Shooting downhill

[Gobble Doc]

I need to work on accuracy.  Big lesson from this last weekend turkey hunting.  Every one of my shots was a downhill shot and suffice to say that I did not end up sticking a bird.  I got to get this figured out before I end up hanging up the bow and going back to something with a full choke. 

[JLS]

When you shoot uphill or downhill, you need to make sure that you maintain a "T" with your arms and your torso.  Bend at your waist to achieve this.  Otherwise, if you drop or raise your bow arm you will end up changing your anchor and your sight alignment.

Don't forget that you should aim slightly low also, depending on how steep the angle is and how far the distance is.

[BULLBLASTER]

  form is the main thing when shooting up or downhill. Then on longer amd steeper shots you do need to cut yardage. Either practice or a arc rangefinder will determine tye amount to cut. Bend only at the waist/hips for up or down shots. Above that should remain exactly the same.

[pianoman9701]

I missed a cow at 10 yards for not aiming low. It killed me.

[cedarriver]

 As far as yardage when shooting up hill or down figure out the horizontal distance the best you can. Best way I can explain that is if you are shooting something up in a tree, doesn't matter how far the target is diagonally, range to the base of the tree on a horizontal and shoot that yardage.  Hope that helps and makes since.

[washelkhunter]

I missed a cow at 10 yards for not aiming low. It killed me.

YOU SUCK! Bwhahahahhahhahhahahahhhhhaaaaa! But you got more shots than I did. 

[pianoman9701]

I never get tired of hearing that, Tom.

[washelkhunter]

Whats a hunting pard for?

[RadSav]

I missed a cow at 10 yards for not aiming low.

Yeah, Yeeeah that's it!  I forgot to aim low.  Yeah, that's the ticket!

Jon Lovitz: Dec. 26th-28th

[Gobble Doc]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I'm going to somehow get this figured out, soon.  I guess I'll have to wait for the late fall/winter turkey season to roll around before I can try my skills again.  So far the turkey have been pretty safe while I've been using the bow.

[Axle]

As far as yardage when shooting up hill or down figure out the horizontal distance the best you can. Best way I can explain that is if you are shooting something up in a tree, doesn't matter how far the target is diagonally, range to the base of the tree on a horizontal and shoot that yardage.  Hope that helps and makes since.

 

[headshot5]

Yep, hold for the horizontal distance from the animal to you.  Never "hold low" by holding below the animal, as the animal in no way can be negative yards away.  Unless of course you have your first pin at 60 yards or something random like that and you are shooting 5 yards etc.  They make range finders now that will give you horizontal distance.  Might be useful to those that hunt steep country, or have extremely high treestands.     

[pianoman9701]

I missed a cow at 10 yards for not aiming low.

Yeah, Yeeeah that's it!  I forgot to aim low.  Yeah, that's the ticket!

Jon Lovitz: Dec. 26th-28th

You're a bum, Rad! You and washelkhunter should get together and pull the wings off of insects, pinch babies, and eat puppies.

[RadSav]

You're a bum, Rad! You and washelkhunter should get together and pull the wings off of insects, pinch babies, and eat puppies.

Mmmmm puppies

[D-Rock425]

Wow

[pianoman9701]

I'm not feeling the love, DRock. Are you?

[D-Rock425]

You guys need to talk to someone about your problems.

[D-Rock425]

Did you really miss at 10 yards.

[pianoman9701]

Yes, and I shoot year round. I'm actually a great shot. It sucked hugely.

[D-Rock425]

I'm not laughing at you but with you I hope. anyway I'm still laughing 

[pianoman9701]

It really sucked. I don't know if i might have been looking under my peep or if my form was screwed, but it went over her back. Not a hair.

[RadSav]

It really sucked. I don't know if i might have been looking under my peep or if my form was screwed, but it went over her back. Not a hair.

Has never, ever happened to me!

BTW - I have some ocean front property in Montana for sale...if you are interested

[D-Rock425]

I've been there.  Maybe not 10 yards but away but I feel your pain.  (Still laughing)

[coachcw]

standard anchor bend at the waist , ballistic yardage !

