elavation is where I will do the majority of my hunting. Now my 20 yard crosshair is dead on atthe 21 feet,but when I get down and shoot on the ground I shoot about two inches low. Which agrees with some guys that say when you go up you have to aim low because you shoot high if your bow is sighted in on the ground, mine is sighted in on the 21 foot mark so when on the ground I have to aim high. Hope this helps, And don you need to stop that stuff, you and the new guy are guying to make us slow people go insane!

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

Hey Don. That theorem only gives distance in your example. (It still would be simpler to use a rangefinder from the tree base.) Don't forget to factor in bolt mass and velocity as well as the effects of gravity. Now you can stop thinking for the day.:D
I agree with the 12-15-foot stand height suggestion. A less acute angle
will make a difference in trajectory.
Thanks for the vari-scope explanation, Mitch.:)

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

Its the laws of physics that are correct Jason. If I have to be stuck in a high stand I use markers/flagging tape with my yardage pro. But I still don't like being up there for many reasons. I find the higher up I am the more bored I am and the lower I am the better for falling asleep.
Hedgie that formula tells you how long gravity affects the arrow thats all thats needed for xbow distances.
Mitch, did you put an Excal product on your Horton and did it work with no fiddling?

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

I don't have it on yet, but with a horton mount and rings it shouldn't be a problem. Now do I have to call it a Hortcalibur or an Exhorton?[&o]

Mitch

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

Funny!:D:D:D:D I wonder who the girl was? I expect it was the Horton! LOL!!!! couldn't help that one!

RE: Crossbow scope question about shooting distance.
 

ok, here goes my 2 cents.i shoot recurve, no crossbow. same info will help. been shooting deer for 40 years. first, you have to practice.i climb on roof and practice if i hunt out of tree.i like to hunt on ground as i can move.PRACTICE. as for scoped horton etc .crossbows. set your bow so it shoots dead at 20 yards. use only the 20 YARD PIN OR CROSSHAIR.now, go up on roof or shed.set target at 20 yards and shoot.if deer is at 10 yards ,you have to shoot lower, use the 20 yard sight not ten. out to 30 yards, you aim little higher up deer..closer deer ,higher it shoots, farther away the lower it shoots.never shoot over 30 yards.you have to practice. if i can only give you 1 thing to remember. USE ONLY 20 YARD CROSSHAIR AND PRACTICE. i saw more deer wounded and missed by using those different yard crosshairs,like 10,20,30 ,40.sproulman says, DONT USE THEM, use 20 yard crosshair for all shots to 30 yards.also, learn your yardages. throw the range finders away. you can learn it.trust me, been doing it for long time.hope this helps.normally out to 20 yards you have toAIM lower ON DEER TO SCORE. HOW LOW? PRACTICE.