Siting in bow on ground vs. stand. Difference? Video!

[silvergts1998]

I got my bow sited in and today I missed two deer at 35 yards and 25 yards. I sited my bow on the ground and figured it would be the same in the stand. Pretty mad about it, but oh well. Two more days until the end of the season for me. I used a range finder to estimate my yardage and I was up about 20 feet. I think my arrow shot about a 1 foot over the deer. Any advice? Here's a video of my shot. Aurrggh! If I got this deer this would of been a great way to end my season and my first year out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Ozw3GFyow

[Bowhunters]

I definitely heard bow noise and so did the buck which explains why he ducked in that video which showed he was able to 'duck under your arrow'. You need to get the noise problem fixed.

I believe you may have also been off on the range estimation, from the video it looked like even if the buck hadn't ducked you would have hit him very high.

If you don't carry and use a range finder its best to pace from your tree out to 20 - 30 - 40 yds, etc and see what big weed or rock is there or even place something there so you'll know the yardage as the deer walks by.

There are two reasons why you want to aim for the lower 5-6" or bottom 1/3 of the deers chest when shooting down or even up hill at a deer, elk or any animal. One is the ducking deer which you had due to bow noise and the other is gravity's reduced effect on an arrow flying down towards the ground or even up hill so shoot at that lower 1/3 and even whether he ducks or not due to some reason like noise you should still hit him somewhere in the vitals.

Even in a ground blind or stalking and if the deer ducks due to bow noise, shooting at that lower 1/3 works.

You should work on making your bow quieter in the off season.


An arrow being affected less by gravity when shooting down out of a tree or up a hill is also why some sights have a pendulum pin that changes position and can help make up for that.

Even bullets from a rifle fired down a mountain or up a mountain will be affected by gravity less for the same reason, so while a deer can't 'duck under a bullet' even with a rifle in those conditions its always best to aim a little lower than when shooting on flat land.

[silvergts1998]

That is what I was thinking, but I think my arrow was a good foot above before the deer ducked. Same thing with the 2nd deer I shot. I just went outside to site in my bow and just did another damn robin hood on another carbon arrow, this makes three so far. Grrr!

I put the dot on the vitals which was about centered behind the front legs. So you are saying go lower towards the bottom of the chest? I just shot 15 yards from my patio which is about 16 feet high and was nailing the bulls eye without lowering the sites...why is that?

what do you recommend to keep my bow quiet? I have the PSE rubber silencer which looks like a small dog bone.

[Bowhunters]

First you need to know the correct yardage and then aim for the lower 1/3 of the deers chest for the bow noise and gravity effect from your tree stand that I mentioned.

As far as the bow noise, there are so many different types and brands and I don't know what will work best on your bow but a technician at a bow shop will or should.

Not even familiar with that dog bone looking silencer you mention, if that is screwed into the front of the bow that is for vibration reduction and balanceing the bow.

You need noise dampners that are either on the bow strings or (near the wheels) on the bow limbs where the wheels are attached or even some of both.

Some bows are naturaly fairly quiet and some need a lot of work and proper tuning to get there.

[KwackWacker]

Bowhunters hit the nail on the head. He made every point that I would have made so I'll just stand here and nod my head in agreement. That Kansas boy has bow wisdom dripping from his finger tips.

[Ancientarcher]

Some very good [points have already been made here.Consider one more; Some archers when shooting downward from a tree,lower their bow and arms,which destroys your shooting form,Try instead leaving your upper body in proper archery form,don't lower your bow and arms,instead just bend your upper body downward.This allows the arrow to shoot as if you were on the ground.