Bowhunting. What distance is too far?

How do you figure out what distance is too far for your bowhunting prowess? Where does you accuracy potential fail to deliver the results you desire? What will be the limiting factors to the accuracy you can achieve? What can you do to enhance your chances for success?

Here are some of the steps to consider:

CALCULATING YOUR MAXIMUM RANGE

WHAT TO PRACTICE

BOWHUNTING CHALLENGES

WHERE TO AIM

REMEMBER THE KILL SPOT

CALCULATING YOUR MAXIMUM RANGE

The maximum distance to limit yourself to when bowhunting will be entirely up to the individual bowhunter. Their ethics will dictate what they will do.

One bowhunter who may or may not be experienced, using a compound, recurve or longbow, might only be comfortable taking a 15 or 20 yard shot. If that is their comfort zone then they should maintain their bowhunting ethics and stay inside that distance.

Another bowhunter, preferably an experienced archer with the ability to judge distances accurately and a good judge of animal alertness may be comfortable with a 40 yard shot if the right conditions present themselves. The right conditions meaning open terrain and good visibility, no branches or grasses to deflect the arrow from its intended target and a calm animal. Only a slight miscalculation of just a few yards on the bowhunters part in distance estimation at longer yardages could end up in a total miss on an animal, a non-lethal wound or a gut shot animal.

WHAT TO PRACTICE

If the bowhunter has practised at whatever effective range they use and are comfortable with it, so be it, but 40 yards should be the maximum distance for the average bowhunter at deer size game. This doesnt mean no one can harvest deer size game at longer distances but the average bowhunter is not a pro shooter or professional bowhunter with a factory of experts behind them and many years of bowhunting experience to fall back upon. They have to rely on what they have learned from their hunting experiences in the past, from knowledgeable people in the art of bowhunting, bowhunting articles or perhaps video footage they have seen on hunting shows and the like.

How far is too far? I might suggest that too far is when you can't consistently hit a 6-inch circle, 4 out of 5 times, every time you practice, especially with the first arrow since this is the one you will most probably be using to harvest your game. This would be your maximum effective range under ideal conditions.

We all know hunting conditions are seldom ideal. Buck fever has shaken many a good hunter in the past and will do so again in the future. Taking this and environmental factors into consideration use your maximum effective range and then subtract at least 5 to 10 yards to allow for errors in distance judging and nerves. This would be a good starting point for you to figure out you comfort zone, the one you would use to take an animal and have confidence you can deliver the arrow to the kill spot each and every time.

The speed of your bow and arrow set-up will also be a consideration in the range you can attain successfully with it. A faster bow with a flatter trajectory will enhance your chances of having your well aimed shot end up in the kill zone even if your range estimation is a little off (a yard or two). Having a flatter trajectory means that the arrow will not drop off as fast with the advantage being that the arrow has more speed. Correct range estimation is still crucial to the bowhunter even with a fast bow helping them out. This should be practised at every opportunity.

Most of the bowhunters you will talk to will feel that even if they are excellent shots at longer distances at the target or 3-D range, they are not as comfortable with the long shot when an animal is the intended mark. If you go to a hunting or bowhunting web site, you can read or put a post in on what bowhunters consider their maximum range on a target and on deer size animals. You will find that on deer size animals the distance is much less than they would be comfortable with when shooting at a target or 3-D.

I can shoot six-inch groups to 50 yards, but I would hesitate when the shot was over 35 yards, at a deer size animal. Within 35 yards is where I feel the most comfortable in range estimation and in my own shooting ability. Taking long shots of 50 yards or more, for me is not ethical. How much time does it take for the arrow to travel the 50 yards or so to the deer, bear, etc? In that time that animal may have moved far enough even just while feeding, for the arrow to end up in the paunch (guts) or in a non vital area which will result in a wounded animal or an animal youll have to search long and hard to find.

BOWHUNTING CHALLENGES

Hunting from an elevated position or in a tree stand creates another problem for the bowhunter.

Arrows shot downward from a tree always impact higher than when shot on level ground because the gravitational effect on the arrow is reduced. The steeper the shooting angle and the slower the bow, the higher an arrow will hit as a consequence of this lessening of the gravitational pull.

When shooting at animals from an elevated position any higher than 10 feet above the target animal at ranges less than 25 yards creates aiming problems that are not related to the arrow flight. These problems can cause arrows to hit above the mark. The higher you go the more pronounced the effect will be. When looked at from above animals look smaller than they actually are.

