Nick Muche
WKR
I switched last winter to a single pin in order to shoot indoor and get used to a new bow. Shot it great all winter and then took it on a march musk ox hunt. Had it set at 30 yards the entire hunt. First day, drew back on a bull and once at full draw realized that it was set on 30 and he was at 16 yards. That was fine, he was a great bull and my friends dad shot him later on, it was his first and he was elated. On the second day, I had a shot opportunity on another bull, he just happened to be about 30 yards and there was no issue, but he was moving a bit, a multi pin would have been better than moving the slider.
Then in May, I started spot and stalking grizzly bears. I messed up on two of them due to having to move my sight, they caught movement and bolted. With a multi pin, I am all but certain I would have arrowed both of them.
Stand hunting black bears and brown bears, sight was set at 20, no issues at all as I knew where my shots would be.
Caribou hunting, spot and stalk. Sight set at 30, stalked the first bull through some brush, once I got into an opening, he was standing about 15 yards away, sight was on 30, didn't want to guess so I didn't shoot. He ran off to around 40 and I was able to move my pin in a hurry and killed him. Second bull, stalked in a creek bottom, bugs were horrible, caribou kept on moving to get away from them. Every time I'd range and move the pin, he'd move by the time I could draw. After 3 or 4 times of doing that, he finally stood still long enough for the entire process of ranging, moving, drawing to go off without him moving and I killed him. It was a pain in the butt. Third bull, ranged him, thought site was correct and sent an arrow over his back. Luckily he didn't move, looked at slider, saw it was incorrect, dialed it in and killed him. With a fixed pin, that likely would not have happened.
Sheep hunting, I could see the benefit of the slider, more open country, easier to be precise for me with just one pin to focus on... Never got a shot in AK. But, hunted bighorns in MT... Moving the slider proved to once again be a pain in the butt when animals are moving about and one wants to be precise and dial it in to exact range. If one doesn't mind holding over or under, no problem but that isn't for me. I had a few shot where the time it took to range and move was not beneficial, but with a multi pin, would have been no issue.
Hunted bison, with the single pin slider, had one opportunity on a bull and it all worked out. I was able to range him and luckily already had it set on 50 yards, he was 48, drew and shot... had I not been prepared with it on 50, I'd bet he would have moved off as the other ones he was with had started feeding quickly in the other direction. Thank goodness it worked out, they were hard to locate and get close to.
Whitetails, on a feed field, out of a blind. I missed a few bucks in one evening and if I was into making excuses, I'd blame the fact that I had the slider and the deer kept moving each time I'd get settled into a shot, so I had to let down, move pin, etc. It was once again, a pain in the butt.
After all that, I decided to switch back to a 5 pin slider for a Kodiak brown bear hunt. I didn't want to be in any situation where I'd have to move a single pin, should the bear be moving etc. I didn't take a shot at a bear, had plenty of chances, but didn't see what I wanted. The second to last day, I stalked a buck from camp and it felt so good to range, draw and shoot without moving anything. A day later, I rattled a buck into 10 yards and killed him. With my slider, it would have been set on 30 and there wouldn't have been enough time to move it and as I said above, I do not like guessing.
Anyhow, that's the reasoning behind why I'll never shoot a single pin for hunting again. Maybe that will help some others.
Then in May, I started spot and stalking grizzly bears. I messed up on two of them due to having to move my sight, they caught movement and bolted. With a multi pin, I am all but certain I would have arrowed both of them.
Stand hunting black bears and brown bears, sight was set at 20, no issues at all as I knew where my shots would be.
Caribou hunting, spot and stalk. Sight set at 30, stalked the first bull through some brush, once I got into an opening, he was standing about 15 yards away, sight was on 30, didn't want to guess so I didn't shoot. He ran off to around 40 and I was able to move my pin in a hurry and killed him. Second bull, stalked in a creek bottom, bugs were horrible, caribou kept on moving to get away from them. Every time I'd range and move the pin, he'd move by the time I could draw. After 3 or 4 times of doing that, he finally stood still long enough for the entire process of ranging, moving, drawing to go off without him moving and I killed him. It was a pain in the butt. Third bull, ranged him, thought site was correct and sent an arrow over his back. Luckily he didn't move, looked at slider, saw it was incorrect, dialed it in and killed him. With a fixed pin, that likely would not have happened.
Sheep hunting, I could see the benefit of the slider, more open country, easier to be precise for me with just one pin to focus on... Never got a shot in AK. But, hunted bighorns in MT... Moving the slider proved to once again be a pain in the butt when animals are moving about and one wants to be precise and dial it in to exact range. If one doesn't mind holding over or under, no problem but that isn't for me. I had a few shot where the time it took to range and move was not beneficial, but with a multi pin, would have been no issue.
Hunted bison, with the single pin slider, had one opportunity on a bull and it all worked out. I was able to range him and luckily already had it set on 50 yards, he was 48, drew and shot... had I not been prepared with it on 50, I'd bet he would have moved off as the other ones he was with had started feeding quickly in the other direction. Thank goodness it worked out, they were hard to locate and get close to.
Whitetails, on a feed field, out of a blind. I missed a few bucks in one evening and if I was into making excuses, I'd blame the fact that I had the slider and the deer kept moving each time I'd get settled into a shot, so I had to let down, move pin, etc. It was once again, a pain in the butt.
After all that, I decided to switch back to a 5 pin slider for a Kodiak brown bear hunt. I didn't want to be in any situation where I'd have to move a single pin, should the bear be moving etc. I didn't take a shot at a bear, had plenty of chances, but didn't see what I wanted. The second to last day, I stalked a buck from camp and it felt so good to range, draw and shoot without moving anything. A day later, I rattled a buck into 10 yards and killed him. With my slider, it would have been set on 30 and there wouldn't have been enough time to move it and as I said above, I do not like guessing.
Anyhow, that's the reasoning behind why I'll never shoot a single pin for hunting again. Maybe that will help some others.
