One of the major issues I had seen through my time in smaller tournaments or a lazy afternoon shoot around with friends had been my pin gap. I am not the tallest guy on the range so that leaves me in a bind right off the bat. Unless you have monkey arms, being short leaves you with a short draw length and that typically means a slower bow.
I had always set my pins, as I'm sure most archers do with the typical 20, 30, 40, and 50 yard pins. Not having the speediest of bows meant that the gaps between the pins are pretty wide. Couple that with the fact that I am not the best judge of yardages and I was in deep doo-doo. When you are judging a small deer target at 37 yards in your mind and put a 30 and 40 yard split on the body with a wide gap, you may have one close to the top and the other close to the bottom of the animal. This is not the best feeling if you are already unsure of the yardage you have chosen. After some iffy shots and the discussions of yardages with my competitors afterward, I was asked about my pin setting by one of the guys.
I cannot remember the guy's name, but he gave me a tip that has stuck with me for all these years. He showed me his sight, which happened to be the same as mine, but his gaps were a lot smaller. He told me it wasn’t totally due to speed but just the way he set them. He said I should pick my strongest yards and maybe play the averages on shots that I would encounter. His yardages were something like 23, 35, 42, and 51 if I remember right. He asked me how many times do you actually shoot a target at exactly 20 or 30? He had a point. I picked his brain a little more as we shot and was starting to see the benefits. Always one to try and better my shooting, I could not wait to get back on the practice range at home. I finished that tournament pretty low in the standings. I was happy that I had not blanked any targets at least because of how difficult it was compared to anything I had ever encountered, but I also had a new plan to get better for future tourneys and maybe even the deer woods.
Up until this season I have used this method only for target archery. I was pretty confident in the fact that I would be able to use my rangefinder under hunting situations and would not encounter this “doubt” in my yardages. That was until I missed the biggest deer I had ever shot at last season on opening day. I have never been one to make excuses and I have no intentions on starting now. I take full responsibility for the miss. It wasn’t the bow. The deer didn’t jump. There was no wind or rain. I just plain blew it. The big boy came out like he was supposed to. I had him pegged and we knew it. I was calm and cool, even asking Jeff if he was steady on the cam and was he ready for me to shoot. Everything was perfect but this one little thought in my head.
I had changed to a heavier arrow just a few weeks before the season opener. The change did not seem drastic. Just a few tweaks to the sight here and there and I was back in business. The main difference was the extra gap in the pins. No biggee right? I had a range finder and the bow was grouping fantastically. My brain was not so sure. I honestly just did not like the sight picture. I convinced myself it was because I was just too used to the tight pin gaps I had been looking at all season with my faster hunting bow.
I pulled my bow back on the deer that I thought was at my 28 yard marker. Pretty easy right? Put the 30 yard pin on his heart and let her eat!!! Wrong. The key word in that last statement was “thought;” I was not sure. It happened so fast I second guessed myself. I thought, “Maybe I should just give it a little more,” and I eased the 30 up toward center body. Bad move! As I released, I watched the arrow skip off of the bucks back sending him away in a hurry and me into a deep depression.
> Continued P43
Im not going to go as far as to say that using this alternative yardage system would have killed that deer for me but I need to try something new and I know how much it helped me on the 3D course. Theoretically I would have shoved my 26 yard pin on center body which would have put my 20 on his heart and 33 on the top of his lungs….Dead critter!!!