Judge yardage from a treestand

[bowhuntingbiker]

I spent a load on a rangefinder and it shows distance, angle, and point of aim. Let me tell you: The most difference you will see is 1 yard!!! The rangefinder says, "distance; 40 yards, Aim like; 41 yards." My point of aim from 40 to 41 is the same. It has never been off by more than 1 yard. Gun hunting from a high hill will make more of a diference with some distance, but with a string and a stick, know your distance and shoot for it. Good luck, BHB

[Lot to Learn 2]

The one thing that I have not seen mentioned is short distance. I know with my bow if i am shooting from tree under 10 yds I need to aim low, basically for me under 10 using 20yd pin I put the pin on the underside of the belly and get the arrow rise I need. Anything over 10 it is what it is.

Shaman has got it down, that is exactly how the chips in the more advanced elevation range finders are programmed. And like many said, how much different do you aim for a 1 yd difference?

[shaman]

I guess I'm old fashioned.  I must be, because I'm now off the bow due to a bum shoulder and I have my medical waiver for crossbow.  To me, the idea of a range finder seemed like cheating.  Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to castigate anyone for using one one.  It was just part of the challenge, and to me it was as much or more than the difference between a compound and a recurve. Remember, I'm an old fart and the compounds I started off with were about 20% let-off.

Most guys nowadays are shooting much faster bows than I started with too.  I used to have to have a separate 10 and 20 yard pin, and a 15 yard pin for when I went to the indoor range. Even with that bow, I could do a 50 yards shot, but the deer could walk out of the way while the arrow was in flight.

Let me just go through my process of estimating yardage.  I might have read this somewhere, but I can't remember.

1)  Forget yards as a unit of measure.  Learn to think in paces.  If you want an absolute measurement, count off 10 paces and measure it and then repeat as necessary until you know approximately how your paces stack up to yards.   However, your pins should be set to your paces, not yards.

2)  Constantly play the game of estimating yardage. Okay, I said to forget yardage, but you know what I mean. "Pace-age" is not a word. Do it at stop lights, do it walking the dog, do it in the back yard.  When you can, go back and pace things off to check yourself.  It does not take all that much to get your eyes trained.

3)  When you're up on the stand, pace off distances to a few landmarks and then use those to gauge further estimations.  The big tree is 17 paces, therefore the little oak is 15 paces, therefore. . .

4)  Set limits and zones.  Tell yourself: "If the comes this way, I'll take him with the top pin, but not until he gets there."  or "Anywhere in there is a top-pin shot, but if he's out past the hickory tree, that's the second pin."


I started before organized competitions existed for  bowhunting.  I never shot at 3D targets.  However, I did spend as much time as possible shooting from a stand in the back yard or simulating it.  Some guys get on their garage roofs.  I was lucky in that my back yard fell off sharply, and all I had to do was stand on my back deck and I had a decent shot down to the back fence.  Part of the reason my shoulder went bad was that my neighbor said he'd have me prosecuted if he saw me doing it, and I couldn't get out and practice anymore.  Today's faster bows mean that there is less difference between elevated shooting and shooting on flat ground, but it hasn't gone away completely.  The pins are just close together.

[fasteddie]

I have short legs . They barely reach the ground . If I take walking steps , 13 of these would be 10 yards ( 130 paces = 100 yards , etc ) .
As for distance to a deer from a treestand , use all the math formulas you want but , you do not even consider the hypotenuse for distance from a treestand . You use the ground distance from the tree the stand is in to the deer !

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: shaman

I guess I'm old fashioned.    To me, the idea of a range finder seemed like cheating. 

I think there is a legitimate place for range finders as judging distance over 100 yards can be problematic. Over broken ground with multiple elevations, 267 yards can look like 375 & visa versa.

However, the fact that someone would need one to tell the difference between 10 & 20 yards, or anything under 25 yards ... leaves me utterly dumbfounded. If you need a range finder for those distances, or have to pace them off before you hunt & mark the landscape ... you need some old fashioned practice at the range ... or even your backyard if possible.

I just read where OHhunter bagged his umpteenth Coyote. Now a moving Coyote is not a very big target & you can see from the picture, he hit him plumb dead center. I'll bet if you check with OHhunter he will tell you he didn't use a rangefinder, he didn't pace off that Coyote & he didn't wait for the critter to get next to a tree he already measured off.

Practice gave him the experience to instinctually know how far away the animal was & where to hold on him. I think we do a disservice to new hunters when we don't advise them to just practice until taking a shot comes naturally. What are they going to do if they're moving & have 2-3 seconds to take a shot? There are no marked trees .

The answer is practice. Practice at targets of varied distances and as you suggested, estimating distances to objects you come across during the day. I also recommend squirrel hunting. They're small & come at all kinds of distances & are generally moving. If you get to where you can always hit a squirrel, you'll have the confidence to hold on a deer without hesitation. After all, hitting a deer is no where as difficult as hitting an X ring. [:)]

[kykevin]

Now where did I put that camo calculator of mine......

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: kykevin

Now where did I put that camo calculator of mine......

See ... the camouflage is working ...

[Wanderer]

I wrote a little excel program to do the math on this. I'd post it here but we can only post pictures or links. As mightyfofaad and bowhuntingbiker pointed out, the difference is negligible. For a stand height of 15 feet , the actual distances to targets 5,10,15,20,25, and 30 yards away calculate out to 7.07,11.18,15.81,20.62,25.50, and 30.41 yards. At a 20 foot stand height, the reads are 8.33,12.02,16.41,21.08,25.87, and 30.73. So the only place the distances vary by more than a yard are under 15 yards. I use my top pin for everything under 15 yards, so I make no changes. When I use my rangefinder to get the distance to other trees from an elevated stand, I range straight out at the same height my stand is at. That way I know the ground distance from my tree and don't have to do math in my head.

[bwhntr]

I had to find out the difference from the ground and 20 feet up in a treestand, so this is what I did. I have a treestand set up in my back yard. I took a 100 foot tape and measured from the base of the treestand out to 20 and 30 yards and set markers. Then I hooked the tape on the top of the stand, and measured out to the markers. Less than ONE yard difference. Save your money from the so called rangefinders that figure the angle distance for you, and spend it on something else. That's what I did.

[phoenixzorn]

The thing you have to understand for both gun and bow, is shooting at an angle - either up or down - has the same effect on your projectile as a result of gravity.  In both cases, if you're shooting at a 45* angle to the ground up or down, you would hold UNDER your natural aim point by 3" for every 100 yards.  So for bow hunting, generally nothing is affected by you being in a treestand, but if you're shooting uphill, the general reaction is to want to shoot higher to compensate for the arrow "falling" with the acceleration of gravity.  However, you're shooting the arrow at an upward angle, and depending on that angle, it could take a second or two for the arrow to actually begin "falling", until then, it is still going "up".  Always hold UNDER your aim point whenever shooting on an angle, or you'll shoot it right over the back of your deer...