2023 Cold Bow Challenge

[gburk]

In for another year! As a lucky winner last year I figured I would let some others get in first. But I need all the practice I can get! So here goes… hopefully in under the wire.

Elite e32 70 lbs with a Garmin sight. Little bit lighter arrow setup this year, about 440gr. Field tips since all of last years broadheads are hiding in various sections of NF.

MER 60 yards, target is what’s left of the yellow circle / 6” paper plate.


Day 1 gusting wind of indeterminate direction

Day 2: pleasant

Wait, where’d it go


All good


Day 3
< no shot. Garmin battery died despite showing 3/4 capacity on the display. This sight is on notice… first sign of unreliability I’ve seen >
Day 3 pt 2
Lil bit high. I think it’s a follow through thing where the bow is getting torqued up in the air a bit upon release. Dunno.

Day 4
Ded der right der

Day 5

 

[Hank]

First year entering! Going with my recurve. Haven’t been shooting it much this last couple years, thought this would help get me going with it. Hoyt satori with Uukha ex1 limbs. 57lbs at 30”. Victory carbon trad arrows. 548 grains with a day six evo broadhead.
Shooting for moose vital section
MER 20 yards


Day 1 calm wind


Day 2 calm and sunnyDay 3 sunny and calm morningDay 4sunny with a slight breezeDay 5 sunny and calm



In conclusion I definitely need more practice with my recurve.

 

[awcopeland]

MER: 50 yards
Considering anything in the center hex a good hit.
Bow:
- Bowtech Realm SR6 @ 70lbs & 29” draw length on performance setting
Arrow set up:
- Victory VAP 300 spine 29-1/4” carbon to carbon
- Easton deep six nock
- AAE max stealth 3 fletch with right offset (2.5* I think)
- Valkyrie aluminum outsert (22gr) with their 160gr head.
- Total arrow weight is 459.7gr coming out of the bow at 288fps.
Other equipment
- Nock 2 It Release
- Hamskea Trinity Hunter
- Tight Spot 5 arrow quiver
- Black Gold 5 pin slider sight
- Cutter Stabilizers
-- 12" front bar w/ Bow Finger 10* QD mount and 3 ounces
-- 8" back bar on Bow Finger QD mount and 5 ounces



Day 1: calm, sunny, 67 degrees
Debrief: barely in. The concept of the challenge brings a lot more nerve to the shot than anticipated. I approve of this! This is with my broadheads.

Day 2: breezy. Winds 2-5 O’clock @ 6-12mph 75 degrees
Debrief: shot felt good and broke as a surprise shot. I went through my shot process but still have a bit of improvement to make.

Day 3: strong winds right to left, 65 degrees.
I did a sprint down and back to my target (50 yards each way) with my pack and bino harness on to get the heart rate and breathing up, then armed my LabRadar and shot.
Debrief: my aim was not smooth. I held at full draw to get my breathing under control a little bit better. My grip on my riser did not feel super great but I didn’t want to come down because you don’t always get that opportunity during a hunt. So, I made the best of compounding factors and continued with my shot process. Shot broke good and arrow ended up being barely inside the center hex module. I’ll be sure to keep this scenario in my training plan.

Day 4: roughly 50 degrees, winds right to left 15-20mph. Shot was uphill on uneven terrain with my pack on in between mine and my neighbor’s house (they don’t mind).
Debrief: other than shooting between houses, this is at least a likely scenario on a hunt. The shot did not feel great at the release. Roughly a foot left of intended point of aim and a few inches low. The left may be partially explained by the wind and my lack of bubbling into it. Maybe my result today is because I’ve only taken one shot each day for the last few days and I haven’t shot much since last fall (and I’ll own the responsibility on all of that), or perhaps I got cocky and didn’t completely go through my shot process. Either way, tomorrow is a new day and the winds are supposed to die down overnight.

Day 5: roughly 65 degrees. winds 15 gusting 30mph right to left. Shot was uphill with the center hex obscured by the crest of my driveway. Target was angled roughly 30 degrees from perpendicular. I used this to simulate a quartering to/away shot where the vitals are obscured by an obstacle that you know your arrow will avoid, so you have to trust where your pin needs to be.
Debrief: The arrow is not inside my kill zone and even though I haven't shot this shot or a shot like it since last August I'm okay with the result. This will be another thing to take away from this exercise.

Lessons learned, take aways, and what I can improve upon:
- 3/5 overall. Not great by any means, but not too terrible??
- I'm thankful to be able to shoot out to 50+ at my house, when I know many places have ordnances against doing such.
- I definitely need to focus on peep/sight housing alignment and acquisition as that took way too long after about day 2.
- Shooting on flat ground is easier than uneven terrain or uphill/downhill. I will work this into my summer shooting.
- Reading wind and it's effects on your arrows is a diminishing skill, as is bubbling into wind.

