2023 Cold Bow Challenge

[MuleyFever]

50 yards
Bow is a Hoyt Defiant Turbo
Slick Trick broadheads on Goldtip arrows
Black Gold sight of some kind
Stabilizer of some kind
Trophy Taker rest


Day 1
Calm



Somehow I deleted day 2. Crap

Day 3 is now day 2 I guess.
Slight swirling wind.


Day 3
Swirling wind


Day 4
Slight breeze


Day 5
Gusty wind from the left

 

[WBrim]

65 yards MER
Shooting a Mathews V3X 33
Black gold 5 pin
Hamskea HHP
8” trophy ridge stab
The Stalk Archery Arrows with Annihilator 100g right about 500g total
Vitals are pretty clear, as lined out in target. (I initially figured I’d use the removable insert, but there are actual vitals shown. I primarily hunt elk, so vitals would be more similar to the removable section)

Day 1
Mild wind left to right
View attachment 548285

Well, day 2 is a bit painful. Clean miss to the right. I guess it’s a good thing this buck is not alive.


Day 3. Still plenty of room for improvement, but better than the previous. Absolutely still air, right about dusk.

Day 4
Medium wind blowing to me, and to the left.
Day 5
Wind was ripping hard right to left. Rain was staring to get heavy. Certainly not a wide shot. I don’t think I’ve held full draw this long before trying not to be pushed around by the wind.

 

[F3RubiconBallistic]

60 mer
Nexus 2 @ 70#, Spot Hogg Fast Eddie double pin, Hameska Trinity Pro Rest
Scott Legacy release
Bass Pro X1 w/ 125g DaySix Evo BH, Nocturnal, 3 fletch Blazer, taw @ 551g

White is my aim point (6” square) for my Matrix target..

Day 1: Low Left, but still in deer kill zone. Better shot tomorrow. Wind 3-4 mph left to right


Day 2: No wind. Low again. Same arrow. I am thinking my sight tape a bit off. Will adjust a smidge tomorrow. This is at the very outter limits of a kill zone, so a marginal shot at best.



Day 3: Sight to 61. Improved, will try 62 tomorrow. At least it is consistent. Today was first time hitting my target area, and definitely “in the kill zone”. Overcast, slight wind. Same arrow.



Day 4: Adjusted to 63y, and almost an identical placement as yesterday (note: now we know for sure it’s not the bow, I gotta figure this out!) … same arrow. Cool but calm.


Day 5: Cool, light breeze. I pinched this one, but height is close to where it should be. I was dialed to 63. Not in my “target” spot, and depending on the animal, either back lung or gut shot. Not the way to end, but good feedback loop … I need more practice!

 

[Brado16]

60 Yard MER
New Bow and slapped everything together the last few days to do the challenge again this year.

Hoyt RX7 Ultra 30”/75#
Victory Rip TKO
IW 75 gr HITs
IW 25 gr Collar
IW Solid 100 Grain Heads
3 Max Hunter Vanes
Beiter Hunter Nocks
6” Wraps
512 gr at 290 PFS
UltraView Button
Spot Hogg Tripple Stack Pic Mount Fast Eddie
8” Hoyt Backbar
Hoyt 6” Arrow Quiver

Vitals are the 8” center mod on Matrix Target

Day 1: Light drizzle- no wind

Day 2: Another Spring Snowstorm in WI and Gusty winds Right to Left

Day 3: Damp and Windy- “Fun” Day dealing with employees, mind was truly elsewhere, don’t even remember going through shot process- results in a “High Hit” and potentially lost animal.

Day 4: 10-15 MPH R to L cross wind.

Day 5: No Wind

Still have some tuning to do and sight tape needs some tweaking. Not too bad for slapping together a new bow few days before the challenge and not shooting for 6 months. Will get lots of practice in between now and August and then do this again on my own at 75 yards in different shooting positions to determine my max range for moose this fall in AK.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Thejet]

Compound MER 80
Mathews phase4 33.
VAP TKO 300 V1
Blazer vanes
95gr outsert
125gr daysix broadhead.

Recurve MER 20yards
Hoyt satori
Black eagle instinct
100gr out front
125gr daysix breadhead.

Vitals would be 8-9” square around center dot.



Day #1. Zero wind, slapped the **** out of my arm with the recurve.day 2, zero wind.
Day 3, zero wind. Happy with the compound so far, recurve not so much.

Day 4, 10mph wind right to left.
Day #5, zero wind.

