I just got into archery a couple months ago. I bought a 2014(I think?) PSE 'the drive'. I have been practicing (semi)consistently. I try to shoot 50+ shots on the weekends and during the week I try to shoot at least 6 shots every couple of days to keep my muscle memory developing. I recently had my bow poundage increased from 50(I think it actually went down to ~48-49 since I've broken it in) to ~53-54lbs. My goal is to get strong enough to hit 60 by the end of the year. I have a 5-pin sight. I've never shot over 30 yards because that's the furthest distance my local indoor range goes. So needless to say, my 4th and 5th pin have never been used. So anyway, today I got my bag target and set it at 40 and 50 yards to get my 40/50 pins sighted in, or at the very least close to being sighted because so far they've been sitting at the bottom of my sight doing nothing. I was stunned that they ALL were hitting the target (2ft by 2ft). Both 40 and 50 yard shots have absolutely no grouping what so ever. I suppose that's to be expected since I have a short stock stabilizer and no magnification. Today my girlfriend and I finally got our bow hunting safety course certification cards. Last week we got our hunter safety cert. cards. So all we need to do now is go to ****s and get some hunting/bow hunting licences and some tags. That's all for now -Joe
Stabilizer & Magnifacation Have nothing to do with grouping, that comes with practice ,practice, practice, you & your girlfriend should'nt hunt until you can score 270 out of 300. That's the least you can do ,you owe it to the game your hunting! Today's bows make it lot easier to accomplish then the older bows did. There almost as deadly as a rifle. Good luck to the 2 of you. Rocky
I totally disagree. Stabilizers have quite a bit to do with grouping. They stabilize the bow. More stable bow = tighter grouping. A guy at the range had a nice one on his bow and he let me test it out. My grouping at 20 yards was a hell of a lot closer than when shooting without it. In another thread you said "Everything has it's value" in reference to bow components. If a stabilizer doesn't stablize the bow and increase grouping, then what iyo does it do? Magnification; maybe not so much. Magnification would however, help me see my target better and see where my pin is aiming. At 50 yards the target is a lot 'smaller' in a shooters field of view when compared to it's size at 10. Not that I plan on shooting a deer at 50 yards. I actually don't plan on shooting one outside of 30. The only part of what you said I agree with is that practice increases grouping. Magnification and stabilizers defiantly help though. I'd feel comfortable taking a deer at 30 yards or less. I can hit the vital organ kill zone consistently at those ranges.
A stabilizer is so far down the list of importance that it often doesn't make it on my bow..... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Like mentioned above a stabilizer shouldn't even be on your mind at this point. Practice everyday more then 6 shots and practice your form daily draw your bow back and just aim for as long as you can hold then let down without ever releasing the arrow, do this 2-3 times between each shot and that will develop muscle memory a lot faster then just shooting. This forum has some of the best advice and knowledge you can find without being Fred Bears best friend, so when some of them give advice I would soak it all up like a sponge. The people here have helped me more then I can mention. Welcome to the addiction man! Good Luck to you both!
I bumped it up to 24 shots a day. I'm defiantly considering getting a drop away rest with a guard on top. If anyone has any suggestions lemme know. Also, when I put my bow-side quiver in my case the arrow fletching gets bent over. The guy at the archery shop said this doesn't effect flight when I asked him to refletch them. I'm inclined to believe him as he's been shooting for a long time and is very knowledgeable about bow shooting. Besides that, why would he turn down business if he truly didn't think that? Though I think it may effect them. I notice an arrow do a corkscrew-type flight when shooting. Does anyone have any input on this?
I take my quiver off the bow when i put it in the case. A bent vane can/will alter trajectory. As far as a drop away rest I'd recomend qad or a ripcord code red. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Havoc Archery in Albany. Ripcord code red would look awesome on my bow. It's skullworks with red accessories.