Thanks for putting this on and straight shooting everyone!

 

[Fryebl]

Jumping in!

I’m shooting with my husband willfrye027

This year I have a new bow. Elite remedy with 50lbs limbs, set at 40lbs draw weight. Shooting gold tip warrior arrows, 500 spine with 130gr Zwicky eskilite 130gr broadheads. Also got a new black gold 3 pin site. I killed a my first archery buck with these arrows and broad heads when we lived in Virginia. Was feeling good going into this and shooting a few arrows every day after work.



Day 1–my husband told me my bow is tuned and I had been shooting well with my field points. Decided to give the broad heads a chance. Shot felt great but arrow flight did not looks right. Barely clipped the vitals on this shot. I have been shooting a lot at 40 yards and felt confident but not so much now.





Day 2
I was not feeling confident and punched my release on this one.





Day 3–just caught the vitals on this one.

Day 4–did not focus on my follow through and dropped my bow arm. Also not confident that my arrow is well tuned with the broadheads. The arrow flight does not seem right.



Day 5–very windy tonight and I punched the trigger again. Poor deer shot him in the leg

This year did not work out as well as I hoped. I was shooting really well with my field tips at 40 yards before the challenge and felt like 30 yards would be easy. I’m not sure if it was the nerves of only shooting one arrow a day, or possibly “trusting” my husband had tuned my bow well, but this was a humbling experience. I definitely has a lot to work on before my archery hunts in august and September.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

MER: 65 yds
Target 2023: Elk vitals, shooting field points
PSE Levitate: 30.5" draw, 69#
Black Eagle X-Impact: 250spine, .001, 590gr, 270fps
Black Gold Verdict Ascent sight: 2 pin horizontal slider (took one pin out of a 3 pin)
- LOVE the 2 pin horizontal (tried 5 pin horizontal and 2 pin vertical and this is by far my favorite). Top pin 30yd / Bottom pin 40yd.
Release: Carter Like Mike 2

Winter indoor (2-20yd) indoor league was a huge help to stay in tune with my shot sequence and building up muscles again after September. Plus, my eyes and mind love the clarity of sight picture and simplicity of the 2 pin horizontal sight I started using last year.



Day 1
Overcast, moist (rained overnight), 47 degrees, no wind


Day 2:
50 degrees, no wind, punched the trigger (really trying to work on a surprise shot each time)
5" low, so should still be kill shot for elk, but this is as far off as I'm comfortable with.


Day 3
52 degrees, very light wind left to right
After yesterday's punch, really tried to relax and do surprise trigger release. It worked.



Day 4
46 degrees, tiny drizzle, no wind, moist air
Didn't feel great nor too bad, but still need to slow down my trigger release for more surprise.
When I see the pin hovering in the right spot I really need to work on resisting my instinct of
"SHOOT NOW". So will keep concentrating on retraining my instinct for a slow, surprise release.



Day 5
54 degrees, partly cloudy, no wind
The hold felt quite good and slowed down my release a touch. Basically felt pretty good.



Summary short reflections: 5/5 hits for my target of elk (3 or 4 hits if was deer)
- Two shots on edge of comfort level for elk, at 4"-5" from center, but basically very happy with results.
- I did have pretty ideal conditions, so if even a medium wind I'd likely drop my MER to 40-45,
and even less if strong wind.
- Winter indoor league helped a ton to stay up on my shot sequence and muscles.
- Gradually dialing in the little material details of arrow setup, release choice/setup, paper tune, etc.
seems to add up too when get out to longer ranges.

 

[realunlucky]

I will double check but it looks like we have 100 shooters. I have one alternate already but ideally need one or two more. Pm me if you'd like to be an alternate

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[Johnson27]

Alternate No. 2

Might as well start this right. Shot TN TAC Sat & Sun and then drove 10 hours 45 minutes today to get home. Put all of my TAC gear away and got out my hunting setup.
MER 50 yards
Hoyt RX3 Ultra - 60# - 29" draw
Easton Axis 340 28.5" carbon-carbon - 50 grain brass insert - Easton X nock - 125 g G5 Montec
From AA - 474 grains total arrow weight with 15.7% FOC
MBG Mountain Lite 3 pin
Full quiver except for my broadhead arrow.
Alaskan Guide Creation bino harness and range finder on.
Aiming for 6" target in the middle, but I'll take anything in the 9" ring since I hunt mostly whitetails.