 

[cody21peterson]

Back in for another cold bow challenge!
My setup for this year

Mathews V3 31. 28 inch draw. 75 lbs.
The soon to be illegal Garmin Xero A1i pro
Hamskea hybrid hunter rest
Stokerized stabilizer
Nock2It release
Easton FMJ match grade 300 spine with AAE max stealth fletchings. Nockturnal lighted nock. Sevr 1.5 broadhead 100 grain. Total arrow weight right around 507. Shooting 274 fps.

Haven’t been shooting as much as I’d like. Last year I set my distance at 75 yards. This year I will be shooting 70 yards. Shooting at a mini elk target. Vitals measure about 10”x7”.

Shot #1

Hit low and a few inches right. A little breezy. Felt a little shaky on the shot.

Shot #2

Missed the vitals a few inches low. Shot felt pretty solid. That leg has some hard plastic and my nock broke as you can see in the photo.

Shot #3

Snuck it in the back of the vitals.

Shot #4

Definitely my best shot yet. Release felt great. Calm, no wind.

Shot #5

Happy to finish with a good arrow. Now I hope I can draw some tags!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk my

 

[PvilleMac]

Im shooting at 30 yards. My quarry will be mule deer/ blacktails.

Im currently rocking a top-of-the-line samick sage with 45lb longbow limbs. Arrows are about 480gr all together; field tips.



Day 1: about 70 degrees with no wind. This one is pretty high. I like to try and stay within the red rings (6 inches)


Day 2: 64 degrees, slight breeze but nothing to account for.


Day 3: It’s been raining where im at so I took a couple days off in between. 58 degrees, decent headwind(no doubt woulda center punched it without wind, lol)


Day 4: pretty warm today, no wind. I swear its a different shot than day 2


Day 5: And we’re finishing strong with a shot pulled way left.

 

[HeadnWest]

MER -50 yards
Target- small 12X12 target. Just trying to keep it inside the target
Bow - Xpedition X33, 70lbs. 27.5 draw
Arrow - 460 gr. Black Eagle Spartan
Broadhead- Iron Will Solid 125

First day - Cool 45 degrees, breezy
Shot felt good, just a few inches off of center.

2nd Day - 70 and sunny, a light breeze. Shot felt good, just 3 inches off of center

Day 3 -sunny and 70 with a slight breeze. Shot felt good. 1.5 inches from center.

Day 4, 68 cloudy with a slight breeze. Shot felt great. 1.5 inches from center.

Day 5, 75 sunny with a little breeze. Shot felt great 2.5 from center.


All in all this is the best I’ve shot in the cold bow challenges over the last several years. Spending some time with Joel Turner really helped my mental game. I felt very confident in every shot I took.

 

[Sea Wolf]

MER 50 yards. Really it's 45 but in the spirit of the event, I'm pushing it out to 50. I primarily hunt blacktail deer and pig until I draw tags for other species.

I prematurely started Saturday morning, opening day of cbc23. I hadn't sighted in the bow after some tuning days before, so I took Sunday morning to sight in again and I restarted the challenge Monday morning.
I'm taking my cold shot first thing in the morning each day this week before I leave the house to go to work, so anywhere from 5:45am to 6:15am. Right around shooting time.



PSE EVO EVL 70# 29.5" draw
Axcel landslyde sight
QAD rest
Bee Stinger mixrohex 10"


5mm axis, 300 spine
Aluminum HIT inserts
Ethics collar
100 grain SEVR 1.7, also will be shooting 2.0 during the challenge.
4 bohning heat vanes
4 inch wrap.

That's the 50yrd shot, over at the tree line. The big green target in the center of the block is the kill zone.

1st shot 6:08am 5/1. Overcast, calm breeze left to right.

Felt like I pulled it left. Result verified that I did

2nd shot 6:05am 5/2. Almost raining, heavy coastal mist, no wind.

The pin felt bouncy this morning. Maybe from the excitement of getting to shoot my one arrow today.

3rd shot 6:07am 5/3. Wet and high clouds, low light.

I pulled the bow back this morning and it just felt good! Let her go and she hit behind the pin.

4th shot 6:07am 5/4. Calm, wet morning. Heavier cloud cover, lower light

I didn't feel as settled as I should've and I went "open loop". Consistent misses high left.

5th shot 5:58am. Calm, wet, no wind.

I really took my time to get real set and mentally walk through my shot process and good follow through. Good result.

I'm happy to have participated in the challenge this year. I'm also happy that I'm finished so that I can shoot my bow as much as I want again.

