Accuracy for most humane shots with a self bow

[Chief RID]

First shot of the day is a key as mentioned. This is the only shot that counts, at least 1st shot of every session. Every thing after that is muscle memory form practice and confidence building All of which are important.  Even if you had a 3D coarse to shoot, that 1st target is your only indicator of your shot during hunting, unless your are hunting a species that gives you multiple shots. Hunting regalia included.  I am a lousy shot so my max is at 17 yds when I am shooting good.

[crooketarrow]

  If you  can shoot to 20 with a selfbow your  good. It doesn't matter how far you can shoot. It's  how close you can set up on a buck or gobbler and get a killing arrow off.

  In my 40 selfbow bucks the longest one has been 17 yards. 90% Been 10 to 12 yards.

 I love  to shoot but I suck so I have to be close Under. 20 for me I perfer under 15. It all depends on the blind site. That's usually no more than some back cover  for my ghillie.

[H Rhodes]

"accuracy for most humane shots"?  It is a good topic and one which requires brutal honesty with yourself.  I hunted a lot with some friends this past season, both of them recent converts to self bow hunting.  They are both accomplished deer hunters with rifle and compound bow, but getting them to adjust their stand placements for this kind of hunting has been a process.  There were enough missed opportunities for them this season to have convinced them that maybe the old guy is right!  I have made a few long shots in forty plus years of this stuff, but most of the deer I have taken with a bow have been under 12 yards.  Hunting in the eastern hardwoods for whitetails usually means tree stands or ground blinds to me.  My favorite shot is ten yards and closer from a tree stand no higher than ten feet up.  If you go too high up, you can't double lung a deer as easily.  If you want to know why, try and pop two balloons nailed to the ground side by side.   The difference in one lung popped and two lungs punctured can be a difference in blood tracking distance measured in hundreds of yards.  I have taken many deer from 5 to 7 yards away, but believe me, you can miss at that distance if you don't pick a spot low in the kill zone and hit your mark.  Twistedlimbs (Ryan Gil) posted a great practice drill a while back involving a five inch circle and a cold shot.  I think he was on to something with his thinking.  Learning to hunt into the wind and get your ambush spot set up for a close shot is as important as your shooting.   If you can get those things working for you, if you can hit in a place as big as your hand, and if the cutting edge of your arrow point is scary sharp, you can kill deer with a wood bow.  Good luck next season. 

[Zedd]

I have been a lurker here for a long time, in fact I think this is my first comment. I shoot a lot with a compound and have recently moved into traditional recurves. I can consistently keep shots with a compound within a 5" circle out to 50 yards, while with my recurve I can barely keep them in a 5" group at 15 yards. I feel comfortable with a recurve at 10 yards, not further due to the inconsistent fliers. I want every single shot without fail to be in the kill zone. Would I shoot a game animal at 50 yards with a compound (or a recurve, assuming my grouping becomes that good)? No. It takes way over a second for an arrow to cover 50 yards from my bow, that is a long time. A deer can break wind and move enough to put the shot off in that time. I guess my point is there are two issues at play, can I shoot well enough every time to keep the shots within the kill zone, and is it safe to do so even if I could. I don't ever see myself shooting with a traditional bow further than 20 yards. Skill with a compound with a peep and sights takes much much much less time to acquire the skill level to shoot accurately than does traditional archery. My respect for a fellow who can shoot 2-4" groups consistently from a traditional bow at 20 yards is deep and profound due to the pure dedication required to attain this.

[Traxx]

Target archery is seeing how far away you can get and still hit the bull's eye. Bowhunting is seeing how close you can get and never miss your mark.

[PAHunter]

I would challenge yourself to become more accurate.  Generally people are much worse shots when actually shooting at animals than when target shooting.  I try to take 25% off my comfortable indoor shooting distance to determine my effective hunting distance.  So if hunting whitetail you will likely want to be able to shoot 15 yards accurately.  This would mean shooting 20 yards well at a target.  Shoot some 300 rounds and keep score.  That which is measured is improved.  But then shoot a bunch of 3d or stumps at different distances to get used to the change in your trajectory (gap).  If you can do what your doing now at 20 yards instead of 10, then you will be accurate enough to hunt with that 15y range.