Picture looking west toward my target.


Picture of my bow and target with first shot.

Day 1 5/8/23 3:45 pm 65 degrees, cloudy and lite drizzle, very little wind

Day 2 - 4:05 pm 75 degrees, sunny, wind from my left @ 10 mph
Not a great shot - rushed it.


Day 3 80degrees and sunny with a lite breeze from behind quartering left to right. Just outside my smaller target.


Day 4 - 82 degrees, partly cloudy, lite breeze from my left to right again. Aimed a little bit left this time.

Day 5 - 75 degrees and cloudy, no breeze to speak of. Just rushed the shot again

1, 3 and 4 where not bad, 2 and 5 need work.
Finished. Now I can start tweaking my sight.

 

[h2so4]

MER: 42 yards
Target Animal: Elk
Target is approx 9”x 9”.
Setup:
OLD Hoyt XT 2000, Trophy Ridge 3 pin.
125gr, Gold tip Hunter XT 340.

Shot 1:
42 yards. Sun in my eyes. Slight breeze. 65F. Beautiful day.


Shot 2:
56F, Sun at my back, little breeze.


Shot 3:
68F, starting to rain. Legs are jello from todays workout. Jerked my release as it wasn’t going when I thought it should.


Shot 4:
9minutes after sunset. My longest pins optic is WEAK.


Shot 5:
8 min before sunrise. 45F. Calm.

 

[10ringer]

Alternate #1


MER 75
Chose this distance because a few seasons ago I held off on shooting a 6x6 standing broadside at 74. At that time I had only practiced fixed blades out to 60.
Equipment:
Prime Black 3
72 Lbs
Hamskea Trinity rest
Spot Hogg Double Pin (25/40)
Easton Axis 300
Bohning Heat 4 fletch, left offset 2 degress (very quiet!!)
Iron Will SS collar
QAD Exodus 100gn
Cheap limbsaver rubber stabilizer, this bow balances great with no weight

Day 1…
Didn’t go as planned. Dialed to 75, drew back and settled in only to realize i was falling out the bottom of my peep. I Installed new strings a few weeks back and set up my peep at 20 yards. I normally set my peep height at 40 yards so Im good to dial out to 100 and get a comfortable view. 1st thing I will fix after the challenge!

Day 2…
Found the 8” dinner plate but still struggling with settling in to anchor points and having a clear view of peep. Having to slightly pull away from release anchor point to center the peep and scope housing.
Conditions like day 1 are calm low 70’s.

Day 3…
Anchor point felt a touch better today, I focused more effort on keeping my rear elbow up and squeezing my shoulder blades to get a clean break on the shot. Again temps in the 70’s no wind.

Day 4…
Finally had a crosswind of 10mph. I was holding dead center on plate and arrow drifted maybe 2”.
Two day break from last shot. Nerves were calm and this shot felt money!

Day 5…
Gusting wind 5-15 from right to left. Just clipped the edge of the plate, a reminder of why I favor a 3 blade! Wind was variable so I decided to aim center of plate, should have aimed a few inches into the wind.

Wrapped up with 4/5 hits. Big take away is to have my peep height centered with sight dialed at 40. This allows me to properly center my peep on the housing at 20 yards and 80 yards and beyond. Fixed that in 10 minutes after the challenge. Glad to have a hunting rig ready to go this early. Thanks Rokslide Staff!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AM3]

Haven't shot since November but here goes..
50 yards
Bowtech BT-X. 31" 60lb
Maxima reds with G5 striker

Day 1

Day 4



Day 2


Day 3


Day 5 - nothing felt good with this shot, definitely shouldn't have released it. Good reminder that letting off is ok

 

[kcm2]

Copied the narrative from my previous post. For some reasons, the pics would show up to me and then disappear after a while.

Here's the narrative:

Today's shot.

Mathews V3x, granite riser with black limbs. 60 lbs, 26.5" draw, It's taken me a while to get used to the short valley but I'm over it finally.

Spot Hogg Fast Eddie XL 2 pin, 50 yards.

Black Eagle Rampage Arrows, 350 spine, 100 gr points. (No place for me to shoot broadheads easily. The range will nuke my membership if I bring braodhaeads into the shooting area.)

Hamskea Epsilon, Spot Hogg Tuff Guy release.

No wind to speak of, maybe 4-5 mph.

Monday May 1, I decided to hit the Highlands Ranch range a little later. No wind, 60" or so, crosswind at 4 mph according to my Iphone, Hard to pick a spot when it gets a little darker.

Day 2, in the bottom of the yellow. FIne, still dead elk.

