Judge yardage from a treestand

[Bowtechian]

ORIGINAL: mtptl77

Judging distance for hunting is a lot different than judging distance for target or 3-D shooting. You get more points in a 3-D shoot for hitting a small circle within the kill. Hit an animal through both lungs and they are going down pretty fast regardless of what part of the lungs you hit. You don't get more points for hitting a smaller spot. 

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Organic Seo |Christian Seo

 
I don't agree with judging distance being so different in hunting & 3-D. When you're in a treestand, you judge the horizontal distance to other trees around you & not by line of sight to the ground. That way, twenty yards 20 feet up is the same as 20 yards on ground level. The 3-D shoots I go to usually have very steep shot angles at some point during the shoot which is very good hunting related practice. Anytime you practice judging distance will be beneficial to you when you need to shoot on the fly. 
 
It also sounds like you don't pick a small aiming spot when hunting. Your margine for error grows when you pick out a certain hair to hit within the lung area, & not just shoot for the lungs.
 
Maybe I'm not reading you right, but I did read it twice.[;)]

[fasteddie]

ORIGINAL: Bowtechian
It also sounds like you don't pick a small aiming spot when hunting. Your margine for error grows when you pick out a certain hair to hit within the lung area, & not just shoot for the lungs.
Maybe I'm not reading you right, but I did read it twice.[;)]

Unless I am reading you wrong , I would disagree with your ststement . I believe the margin of error would lessen as to hitting the kill zone if you picked a hair versus shooting for a larger area .

[Bowtechian]

fasteddie, I think we're basically saying the same thing from different angles.

Margin "for" error means you still have a good 3-4 inches of fudge factor around the aiming point to still punch holes in the lungs.

I totally agree the margin "of" error should be smaller with picking a smaller aiming point such as a particular hair. As the saying goes, "aim small, miss small".

[JPH]

My take on this topic:

In 2009, I went into the woods better equipped than ever before. Brand new bow and  brand new shotgun + red dot scope. I was dialed in on the range and well practiced. My effective range was as far as it had ever been and I was very confidant.

In 2009, I hit two does with archery and one with my shotgun that I did not recover. I suspect that a couple of those wounds were non fatal, but that is no excuse. I also killed two does and was forced to wait until the next day for recovery. Much of my problem was was in estimating my new found range in real world conditions. I offer no excuse.

I now own a laser rangefinder. I won't say that I'll never wound another deer, but I will promise that it will not be because I did not properly guess the range.

[NorthernoaksHunt]

The distance you are using your pin for is the distance the arrow is working against gravity which can and cant be the distance it travels. look at the picture i upload to see what i mean. If you have enough trees around were you hunt like i do, you dont need a rangefinder that calculates the distance that the arrow works against gravity all you need to do is range the tree neerest to the deer and that is level with you and you have the correct range to hold your pin instead of spending an extra 100-200 $ to get a rangefinder that calculates angles but those rangfinders are worth it when you dont have enough trees around you to use the other method.