Of course there is much more to successful hunting than accuracy.  Shot placement is critical.  Or more importantly waiting for the right shot and being willing to not shoot if you don't have it.  IMO we owe our prey that respect. 

Last thought: of course compound bows are much more accurate than self bows.  However don't buy the message that self bows are poking and hopin.  One can become very accurate with a decent self bow at reasonable yardages. 

So get shootin and be thoughtful about your practice.  You'll be doing that group at 60 feet in no time!

[bubbles]

The worse  you shoot, the closer you need to get.  Thats what im trying out. Compensate for my bad shooting with hunting / woodsmanship skills.  Hasnt worked yet i guess both skill sets need work.   

[jayman448]

really its wherever you are comfortable from. one theory an archer/ hunter i know is: he shoots between50 and 100 yards (believe it or not) and gets pretty good at that distance. he figures pretty good at 100 yards means excellence at 20-50 yards when he hunts. mostly i figure if you doubt yourself at a distance, keep stalking.

[Eric Krewson]

To be your best, shoot one arrow, pull it, back up and shoot again from a slightly different distance or angle. Multiple shots confuse your brain and compound your errors. Lets' say you really flub a shot and shoot again immediately, your brain is subconsciously confused as will be your ability to put another arrow exactly where you want it to go.

So shoot a shot, concentrate on your form and follow thorough while picking a very tiny spot to aim at. Form is everything, if you have perfect form and you can't miss.

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

as many have said before, Practice shooting further, but practice getting closer. I shoot nearly all my deer between 7 and 12 yards.  As far as accuracy, too many people train to simple hit a deer not efficiently kill it.  I like to keep my shots inside a 4 inch circle. At whatever distance I can consistently keep 10 of 10 arrows in a 4 inch circle, that is my effective hunting range.  Even with all that in mind, you still have the variable of the animal moving which is something you cannot always predict. Often times a standing deer will jump the string just a tad at the last second. I actually prefer to shoot deer walking at about 8 yards... If you bow is fast and quiet, they will never jump the string especially if walking.  People always shoot different on targets than on live animals. It's amazing how perfect you can shoot on a target in a controlled situation, and how easy it is to make a less than perfect shot on a deer at the same distance.  I shoot pretty decent, but I'll take being a good hunter over being a good shot any day.  Some folks brag about shooting a deer at 30 yards from a tree stand, I brag about getting 8 yards from a deer on the ground and killing it with a slam dunk shot. Keep your targets close and you game even closer!

[mullet]

I know that, Clint. The first deer I missed at Pappy's that morning was about 6 yards. And a Gobbler, straight down, my fault, waited too late to shoot.

[crooketarrow]

  It's always that last 2 or 3 seconds that makes or breaks your shot.

 If you added all those 2 or 3 seconds up. Well I don't want to know the answer to that one. I'll just say alot.

When I know it's going to happen I slow down. Contrate on my spot (LANE) where I'm going to take the shot. Follow him pick my spot on him and lock on. For the shot.

[joachimM]

The french bowhunting federation asks its members to send their hunting stats, among which distance to target (ffca.net).
These are the results shown in the latest Chasse magazine

type   distance (m)    distance (yards)
Hide/stand   14.7   / 16.1
Walk & stalk   18.4   / 20.1
battue   11.6   / 12.7
bow type      
compound   15.7   / 17.2
wood bow   13.4   / 14.7
glassfiber recurve   14.3   / 15.6
      
species shot   percent   
Roe deer   45   
Wild boar   28.6   
red deer   3.6   
Chamois   1.6   
Fallow deer   2   
moufflon   3   
red fox   6   
other   10.2   

Basically, it shows that most shots are take within 15 m/16.5 yds, and even with compound bows the average distance is less than 20 yards. 
Wood bows represent just under 10%, compounds 55.5% and GF 34.5%

Joachim

[JeremiahVires]

It really just depends on how good you are.  And your equipment.  I've shot for a while, and practice alot during the off seasons, and I am comfortable hitting a white tail deer at 55 yards.  But I usually fire two.  Keep two arrows in the draw hand.

Good hunting, friends!