2021 Rokslide Cold Bow Challenge

[wadestew]

Here we go...

MER - 40 yds
Shooting a Broadhead for this challenge.

Bow - Mathews Atlas, 70#, 31” draw length
Sight - Black gold pro 4” dovetail 3-pin
Rest - Hamskea Trinity
Stab - Crossrover telescoping 12-33”
Release - Cobra harvester 3 finger, thumb



Arrows - Sirius archery 250 spine 30.75”
Components- 60 gn outsert, 100 gn Day Six Evo broadhead
Fletch - 3 fletch 2.7” AAE Max Stealth 2 degree offset left
Total weight - 525 gn



Day 1: 5-7 mph wind right to left, sunny and bright.



Day 2:
Minimal wind toward me. Sunny and bright.


Day 3:
Minimal wind. Sunny, in the shade.



Day 4:
Slight wind left to right. Sunny, in the shade. That’s why we do this, rushed the shot.


Day 5:
No wind. Sunny, shade. And that’s a wrap!

 

[jte5013]

Thanks for creating and hosting this challenge. This is my first year participating and it's a great format.

I'm using a Jennings Buckmaster set at 55lb. And um, that's about all the specs I really know. Most things I have were given to me by my dad 15 years ago when he got out of archery and I never questioned them. After reading threads here and on archerytalk over the last year, I've realized how little I know. Planning on updating my bow/arrows sometime later this spring once I find a new bow I like.

Edit: Forgot to mention initially, but I'm using Iron Will Wide 125s on Easton Arrows with a 400 spine

For my MER, I'm going with 30 yards. I tried moving it back a little in the weeks leading up, but wasn't happy with how it was going. Target species is whitetail so my target zone is in or inside the black area near the center of my target.



Day 1: Calm conditions and overcast and around 50 deg. Shot felt good and my little helper confirmed that for me



Day 2: Evening shot this time, but just about the same conditions. Overcast, 55 and no breeze. Settled on target fast and didn't go through all my mental checks, but still had a good shot



Day 3: Another evening shot, this time sunny and 65. 10mph intermittent wind from right to left. I'll blame my shot on the wind, but I think I shot when it died down so it was probably just me. Just on the edge of my target zone.



Day 4: Evening, 65, overcast with slight wind in my face. Probably clipped top of lungs? Again, just on the outside of my target zone.


Day 5: Evening, 45 and no wind. Felt this one dropping as soon as I let go. Hopefully this is just a clean miss low.

That wraps it up for me. After a promising first 2 shots, I missed high, low and left. Maybe I'll try to miss right tomorrow to cover everything. But this was a great exercise, and I'll probably try this again later in the year after some more practice.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I’ll update with more info tonight but this is my first arrow fired since September when I Shot my bull!

 

[Jbxl20]

Sunny 55* and a little windy
My shot. 40 yards.
2011 Bowtech invasion CPX 70#
Custom strings (717strings)
Spot Hogg fast eddie 3 pin
Rip cord code red rest
29” draw
28” Easton axis match grade 300 50 grain brass insert 100grain field point, 4 fletch Q2i vanes ~498 grains

Shooting a bedded whitetail behind some brush.

Day2. Consistent to the right
Day3 .sunny 60* Tried to bring it left into the vitals.
Day4. Sunny and 70. Same spot at day 1,2
Day5. cool morning shot 7:30am here in the PA woods. Finished up with a nice spine shot

 

[HeadnWest]

MER - 50 Yards
Bowtech SR6 - 70 lbs. 27 1/2 inch draw
Gold Tip Hunter XT - 300 Spine - 480 Gr.
Slick Trick 125 , 50 Gr Insert
4 fletch AAE Max Stealth Vanes
Vital area is anywhere on the white circle and in. Its about 5 1/2 inches across. That will make a nice target for whitetails, which is the only big game I will be hunting this year.

Day 1
Sunny 55 Degreess with a 10 mph crosswind

Only 2 inches from center, very happy for my first day!



Day 2
Overcast slight breeze - 1 1/2 inches from center



Day 3 Colder and had a decent tail wind
Still only ended up 2 inches from center


Day 4 - Sunny about 55 degrees with a little breeze left to right. I ended up about 1 inch from center.


