Shooting Distance
As we navigate through this temporary new way of life, like many others all over the country, sporting events have been cancelled, your favorite bars or restaurants are closed. The streets of Nashville and Las Vegas are empty, there are no concerts or community events to attend. There is no better form of “social distancing” than getting Outdoors! The spring and summer months are great for tree stand preparations, mushroom hunting, food plots, controlled burns, turkey hunting, fishing and much more!
For Archers this is a great time to get in practice for the fall, tune equipment and be better prepared than in past years. This should include practicing longer distances. The common misconception we hear in the Archery Shop is “I’d never shoot an animal at that distance….” . The point of practicing longer distances, doesn’t mean your effective range or comfort to shoot longer ranges at animals has to change! Shooting longer distances throughout the spring and summer helps in several ways. First, many inconsistency’s in your setup or mechanics are amplified at longer distances that don’t show as drastic at 20 yards. For example, Archers who are punching the trigger may see little to no issues with their groups at 20 yards. However, shooting back at 60 yards they will see erratic groups, off several inches and even missing the target completely. Second, with many companies over the last few years marketing “field point accuracy”, many Archers elect to head to the woods without properly testing their broadhead setup. Once again, many times getting a broadhead to group at 20 yards is fairly easy. We stress to customers all the time that to really know if your hunting setup, specifically your broadhead and arrow combination is tuned properly you need to shoot longer distances as those imperfections will come out drastically. Lastly, we have heard for decades the saying “If you can hit a pie plate at X yards, you can kill a deer…..”. While correct in terms of anatomically proportionate to a deer’s vitals, this is not the best way to know if your sights and arrow setup are properly tuned. Your always best to have an aiming point that is as small as you can possibly see and group accurately. This could be the size of a silver dollar down to a golf tee at 20 yards, up to a tennis ball or softball at 60 yards. The more practice you have at aiming at smaller targets, the easier an ethical kill shot on the “kill zone” of an animal will be this fall.
So get out and practice longer distances this summer, it will only help you this fall to be a better Archer! For everything archery including more tips throughout the year follow us on Facebook or Instagram!
For Archers this is a great time to get in practice for the fall, tune equipment and be better prepared than in past years. This should include practicing longer distances. The common misconception we hear in the Archery Shop is “I’d never shoot an animal at that distance….” . The point of practicing longer distances, doesn’t mean your effective range or comfort to shoot longer ranges at animals has to change! Shooting longer distances throughout the spring and summer helps in several ways. First, many inconsistency’s in your setup or mechanics are amplified at longer distances that don’t show as drastic at 20 yards. For example, Archers who are punching the trigger may see little to no issues with their groups at 20 yards. However, shooting back at 60 yards they will see erratic groups, off several inches and even missing the target completely. Second, with many companies over the last few years marketing “field point accuracy”, many Archers elect to head to the woods without properly testing their broadhead setup. Once again, many times getting a broadhead to group at 20 yards is fairly easy. We stress to customers all the time that to really know if your hunting setup, specifically your broadhead and arrow combination is tuned properly you need to shoot longer distances as those imperfections will come out drastically. Lastly, we have heard for decades the saying “If you can hit a pie plate at X yards, you can kill a deer…..”. While correct in terms of anatomically proportionate to a deer’s vitals, this is not the best way to know if your sights and arrow setup are properly tuned. Your always best to have an aiming point that is as small as you can possibly see and group accurately. This could be the size of a silver dollar down to a golf tee at 20 yards, up to a tennis ball or softball at 60 yards. The more practice you have at aiming at smaller targets, the easier an ethical kill shot on the “kill zone” of an animal will be this fall.
So get out and practice longer distances this summer, it will only help you this fall to be a better Archer! For everything archery including more tips throughout the year follow us on Facebook or Instagram!
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