 

[Randle]

Here we go .
Vitals on a whitetail
MER 55 YARD bracket the vitals with the 50 -60 pins
Ross 34 63 lbs
Cabelas stalker extreme 400
425 grains
100 gr shuttlle Ts
Black gold sight
Trophy taker rest
Calm, sunny 64 degrees
Cow and calf moose on the loose somewhere on the property. Adds a little excitement


Day 2
Retired the ratty buck target
That was a mistake .
Shot 1 and walk away Randy
Sunny ,84 degrees slight breeze
I can see the shot was good

Day 3
Shot went off as a suprise and felt right. I seem to be hitting alittle left though


Day 4
Temp 70 something and gusty
I seem to have the bracketing down, but off to the left , will some adjustment after last arrow


Day 5 and Done
81 and calm
Muggy after the rain and thunder/lightening storm last night
Shot was on target but I lost focus and blew that one

 

[PurpleDriver]

1st ever CBC here! Always too late to the game…

Really hope I can keep this up. Just got cleared by the surgeon last month to shoot archery again after the arrow failure in Dec. had to drop from 75# to 60#. Quite painful to shoot at 75#.

MER 50yds
Vital is between the small solid dots (8” square)

Mathews VXR28, 28.5”DL set at 60#
-Apex Covert 4 pin slider
-Frankenstabilizer - 5” Limbsaver with Tactacam bow mount on front
-NAP ultrarest HDX
-Factory 6 arrow quiver
-Arrow: Easton FMJ 400, Blazer vanes, aluminum insert, 429gr, 10% FOC
-Slick Trick Vipertrick 100
-Scott Silverback Release

Day 1: (light wind from left)

Day 2: zero wind, bright and sunny
shot from an angle relative to target to stay in shade.

Day 3: slight wind from right. Rushed the shot, nothing felt good about it. My zone was between the solid dots, so this is a miss.

Day 4: Steady wind from right. Flinched at the release. Not a good trend here…miss.

Day 5: Thought the shot was good, but obviously not. Miss. Wind gusting right to left about 10kts. Barely clipped the 12” block. Good news was slick trick BH head up without issue after hitting the stump on the left and taking a 1” sq chunk out of it.


great challenge and awesome experience @robbydenning. Too bad I only went 40% and trended worse each day…

Thank you to @robby denning and all of the Rokslide staff and donors for putting this together. What a great challenge that can involve all ages in the same contest. Shout out to @TheCougar for getting your son involved. That led to me asking my kids if they wanted to participate and my youngest took me up on that. My daughter says she is shooting next year.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Prime inline 5
80lb at 28.5”
550 grain arrow at 275fps
60 yards MER
magnus stinger 4 blade
Normal target is the kill zone, went for the aim small miss small theory, didn’t work…
15mph headwind today…that’s what I get for shooting later in the day.



Day 2…I’m starting to see a trend. Low low low…

Welp there it is…wind 10mph in my face. Not sure what happened. I need to make a sight adjustment but not sure if I keep ruining broadheads or wait until the challenge is over.

Perfect evening. No wind. Finally made a good shot.

Finished on a high note in between some weather. I didn’t adjust the sight but did aim a little high.

 

[Deerfield]

MER: 50 Yards but throwing in the additional challenge of shooting through the fence to simulate brush/cover. Have a post just in front of the vitals and a wire just above and below.

Vitals: The target insert

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

Arrow Setup:
5mm Easton Axis 300 Match Grade 28”
50 grain HIT
125 grain SEVR Broadhead
3 fletch AAE Max Stealth + Wrap
Lumenok
TAW=520 grains

Day 1-Can’t complain. Might have been mostly luck since I haven’t shot in a couple months but shot felt good. No real wind, roughly 60 degrees.



Day 2: 50 degrees, light rain, no wind. Just barely out of the kill zone.



Day 3: 43 degrees, light rain, no wind. Rushed my shot a little bit and heard the arrow zip off the wire (brush). Hit low as a result.



Day 4: That’s a little more like it. 53 degrees, 4 mph right to left wind. Shot felt great.


Day 5: Redeemed myself and pulled the tally back up to 3/5. 58 degrees, 5mph wind blowing toward the target.

 

[JG636]

Super excited to be doing this again this year. 3rd year into it. My max yardage this year will pretty much replicate what I’m able to reach out to where I whitetail hunt in Michigan in the middle of the woods; 30 yards. This year I’m using broad heads as well.