Day 5 - 60 Degrees, slight breeze - 3 1/2 inches from center, not bad, but just outside of my vital zone.

 

[NICKJ]

40 yards
Pulled left and high

30.5” draw. 62#
Elite synergy
Easton axis 5mm
3 blazers

day 2
Slight right felt good. Must not of had bubble level

Day 3
10-12 mph wind gusts. Tried to shoot between gust but had to hold a full draw for 30 seconds. Couple inches low but dead center

Day 4
Flat calm

Day 5
Calm. Dropped my arm on the release

 

[JBahr]

MER 65 Yards with an Iron Will S125 (shhhh don't tell the neighbors I'm shooting across the street into my garage!) 50 yards last year seemed a little easy last year so I'm stepping out of the back yard and shooting before anyone is driving around the neighborhood.

Bow: Mathews VXR 31.5 (77# 29.5")
Spot Hog Sight
Mathews QAD Rest
Doinker and Mathews Stabilizers
Gas Strings
Nock2it release
VAP .166 Elite 250 Arrows (30" with 4 AAE Max Stealth Vanes and Wrap, 25gr Iron Will Collar and 25gr Iron Will Deep Six insert, S125gr Iron Will Broadhead, 525gr total arrow weight moving at 270fps)

Shot #1 Money!!! 32F sunny, snow covered ground, no wind. The contrast of the sunny snow and dark garage really messed with me when I first drew back. It helped me to concentrate of my fist shot of 2021! Super happy with the results!


After a quick break to chase turkeys (unsuccessfully... ) Day 2. Sunny, Snowy again shooting into a dark garage. Afternoon today (while everyone is at work). Direct sunlight on the pin housing caused super bright pins, combined with the dark garage resulted in some blowout. I dropped my bow arm trying to see the shot and hit low left.
Day 3 My consistency sucks, still in the inside of the plate, just hoping for better grouping. Shot early this morning. 40F no wind.

Day 4 with a little too much time between shots... Early, stiff left to right breeze, shot felt good.
Day 5, Raining out there this morning... Really got in my head and I feel like my pin float was everywhere! Pulled the shot while sweeping across the plate. Should have let down. I think I need to keep this practice going in some more difficult conditions to get the brain trained!

 

[Wyatt.Carter]

MER: 60 yards
Mathews Halon 6 @70lbs and 29”
Easton axis 300 with 50gr up front
Shooting SEVR 2.1ti 100gr.

Anything in the big yellow circle (8”) is considered a kill.

Day 1
Wind from right-> left @ 5mph 40 degrees




Day 2:
Sunny with no wind. 55degrees

Felt super solid today.. all the spring yard work must be paying off


Day 3: Wind to my back at 10-15mph .. thought I missed this one but barely made it in.



Day 4: NOOO! Wind from right to left at about 8mph had me dancing on the target. No good for today.

Day 5: overcast and cold this morning. Did not feel steady and the arrow shows it ...
Thanks to Rokslide for putting on the CBC. Great way to get back in the saddle and start shooting some arrows.

 

[Deerfield]

MER: 50 yards
Killzone: Aiming for the X but calling the target insert acceptable for now.



Bow:
Hoyt Ventum 33 70# 28.5 draw
Black Gold 3 pin slider
QAD HDX rest
Beestinger 12inch stabilizer

Arrow Setup:
5mm Easton Axis 300 Match Grade 28”
50 grain HIT insert
125 gr field point
3 fletch AEE Max Stealth + wrap
Lumenok
TAW - ~520gr


Day 1-15 mph cross wind left to right. 55 Degrees
Didn’t hold quite enough for wind but not a terrible start.

Day 2-61 degrees, slight breeze quartering from my back left to right. Phone says 4 mph. Shot broke great, arrow flight looked perfect and I’m happy with the results. It’s hard not to keep shooting after one arrow when things are going well.


Day 3-61 degrees, no wind, sun in my eyes. Slipped it in there but shot didn’t feel good. I’m starting to feel the CBC nerves.


