That has nothing to do with the pin gap directly...that is knowing distance or flight trajectory. Also know you're distances. I'll never shoot a deer I don't know their distance...or have distanced a tree they're infront of or behind slightly for reference.
I’m just saying, things don’t always go as planned. I’m not saying every body should shoot 300fps plus, I’m not saying anybody should do anything. But a slower bow has larger pin gaps, and when shooting off yardages, there’s more room for error. The last 10 minutes of legal shooting hours, I can’t see what my range finder says. I use it as you said, ranging trees before hand. I also shoot 3d quite a bit and practice ranging quite a bit. I’d hate to have to be totally reliant on a range finder
So I guess the consensus is that the folks that like a really heavy arrow setup do so for the "oh s**t I hit the shoulder" moments so the arrow has a chance to go through, and they are sit and wait type hunters that rarely or never take unknown distance shots. I completely get that. I got my first tree stand just last year, it was a bit of a learning curve for me. One of the first things I did after hanging the stand is zap distances and drive some stakes for yardage. By comparison, an elk hunt. My brother-in-law (BIL) and I were walking in to a spot we had scouted that had a lot of elk sign. It was just breaking daylight, that early morning dull light we all love. We were walking through intermittent openings and timber. About half way in to where we wanted to be we heard some popping and cracking in the timber below us. Elk are noisy walking around in the timber and we were pretty sure that it was only one or two elk. We were in a bit of an opening so I sent my BIL ahead of me about 25 yards, crouched down and gave a soft cow call. We both had arrows nocked. Immediately a cow charges up out of the timber and stops in the opening in front of us. She is alert and looking for the elk she thought she heard. My BIL is about 15 yards from her but can't draw or she'll spook. We stay still and quiet. She stands for maybe a minute and then walks up into the strip of trees above us, which is where my BIL is at. He had her at 8 yards at one point, but still never got the opportunity to draw where she wouldn't bust him. I wait a few more minutes and then give another soft cow call, trying my best to "throw" the call down towards where she came from. The cow charges back out of the timber and stops in the opening again. I decide she is a bit shy of 40 yards from me and that if she turns her head away I'm going to try to draw. My release is already clipped to the string. After about 20 seconds of looking around and swiveling her ears around looking for the "other elk", she finally turns her head away. I ease the bow back to full draw. I barely finish as she turns her head again. The FO pins are glowing well enough to see in the low light. I put my 40 pin a bit low behind her shoulder and squeeze the trigger. The shot felt good when it went off. In the low light I had no chance of seeing the arrow flight, but heard that telltale sound of it hitting her. She wheeled and ran off. My BIL said he never saw the arrow either, but he heard it hit her as well. Since we weren't for sure on where the arrow hit her we sat down and waited a couple of hours. While waiting I had my BIL stand where she had been and then zapped him from where I was when I shot. 38 yards...a good sign. We then started off in the direction she ran. We found really good blood right away, and the fletching end of the arrow and then another middle section of the arrow. She was quartering away when I shot, so that was a good sign that I'd hit the far side shoulder like I'd wanted to and it stopped the arrow in her. We went about 90 yards and found her piled up. I'd hit her right where I wanted to and double lunged her, she had expired in short order. There is no way that I'd have gotten a shot at her if I would've had to risk all the movement of lifting the rangefinders and zapping her, then setting them down, clipping my release back to the string, and then drawing. She was actively looking for other elk and never had her head turned away for that long. This type of hunting is why I also consider the pin gap of my setup. I know from 3d shoots that 5 yards off with a slower bow vs a faster bow can be the difference of shooting out of the vitals vs staying in them. Rangefinders are awesome now that they are affordable, but we hunted a lot of years before they were even a thing, except for the old non digital style ones. How on earth did archery hunters eat before digital rangefinders? To each their own, if your comfort level is a heavy arrow and only known distance shots, good for you. I will continue to balance my setup that gives me the best chance to be successful with my hunting style.