Setup is the same as last year:
Mathews 31’ V3 w/
Mathews quiver
Bee stinger 10” front stabilizer
Nose button
Spothog fast eddy XL

Arrows:
29” Easton Axis
505 grain Total weight
100 g Iron Will vented w/ bleeder
4 fletched bohning heat vanes
10g outsert
Nockturnal x nocks



Day 2
Forgot to mention that I’m actually aiming for the center dock throughout these five days. I’m also doing what bbckfh is doing and trying to get the shot off as quickly as possible, considering. I’m very pleased so far with the first two days. I want to give the credit to IW for flying like my field points. They deserve it.



Day 3
Happy with this, but a bit low and outside. I felt it break a bit early so it’s all on me.



Day 4
Although the shot isn’t as close to the center of the bull’s-eye as the shot was on day 1, this was the best feeling shot thus far. Clean, smooth break, and no wobble on the pin. And oh yeah…. The penetration on the IWs is ridiculous. If I were at 20 yards instead of 30 they'd be 3-4" in the horse stall mat as well.




Day 5
Well, that’s a wrap. The best shooting I’ve done to date. Also the easiest it’s been. Quite frankly I learned more this year than the previous two years where I tried significantly harder. Simple is better. Don’t over think it. Go with your gut.

Satisfying results get produced as a result.



Thanks for putting this on again. And sorry for the technical difficulties on my end (if you know-you know).

 

[Bighunt531]

MER 40 YARDS what I consider my effective killing distance here in MI

Bow: Hoyt Torrex XT 29 inches at 71lbs
Sight: Black Gold Widowmaker 5 pin
Rest: Hamskea Trinity
Stabilizer: Hoyt 8 inch

Arrow Setup: Easton Axis 5mm dipped white with AAE MAX white 3 fletch.
125 grain Field point
TAW: 495 Grains
Other gear used: Alaska Guide creations bino harness worn fully loaded with vortex diamondback binos and rangefinder pouch with my leupold full draw 4.

DAY ONE: Shot better than I thought I would new sight for this season , coming from an HHA optimizer lite single pin. Excited for this challenge and this upcoming season.

Was aiming for center DOT as Vitals
I suck I know, I've killed alot of deer with bow but I've missed alot too lol and some of my biggest opportunities immediately after this a massive thunderstorm hit!

DAY TWOAY TWO: Still in the killzone in my opinion, aiming for black dot again this is humbling lol I'm definetly no target archer but I kill a few animals a year with my bow. This Is actually alot of fun! 40 yard MER day two arrow two! blue skies cold and windy here in MI !

Day 3 Arrow 3: 40 yard MER michigan weather rang True today 28 degrees with windchill freezing rain turning to snow 25mph winds nasty conditions shot still wasent on the black dot but close. Loving my wiseguy release. Deer better watch out this fall. I'm having alot of fun doing this challenge. Good luck everyone.

Day 4 Arrow 4: 40 yard MER still raining and blowing , did a 3 mile hike then immediately took this shot pulled high right, my worst shot of the challenge hope to finish strong tomarrow with another one close to the bullseye.

Day 5 Last arrow ! : 40 yard MER wasent raining today finally, wind was at my back. Finished strong finally putting it where it needed to be right in the black at 40 yards. It's been fun , and now I want to keep shooting more and more so thanks for that!

 

[mtnrunner260]

50 yard MER
I've done 60 in the past but with field points.
I've done 60 before but with not shooting much and going from field points to broadheads even 50 feels like stretching it out there.
Hoyt carbon defiant at 70 with Easton axis 300 spine. 50 gr brass insert and slick trick heads.
Reusing a head I put through a cow elk several years ago.
DAY 1 set up a Ballon about the size of an elk heart.
Was low and felt weak at anchor, like I haven't been exercising my shooting muscles.
Got an Idaho A zone tag this year so perfect way to access where I'm truly at and work from there rest of summer.

DAY 2
Shot post morning job. Heart rate had mostly dropped by time I had everything ready.
Low again, think I am dropping bow arm? Or need to adjust sight. Most likely me though.
DAY 3
Snuck a shot in before heading to airport. Felt much better and thought I'd be dead center but a little low and left of dead center.
Now I have to wait until Friday evening at the earliest when I get back home.


DAY 4
Back from traveling for the week and snuck a shot in before wife and kids get home.
Been thinking about the shot all week and visualizing my form.
Seemed to help as it felt good and was my best shot so far.

DAY 5
Shot felt good and was surprised that Ballon didn't pop. About as close as I could get without hitting it I think.