Day 4- 72 degrees, overcast, 10mph crosswind right to left. Had a nice wind gust right after I drew. Held till it passed and released. I’ll take it.


Day 5-Decided to shoot day 5 before work this morning. Spent the afternoon yesterday shoveling stone so shooting this morning was a bit of a struggle. Temp was 54 degrees, no wind, cloudy.

 

[TheCougar]

This year my MER is 70 yards. I haven’t been shooting much at all, as I am unmotivated without an elk tag and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to hunt anyways with my impending retirement and starting a new job this fall.

Update - apparently I can’t follow Simone directions, so here is my Vital size! I’m using a little white piece of paper so I can see the center of mass a bit better. I’m using the “vital zone” that you can see on the target, EXCEPT I am counting hits above the white tag, but on the brown foam, since my tag is a little higher than the foam target center of mass due to grass obstructing the bottom of the target.

Equipment:
Mathews VXR 31.5 w/ 75# mods but pulling 70# due to crappy factory strings. Buckslayer stings are in the mail and hopefully that will help the peep alignment and stretched factory strings. BeeStinger stabilizer, Black Gold Sight, Wise Guy Release.

Arrow: BEA Spartan 300s with AAE Max Stealth Vanes, 30gr insert weight, and SEVR 1.5 broadhead - total arrow weight is 482gr. Speed was 282 last season; it’s down a bit due to string stretch and I’m guessing it’s probably closer to 278 now (had to use 73 yard tick for 70 yard shots).

Day 1: no wind, warm. Shot was unremarkable and fell within my “pin float” window, so I can’t say if I pulled it or not.

Day 2: wind blowing left to right and I didn’t correct for it. Or perhaps I just shanked it, but the release felt good. This would count on an elk, but that’s a gut shot deer right there and counts as a MISS.

Day 3: variable winds with small gusts. Felt like a clean release and in the kill zone, but just barely.

Day 4: Pretty strong and gusty winds blowing from left to right. This was probably my best shot so far. Still hit to the right, but I corrected for it and waited for a lull in the wind. The arrow hit almost exactly where the Day 1 shot hit.

Day 5: light and variable winds. This was the best release of the 5. I think I’m sending the other arrows to the right with some trigger punching or just general ineptitude.

Overall my shooting was pretty average. I surrounded my aim point, but never really got any closer than the edge of my vital area. So I guess I picked a good MER, since 4 of the 5 arrows were in the kill zone, but right on the edge. The takeaway is that I probably shouldn’t be shooting a buck at 70 yards, on the side of a mountain, in the wind, when I’m tired and have buck fever...

On another note, these SEVRs are pretty damn indestructible. I’ve carried one in my quiver the last two years, but I always end up pulling out the fixed blade when it’s go time. If I get to hunt this year, I think the SEVR is getting the nod.

 

[Cant hit em]

PSE Mach 1 #62
Qad hdx
MBG ascent verdict 5-pin
Tight spot
Axis 340 + 50grn hit
aae hybrid 26 vanes @465 grn
100grn Slick trick
50 yd MER
Day 1:
Wind was 6-8 in my face and to my left a bit and 73*

Day 2: 84*, wind 8-9 mph to my left.

day 3: this shot felt the best of the 3 so far , the pin settled and held well on the plate despite the 13mph crosswind right to left @ 84*

Day 4: 16mph wind right to left @72* . Held on the right edge of the plate shots are feeling good

Day 5: wind right to left 13 mph @76* rushed shot felt like a horrible release

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[3pointer]

