Blacktail Archery Hunters, effective range?

[JasonG]

I'm sure once the blood starts pumping everything goes slideways!?

I think there are at least five causes of error that you run into in the woods that you don't usually get in your backyard:

(1) You're excited. You're scared you're going to miss, you're scared you're going to hit, you're thrilled and ecstatic and terrified all at once. That doesn't make for great shooting form.

(2) You're rushed. That target ain't going nowhere. In contrast, you have no idea how long that deer is going to remain broadside to you. You've got every incentive in the world to release that arrow quickly, lest you miss the opportunity.

(3) You're typically shooting at intermediate distances. In your backyard, you're probably (mostly) shooting at straight-up 10 yard increments. It's rare when a deer steps out in front of you at anything like so convenient a range as "30 yards". It's not that hard to line up your pins proportionally to get to 34 yards - but it's just a bit less accurate than throwing a single pin onto a target and getting it steady.

(4) You're shooting broadheads. Even if your bow is tuned perfectly for them, they're still just a bit less forgiving. Even when my broadheads are hitting with my field points, and there's no systematic error (e.g., consistently hitting left), I find that they tend to group on the outside of my field points.

(5) The target is likely moving. I don't mean that it's moving when you're shooting at it (that would be just dumb, at anything more than 5 yards, at least at my skill level), but that the deer has probably moved some irregular distance from when you last ranged it by the time you take a shot. You can probably guess roughly how far, but again, that introduces error.

And the problem is that all of these sources of error are multiplicative. If each one, individually, would only tend to increase the size of your groupings by, say, 10%, by the time you multiply all of them together ... it's fairly substantial, over 50%. If you're shooting an 8" grouping in your backyard, you should probably plan on shooting no better than a 12" grouping in a hunting situation, if that.

Or another way of putting it: your worst shot at practice is going to be your best shot in the field.

All of these (and some bad luck) came together to contribute to my miss last September. (At least it was a clean miss...)

Thank you for taking the time to write out the different situations that can get things going sideways pretty quickly. What are you shooting for a bow etc..

[Crunchy]

60 yards - that's the last pin on my sight.  I can shoot to dinner plates very reliably, so if the conditions were right I would let one fly from that distance.

I killed one at 50 and missed one at under 30.  It all about you and taking your time before the shot. 

[JasonG]

I'm working on 40 yards as max. Ideally the closer the better. Hitting a 4-inch circle on a " cold bore" shot every time is the most important thing to me since There with be no warm up! Practice 5 shots and go in for a bit maybe an hour and try it again. That first shot has to be there!

[Matth]

I'm ethical out to 50 yards, and have shot a few animals out to that distance, but most of my harvests have happened under 40 yards, to include includes animals harvested with a rifle. I honestly think this is because i hunt thick country, and if i can see it it's under 40 yards.

[smithkl42]

Thank you for taking the time to write out the different situations that can get things going sideways pretty quickly. What are you shooting for a bow etc..

I've only got two (unsuccessful) seasons under my belt, so I'm as much in the newbie class as it can be. I'm still learning, and that undoubtedly contributes to my desire to systematize :-).

I started my archery and hunting career by purchasing the first bow a shop offered me a deal on - a Hoyt PowerMax, 40-50# (currently set at 50). It's not the bow I would buy if I had to do it over, but at the time, I didn't realize how much I would enjoy wandering through the woods, looking for something to shoot.  50 pounds is sufficient, but it's on the lower end of sufficient, and I think my next bow will be in the 55-65 pound range. (I might go higher, but I want to be shooting my bow for the next 15 years or so, and as I'm 50 right now, I need to still be able to pull it as I age.)