I have no idea why my first shot disappeared. It says it is there as an attachment. But I can't pull it up. Same target, arrow at 12:00 in the yellow. I've reposted it, only 2 shots so far.

Day 3 of 5. I'm going hog hunting in Oklahoma in June, so my plan is to get #5 done by Sunday, and practice a bit more. Hog hunting often requires you hold steady for a couple of minutes until your hog of choice gives you the shot you want without another pig in the way. So, I decided to change things up a bit. Carter Like Mike release, and a 3d buffalo at 50 yards measured on the 3d range. Probably a 4 mph wind, shooting with sunglasses at near 7 pm because there are a lot of greenbriars so I want to keep my eyes protected as much as I can. This is the nominal 43 yard buffalo at the Highlands Ranch range, which I ranged at 50 by moving back. I'm tired of shooting at the marked targets, love the 3d range.

Day 4:
My crap shot, #4, was in a crosswind at about 20 mph plus and I apparently rushed the shot. Good thing I was shooting at a target instead of something tasty. Dropped my arm after watching the wind blow my sight all over the place.

Day 5. The buffalo again, succumbing to a good lung shot.

The buffalo is a nominal 43 yard shot but my rangefinder tells me if I back up to the road, it's 50.


Good fun. I did it over a week because I'm hog hunting in June and want to do the normal practice as I wish.

Thanks again, this is always fun.

 

[Jake Leibke]

Not sure if I’m to late to get in on this….

Shooting a PSE EVO EVL 34 @ 80 lbs. 31” draw length. Sirius Apollo arrow. Black Gold sight. Quivilizer.

Just shooting field points.

MER 60 yards. Shooting at a 10” circle.

Day 1 : May 8. calm and about 50°
Squeaked one in.

Day 2 : May 9. calm and about 50° again.
I suck. Haha.

Day 3 : May 10. Calm and 60°

Day 4 : May 11. about 50° with about an 8 mph wind in my face.

Day 5 : May 12. Again about 55°. 12 mph wind left to right. 2 pictures….. a few lessons relearned… missed block target just right.

 

[WBrim]

Some of these “backyard ranges” are looking pretty sweet. I have space to shoot, and I’m glad for it, but I would trade it for some of these spaces!

 

[Backcountry_Preacher]

Some of these “backyard ranges” are looking pretty sweet. I have space to shoot, and I’m glad for it, but I would trade it for some of these spaces!

You ain’t lying! I’ve been pretty jealous of some of these myself!

 

[lowpressure]

First cold bow challenge but love the concept. I do this with my rifles.

Mer is 60
Hoyt carbon defiant turbo 72lb
Gold tip arrows
Old school magnus 4 blade broadheads
Hha optimizer pro lite single pin
Just switched to thumb release
458 grain arrow (still hits 301 through my chrono).

Very light breeze just after a thunderstorm. Made the target dark. I wounded this one. I’ll have to let it sit all night and have a long track job most likely. I’ll try harder tomorrow.

 

[lowpressure]

First cold bow challenge but love the concept. I do this with my rifles.

Mer is 60
Hoyt carbon defiant turbo 72lb
Gold tip arrows
Old school magnus 4 blade broadheads
Hha optimizer pro lite single pin
Just switched to thumb release
458 grain arrow (still hits 301 through my chrono).

Very light breeze just after a thunderstorm. Made the target dark. I wounded this one. I’ll have to let it sit all night and have a long track job most likely. I’ll try harder tomorrow.

Day 2.

Dead calm morning
Buck still alive.
Just a hair low.

 

[Zach Herold]

Cold Bow Challenge 2023
I don't want to be entered in the drawing, I'm just doing it for fun.

Hoyt VTM 31
28.5" draw
70lbs
Easton Axis
Iron Will collar and Insert
Tooth of the Arrow fix blade head.
Circle represents kill zone.

Day 1
Yardage: 120yards

 

[9.1]

Cold Bow Challenge 2023
Day 1
Yardage: 120yards
Wind: Slight left to right.
View attachment 557296

Is that piece of tape what you're considering vitals or just an aiming point?

 

[Zach Herold]

Is that piece of tape what you're considering vitals or just an aiming point?

Aiming point. Dark melted portion is the kill zone. I can paint a circle tomorrow.

 

[robby denning]

OK all, Cold Bow is over (Zach, sorry man, we'd have loved to seen the end of that five-arrow string)

@realunlucky @Travis Bertrand @Howard Mee let's chat off the thread and get our ducks lined up for the draw, then can let the members know what's up and draw deadline.

Thanks everyone!