my long distance deer shooting

[Masboy]

I hear all this don,t shoot past 35-40 yds and thought well I,m deadly with my vortex out to 80yds sitting on my rear with fieldpoints and my broadheads.I practice all the time .I have a 4x12 adj ao,hha and thought 50-60 yds a piece of cake! I,m hard headed and have to find things out the hard way! boy was I wrong!!!! I had a nice buck running around in front of me with some doe and here I was range finding him and he kept moving and I kept changing my hha it was like a circus trying to keep up! then he stopped broadside at 55yds and I was ready and had a good steady rest over my knee like I practice all the time. was already thinking about the drag before I shot. so I squeezed the trigger and I watched thru the scope as he went ballistic as the bow went off. It was a clean miss so went and picked up my arrow and thought to myself never again will I try this. I thought the noise would not bother them as much at longer distance but I was wrong again! I know of those who have made long kills but it,s not as exciting or worth taking the chance for me!so lesson learned !!! now I will be a short range hunter like all the experienced hunters on hear that no what there talking about.

[papa bear1]

Don't be so hard on yourself, you had to learn one way or another, So now ya know,,,,,,, We have all learned our share the [ hard way ]

[Hester0305]

I'm glad you missed clean and didn't wound him. I know its hard to hold back I have limited myself to 40 and under even though our Excals will hold tight groups off the bench a lot further.

[Deerstalker]

I believe that the sound travels about 1120'/sec or close to that so at 50 yards or 150' the CB sound would reach the Buck in about 1/3 sec. What is the speed of your CB and you will get some idea of the difference between the CB sound and arrow strike. I believe that I would have taken the shot if I had a rest for my CB. At least you had an exciting time watching all of that action. Good luck!

[Masboy]

I don,t know how fast my vortex is shooting my 500gr arrows but he had plenty of time to react buy his reactions when I pulled the trigger.I just took my vortex instead of my normal hunting bow my vixen because I knew from this stand it was going to be a long shot.but now my vortex with all the long range capability target shooting will stay at home testing arrows and shooting targets.I love my vixen and with my nikon 1x4 shotgun scope I know my limits and it will do fine at those ranges because every deer I,ve shot with it had a pass thru.and no temptations to take long shots with it!!!!!

[wheelie]

I shoot coyotes with a .22mag. I just don't tell anyone.

[Limbs and Sticks]

I don,t know how fast my vortex is shooting my 500gr arrows but he had plenty of time to react buy his reactions when I pulled the trigger.I just took my vortex instead of my normal hunting bow my vixen because I knew from this stand it was going to be a long shot.but now my vortex with all the long range capability target shooting will stay at home testing arrows and shooting targets.I love my vixen and with my nikon 1x4 shotgun scope I know my limits and it will do fine at those ranges because every deer I,ve shot with it had a pass thru.and no temptations to take long shots with it!!!!!

It could depend on the way the wind carried the sound of the bow if there were any, and it can play a part, a 500 gr arrow out of the vortex is really to slow at that distance imho, glad no wounded deer

Wes

[VixChix]

Glad to hear it was a clean miss.

Don't let your "arrow speed" or 3D scores fool you into thinking that you can reach out there on a live deer.

Recently I had someone tell me how fast his E'max shoots - that the arrow would travel the length of a football field in 1 second. Wrong wrong wrong.

People often don't realize that the speed drops drastically once the arrow gets beyond a certain distance.

(I need to find a graph that illustrates that to carry with me for the next time people talk about arrow speed and how far they can shoot deer. )

EDIT: Found it:
http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/conten ... ballistics

[Tennessee Tom]

If any one doubts the noise get down range and let a friend shoot a bolt I can hear string twang and the bolt in flight prior to hitting target from 30 yds ,, at 30 yds not even the quickest deer could not duck bolt but just a few yard farther and it would be possiable and the bolt is decelerating all along the distance traveled

[JAGG]

Sound travels approximately 4 times the speed of a bolt (or arrow) that's starting out around 300 ft/sec. And the bolt (or arrow) is decelerating from the instant it leaves the bow! Sound, not so much. Hmmmmm! Something to consider when stretching your limits.

[Dash]

It can be tricky knowing your limit. There's no set limit for everyone, as theres a lot to take into account before taking a shot.
Having your shooting up to scratch at longer distances is definately big part of it, and you have put the work in there.
Arrow speed, wind, arrow/FOC/broadhead type, knowing if the animals already onto you, etc can all play a part too. But another big one is the type of game your shooting and knowing thier reactions. Deer being so jumpy are definately high risk at longer distances. Most types of game here give a reaction of staring in the direction of the sound to identify the threat before running. So them hearing your sound a fraction of a second earlier doesn't cause the trigger jump I always hear about, "except when they were already onto me" .

[Masboy]

I practice a lot and have great shooting arrows and with my hha and rangefinder anything that dont move out of the way out to 80yds is in trouble wind or no wind if I,m sitting resting my arm on my knee like I do hunting from my stands but these deer here are jumpie critters and I learned it don,t matter how much you practice or how well you shoot or what arrows these deer don,t care. they have me on a limited range that I can count on a kill most of the time. I,ve had some shorter range misses to that were not from a poor aim or shot.our deer are quick to react!!!!!!!!!

[JT of PA]

(I need to find a graph that illustrates that to carry with me for the next time people talk about arrow speed and how far they can shoot deer. )

EDIT: Found it:
http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/conten ... ballistics

VixChix, Thank you for the graph. First time I have seen something like that and it was an eye opener. Appreciate your finding it and sharing it with us all.

[JT of PA]

Weird to say "I'm glad you missed" but it sounds like your glad you missed too.

All the best to you Masboy and anything within 40 yards is toast.

[j.krug]

Good to hear you learned this lesson with a clean miss.