Cursed rifle shooter here

[seeth07]

25 yards? As a novice, your range is 15 yards, hell I've been shooting all my life and my range is still 25 yards. In the woods its not a big dick contest.

On paper I go out to 40 for fun but 25 is where I'm killing an animal 99% of the time. Its actually how I practice in the summer. I start at 15 yards. I shoot 50 times. All 50 need need to be in a 6 inch circle or I restart. Once I get 50 in a row, I do 20. Then 25. I've tried 30 but never can do 50 in a row. Therefore, 25 is my limit. 6 inches is a comfortable amount of error with an arrow. Hitting 49/50 out of 50 isn't fair to the animal. You owe it to be perfect. I challenge anyone to do 50/50 at 30 plus yards. Some pros probably can but I haven't met a buddy that took the challenge and succeeded yet. Idk maybe I just have tough standards on myself and the animals I pursue.

 

[BananaPudding]

25 yards? As a novice, your range is 15 yards, hell I've been shooting all my life and my range is still 25 yards. In the woods its not a big dick contest.

On paper I go out to 40 for fun but 25 is where I'm killing an animal 99% of the time. Its actually how I practice in the summer. I start at 15 yards. I shoot 50 times. All 50 need need to be in a 6 inch circle or I restart. Once I get 50 in a row, I do 20. Then 25. I've tried 30 but never can do 50 in a row. Therefore, 25 is my limit. 6 inches is a comfortable amount of error with an arrow. Hitting 49/50 out of 50 isn't fair to the animal. You owe it to be perfect. I challenge anyone to do 50/50 at 30 plus yards. Some pros probably can but I haven't met a buddy that took the challenge and succeeded yet. Idk maybe I just have tough standards on myself and the animals I pursue.

I'm a newb, not tryna challenge your lifetime of experience, but what happens if you start at 40 or even 50? Doing 200 draws by the time you finish with 30 yards sounds like you're accidentally influencing the test of how far you are 100% reliable at with one draw and probably some holding. I'm sure you've done it, but I wasn't clear.

Again, I'm an utter novice and this is just an intellectual exercise for me. 25 yards does not seem like an unreasonable distance to stop yourself at.

 

[seeth07]

Its over the course of a few months off practice. 50 arrows in a session is a lot and I work up to that. I should shoot year round but very little happens from March weekend league ends to July it seems. I'll start back up with 20 shots and work my way up. I never shoot more than 50 a day. Just the limits that work for me.

 

[LaSportsman]

25 yards? As a novice, your range is 15 yards, hell I've been shooting all my life and my range is still 25 yards. In the woods its not a big dick contest.

On paper I go out to 40 for fun but 25 is where I'm killing an animal 99% of the time. Its actually how I practice in the summer. I start at 15 yards. I shoot 50 times. All 50 need need to be in a 6 inch circle or I restart. Once I get 50 in a row, I do 20. Then 25. I've tried 30 but never can do 50 in a row. Therefore, 25 is my limit. 6 inches is a comfortable amount of error with an arrow. Hitting 49/50 out of 50 isn't fair to the animal. You owe it to be perfect. I challenge anyone to do 50/50 at 30 plus yards. Some pros probably can but I haven't met a buddy that took the challenge and succeeded yet. Idk maybe I just have tough standards on myself and the animals I pursue.

What game are you using 6" as the goal? Elk kill zone is substantially bigger. I'm not going to shoot farther than 40 because too many bad things start to happen if the animal detects you and I don't want to hi-jack the thread that direction but with a modern compound bow, BananaPudding can get to where he is consistently hitting a paper plate at 40 yards in a couple months with coaching and practice.

I use a target the size of a 50 cent piece at 20 yards, size of baseball at 30 and softball at 40 yards. Aim small, miss small. I've shot at a 2" square at 70 yards. Would never do that at a live animal but it is great practice. I shoot a lot at 50 and 60 because it makes 40 and under easier.

Also, putting some kind of stress helps practice. Your goal of 50 is great. I liked playing horse with buddies. Forced us to shoot from different positions and in-between yardages. Closes to target wins. If no one is within 8" then everyone missed. 3D targets are great when you have access to them.

 

[seeth07]

What game are you using 6" as the goal? Elk kill zone is substantially bigger.

6 inches accounts for human error. Then you got the 100 other varibles that can cause it to stray off target.