2021 cold bow challenge, scooted my MER up to a realistic 55 yds, vital size 7-8 inches representing deer vital, working on splitting pins !!! That’s my struggle,
Shooting the same rig as last year , Hoyt Nitrum turbo at 72 lbs ,Scott little goose release! My setup is getting outdated but I’m shooting it well, QAD ultra rest , spot hog 7 deadly pins , 6in trophy ridge stabilizer , custom strings , Easton Axis Match grade 330 spine, 50 grain brass insert , blazer veins and a 125 gr slick trick viper trick , coming in at 495 gr total, turbo cam pushing this arrow about 290 fps! Let’s go!!!!Day 1-
Pretty warm north wind about 15-18 mph at my back quartering across right to left , tough conditions for day one ! Wasn’t expecting a great shot , had to hold for a long time , almost let down and try again later but settled in during a break in the gusts and pulled through and a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while , ended up right in the pump house ! Good start , hope everyone is having fun with this, good luck everyone.day 2- hot weather about 88 degrees out, 5-10 mph tail wind, tired today ,long day at work, figured fatigue would be realistic, not stoked with the shot , punched the trigger, which as usual results in high shot ,need to work on my follow through , no excuses, shaaaank!!!!Day 3-beautiful conditions this morning, shooting before work fresh, little lower light but dead calm , felt good when the shot broke, yea baby !!! Quick track job!!!Day 4- 5mph cross wind right to left , shot execution felt terrible, complete shank, don’t want to talk about it , cmon mannn!!!! Geez , hope I can end with a good oneDay 5- stiff 10-15 tail wind , less than perfect conditions, I couldn’t wait to finish, but happy with the results , I’d say I was 3/5 , definitely still work to do, till next CBC,

 

[huntnfolk]

Thanks for holding the CBC again. Was disappointed in last year's performance, but it made me practice more before season which led to a successful shot on a bull during season. So far this year I've shot 6-8 times in my backyard where I can only get 20 yds. Only got out to shoot longer distances a couple times before today so we'll see what the five challenge days present.

Gear: Bowtech SR6 at 73 lbs., MBG 5 pin adjustable sight, trigger release, QAD drop away, Black Eagle arrows with Shuttle T broadhead.

MER: 50 yds. Cut out the inner part of a plate to give me about an 8 1/2" zone on the inside of the ring.

Day 1: Got my shot in after mowing an acre or so at my dad's. Upper 70's degrees light breeze. Felt a little shaky and couldn't settle my pin as well as I would like. Pulled high and right just nicking the inside edge of my ring.


Day 2: Chilly 38 degree morning compared to the upper 70's yesterday. Should have put on a couple layers as I was feeling a little shaky in the cold. Release felt good. Height was on the money, but I pulled it right 4" and cut my ring in two.



Day 3: Beautiful sunny day in the mid 80's and calm wind when I took the shot. Got lazy on the follow through and caught myself starting to drop the bow to see where the arrow went instead of looking through my pins. Shot ended up about 1.5" lower than I wanted, but left and right was good. Wishing it was day 5 so I could start shooting more than one arrow a day!


Day 4: Early morning shot today with calm wind. Around 42 degrees. Clear sunny morning that lit up the target and pins really nice. Pin didn't settle as much as I wanted, but release felt good. I thought this shot was going to be a little high , but height was on the money. About 2 inches to the right, but well within the kill zone though.


Day 5: Evening shot with temp. in the low 70's. Weather has been great for the challenge. I was excited to finish the last shot of the challenge and rushed the shot a little. High left, but still inside my kill zone.


Finished up the challenge. Shots weren't quite as good as I had hoped, but were inside or right on the line of my kill zone. Still time to tighten things up before opening day in September.

Thanks Again Robby and Rokslide crew for putting on the challenge!

 

[Pezboat]

CBC Day 1. Beautiful day. 60 degrees. Sunny. Wind out of the NW at 9 mph.
New bow for the challenge this year. Mathews VXR 28. 70 lb draw at 28”. Shooting Easton Axis field tips only. Decided to up my MER to 50 yards this year.


Was a little distracted today as my 5 year old was a bit antsy. Had to pee. And then throw rocks in a pond.


Day 2. Overcast with a NW wind at 10 mph. Shot felt good.



Day 3. Chilly out today. NW wind at 14 mph. Slight snow. 36 degrees. The shot felt good. Not a terrible result, but I was expecting better.


Day 4. Chilly again at 35 degrees. Light snow. Wind out of the NW at 11 mph. My sight was loose this year. Tightened everything up and shot at 20. Everything seemed fine, but I’m missing left. When I miss, I miss right. Starting to think I need to re-sight in out to 50 and beyond.



Day 5. Last day. Wanted to put at least one in the orange. 66 degrees. South wind at 14 mph.

