range for bow kills

[LateNightFlight]

Interesting, what zone you in bud? You on private land?

That particular buck was on public land in X1, east of Fisk Ridge, which is north east of the McCloud area. During rifle season, the locals used to call that area little L.A. because it could get so crowded. One rifle season, a couple of guys pulled into my camp to see the deer I had hanging. As it turned out, they were actually from L.A.!

My five mile walk from 9000ft ends up at 6500ft. Not the easiest hunting.

I hear ya! I don't think I could do it anymore. I used to climb and drop thousands of feet by noon, which might not sound too rough, but anyone who has struggled through the manzanita trails above the trees knows what I'm talking about. I questioned myself often, "Why hadn't I been born a golfer?"

 

[shortwave]

Congrats on that score bamaranger. Just think how good those fresh backstraps are gonna taste.

 

[stratloverfender]

im a bow nut, and my pse will shoot three inch groups at 55 yards or i wont leave the house. its due to the fact that yeah treestand shots are under thirty, but here in pa, there a lot of rows and fields that u can stalk up on deer on.

 

[tachunter]

but anyone who has struggled through the manzanita trails above the trees knows what I'm talking about.

I have wholes in my pants and jackets to show my understanding. lol Yeah, the rough terrain takes a little more out of my father these days. I bought him the primos walking/shooting stick to help him out through the canyons for Christmas. That basically gave him no option to quit any time soon. lol

 

[rem870hunter]

i practice to 30 yards on the ground,my group starts to open (going outside a 6" plate) past 25 so unless its a big target or i was shooting at a bear on its hind legs in self defense, i would'nt take the shot. i do go on my roof for 15,20 and 25 yards pracitice shots. i stand hunt during bow season so i need to practice from an elevated position as well as on the ground. i'm shooting a BEAR Black Bear 50# draw compound bow,easton gg aluminum arrows with 145 gr Bear SuperRazor broadheads.

 

[rem870hunter]

interesting stuff. i jus got a new martin rated at 305 fps. it has a 3 pin sight and i am kicking around what distance to set them. my old browning bow has a 4 pin sight set at 10-20-30-40 yards and i have seperation between the pins. with the new faster martin i'm thinking 10-20-30 yards but i'm afraid the pins might be pretty much just stacked on each other. maybe set at 10-30-50 or 15-30-45 yards would give me more pin seperation. i'm not really a 50 yard shooter but i understand the faster bows are more forgiving (shoot flater) so it would be easier to compensate on a 20 or 40 yard shot than with my old bow. any suggestions?

i use the gap in between my pins as in between yardage. meaning in between my 10 and 20 yard pins is my 15 yard,between 20 and 30 is my 25.

i don't think they should be stacked on each other like that. i would set the pins in 10 yard increments (10,20,30,40). or maybe the top pin be set for 5 doing a setup like this 5,10,20,30. the very close shots can be as tough as the very far shots.

 

[wpcexpert]

rickyjames:

so it would be easier to compensate on a 20 or 40 yard shot than with my old bow. any suggestions?

I run a 20/30/40/50/60. My standard FPS out of most of my bows have been 290ish. I've never had a problem with pin gap. I practice at close distance to know where my arrow will hit, usually a touch high at 12-15yds, on at 7-10yds, and low below 7yds. That's been with 8.1gr/inch arrows.

With my new birthday bow, my arrows are a touch over 10gr/inch. After wrap, veins, and broadhead, my arrows weigh in at 425gr. I believe I'm still over 290fps. Same pin gap, maybe a little closer at 40-60. But if the animal is between set distances, he gets shot in between pins. In the woods, my 20 yd pin is my work horse. Rarely ever use the others. Don't really know why I have more than 2.(20 and 30) I guess I'm a huge "just in case" kinda guy.

 

[jakec2789]

have you ever shot a deer at exactly 20 yards? i never have, so i set my pins at 23/36/45/51/60.

I know, not exactly even spread but it works fantastic for me. i shoot with broadheads in the 280 range. with my competition set up i'm right at 320. yes i know, hard to believe but a highly tuned bow is very capable of it.

as for hunting i have taken deer out to 60 yards, but i try to keep my shots under 40.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

have you ever shot a deer at exactly 20 yards? i never have, so i set my pins at 23/36/45/51/60.

I've never shot a deer at exactly 20 yards but I've also never shot one at exactly 23 yards so I can't say as I understand your reasoning. Any choice of pin placements is going to be arbitrary and not cover points in between. That said, I don't set my pin at exactly 20 either but it's because with a reasonably fast bow (I shoot 265fps with 370gr arrows) I can have a "hot 20" pin that is zero at about 23 yards and close enough to aim right on from 18 to 27 or so.

 

[Jack O'Conner]

I started out bowhunting in 1972 with a 45 lb Wing Archery recurve bow and cedar arrows with turkey feather fletching. As the years clicked by, I commissioned a custom built bow crafted for me by Owen Jeffrey with 60 lb draw. Both bows took many deer for me, but in 1997 a bicycle accident left me with an unhealed elbow fracture. My recurve bow days were over.

Modern Ten Point crossbow with compound limbs and 4X scope sight is my current venison-getter. Its a genuine keeper!

Most deer were taken at 20 - 30 yards. But a few were shot even closer.

I advise stay away from carbon arrows and mechanical broadheads. Go with Easton XX75 aluminum shafts and Thunderhead 100 grain broadheads. Penetration will be successfull every time!

Jack

 

[jakec2789]

i have never had an issue with carbon arrows. never broken on me. i've even had them meet cinder block walls during an indoor 3d tournament and never had one break. in fact the only ones i've ever had break is when i accidentally pulled a robinhood.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

I advise stay away from carbon arrows and mechanical broadheads. Go with Easton XX75 aluminum shafts and Thunderhead 100 grain broadheads. Penetration will be successfull every time!

No offense to you Jack but this is what people said when compound bows were invented too. Heck, some people STILL say it about compound bows. Modern arrows are very safe and produce FAR more energy than is necessary to get adequate penetration from mechanical broadheads.

I virtually guarantee that your 45 lb Wing Archery recurve generated less than 20 ft/lbs of energy and your 60 lb draw Owen Jeffrey bow almost certainly generated less than 30 ft/lbs. By comparison, a 45 pound compound bow bought today may generate near on 50 ft/lbs and a 60lb bow can approach 70ft/lbs. It doesn't take more than a few foot pounds to open these mechanical broadheads and a 2 1/2 inch hole is a nasty, nasty thing.

18 yards, 60lb Hoyt Katera XL (58 ft/lbs energy), Rage 125gr broadhead:

This is the right side of the deer, with the leg extending off the right side of the picture.

 

[Ryanfromcanada]

I dont have any Bow killing experince but i can say that i practise to 45 yards so that i can hit the vitals but i will keep shots within 30. Problem here is that still hunting from the ground with the bow is hard to get a clear shooting lane past that far. But in the open praieies with a fast bow i think that 50 yards isn't unreasonable.