shooting far

[DeerCamp]

I was in the woods thinking the other day about shooting.. I was thinking about taking a shot thats farther than you have your pin set for. (Id shoot at a target doing this over a deer. I was just thinking.) So lets say you have your pin set at 20 yards dead on. You havent shot any further. Lets say that you wanna start shooting at a targer that is further than 20 yards. Let's say 30 yards... How high do you place your pin up, for this shot? an inch above the middle circle that youve been shooting at? How high do you hold it for those longer shot.. 30,35,40,45,50,60, ect...

[Patriot]

Well DeerCamp,
Here's my take.
 
Obviously, you should never shoot at an animal if you don't know the distance or practiced from that distance.
 
That said, I have a 20, 30, and 40 yard pin.  For 25 yard shots, I "straddle" the target with my 20 and 30 yard pins, for 35 yard shots I "straddle" with the 30 and 40 yard pins.
 
Just for grins I was taking 50 yard shots at my target the other day.  I aimed about 8 inches high using my 40 yard pin.

[buckhunter21]

I would say w/out putting another pin on there, it's strictly a guessing game and probably not something you would want to do w/out practicing first.  How much further you'd have to aim would depend on how much you are pulling back, the angle of the shot, etc.  I would just put another pin on there, but personally I don't shoot at anything over 30, and keep 90% of my shots 20 and under!

[DeerCamp]

I agree I wont shoot at an animal if I dont have a pin set for that range, AND know the range. Practicing makes perfect.. I guess I was more or less thinking of a recurve bow.. Where you dont have a site. Or even for some of the sites out there that have just 1 pin. I was just thinking about practicing a lot and trying to get good at it.

[JOEL]

well if you put your 10 yrd pin does it hit 20?how fast ,speed is your bow?how flat do your arrows shoot?a fast bow the 20 pin might equal the 30.then again it might equal the 25 or 35..ASK YOURSELF WHEN THE MOMENT OF TRUTH ARRIVES...?AM I CONFIDENT IN THE SPOT I HAVE PICKED?aim small miss small.if you are trying to start guessing PAUSE ,TAKE A BREATH,YOU KNOW YOUR CONFIDENT Range,ITS THE ONE WHERE YA CAN PICK UP THE BOW COLD DRAW BACK FAST AND RELEASE AND HIT THE 10 RING.YA DONE IT  A MILLION TIMES RIGHT?if not pass on the shot and savor the fact that deer didnt even know you were there.hunting aint always killing

[hunter480]

Anytime you start talking about ethics and shooting distances, it can get passionate.
 
As was said, if you haven`t practiced the distance, you likely shouldn`t take the shot. But you`ll hear guys talk about 75 yard bow shots on deer, 80 yard shotgun shots on turkey, and 800 yard rifle shots on deer sized game. Scary.

[JPH]

While I am no techie, I would assume that it is a simple matter of arrow speed. The faster your set-up, the less your arrow will drop by the time it reaches the target.
 
I suppose the only way to be certain is to slowly increase your range until you see where your arrow hits.
 
And just to be on record, we should all know better than to shoot at any animal beyond ranges that we have dialed in on the range. 

[Goose]

I agree with the know your range and where your gonna hit theme here. I have pins at 20 30 40 and the gap between my 20 and 30 is smaller than between my 30 and 40 so I would say you really cant guess youd have to have pins. Like JPH said its gonna matter what your pulling back, arrow weight, broadhead, and your front of center.

[Woods Walker]

40 to 60 yard and beyond bow shots? Sorry, but that's for the 3-D course. If you want to shoot that far then wait for firearm season.
 
I know that many people are accurate at those ranges with a bow, but there's a BIG difference between shooting at FOAM that doesn't move, and doesn't die of spectic shock or gangrene from a slightly "off" shot, and a living breathing creature that is CONSTANTLY moving some part of it's body, and can REACT to sound or movement THAT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE TO COME FROM YOU!
 
The further the shooter is away from the animal, the more that can go wrong.
 
 

[vipermann7]

what youre talking about here, deercamp, is basically how flat your arrows fly. the flatter they fly, then the less youll have to hold over. my pins do vary slightly in gap distance the farther back i move, like my 20 and 30 pins are closer together than my 30 and 40 pins, but its a very slight difference. when im setting up to increase my range to a new distance, i set my target up with some ply wood behind it in case i miss the target. ive taken practice shots before beyond my last pin, and the hold over is such a guessing game. if youre at a new distance and dont know how much to hold over, you can generally use your last pin gap distance to estimate the next one. like if youre going to shoot at 40 yards and never have before, and dont have a pin for it, look at the distance between your 20 and 30 pins. hold over with about that same distance and you should be in the area, close enough to hit the target anyway. thats the way i do it anyway, until i get my new pin sighted in if i have one.