 

[pattimusprime22]

Shooting a Hoyt Nitrux at 70lbs with a 27.5" drawlength, 12" stabilizer (don't remember brand), tightspot 5 arrow quiver with 4 in it for shot, black gold pro 5 pin, Hamskea hybrid hunter pro. Arrows are Easton Axis match 5mm 300 spine with 16gr HIT inserts and 100gr Sevr 1.5 mechanical broadhead. Total arrow weight of 436gr. Release is a silverback tension release.


Target animal is blacktail, so my target size is ~6" which is inside the red for these targets. I'm optimistically setting my MER to 50 yards, but I'll probably regret that as this challenge goes on. Shooting with a marsupial gear bino pack and a light daypack with tripod and spotter in it on.



First shot on 4/17:
Conditions were 62F with maybe a 1-3mph breeze from left to right. I think I got lucky.


Second shot on 4/18:
Barely any wind. Dropped the shot about an inch outside of my vital area. Another guy shot next to me so his arrow is the one to the left. Added pressure to perform with someone watching though. Clearly I wasn't up to it.


Third shot on 4/19:
Wind was gusting from left to right and picked up slightly when I drew back. Probably should've let down but shot anyways and ended up missing right by about an 1 inch. In the moment I didn't even bubble off or aim off to account for it.


Fourth shot on 4/20:
Swing and a miss. Slight wind left to right again. Clearly didn't learn my lesson from yesterday. 1.5" out to the right of the vitals. At this rate I'm gonna need to get into arms length of the deer...


Fifth and final shot on 4/21:
Redemption on the last day. Today was actually the windiest of all 5 days with steady left to right wind of 10mph with higher gusts. I bubbled into the wind and shot broke clean. I was pleasantly surprised to see where it landed.


Final thoughts:
My first time in the CBC and it was humbling. Finished 2/5 with some disappointing misses that likely wouldn't have happened on a typical range shooting day. Funny how much pressure knowing that I'd have to post my shots online added. Clearly my initial MER of 50 yards is too far for blacktail's 6" vitals. My 3 misses were around 4" - 4.5" from center so 50 would've worked for bigger targets. Thanks to Robbie and Travis for holding this challenge. It's good to get knocked off your high horse from time to time.

 

[whitetail88arch]

First year doing the CBC excited to see how this goes. I’ll be shooting my compound and recurve.

Compound- Hoyt Carbon Defiant Turbo w/DFX cams
75lbs 29.75” draw 520 grain .280 4mm FMJ Injexion
100 grain D6 iron will wides 4 fetch aae Max stealth
50 yards for elk in MY. It was 50° just got done raining and I definitely dropped my arm.

Recurve- 19” Tbow til I can find a much better grip for my Satori. Samick Discovery R3 50# Longs drawing 54 lbs 30” draw. Shooting 5mm .340 axis 75 grain brass hits 35 grain ethics footers. 125 grain magnus Stingers hope I can find something better by season. Also I have 4 fletch aae trad vanes 4” but I will be going to 3” by season. My MEF is 20 yards with my recurve. First shot was just money!

Day 2

It’s a beautiful day here in Missouri in the 60s sunny and a slight drizzle about 3 different times but suns out now and had two shots I’m happy with. Both would have resulted in dead animals.

Day 3

I shot these yesterday and forgot to upload them when I got inside. It’s been a real doosy trying to remember with it being opening week of turkey season here in MO. I was successful though on Tuesday. My compound shot felt good I knew it was a little left. I’m still battling a lil TP when this is over I’m going to be doing some blank baking and shooting with a BT release. And as for the recurve I need to get a clicker almost always my misses are high or low and I will blame them on my inconsistency in my draw length. It felt alright but just is lower than I’d like.

Day 4

I’m getting pretty bad at posting this the day I actually shot. I shot these yesterday evening.Felt dang good on the compound and the recurve. I’m actually ready for this to be over lol I really want to actually shoot a lot. So far I am happy with my results. Planning on shooting my last one today.

