this year i will be hunting without a range finder due to the fact i cant afford one right now, and i thought i would just count out my steps from my stand and put a stick at ten, twenty and thirty yards. is this the right way to do this without a RF? Is there any other ways you guys do it? p.s i have been practicing shooting at unknown distances and i think i have a good judgement with distance but you can never be too sure.
mark different trees and things from your stand...that is what i do and i've been successful so far with my yardage...
i walk out and put up an easily identifiable stick in the ground at 10-20-30-40yds, a piece of red ribbon on a branch works as well... personally, I think rangefinders are a fairly unnecessary piece of gear unless you are hunting a rifle and making 300+ yd shots... just takes a couple extra minutes when you set your stand and you're good...
I can identify ten yard increments pretty well, so I try to find an object at 10yds, and then space out in 10yd increments from there. I'm not great, but it's getting there. You can get a much better feel for judging without a rangefinder with, well, using a rangefinder to verify your guesses.
I am not walking all over my hunting area and putting up marking tape and the like. I just eyeball certain trees from my treestand and estimate their distance. I then use those trees as my visual cues. Sometimes I just have to estimate a deer on the run if they come up on me quickly. I wouldn't have it any other way! It is exciting.
Back when I shot a compound I didn't use one, believe It or not It can be done without one. Allot of the times when I put stands up I'd walk out to spots where I thought the deer would be and count my steps. When I sighted In my pins that's what I did at home too. You got It Brett!!
I just look at the deer and make the decision if I can make the shot or not, yardage really doesn't come into play. Its bowhunting, I don't set up for long distance shots!
The reason I don't do this is because I don't want to spread any more scent around my stand than I have to... You can measure one pace with a tape measure and then figure out how many steps equals however many yards... If you want to look goofy, you can measure your boot/shoe and do the heel to toe thing :D
thanks guys, i tested my foot steps and they are actually damn near right on a yard a step. I guess my main fear is trying to eye it out and making a bad shot on a deer, I think however i am pretty good at telling distances.
Most guys around 5'10-6'0" tall with a normal to a slightly above normal stride length average around 1 yard per stride. "My" 20 yards might be different than yours. But it is all relative in the deer woods.
I have learned judging distances from shooting 3D shoots over the years, it now just basically comes natural? I dont know how to explain how to do it, I wish Ic ould help ya! I would say marking certain trees like you want would/nt be a bad idea!! I borrowed a rangefinder from a buddy and went on a hunt a couple years a go for a week! I shot random distances in the morning and when I got out of the tree, I walked them off adn almost every one of my guesses were spot on if not they were only off by a yard or so!! i would suggest to just sit on your porch and pick certain things and guess there distance and then walk off all there distances to see just how close you can get!! Hey you never know you might be alot better at it then you think and save yourself a few dollars on ever buying a rangefinder!?!? Gd Luck!!
As long as you set up your pins according to your steps when sighting In your bow your sitting pretty using the same method while hunting.
Practice,Practice,Practice judging your yardage. It will just come natural if you do. If you hunt from a tree then Practice from a tree. If Im not positive on exact yardage I will count yards in my head forward then back if the numbers comes up a bit different then split the middle. This is the biggest reason I recommend folks to get into 3D shooting in the off season. If you do it enough it will make judging yardage hunting much easier.
I have never used one and it has cost me a deer or two when hunting unfmailiar or steep terrain- but here in the south where it is thick not much use for one - out west would definitely purchase one
I think about two marks - one in each direction - at 25 yards should be good. You can gauge by how much inside this 25 yard mark or outside this 25 yard mark...again - with 90+% of bows, you shouldn't need to know the exact 1 yard...within five yards stays in kill zone of whitetail. This route is not best for shots that start getting over 35 though...which is nearly impossible in our thick woods.
