Shooting at 40 yards

[henpeckedmuch]

I had never shot beyound 35 yd. until I went to a Michigan shoot last week. They had a buffalo 3D target at 55yd for a novelty target. I paid my dollar for three shots as a donation. Trying to visulize the arrow trajetory I raised the bow and let loose. My first arrow struck the target about 3 in above the heart. I got so excited I gave them another 4 bucks just to see if I could do it again. I missed the target twice out of the 15 shots I took. But, none as good as the first shot. About half of the shots were in the kill zone and the rest were in the front shoulder. The wind was blowing towards the front shoulder and perhaps that had something to do with it. It did teach me one thing-- don't shoot beyound your ability at live game. For me about 25yds.

[MikeW]

One Trad shoot I went to had a Buffalo out there like that. I could see it walking up the trail then I saw the stake you were suppose to shoot from, I thought it was a joke or something. I had no idea how to hold on a shot that long. I lucked out and stuck it right by the elbow low. I shot again just for the heck of it and stuck it in the top of the back.

I've never scored well at a trad shoot. I always aim for where I would really shoot a live animal, which is right at the level of the elbow and an 1" to the right of it.

Why aren't the score rings there? The 10-12 ring is not where most bow hunters would shoot, why is that?

Any ways I score high in my mind cause my arrows usuall hit "my kill zone"
 :D

[Ray Hammond]

So it's OK to turn a bow into a black powder rifle? I don't get it. I agree completely - using this form of practice on targets is fun, builds great technique, and will really exhibit any flaw you have in your setup..but for actual hunting?- I don't know...just because you CAN do a thing doesn't always mean you SHOULD.

We choose to hinder our ability to kill a game animal and VOLUNTARILY select a SHORT range weapon -then we want to turn around and try to figure out every way possible to make it into a long range weapon. Hmmmmmm, something there just doesn't make good sense to me.(voluntarily is the operative word here, I think)

Why select the bow at all for hunting if your goal is to AVOID the very things that the style of hunting that weapon dictates - because you either lack the skill or lack the ambition to gain the skill - and you are not hunting for subsistence purposes, either?

buffalo jumps make sense, as an example- from a native or subsistence hunter point of view-  they're trying to EAT- that was a lot better way(and less likely way to get killed) to do it than getting on a horse and sidling up next to a 2000 lb rocket of muscle and bone and shooting an arrow into it! - why use a bow if your intention is to shoot game at 100 yards in this day and age, when we aren't using a bow because we HAVE to, but because we CHOOSE to?

This really shouldn't be argued from an ethics perspective ....I think Roger and Joe may have alluded to a lot of my points in this a couple pages up...and we aren't even bringing up the technical issues here, such as the compound guys you are talking about with their lighter weight arrows at 100 yards- what kind of momentum/retained energy do those things have at 100 yards...against the ribs of a MOOSE, for example????

And please don't bring up that old story about how Howard Hill used to take 100 yard shots at game...we used to do a lot of stuff we don't do any more..I like to think its because in most cases we figured out a better way to go. I've been at a great many 3 D shoots in my time- I bet I haven't met more than 3 or 4 people who could shoot as well as HH at 40 yards and under...but at 100 yards? And none of the ones I met who COULD- would ever take a 100 yard shot at an animal cause they are BOWHUNTERS!

[albertakid]

Well this thread needs some lighting up!!LOL So here is a pic of a 40 yard group my boy said we needed a pic of cause "dad did good" man kids crack me up.

 

Jordan

[SHOOTO8S]

Nice group and a good looking young man! Congrats on both!