Heard of them but never been there. I`ve never noticed much of a difference with or without a stabilizer. I have a short one on now, without it the bow seems a little lite. I would recomend a drop-away rest. As far as the magnified site, dont even bother with it unless you plan on shooting vegas or somthing like that. They dont really have much of a place hunting. The more you shoot, you will probably get more used to aiming at a target that appears smaller at a further distance.
Thanks for the input woodsy! A guy at the range let me try his. He had a double front, single side arm combination stabilizer and a 1 pin sight on his bow. Despite being 2 inches larger than my draw length I hit a bulls eye at 20 yards first shot. It felt a lot more steady when aiming. It could have been the stabilizers, sight, or just the model of his bow. *shrugs* Also it was set at 60#(I was shooting 50# at the time) and his felt like it was lower. I'm guessing it must have been the model or something. Perhaps my pins are a bit large for long distance shooting? I believe they are .019 on my Copper John.
Magnification really doesn't have its place in hunting, I wouldn't bother with one unless you are going into serious competition shooting. A stabilizer will help a little but shouldn't be a real concern when it comes to decent grouping. Hunting stabilizers are usually pretty short unlike competition stabilizers and do more vibration dampening. I would make sure your bow is turned the best you can get it and your form is good
Yea,every bow is gonna shoot different . You could put all the same accessories on your bow, with potentially different results. Just the same as people shoot better/more comfortable with one brand, or model. Take a look at some sights with smaller pins, .10 or so should make it a bit easier to see your target. Since your new to shooting, the longer ranges may be a bit more difficult due to inexperience as well. For wheveter reason, i never shot past 40 for years.
I ended up buying a PSE branded QAD Ultrarest. I'm liking it so far, other than the fact that the inside bottom colored fletch is hitting the inside part of my riser and leaving red streaks across it. It doesn't seem to be affecting accuracy though. After sighting it in I'm shooting arrows within an inch of each other at 30 yards. The guy at the store tried to tell me the streaks were there before he put it on and were from me shooting through my whisker biscuit......bs. I know my bow. He said adjusting it out so it wouldn't hit wouldn't be good[for some reason I cannot recall] Just to make sure it wasn't my biscuit I cleaned it off when I got to the range tonight and lo and behold; red streaks. Every arrow is hitting it. -_-
If there's any arrow contact at all it will affect accuracy and flight. Because field points are so forgiving you may not notice, but put a broad head on and it will be dangerous and you'll really notice how bad the contact is. You need to get your bow set up properly for whatever vanes you're shooting. Adjusting it out might not help because it will throw off the center shot. You might need to use 4" vanes. I assume you're using Blazers now? Did you set the center shot when you put the QAD rest on?
Ah yes, I believe that was his reason for not wanting to adjust it out; it would throw off the center shot. The veins I have on now stick out 1/2in and are 2in long. (Guesstimating) I'm not sure if they're blazers or not. It doesn't say blazer on them. I shoot goldtip 400 hunter xt arrows if that helps. Supposedly the PSE branded QAD is specially made for PSE bows. Yet my fletching is hitting. I'd rather not have to dump a bunch of money to have my arrows refletched.
Welcome Joe! I'd agree with all the above guys talking about practice. You can trick out a bow, but as long as you have the basics, even a whisker bisquit and no stabilizer, you can shoot tight groups. Some bows might be slightly better/easier to shoot than others, but it boils down to practicing and years of it. Keep shooting, the honest truth is shooting at further distances is just tough and improper form, flinching, etc., is magnified. www.soundbarrierhunting.com
Even though it's a PSE rest it has to be properly set up for the bow. You have to set the center shot, but first you have to find it. It can be a little daunting if you've never done it before.
Would you mind explaining what finding a center shot entails and what it means? I'm relatively new so that term is over my head. The rest is adjustable...so I could move it out. But I imagine that by moving it towards the left(I shoot right handed) it would move my shots left. Not only that, but I'm guessing it needs to be aligned with my firing string as well?