You can use a rangefinder to find the range to the animal itself. If you know the exact range to the animal you hunt, you won't be tempted to aim high to compensate for a lack of confidence in your distance estimation skills.

A rangefinder can also be used to check distance to specific spots around your location. You can mark these with different coloured flagging tape for each distance. You can also pace off the distance starting at the base of the tree you have your stand in and mark the range with flagging tape, rocks, or the ever useful toilet paper. If you use flagging tape or some other non-biodegradable material, after the season is over make sure you take it down. The same goes for flagging tape used to mark a blood trail. If you bring it into the woods make sure you bring it back out.

Studies have shown that the whitetail deer as a species is the one most likely to jump the string. This means jump at the sound the string makes when the arrow is released. Larger animals seem to not exhibit this tendency as much as does the whitetail. Studies show that the whitetail can drop down to the ground in less than 2/5ths of a second. Deer have been known to whirl around before the arrow reaches them and end up with the arrow in the opposite side from where the bowhunter intended the shot to penetrate. This means that an alert deer has the ability and has the time, even at the close distance of 15 yards, to drop down below an arrow aimed for the vital area. This can happen even if the arrow is pushed by a very fast bow (300+ fps), and it may even escape unscathed. Chances are that the animal will not however and a non-fatal wound or a gut shot could be the end result.

The best way to avoid this is to use some kind of silencing system, whether this is a device on the string like string mufflers, a limb savers type attachment on the limbs themselves, or a stabilizer with rubber silencing material that is attached directly to the bow riser. It may also be any combination of the three. Again, dont shoot at a deer that shows signs of being alert and this problem will be decreased.

WHEN TO SHOOT - WHERE TO AIM

The ethical bowhunter should study the anatomy of his intended target animal. You will have to develop a mental picture of where the vital organs are located inside the animal. You will then have to figure out when to shoot and where to aim to make an effective, lethal shot in the vital heart-lung area from above if in a tree stand, at a quartering away or broadside animal or on level ground at the same target area. Pick the smallest spot you can see, a hair if you can. The kill spot youre shooting at will move as the animal moves, you will have to keep this in consideration as you aim and change the kill spot you aim at accordingly.

If you go to Whitetail Deer on the nova scotiahunting.com site which you are on and look at my post entitled Deer Anatomy you can click on the link and you will be able see what the insides of a deer look like. You will see that the spinal cord and the neck area have little to offer the bowhunter as a target. They are small to begin with and on a moving deer, almost impossible to hit except by luck. If hit and the spinal cord is severed the deer, in all probability will drop in its tracks. You may need another arrow to finish it off.

You will see that the heart lung area is about 8 inches in circumference. This is the best area to shoot an arrow for a fast, clean kill. You may very well see the deer go down within sight with this shot selection. Most fall within 40 yards. A liver shot will put the deer down but not as quickly as the heart-lung shot will.

With a shot in the heart lung area the recommended waiting time is 30 minutes. This will give the animal time to bleed out. It also gives you, the bowhunter, time to calm your nerves. This is very important for you because you can reflect on just what happened and what you now have to do. With a liver shot the recommended waiting time is 1 hour. The recommended waiting time before pursuing a paunch or gut shot deer is 6 to 8 hours or overnight if possible.

REMEMBER THE KILL SPOT

One of the most common reasons that people miss is by forgetting about the kill spot and shooting at the whole deer. Regardless of whether you learned to shoot your bow at a target range or behind the house, all archers are aiming at a target. If you keep the kill spot always in mind when you see a deer, it will help you focus on when and where to take your shot. Aim at the smallest spot you can see, a hair if you can. This will minimise the chances of aiming at too big a target and missing the whole animal.

With all this taken into consideration you should be able to make your decision as to where you, as an ethical bowhunter, set your maximum distance for bowhunting and stick to it.

The animal you hunt is too important a resource to attempt a shot at if it has a good possibility of only wounding that animal. Its better not to shoot than to take a shot that you are not confident will put the animal down.

Wait!!! The ethical shot may just present itself if you wait for it.

Wait!!! The recommended time before pursuing the game animal.
Check your equipment, be prepared and hunt safe.

Good hunting.

Ricky Comeau

An archer wants to see how far away from the target he can get and still hit it.

A bowhunter wants to see how close he can get to his target before he shoots.
Dr. Mark Timney