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Point on distance for my setup

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Black Moshannon:
Today I mapped out my point on and some gaps. Pretty happy with the way this is going. Deer season is coming up soon and I want to be ready, plus I need to define and refine my aiming system. I spent the whole spring and summer learning the NTS style of shooting cycle as taught by Tom Clum (I got his course, solid archery mechanics). I have finally got to the stage where I feel comfortable with the shot cycle and I’m ready to figure out my gaps. I like reading about other peoples gaps and arrow tuning and setup, I know not everyone is into this stuff though. But for those who get nerdy here’s the stats.

Bow is 45# hickory working handle D bow, 64” long by 1.25” wide, braced to 6.5 inches. Linen string with tie on linen nock point. Shooting off knuckle. Arrow was a Surewood Doug fir. I needed to shoot a field point for the bag target to have them stick in and measure the gap and I can’t use my shoot shafts for that since I don’t put field points on them, I use antler blunts for practice with the shoot arrows. I had to have an arrow weight which matched that of my wild rose and honeysuckle arrows, which range from 610-670 grains with point attached. The Doug fir are a lot lighter than that so what I did was, I used a 55-60 spine with 190 grain field point. Cut them to 30 inches before attaching point. Total weight was 640 grains, which matches my rose and honeysuckle arrows. I realize after doing the math the spine may be a tad stiff there with the wide arrow pass I’m using, but I didn’t get any clattering or impact left problems.

So with a 45# bow and 640 grain arrow I got a hair over 14 GPP. Draw length of 26”,three fingers under hook on string, anchoring with arrow at cheekbone, and aligned under eye, bow as vertical as possible. I found the best string blur was just to right of arrow. Moving my head/eye more to right and into string causes impact to drift left, and vice versa with moving head left.

Point on distance is 26 yards, maximum gap of 20 inches at 13 yards. 20 yard gap is 16.5 inches. I realize the numbers may not be literally that exact every time but that’s the average. I certainly won’t be shooting past 20 yards for any reason on a hunting shot. I’m happy that between 15-20 yards I can reliably put the point somewhere behind the hoof/leg line, using that line as an elevation reference, and expect the arrow to impact up from there. I know the arrow setup is slower than say a  10 GPP setup but I need to have a gap I can use accurately, plus when I get my rose arrows spined down to fly right out of a 45 pound bow with wide handle they end up 14-15 GPP and I obviously can’t lighten them up any further by working down the shaft, so nature was pushing toward a heavier GPP anyways.

Pat B:
Are you hunting from a tree or the ground?  I don't use the gap method so I can't help with any of that. I just look where the arrow will go and make sure my draw, anchor and release are perfect. 10 to 15 yards is my ideal shot and 20 is my max. Where I hunt 20 would be almost nonexistent because of the brushy terrain I usually hunt.
 Over 10gpp would be a very heavy arrow for a 45# bow @26" so be damn sure you know your arrow trajectory.
 Good luck with your hunting this season.

bradsmith2010:
my best deer hunting was with 20 yard, point on,,
I would suggest raise your anchor and get point on at 20,,,

Black Moshannon:
I’ll be hunting from some ground blinds but will use hang on treestand when I hunt state game land.  Going to restrict shots to fifteen yards and under for now. The heavy arrow thing is something I dwell on. I heard about a couple stickbow guys shooting 16-17 GPP with 40 something pound bows, one did it to get a 25 yard point on for hunting and the other was trying to get maximum penetration under the Ashby heavy arrow theories and a quiet release for close quarters deer hunting. The difference is they are using efficient manufactured recurves and longbows, my selfbows are not going to be putting out the same energy. So I’ve been thinking of stepping up to make my bows keep more reflex or maybe lighten up the limbs. For now I don’t think there will be a problem as long as I keep the shot close. The arrow trajectory arc is probably pretty drastic but theres that trade off, small gaps with a heavy arrow and big differences in gap size from varying distances, or use a lighter arrow with a flatter trajectory . have larger gaps but lesser differences in the gap size at varying distances. I have long neck and it seems like my gaps were going to be pretty large so the heavy arrow worked well into the formula to shrink the gaps. If I shoot split finger the arrow point is somewhere down in the dirt where I can barely see it in relation to target. I might try split for shots 40 yards and over (face walking) to keep arrow tip just under target at all distances. Will see what type of penetration I get with this setup

Black Moshannon:
I like the idea of a twenty yard point on. I’ll play with raising the anchor. I just can’t lift up too far and get out of back tension and end up with a shoulder pull. I seem to have a long neck and face, some people have that short neck their shoulder line is just right below and they can really get that arrow up just below the eye and keep all the work in the back. I might be able to get away with a little more lift into a higher anchor. 

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