Hi all I know this is the turkey forum but I couldn't find another forum that was any closer. Any way, I was wondering what distance I should set my pins for for shooting geese on the ground with my bow?
This is a really interesting topic. I personally would probably focus on a 20-30yard range, this may include 20,25, and 30 yard pin, or if at all possible get your bow shooting as flat as possible so you can shoot one pin maybe 18-33 yards... This is going to have to be done from a field edge/tree line of sorts where you can set up some sort of blind. You're not killing with a bow out of a layout blind, and certainly not tossing a pop up in the middle of a corn field and expecting geese to drop in a 20-30 yards. With that said, good luck, pressured birds (depending on where you are) might not like the field edge idea...
Sorry it took so long to reply. I have a wheat field I have permission to hunt with a 4 ft deep drainage ditch running through the middle. Have you used slicktricks? I've had many people recommend these to me due to the fact I may be shooting at longer ranges
Also I've talked to some people and they said that most bows shoot straight the first 20-40 yards so I could use those ans a single pun, and then a 50 and 60 yard pin. Is there any truth in this?
No, not really. While one could possibly learn to adjust their hold for one pin out to 40, no bow will shoot straight. Even at 366 fps, an arrow zeroed at 20 will drop over 7" at 40. At 300fps its closer to 13". With a 30 yard zero, a 366 fps arrow will be about 1.5" high and still about 4.5" low at 40 yards. I guess some consider this "flat". Still seems like and arch to me.
Sounds like with some practice I can learn to aim a little low or high for increased or decreased distance
Kill zone on a turkey at 50 yards is hard enough, a goose is half the size. You're going to want to know your distance and KNOW where your bow is hitting at that distance otherwise you're punching arrows in birds that you'll kill but never find, if you hit them... I always have wanted to do it but after watching the heartland bow hunters episode I'm not sure I could do it without shooting some sort of guillotine broad head. Those guys are far better archers than me and birds were still walking around with arrows in them and laying down watching the guys collect birds while they died... I'm not really soft when I comes to killing stuff but for some reason that got to me. But you can't knock it till you try it, so I'm going to try it!
Please be sure of a kill shot... You are not giving a good chance for the bird if you don't make a clean shot on it. I'd hate to see birds flying around with arrows in them suffering from a careless shot. Clean kill and min. suffering is the best for the both of you. Good luck.
Don't worry, no unethical shots from me. The geese here are rather large (local birds) and float around 15 lbs. Simplicity, don't worry, the arrow will pass right through the bird. The people who give us a bad rap are using blunt field tips and low power bows, most likely are some kids screwing around
I'd wack their heads off with a bullhead. Hit the head and the bird dies. Hit the body and the bird lives. Unlike a bad shot with a traditional broad head. This way you wont have to worry about them flying off either.
I've seen bullheads veer off course before by a foot due to wind ( if I'm thinking what you are thinking like gobbler guillotines) at 30 yards
Honestly I could see these being worse off. If it drifts and I body shot the goose, I know there is no way it would penetrate all the way and go through and i would have to deal with a wounded goose
It won't penetrate at all. It will just ruffle their feathers. The bird might be a little beat up but it will live. Just ask Tacklebox what happens when you hit a bird square in the chest. lol!
