Scope sight in at 25 yards?

[houser52]

I have a Vortex and am now using the Vari-Zone scope and arrows at 305 fps.

I'm thinking of going to single reticle scope or just the cross hairs on the scope I have now. Those little yardage chevrons are hard for me to see against a deer during low light but the cross hairs are easily visible. They are washed out when they are on the deer's body and I can't see them.

I thought a 25 yard sight in using just a single reticle would be a good option.

To those of you that use a single reticle, how do you sight in, 20, 25, 30 yards?

[kd8jgu]

Have u thought of using a Shadow zone.
I have notice when I was losing the chevrons on my
boar 3d.
The shadow zone has made a big difference.
U could also use the Twilight zone.

[wabi]

Phoenix with Leupold 2-7X shotgun scope sighted at 25 yards and shooting 375gr arrows at somewhere around 290 fps.

A "center of the kill zone" hold on any deer inside 30 yards.

Switched to this method a couple years ago and haven't lost a deer since.

[Big58cal]

Just a thought, but why not just leave the crosshair sighted in for 20 and the other points on the scope for 10, 30, 40, and 50. Practice with it like this and find out where the crosshair is sitting for a 25 yard shot. That way, if it's during normal light, you'll still have the othr aiming points, but if it's low light and you can't see the chevrons, you'll still know where to aim. Besides, if it's low enough light that you can't make out the chevrons, it's going to be too dark to see and make a shot much beyond 20-25 yds anyway.

My Vari-Zone crapped out on me last winter, so I went ahead and got a Lumi-Zone or Shadow-Zone (whichever is the new one with the 30mm tube). Haven't had a chance yet to see how well the lighted reticles show up on a deer though.

[theoldarcher]

I switched scopes yesterday myself. I was using a Barska three dot 3x32 IR Contour, but due to going to some heavier arrows It was no longer anywhere close to being on after 20 yards with the other aim points so I switched to a straight power 4x with duplex crosshairs. Sighted in at 25 yards (main crosshair) The bottom of the top post is 1 inch high at 20 yards and the top of the bottom post is dead on at 30 yards. That is as for as I would attempt a shoot at a deer using these arrowsanyway, 546 grains tend to slow my Phoenix down just a little.

[houser52]

Phoenix with Leupold 2-7X shotgun scope sighted at 25 yards and shooting 375gr arrows at somewhere around 290 fps.

A "center of the kill zone" hold on any deer inside 30 yards.

Switched to this method a couple years ago and haven't lost a deer since.

I like the idea of using just a little more magnification like the 2X7. I have a 2X7 Redfield on my AR-15 that I really like. They are recoil rated for crossbows too.

[strum]

Phoenix with Leupold 2-7X shotgun scope sighted at 25 yards and shooting 375gr arrows at somewhere around 290 fps.

A "center of the kill zone" hold on any deer inside 30 yards.

Switched to this method a couple years ago and haven't lost a deer since.

i think im about to try this method Wabi..i think i missed that ole doe because of ..in the moment i put the wrong retical on her...tell me ..what happens at say 15 yards and im 25 to 30 feet up..?

[Yarak]

I changed from 20 to 25yds, based on Wabi's input. Makes sense to me.

Ibex with 410 gr arrows at 310fps.

[wabi]

The last 3 deer I shot were from 15' up and the last one was close to 10 yards. He came in from behind me and walked within about 5 yards of the tree my stand is in. I was watching him through the scope as he walked, so I wasn't concentrating on exact yardage, just looking for the leg near me to be forward while he paused (on almost every step he took he did the stop-look-sniff routine). When I got the shot that looked good I pulled the trigger.
This was only the second time I've failed to get a complete pass-through with the arrow buried in the ground. It actually passed through his body, but it hit a bone in the leg on the off side.
I'm posting a pic of him where he fell. As he ran and fell the arrow broke (I found the end with the broadhead near him). The stub with the fletching is still in him, but it shifted it's angle when he fell. It was actually oriented forward and down as it went through, not back and level as it looks in the pic.
The result of using the crosshair at about 10 yards from an elevated stand using "center of the kill zone" hold (tight to the front leg and 1/3 of the way up on the body) a slightly high point of impact with the arrow ranging down through both lungs and a short blood trail.




BTW - The reason I switched to this sight in distance and method was exactly the reason you're looking to switch.
The crosshair sighted at 20 yards and used instead of the 30 yard reticle will put the arrow just under the brisket at 32 yards. The 40 yard reticle will put the arrow just over the back at about 30 yards if the deer "jumps the string".
I decided a 30 yard maximum shot range and simple aiming system would put more deer in the freezer with a lot less stress. Not 100% sure when I made the switch, but it was while I was still using a vari-zone (I just ignored the other aiming points for deer hunting).
I'm guessing, but it would be very close that I've killed 5 or 6 deer with the Leupold on the Phoenix, and a couple before that with the vari-zone.
The only miss was when the vari-zone shifted POI (the front lens came loose I found later). The Leupold has a 100% success rate so far.

[houser52]

Thanks for all the help guys.
I might try to experiment with my aiming points this weekend and see how the 25 yard sight in will work out.

wabi- Very good report and explanation of how it's working out for you. Sounds like a good system to me.

[houser52]

I worked with my scope yesterday and got it dialed in at 25 yards with field points. One thing that surfaced was when I shot my practice Slick Trick 125 Magnum, the POI was erratic. I might have a couple shots on target and then one 3 inches high and to the left. It might have been this way all along and only showed up yesterday because I shot it so much in one sitting.
I'm going to check all the connections on the bow and scope tonight and see if anything's amiss there.