First 3D shoot in… 20 years

Joined
Dec 23, 2021
Messages
1,583
I went to the archery range to work on my sights this morning. I’m shooting with three pins (30, 40, 50). I saw some signs for a 3D shoot and went over to check it out. Only $10 and 30 targets spread through our local green belt trail system. I finished sighting in my bow and came home for lunch and to fill up a water bladder (it’s almost 90° out).

I haven’t shot leagues or 3D for most of my archery “career” but decided what the hell. It looks like a lot of fun. Any advice for my first 3D shoot in 20 or so years? My moniker is probably a little misleading as I don’t consider myself a hardcore bow hunter. I was pretty hardcore into traditional archery back in the early 2000’s when I set up my first e-mail (have kept the same online name since) but now I’m a pretty casual archer and shoot a compound. I’m heading back in a couple of hours so this might be dated by the time anyone sees it.
 

11boo

WKR
Joined
Feb 24, 2016
Messages
2,461
Location
Grand Jct, CO
It is a hoot. I’m kinda spoiled by our range, with 3 course’s and a flat range. I haven’t done the organized shoots since I joined this place. They were always fun.



Already have more arrows coming, this place is very unforgiving of a miss.F913B8CB-8668-4352-8A42-DC48CEF0AEFE.jpeg
 

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OP
Wyobohunter
Joined
Dec 23, 2021
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It is a hoot. I’m kinda spoiled by our range, with 3 course’s and a flat range. I haven’t done the organized shoots since I joined this place. They were always fun.



Already have more arrows coming, this place is very unforgiving of a miss.View attachment 418859
Very nice. We have a very similar county range. I think there are 5 trails in country that looks exactly like your local range with rocky hills and Juniper trees. There are also picnic facilities with bbq pits. There aren’t 3D targets. They are compressed bails with animal targets. Not quite as nice but it’s free. My county has some really nice shooting facilities (firearms and archery) that are funded by county taxes.
 
OP
Wyobohunter
Joined
Dec 23, 2021
Messages
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Well, windy as hell. They are shooting again tomorrow and since I didn’t shoot much of the course they said I could come back early in the morning and shoot again, no charge. Pretty cool of them.
 
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
9,806
Location
Shenandoah Valley
Depends on how you look at it. Just shooting foam and feeling like you killed it can be good practice.


Getting hung up on how many bonus rings you catch, making sure you don't drop any 8's or wrapping your bow around a tree because of a 5, that gets addictive.
An expensive one.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
16,203
Location
Colorado Springs
Just shooting foam and feeling like you killed it can be good practice.

Getting hung up on how many bonus rings you catch, that gets addictive.
This ^^^^.

When I run the courses on my own in the summer, I don't even take my bino's. I'm just shooting for kill shots. But come organized shoot time, I'm shooting for 10 rings and up. Those rings aren't always where I'd be aiming for hunting.
 
OP
Wyobohunter
Joined
Dec 23, 2021
Messages
1,583
I just got back. Had a lot of fun and lost a couple of arrows. Got kill shots when I started ranging the targets for myself. I mentioned the lack of flag accuracy to the organizers. They commented that they knew it was off (quite a bit in some cases) and were going to fix it.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
16,203
Location
Colorado Springs
Most shoots I've done are all unmarked distances and RF's are banned. That makes for good practice for estimating ranges as long as the shoots go out that far. I'm not a big fan of the shoots where I can almost use one pin for the entire shoot.
 

11boo

WKR
Joined
Feb 24, 2016
Messages
2,461
Location
Grand Jct, CO
Most shoots I've done are all unmarked distances and RF's are banned. That makes for good practice for estimating ranges as long as the shoots go out that far. I'm not a big fan of the shoots where I can almost use one pin for the entire shoot.

I use my RF just like in the field usually. I do visual estimates before the RF.
 

Marble

WKR
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
3,602
I went to the archery range to work on my sights this morning. I’m shooting with three pins (30, 40, 50). I saw some signs for a 3D shoot and went over to check it out. Only $10 and 30 targets spread through our local green belt trail system. I finished sighting in my bow and came home for lunch and to fill up a water bladder (it’s almost 90° out).

I haven’t shot leagues or 3D for most of my archery “career” but decided what the hell. It looks like a lot of fun. Any advice for my first 3D shoot in 20 or so years? My moniker is probably a little misleading as I don’t consider myself a hardcore bow hunter. I was pretty hardcore into traditional archery back in the early 2000’s when I set up my first e-mail (have kept the same online name since) but now I’m a pretty casual archer and shoot a compound. I’m heading back in a couple of hours so this might be dated by the time anyone sees it.
Bring plenty of arrows
Know your limits
Shoot your shot, not what someone else is saying about their shot.
Bring a good range finder.
Buy some arrow lube.
Bring Emory clothe to clean arrows.

Find out the distances you will be shooting. If there are some really short shots, go shoot that yardage ahead of time. A 3 yard shot usually gets more people than the 80 yarder.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
16,203
Location
Colorado Springs
I use my RF just like in the field usually. I do visual estimates before the RF.
In the field I'm always practicing estimating, and in the mountains.........I'm normally humbled in many cases. But a lot of times I don't have time to range animals as it happens very quickly. I'm normally the one moving in on the animal, so it's a quick shot or nothing. But even at the range, anything I perceive as beyond 50, I'll generally range first before shooting. Sometimes I'll shoot first and then range it. None of our 3D targets are marked distance.
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2018
Messages
2,242
Location
VA
Bring plenty of arrows
............................
Bring a good range finder.
.........................................

I lost/broke 6 arrows over 2 day s at TAC.. so yeah.. bring a dozen

I might question what a "good range finder" constitutes... Are there range finders out there that are off by more than 3 yards? I'm talking strictly bow range measurements which I would say are 5 yards out to 200 yards.
I bought a Bushnell ARC something back in 2012. I bought it through my business at the time so my dealer pricing was something like $160.. So I'm guessing MSRP was probably $250.. Now there are dudes with Leica's and all such manner. I've not truly tested how good the angle compensation is, but I'd say its accurate within 1 yard when I've compared it to my Leica laser tape measure. I think my Leica tape is supposed to be accurate within +/- 1/16" out to 330 ft or something
 
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
9,806
Location
Shenandoah Valley
I lost/broke 6 arrows over 2 day s at TAC.. so yeah.. bring a dozen

I might question what a "good range finder" constitutes... Are there range finders out there that are off by more than 3 yards? I'm talking strictly bow range measurements which I would say are 5 yards out to 200 yards.
I bought a Bushnell ARC something back in 2012. I bought it through my business at the time so my dealer pricing was something like $160.. So I'm guessing MSRP was probably $250.. Now there are dudes with Leica's and all such manner. I've not truly tested how good the angle compensation is, but I'd say its accurate within 1 yard when I've compared it to my Leica laser tape measure. I think my Leica tape is supposed to be accurate within +/- 1/16" out to 330 ft or something

Some rangefinders will be a few yards different for a black or white target.


This target made it obvious.417+XmAVD3L._AC_SX425_.jpg
 
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