[D-Rock425]

I shot and missed a cow once at 30 yds  .  She was bedded and I thought if I can slide it right by this 3 inch sapling its a done deal.  I pin wheeled that sapling dead center.

[RadSav]

My worst was a good bull less than 15 yards.  Arrow did not even make it out of the bow before hitting a branch   Dang bull would not even give me a second chance   Worst part was the squaw watched from a few yards behind me.  She laughed at me for days afterward.  Even when I explain, "That Sh&^ ain't funny!" she still laughed at me

[MLBowhunting]

I center punched a tree once on a nice bedded blacktail buck not more then 20 yards away.  So focused on being quiet I didnt even see the little alder.  Need less to say he was gone and laughing at me the whole time bounding through the clearcut

[sakoshooter]

I'm not laughing at you but with you I hope. anyway I'm still laughing 

Me too.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I have had a few mishaps while turkey hunting with my bow but considering the size of target and hardly ever stand still I would just brush it off  My best one being me blowing feathers off his chest to have him keep strtting and gobbling while I shot him 3 times and all 3 times I was hitting low and throwing feathers everywhere ...The old saying goes ....hit them high watch them die , hit them low watch them go  Once I started aiming for the hind legs my problems all ended ...no more trying for the wing butt ....break a leg or both and they are done 

[huntndad]

I missed a cow at 10 yards for not aiming low. It killed me.
What?
I apologize if I'm a little late to the party and this is a joke, but this makes no sense.  Are you saying that the elk was at 10 yards but down hill, so you should have shot her as if she were at 6 or 7 yards?  Assuming your first pin is set for 20 yds, you'd probably already be hitting low at 10.  Why would you need to aim lower?  Now, if it was an extreme down hill angle, and the horizontal distance was only about 5 yards, you'd actually hit even lower.  And even if you had a bow that somehow was sighted in with your sights down at the level of your arrow, the 5 yard horizontal distance that you thought you needed to compensate for would have virtually no affect on where your arrow hit.

If you missed an elk at 10 yards, it has absolutely nothing to do with not aiming low.  Sorry!

As has been mentioned many times, the reason people say to aim lower shooting down or up hill is because you want to shoot to the horizontal distance, which is always less than the angled distance.  But after spending a lot of time with an angle compensating range finder, the difference isn't usually as much as I thought.  I believe the reason most people miss when shooting up or down hill is because they don't maintain their form.  They bend at their shoulder instead of their waist.

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

I missed a cow at 10 yards for not aiming low. It killed me.

 if you used your 20 pin at 10 yrds on a cow, you missed for some other reason then the angle.. there is no angle I am aware of that would be steep enough to miss the kill area on a elk at that range... I shot a buck out of a stand at 6 yrds straight below me.. 20 pin on the spine.... dead buck....  as far as angles.... it takes a pretty severe up or downhill angle to compensate more then a yrd or 2.... so most times you can still use the same pin.. out so say 50 yrds depending on your set up.... just get a angle compensating rangefinder...  problem solved.

[D-Rock425]

Cow I shot this year was a 5 yard difference in true yardage compaird to ballistic yardage.  40 yards to elk range finder said shoot 35yds.

[sakoshooter]

Shooting uphill or downhill is basically the same but it's been my experience that the difference isn't worth thinking about unless you talking about very long distance shots or shots from a very high tree stand. IE: My bow shoots about 1" high at 20yds on a(approx.)25 degree downhill angle. Not worth arguing over that's for sure. The same shots at 30 - 35 yds seem to make me shoot about 3-4" high. Worth considering but still not enough to miss a deer or elks chest area unless you're already off on your yardage estimation.
One of the guys I shoot with has the inclinometer built into his range finder. Mine doesn't. Most times he uses it on steep shot it only registers 1/2 up to about 2yds less to hold at. Again, not enough to cause a miss. More important is proper range estimation.

[raydog]

First year archery my dad drew his bow back on a doe. He didn't use his release. So he lets down and draws again with his release and miss at 15 yards flat ground. Darn twigs