TAKEAWAYS:
Need to shoot more consistently.
Finding some coaching would probably be best thing I could do.
I better be sneaky enough to get close.
And Rokslide is awesome.
Until next year.

 

[Felton]

-Bow: Hoyt helix turbo, 28” draw 70 lbs. 260fps
-Sight: spot hog fast eddie xl 2 pin
-Rest: Hamske trinity
-Stabilizer: Cross roads 821, one once weight.
-Arrows: Carbon Express destroyer piledriver 350, aae max stealth fletchings, 525 total weight.
-Broadhead: German jager 125gr + 75 gr inserts
-MER: 60 yards slightly down hill.

This year I decided to put my pack and bino harness on while i shoot.

Below is a picture of my bow and what I’m wearing.



Day 1:
Wind was gusting… I shot in-between thunderstorms. Temp was 78 degrees and I’m sure 100% humidity. My arrow hit the soft spot and went clean through into the target behind it.


Day 2: The skies have cleared but the wind is howling, still shooting with my pack and bino harness on. I had to push the arrow back out of the target to see where it hit. My arrow was wobbling in mid air some kinda bad on this shot.


Day 3: Wind still howling temp 76 degrees high humidity. I felt really good on this shot except maybe tad low.


Day4: The wind has subsided a decent amount but still blowing 15-18 knots. The sun was starting to set but still good visibility. Again I felt really good with this shot, I seem to be a little low. I may move my pin a little for my 5th shot. Oh yeah there’s an extra hole on the left side of my paper plate, the kids were playing with the target and re hung my plate with a new hole. You can clearly see it’s not from an arrow.


Day 5: the wind has finally settled down. Temp in the mid 70s humidity felt like it was in the 60s.

 

[Ferrulewax]

Here’s my humble attempt. This upcoming season will be my second bow hunting, right now marks my one year with a bow.

Bow: Mission MXR
Equipment: Mission Ready to hunt package, (trophy ridge sight, cheap QAD rest, Apex Quiver)
Arrow “build”: Gold Tip hunter, 15 grain aluminum inserts, Sevr 125grn 1.5
MER: 40 yards
Quarry: Whitetail, 9” plate for target
Other: I’m at about a 55 pound draw weight to focus on form, no ideas on arrow speed

Day 1:
I admittedly haven’t done a ton of practice leading up, and I’m not super confident in the placement of my 40 yard pin (I self limited to 30 last season) but I hit about where I expected to. Upon the release I figured it would it would be about 5” low. It was a rough release to im glad to have even skint the target




Day 2:
Gusty wind, but I waited until a fairly windless period at full draw, granted I’m not holding a ton of weight either. Shot felt pretty good, but I could tell it would be a bit high


Day 3, again, random gusts. I released a bit high. I got rid of the plate because it kept falling off

Day 4
Gusty again, felt good. I’m thinking I may need to do some tweaking on the pin- or on my form


Day 5, probably the first time I’ve gotten to shoot in good light (rest have been after work in the evening) again, things felt pretty good. No wind, may have rushed the shot a little. I think it’s time to get a new target.



Thats it- I still need to keep working on form and consistency. There are also some accessory upgrades I hope to do and new arrow builds/cranking up the poundage. All in all I did better than I expected, and a few shots pleasantly surprised me after what I expected to be bad releases. I’ll keep practicing, I would love to extend my MER to 50 by fall, but I have more work to do inside of 40 first.

 

[NDGuy]

50 MER
Hoyt Nitrum 30
Easton Axis 330gr
Black Gold Ascent Verdict 5 pin
Field tips
Day 1: First shot of season pretty happy with it! Was cooler and windy.


Day 2: Extremely windy, dropped my shot a bit


Day 3:
Beautiful crisp morning light wind shot felt good



Day 4: Sunny but windy as balls, shot felt great.

*Vizsla not present near target during shot*



Day 5: Beautiful sunny day, pleased with my shot. Might need to back up to 60 next year.

 

[Ownthewest]

MER- 45 yards

Vital- 12” from center of target

Bow - Hoyt Carbon Element, 70#, 29”

Arrow- 5mm FMJ, with 100 grain QAD Exodus


Day 1: left to right wind @10 mph
Pulled high left

Day 2: mild right to left wind
Still high left but getting closer


Day 3: mild head wind
missed high and blew through handle


Day 4: mild right to left wind
close to center


Day 5:
Still evening
slightly left


Conclusion:
Need to shoot more
Need to adjust site (seems to be shooting left)
Need to keep shooting during the off season