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What Western Game Do You Hunt?
Whether you're planning an elk hunt, spot-and-stalk mule deer hunt or just want to increase your range in the whitetail woods, adding some western flair to your archery practice can pay off
What’s the farthest you’ll shoot at a deer with your bow? Two years ago, my limit was 35 yards unless the animal was wounded. I considered a shot much farther than that unethical. A bow is a close-range tool, and a good hunter can get close. Living in the eastern treestand bubble can do that to you. Most of my hunting buddies feel the same way.
But things are different out West. Hunting is done from the ground, and the terrain doesn’t often allow for 20-yard shots. Many mule deer, pronghorn and open-country elk hunters consider 40 and 50 yards to be close. Sixty, 70 and 80 yards isn’t uncommon. A few hunters are effective out to 100.
It’s not a question of whether modern bowhunting equipment is capable. It absolutely is, so long as the guy behind the string does his part. And one guy who can definitely do the part is Utah hunter Anthony Dixon with Full Moon Productions. Dixon is a high-energy guy, fast talker, and an amazing bow shot — whether the targets are stuffed with backstop material or flesh and bone. He specializes in spot-and-stalk hunts for mule deer and says, “My favorite shots in the field are 70 to 80 yards. When you get too close, you actually begin to lose options for killing him. By moving 6 or 10 inches at 70 yards, you can open up an entirely new shooting window without being detected. If you’re at 18 yards, you can’t do that. You might be able to see your buck’s head or rear end, but you’re stuck.”
Gadgets and gear can’t replace form, practice and skill — but most archers can’t group a cluster of arrows into a pie plate at 60 yards with a recurve, either. For the sake of this article, we’ll assume you’re shooting a perfectly tuned modern compound. Here are some additions you might want to make:
Once your equipment is ready to go, the rest is up to you. Your form is everything when it comes to accuracy, especially at long range.
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I’ve always been able to judge yardage pretty well, especially inside of 40 yards. So I never carried a rangefinder. That’s handy on a white oak ridge in Tennessee where the farthest shot is 25 yards. But things change on the edge of a beanfield — or on a Utah mountain. The modern laser rangefinder gets nearly as much credit as the compound bow for extending today’s bowhunter’s effective range.
“To shoot at animals beyond 40 yards with a bow, a rangefinder is absolutely critical. In addition to the bow and arrows themselves, it’s the most important piece of gear that I carry,” Dixon says. “But it’s important to sight in your bow with your rangefinder. They’re all perfectly reliable, but individual ones may vary by a half yard or so.”
Out West, shooting up and down steep inclines is a regular obstacle. “I used to carry a cut chart and inclinometer to figure out where I needed to hold given the angle,” Dixon says, “But many of today’s rangefinders automatically compensate the angle for you. So if there’s a 27-degree angle, I may cut 10 to 14 yards off the distance. That’s significant when you’re aiming a bow.”
I’ve shot alongside some great bowhunters and talented archers from Utah, Colorado, and Idaho in the past couple years, and I’ve learned some things. I’ve gone to a single-pin adjustable sight, and I carry a rangefinder. Do I think an 80-yard shot at an animal is a good thing for most bowhunters to try? No. Maybe never with a quick animal like a whitetail.
But I can say that I double-lunged a deer at 48 yards last fall without the slightest hesitation. That’s a near 30-percent increase on my former effective range — and a big advantage in the woods.
Editor's Note: This was originally published on June 29, 2011.
Are you a bowhunter wanting to learn how to accomplish your goals? Check out our stories, videos and hard-hitting how-to's on bowhunting.
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