How many of us regularly shoot at long distance for practice?

[Taudisio]

I regularly shoot out to 110 yards, because any farther and my fletching will hit my sight housing. After shooting at 80+ yards, shooting a golf ball sized target at 20 yards is pretty mundane. Below is a 90 and 20 yard target. Keeping them all on a deer sized target at 90 is a challenge for me. Past that, it’s my large bag target or I’m digging for arrows in the grass.

 

[Skerhunter]

99% of my practice is at 50-70 yards because thats how my permanent range is set up. Closer to season we usually set up 3d targets and shoot longer distance in the pasture.

I also practice with broadheads year round. That seems to help me the most with my form.

 

[nooch]

always practice farther than you intend to shoot at an animal

 

[HuntHarder]

Some of you are really good with a bow. Practice is the key to being a good and consistent archer. nice work dudes.

 

[hibernation]

As the saying goes - aim small, miss small.

I've always been told this but never really found it helpful, I'm curious if other people do. Past a certain distance I can't aim at a patch of fur or even see minor details on a deer anyway, I frame it in reference to the whole animal.

Need to shoot where you are comfortable watching your float, that can really have as much of more to do with what you are shooting at than how far tho.

This lines up with my experience more. I can shoot the center of a large target well, but if I'm trying to shoot a small spot at the same distance and my pin mostly covers it... I just end up fighting with my pin and punching the trigger.

I'm a decent shot but definitely not winning any tournaments, do better archers do things differently?

 

[Billy Goat]

I've always been told this but never really found it helpful, I'm curious if other people do. Past a certain distance I can't aim at a patch of fur or even see minor details on a deer anyway, I frame it in reference to the whole animal.

This lines up with my experience more. I can shoot the center of a large target well, but if I'm trying to shoot a small spot at the same distance and my pin mostly covers it... I just end up fighting with my pin and punching the trigger.

I'm a decent shot but definitely not winning any tournaments, do better archers do things differently?

Having a very small aiming point, especially one that's a different color can be a target picture nightmare.


There's a few professionals that can hold a bow incredibly still, with a laser attached to their bow, it's just stupid. Most, their pin bounces back and forth. Some shoot a fast float, some a slow float from a heavy, heavy setup. The heavy setup can lead to anticipation. Everyone is wired differently, some can handle it, some can't. Tim Gillingham is one who usually can handle it, there's others as well, but he's the loudest voice on the command shot.


For me, I like having a smaller area to aim, but if I can see exactly what I want to hit, I want it bigger than my pin, stuff disappears behind my pun and it sends that monkey in my brain crazy. I usually shoot a fairly small pin, the large pin/dot that covers the whole 10, or larger areas hasn't worked well for me. I know guys who shoot very well with giant dots. It's finding what works for you.

 

[bowhuntercoop]

Having a very small aiming point, especially one that's a different color can be a target picture nightmare.


There's a few professionals that can hold a bow incredibly still, with a laser attached to their bow, it's just stupid. Most, their pin bounces back and forth. Some shoot a fast float, some a slow float from a heavy, heavy setup. The heavy setup can lead to anticipation. Everyone is wired differently, some can handle it, some can't. Tim Gillingham is one who usually can handle it, there's others as well, but he's the loudest voice on the command shot.


For me, I like having a smaller area to aim, but if I can see exactly what I want to hit, I want it bigger than my pin, stuff disappears behind my pun and it sends that monkey in my brain crazy. I usually shoot a fairly small pin, the large pin/dot that covers the whole 10, or larger areas hasn't worked well for me. I know guys who shoot very well with giant dots. It's finding what works for you.

Ya for indoor Vegas I used to use a .29 pin then melt it bigger. I want the entire dot covering the gold to make for a smaller float. Won a pile of money shooting 300 Vegas with unreal x counts doing that.

Hunting I always rock a .19 for my top pin then .10 for slider pin. Works great.

 

[chindits]

Never

I rarely hunt anything besides elk so I don’t really need to shoot far

 

[Elk97]

I regularly practice out to 100 yds. I'm not a great shot so rarely get close groups at that range but i think it really helps group size at shorter distances. It's also just fun to shoot that far.

 

[Blockcaver]

I like to practice out to 100 yds with the slider and hunt with the 5 pin slider locked down….60 yds is the bottom pin. I found it made me a better shot and taught me about how to shoot better in wind, etc.

 

[roadrunner]

30 yds would long distance for me right now.

Haven't shot my bow in 4 or 5 years.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I can shoot to 72 yards from corner to corner of my back yard, so that is the max I normally shoot at. At my best friend's house, we can get to 90, but at 85 my sight housing is as low as it can get without hitting my vanes.

I am confident taking a broadside shot on an elk to 70, a whitetail/mulie to 50. For frontal or hard quartering, I am 40/20.

 

[5MilesBack]

If I had the space, I'd put on a slider sight and probably always shoot over 100 yards 11 months out of the year. But I'm limited at home, so most of my shooting is 40-60. I do shoot out to 100 if I go to the range. I shoot out to 90 in my elk camp with fixed BH's. I use 7 pin sights.

Having a very small aiming point, especially one that's a different color can be a target picture nightmare.

I'm a command shooter, and I've always said "If anything is going to give me target panic, it's trying to hit a dime-sized dot over and over at 20 yards". I don't shoot under 40 very often, and if I do it's not at dime-sized dots.....normally. That middle ring on the 3D frog target gives me fits, even if I know exactly what the distance is. But for whatever reason, I seem to love the middle ring on the mosquito target.

 

[Beendare]

The other advantage to practicing a long distance shot I didn't see mentioned is when you have a wounded animal. Years ago with my compound, I had a Mule deer that moved on my first shot I had wounded. It was wide open country and following him and getting close was darn near impossible.

I had a 92y followup and pinwheeled him as I had practiced stacking my pins for that shot.

Sometimes you might HAVE to take a long followup shot.

 

[Wilderlife]

Absolutely. Being capable at 100m can never be a bad thing if you need that skill.

Lots of good chat in here. I haven't shot my compound since making this video but I need to start working on it again as I'm going to re-string and go to a new arrow build shortly.

 

[tkhuntsman]

I regularly practice and shoot 3d out to 120+ yards I'm very confident in my long range shooting ability. I have a self imposed limit of 60 yards on game unless a long follow up is absolutely necessary. Animals move and conditions and terrain can all have disastrous effects on shot placement.

 

[CowboyD]

Sometimes I shoot all the way out to 35 yards at our indoor range.

 

[Tilzbow]

The other advantage to practicing a long distance shot I didn't see mentioned is when you have a wounded animal. Years ago with my compound, I had a Mule deer that moved on my first shot I had wounded. It was wide open country and following him and getting close was darn near impossible.

I had a 92y followup and pinwheeled him as I had practiced stacking my pins for that shot.

Sometimes you might HAVE to take a long followup shot.

Since slider sights got introduced I wonder how many of the younger guys know how to stack pins?

 

[Shepardg]

Most of the summer I take a few warm up shots at 30 and 40 then I’m mostly shooting form 50-80 push it back to 100 before the Tac event. Then a few weeks before season I dial it back into 20-50 and make sure my shots are on point for season.

 

[Tilzbow]

I find practicing at 80 to 100 yards helps highlight form issues I might not be aware of. Plus it’s fun!