Technique for long distance shooting

Legolas · March 18, 2015, 08:08:00 AM

I hunt whitetails and most of my shots in the hardwoods here in SE Ohio will be 10-20 yards and that is what distance I practice. I just will not take longer shots for fear of wounding an animal.

But when I practice long shooting at a target AND I SHOOT INSTICTIVELY, NOT USING GAP OR CHANGE IN ANCHOR POINT, I aim at the target just the same as my shorter distances and note how much below the bullseye or place I want the arrow to hit, that my arrow lands. Then on the next shot I hold over accordingly. Sort of what you do with a rifle.

Is there a better way? What works?

Paul

mahantango · March 18, 2015, 08:17:00 AM

Then in reality you are gapping at longer distance. Might as well learn the gaps and go with it. It really is the most accurate and repeatable method IMO.

huskyarcher · March 18, 2015, 08:19:00 AM

I try to shoot as much like Rick welch as possible, and his method works incredibly well for me, out to about 30yds, ive found after that i have to calculate hold over. If i hold about 4in over the deers back at 40 that deer is usually screwed barring a crappy release. Not that its hunting range, but its fun and makes 20 seem like a gimme. Id be interested as well to dabble with other methods at long distances.

tracker12 · March 18, 2015, 08:28:00 AM

I have been trying to shoot instinctively at longer ranges and it is tuff not to just revert to a gap method. I think the hardest part is picking a spot at longer distances. I shot some yesterday evening and found the more I concentrated on a mark on my 3D bear the better my shots were. I think to really get good you need to spend a lot of time at distances so the brain starts to figure it out.

wingnut · March 18, 2015, 09:21:00 AM

Gee that sure sounds a lot like gaping. GASP!!

LOL

Mike

Legolas · March 18, 2015, 10:36:00 AM

I have watched string walkers and what a crappy way to use a bow. Forget tillering, those limbs get all kinds of torque and the noise on release that sounds awful.

I do not like gapping because I look at the spot where I want to hit. Not the point of my arrow and then the place it is in relation to the target.That just goes against the flow of shooting.

creekwood · March 18, 2015, 10:44:00 AM

Sometimes I think that people try to think too much.

LA Trapper · March 18, 2015, 10:46:00 AM

Add another factor. Tree stand vs shooting off the ground.
Changes things considerably. So if you practice on the ground all year then climb, it could result in shooting over the back.

McDave · March 18, 2015, 11:22:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by Legolas:
I do not like gapping because I look at the spot where I want to hit. Not the point of my arrow and then the place it is in relation to the target.That just goes against the flow of shooting.

Gapping means that you focus on the target and also see the arrow point, but it is out of focus in your peripheral vision. You don't ever focus on the arrow point when gap shooting. Gapping means that you calculate the shot, meaning that you estimate the distance to the target, and place the arrow point either above, below, or on the target based on your estimate of the distance and gaps you have determined based on previous practice. Maybe it's the calculation you really object to, since otherwise what you're doing is pretty close to gap shooting.

Howard Hill used a form of gap shooting that he called "split vision," which was gap shooting without the calculation. He placed the arrow point on a spot that felt right to him without worrying about calculating anything, while always focusing on the target. So, there is somewhat of a crossover between gap and instinctive in his method. This is also the method I prefer, since I didn't take up archery to do a lot of calculations. I get plenty of calculating in my business as a CPA, and I shoot the bow and arrow to get away from that.

There is another aiming method called "point of aim," where you do focus on the arrow point, but I don't think many people use that method these days.

AkDan · March 18, 2015, 11:36:00 AM

what you'll find as a gapper, you can take this to any degree. Staying rigid to somewhere closer to Hills method.

Over time you'll pay attention less and less on the arrow end, almost resorting back to a form of instinctive shooting. Kind of a middle road between the methods. It really shines when you're making quick shots. I've shot 2 grouse out of the air now, though its been years. one of those two was a reaction. The other....was pure luck LOL!

most of us started instinctive these days where years ago most shot some form of aiming coming from a field shoot background....its a natural roll over from a rigid system into a ho hum 'sloppy' method of shooting. its the few who can combine the two that really seem to shine. I'm by no means one of them.

newhouse114 · March 18, 2015, 12:01:00 PM

Practicing at longer ranges can be a vital asset when making a follow up shot on an injured animal.

March 18, 2015, 12:03:00 PM

With shots less than 25 yards, I think that I am mostly an instinctive shooter. Indirectly, I can see that my arrow is situated so that it is pointing where I want it to go. Most of my stump shooting shots are over 40 yards, at that range I can see that my arrow is pointing with more loft, but I can also see its juxtaposition to what I am shooting at. Sometimes, especially when shooting left handed, I make a predetermined decision on its position and at other times just an observation. I do not like taking shots over 30 yards at deer, but when I get to shoot at a pheasant on the ground that has no chance of getting to me, I will take very long shots. Every once in a while they mess up and walk in front of my arrow.

Legolas · March 18, 2015, 01:19:00 PM

McDave,
Well

Quoteand place the arrow point either above, below, or on the target based on your estimate of the distance and gaps you have determined based on previous practice.

That very idea of looking at the point of the arrow and placing it somewhere is foreign and rocks my world.But if I am going to have some precision at longer distances I will need to try to develope that system.

It just seemed in my way that I stare at the target and try to burn a hole in it. If I am now out to 45 yards and know my arrow is going to drop 14 inches from the bull I figured I would burn a hole in my target 14 inches higher.

SuperK · March 18, 2015, 02:02:00 PM

There is another method that might work for you. (I use it in 3D shooting) It is the same method you would use if shooting a rife at a longer range than it was zeroed for. You hold over. For example, if you have a deer target at 40 yards, instead of "looking" at the spot you want to hit, you pick a spot higher on the deer (the top of the back) to compensate for the drop of the arrow. Obviously you will have to "practice" this so will "know" about how much drop you will get at certain ranges. It is quick to do, you don't have to "learn" a different style of shooting, you can use different arrows of different lengths, etc.
Oops, I just read Legolas post...looks like we are on the same wave length...

tracker12 · March 18, 2015, 02:19:00 PM

You guys are definitely thinking alike. That is an interesting concept that I never thought of trying. I guess to make that happen you would need to make some sure of range estimation.

lbshooter · March 18, 2015, 03:04:00 PM

Being an instinctive shooter, my long range, 50 yards, is handled the same way a my short range. Eyes focused on the target. My practice incorporates varying my ranges from 10-50 yards with each shot. I began to get consistent long range results years ago when I mentally called out the approximate distance in yards before each shot.

Legolas · March 18, 2015, 03:10:00 PM

So Art-what is your technique?

Jay Bow · March 18, 2015, 03:17:00 PM

I agree with Creekwood .

KSdan · March 18, 2015, 04:38:00 PM

Jimmy Blackmon (sounds like a great guy) has quite a few youtubes about gap shooting. He was more the "instinctive" shooter for decades then switched. He has a bunch of info. He comments that any of the the national ranked shooters he knows all use some type of gap method. He too agrees that in time and typical hunting you pay less attention to the arrow tip/gap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgm-oErUEQM

reddogge · March 18, 2015, 04:42:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Legolas:

I do not like gapping because I look at the spot where I want to hit. Not the point of my arrow and then the place it is in relation to the target.That just goes against the flow of shooting.

The inconvenient truth about long distance shooting is the arrow will hide your spot or at least cover a good deal of it since the arrow is higher in your vision than your spot past your point on. So gapping over the target (aiming a predetermined distance over the target) makes good sense. It pays to practice this. It's not something that comes naturally at least to me.