Archery Question

C

chadx

New member
I'm fairly new to the world of archery hunting. I've been greatly concerned about shooting out of a tree stand. I've read and heard alot of talk that the arrow's flight is much different from an elevated stand. Recently however, I read an article on the subject that said at an elevation of 20 feet and a distance of thirty yards your arrows flight will only be off a couple inches. It further stated that much of the misconception of arrow flight at elevated stands is due to hunter error,i.e. lowering the pin on the target and then releasing too soon.

Obviously the best thing for me to do is get out there and shoot from a tree stand, but that aside, what's the skinny on tree stand shooting?
 
It seems you've wrapped it up pretty well there Chad. You have it right with the combination of your sources... the arrow flight is much different from the elevated stand as opposed to the ground and that MUCH different adds up to a couple inches.

A couple inches is a measurement that many archers are not comfortable playing with. If you don't shoot from an elevation to understand the changes in your arrow flight you will likely miss or WORSE wound several deer in confusion before making the commitment to shoot from a stand. I suggest doing it now, but you have another decision to make.

Once you see the difference your bow has (a variable measurement depending on your bow and its speed) you will have to make the decision weather you want to set your sight pins from a stand or on the ground. I personally leave mine shooting properly on the ground and adjust accordingly from the stand. The reason I do that is, I shoot about 100-150 arrows a week in the back yard and I gain a lot of confidence from stacking arrows in there tightly and I can take that to the stand. Another reason is that you will get a lot of variation in your stand locations so setting a pin for 20 yards out and 20 feet high isn't always going to be affective. I'll take a look around when I lock my stand in for the days hunt and think "Okay I'm 25-27 feet high and there's a 27 yard trail" then I'm ready. The next day I may be 15' high and have a 13 yard trail... it always changes when chasing mature whitetails.

Hope this helps, you have some practice and decisions to make but you need to take it seriously, because bow hunters wound deer... new or careless bowhunters wound a lot! Keep digging up information and good luck. I'm 8 days away myself!!!! YIPEEEEE
 
Any time you shoot at a downward angle the shot will impact higher than expected. This applies to both firearms and archery, but of course with archery equipment and its rainbow-like trajectory, the effects show up at short range.

Exactly how high you'll shoot will depend on how fast your bow shoots and the angle of the shot (the distance and treestand height come into play here). With my bow/arrow combo (which is pretty fast), I shoot roughly 3-4" high at 30yds when shooting from a stand 15-20ft high. Since the arrow actually needs to enter just a little bit high and angle downward into the vitals anyway, I just aim as if I were shooting from the ground. That way the shot does hit just a bit high on entrance but it passes downward through the vitals and exits low on the far side. Of course if the deer is acting spooky and is likely to "jump the string," then I will aim lower to catch him as he ducks.

By far the most common reason people shoot way too high from a stand is because they don't keep proper form. Instead of keeping their bow arm up, using their usual anchor point and simply bending at the waist, they try to stand straight up and drop their bow arm. Now their anchor point has changed and their eye-to-sight alignment has changed. When you combine their serious mistakes with the fact that the deer may try to duck and that they'll shoot a couple inches high due to the angle, you end up with an arrow that sails cleanly over the deer's back.
 
^^^ he is correct in that your shooting form changes from level to bending over. It moves everything around if you don't bend at the waist.
Just go out and shoot, you will find your range will increase from an elevation. The higher you go, the farther you can shoot with a certain pin.
At 23 ft. up I can use my 20 yd. pin from the tree base out to 30 yards with little change.
 
Thanks for all the great information. our season comes in on Oct. second. I'm trying very hard to get all the "honey do list" done before the season so I can go hunting without catching any flack.

I'm am going to make it a point to get out in a tree and practice before attempting to hunt.

Thanks Again
 
pendulium sight
the way to go
go shoot 1 its sells itself no pin mix up no yardage mistakes
i myself am horrible at judging yardage an have shot low and high on many deer i should have hit hard
the pendulium eliminates that with my mathews tightened down to about 75 lbs i can put apple sized groups at 50 yrds
sight it in once and ur ready to go inna tree,
off ground, down hill, and up hill
and the fact that they are noisey is untrue
u get a good quality brand and its not noisy at all and if it is a little cork or piece of velvet will fix that
my bow is virtualy noiseless and its probably shooting close to 300 fps with 100grain broadheads
 
Try using the sight pin that would apply if you were shooting from the base of your stand tree. IOW, the target may be 25 yards from your stand but 20 yards from the base of the tree. Twenty yards is the level distance to the target.

Not a precise system but easy to use.
 
Originally posted by yote_sniper:
[qb]pendulium sight
the way to go
go shoot 1 its sells itself no pin mix up no yardage mistakes
i myself am horrible at judging yardage an have shot low and high on many deer i should have hit hard
the pendulium eliminates that[/qb]
Click to expand...
It should be pointed out though, that a pendulum sight will not help you if you forget to bend at the waist instead of dropping your bow arm. A pendulum helps correct for the trajectory of the arrow, but you still must have proper shooting form.
 


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