Day 5

Well it was windy and raining I moved the target up on the mulch for mowing purposes. The iron will wide felt great outta the compound. But that magnus stinger is still stuck in the tree. Big wiff I’m not sure what I even did wrong there but it did not feel good. And looked even worse. I’m ready to fully shoot my bow for a whole evening now! This was a really cool thing to do. Thanks for putting it on!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jasonwidaho]

First day: Haven’t shot all winter so was surprised it wasn’t half bad. Shooting a Hoyt carbon spyder, Easton ACC super lite arrows (anyone know of a similar arrow. I need more and they discontinued these) and slick trick viper broadheads. My MER is 70 yds.

This is my setup



First Day: it was a perfect conditions no wind sunny and unusually warm for April.

Second day: No wind slightly overcast shot felt great but looks like after the challenge I may need to adjust a bit shooting high but could just be dusting off the cobwebs still.


Third day: slight breeze and slightly drizzling. Without making any adjustments for some reason my shot dropped to center of target


Fourth day: No wind and overcast


Fifth day: sunny with a slight breeze

 

[cojoehunter]

This is truly a Cold Bow Challenge since I haven't picked my bow up yet this year! I am fairly confident with my setup so I am stretching my MER this year to 55 yards which is about 15 yards longer than last year. I shoot a Hoyt V-tec set at 65 lbs. I have a Trophy Ridge 5 pin sight, QAD HDX drop-away rest, Tru-Fire caliper release and a G5 Head-loc 6 arrow quiver. No idea what that stabilizer is - need to upgrade that... I shoot Carbon Express Mayhem Hunter 350 arrows with 100 grain Gravedigger broadheads and Nockturnal nocks. My target is a homemade block built with directions from Corey Jacobsen from Elk 101 on one of his Youtube videos.





Day 1: Calm and 32 degrees. First shot was not bad - a little too far forward.

Day 2: Sunny and about 38 degrees. Gusty breeze coming out of the north at about 20 mph. Still hitting to the right a bit - dreaded shoulder blade!



Day 3 - Cold! 15 degrees and a couple inches of snow. Calm and Sunny. Got a decent group going!



Day 4 - Calm and 45 degrees. Tweaked my sight a little left. Looks like I need to go a little more...



Day 5 (already?) - Clear, calm, beautifully sunny and 48 degrees. Still a little to the right and high but overall I am really happy with this group. I love this setup but I did notice that my arrow has a little wiggle to it about halfway to the target so I will have to figure that out this year. I also noticed that my backyard has a lot of dog poop in it - looks like I got a job for the kids this afternoon!!!

Love this challenge! Thanks for motivating us to get out and have a little fun at this type of year.



Thanks again!!!

 

[D_Eightch]

I chose 60 yards for my MER. I will just be sending field points down range as I haven't settled on a broadhead this year.

Shooting an Elite Option 6 at 80# with Black Eagle rampage coming in at 554 grains.

Quarry this year will be Whitetail, Mulies and Elk. Chose an 8" target for the challenge.

Day 1
slight gusts today, overall pretty good conditions.

Day 2: Swing and a miss.

Cooler about the same winds from the west (my back - few mph gusts.)

Guess this shows I need more coffee before my first shot


Day 3
Not a shot I would have taken. The location I am shooting is a wide open field. 15mph steady winds with gusts today. Surprised I even hit the target to be honest..blown all over the place.


Day 4
Beautiful crisp morning with Turkeys gobbling behind me. No noticeable wind. Stopped at the range after the gym on my way to work instead of waiting until afternoon. Release felt good, the theme seems to be holding true that I need an adjustment to the right.




Day 5
Another beautiful crisp morning with no wind to speak of. Knew I was low as soon as I released. Held a touch right due to past poi.




Love the challenge. I knew 60 would push me, I feel slightly less confident than before starting the challenge. The one windy day was no suprise. Thankfully there is plenty of time to really dial in and get a broahhead selected! Good luck to everybody on their hunts this year!

 

[snik]

For the cold bow challenge I’ll be shooting 60 yards. I’ll be shooting a Matthews Vertix with Easton 5mm Axis Arrows with a field tip. The target area is 6” (inside the white middle circle)

Day 1:



Day 2