I've wounded and lost a total of 4 animals with my bow and they were all deer before I was 18. 2 were found weeks later. 3 were beyond 30 yards. It stings pretty bad and at some point beyond my cocky big dick years bloating I can shoot a deer out at 70 yards I realized that it isn't worth it and when I decide to draw and fling an arrow, I need to be certain the animal will die quickly. I owe it to that animal. Over the last 10 or so years since I have double lunged or heart shot every single animal I've shot with a bow (no misses, no bad hits) and haven't even struggled finding one. That's the number that matters. Does it result in lost trophies on my wall? Well sure it does. Its tough to get close but can be done. Just last year I had a very nice 300" plus 7x7 under 10 yards clueless of my presence but a dang cow was in the only reasonable shooting lane I had just before he entered. I did have a tiny space to shoot high lung since he stood so much taller than the cow but with the risk of a low miss meaning hitting the cow, I instead just watched and don't regret it one bit.

 

[LaSportsman]

6 inches accounts for human error. Then you got the 100 other varibles that can cause it to stray off target.

I've wounded and lost a total of 4 animals with my bow and they were all deer before I was 18. 2 were found weeks later. 3 were beyond 30 yards. It stings pretty bad and at some point beyond my cocky big dick years bloating I can shoot a deer out at 70 yards I realized that it isn't worth it and when I decide to draw and fling an arrow, I need to be certain the animal will die quickly. I owe it to that animal. Over the last 10 or so years since I have double lunged or heart shot every single animal I've shot with a bow (no misses, no bad hits) and haven't even struggled finding one. That's the number that matters. Does it result in lost trophies on my wall? Well sure it does. Its tough to get close but can be done. Just last year I had a very nice 300" plus 7x7 under 10 yards clueless of my presence but a dang cow was in the only reasonable shooting lane I had just before he entered. I did have a tiny space to shoot high lung since he stood so much taller than the cow but with the risk of a low miss meaning hitting the cow, I instead just watched and don't regret it one bit.

I passed on a 45 yard shot on a 6x6 this year because part of the kill zone was obstructed by a tree. Even though he didn't know I was there, the kill zone was cut in half and I didn't want to take a chance of wounding him. I didn't get a better shot before he trotted away. I'm not arguing for long shots but I have no problem with a 30-40 yard shot on an elk if conditions are right. The elk is bigger and hardier and that concerns me with not getting a double lung. But a double lung on an elk is an easier shot than a double lung on a whitetail.

I can consistently hit a pie plate at 40 yards if the wind is 5 mph or less. I adjust everything for conditions including fatigue. If OP practices and gets good coaching, he can become consistent at 40 too.

You may mention 70 yards as what you once thought was practical but I want to make sure it's clear I never advocated for 70 yard shots on game. I doubled checked my post - I said my limit on an elk was 40 yards. I mentioned 70 yards as practice, not hunting.

We can disagree on 25 yards vs 40 yards because it's our individual limit and choice. BananaPudding needs to find his limit as well and better to be on the closer end when new.

 

[seeth07]

These days my feeling is just that pulling a trigger on a gun or the release when drawn on a bow the result needs to be a dead animal. In my teens I was horrible and I wounded so many animals due to cockiness and lack of care for a natural resource. It was literally a switch on this buck I wounded due to me taking a 35 yard shot I knew I shouldn't have when he heard the arrow, jumped and I hit him awkwardly in the shoulder blade. I knew it was bad so we left him all night and came back the next morning where I got to 30 yards of him and he just started to moan. I couldn't get a shot and he walked badly injured away. He was on the neighbors shortly after and our permission there was no go. No matter what. Changed my whole perspective on it. Ever since that day, I have missed twice with the gun but never wounded an animal. I have passed on so many shots that most people will take but never feel bad about it in the end.

 

[BananaPudding]

These days my feeling is just that pulling a trigger on a gun or the release when drawn on a bow the result needs to be a dead animal. In my teens I was horrible and I wounded so many animals due to cockiness and lack of care for a natural resource. It was literally a switch on this buck I wounded due to me taking a 35 yard shot I knew I shouldn't have when he heard the arrow, jumped and I hit him awkwardly in the shoulder blade. I knew it was bad so we left him all night and came back the next morning where I got to 30 yards of him and he just started to moan. I couldn't get a shot and he walked badly injured away. He was on the neighbors shortly after and our permission there was no go. No matter what. Changed my whole perspective on it. Ever since that day, I have missed twice with the gun but never wounded an animal. I have passed on so many shots that most people will take but never feel bad about it in the end.

Right on. Even I know the guilt of a bad shot. It kinda haunts you and all you can do is use it as motivation to be better next time.

 

[LaSportsman]

I've questioned my actions many times that caused me not to get a better shot but I've never regretted not taking the initial shot. Which leads to another lesson, I think you learn to stalk elk by stalking elk - and making mistakes. I made plenty on two separate archery hunts this year and never released an arrow but man I had fun!

 

[bailey68]

Take some time and shoot different bows in various price ranges, find one you like. Any good archery shop will let you do that. Visit with them to determine if you will be satisfied with a mid range of do you really want a flagship model. So much of today's mid range products are light years ahead of yesterday's flagship models.