I've had a little free time at work lately, the construction industry is pretty slow. I've got a bunch of projects kicking off after the first of the year so I'm not bidding on any new work at this particular time. My boss came in the office and set a Leupold RX-II rangefinder on my desk, it has this "Ballistic Range" business on it and I'm extremely skeptical that it really works. Now let me say this, I'm a numbers guy, so I often find a connection between numbers and bowhunting... this rangefinder has me thinking... (dangerous I know):evil: . Let's take for instance the illustration on the Leupold box. It shows a guy up in the tree with a deer below, the line of sight reads, '40 yard line of sight at 40 degree angle.' Then it shows the "True Ballistic Range" as 34 yards. There is no way that works. In order to have a 40 degree angle and a 34 yard (horizontal distance) you have to be 25 YARDS, not feet, up in the tree. I don't know anyone that sits 75' up a tree. For a realistic example, lets say you sit 24' up a tree (8 yards) and your dumb rangefinder shows 40 yards. From our favorite equation for triangles: a^2 + b^2 = c^2 or c^2 - a^2 = b^2 a=8 yards b=x c=40 yards So, 1600-64=b^2 x=39.1 yards should be the true shooting distance. Does this seem ridiculous to anyone else or is it just me? The closer the distance the more your shot should be affected, which seems backwards but the numbers don't lie.
I'm not that much of a numbers guy but I have that rangefinder and I'm about to through it out. I keep getting an error message unless I have it set to the straght distance setting. But your equation(sp)? seems logical.
Dubya, I'm not sold on those things, and I'm hunting some REALLY steep stuff right now, and I may regret it later, but I range a tree similar distance, and use that with my "non-ARC" rangefinder. I did miss a little gray squirrel this morning at about 30 yds, I held the 32yd pin just beneath his chin, and shot just over him, I swear I expected to find hair when I went to get the arrow. I think it's more about practice and being comfortable with your bow. 130, Make sure everything is CLEAN on the lens and the LASER lens, and some rangefinders need something of some size to bounce that laser off of, a leaf may or may not do it at close range, a decent tree should, if not, you may call the company and ask for advice/replacement, you might be amazed at the results you get.
I have the basic range finder and try to range everything from a straight sight (other trees usually). If I can't do that from my stand, I get all he ranges from the ground level. I know it will not be precised but it has worked for me.
At bowhunting distances, it most certainly does make squat difference being up in a tree 25 ft. I think the only true purpose would possibly be hunting out west with a rifle. Say a 300 yard shot with a 100 yard downhill drop (These are both pretty improbable numbers) the true distance is 282.8 yards. So that's a 17 yard difference from what a regular rangefinder would say. Change that 100 yard downhill drop to a 50 yard downhill drop (maybe more probable) and the true distance is 295.8 yards. It's a marketing gimmick and nothing more to sell more rangefinders with technology that you don't need and in all reality shouldn't cost that much more than a regular rangefinder.
It makes sense that it is affected less at a further distance. The further away the deer, the smaller the angle of egress and that makes your ground distance and actual distance closer together. Still, i think those compensating range rinders are a load of poop. No one goes high enough in a tree for it to make enough of a difference to affect your shooting, unless you are shooting down a cliff or something. And yes Dustin, I am sitting in CM class right now ha. Its curtain walls today. Are you not halfway to Kansas yet?:d
I've got the Bushnell Elite 1500 Arc. It's really been a good range finder for me but like most of you have said, you don't need to pay more for the Arc because the true distance to an object when bowhunting is never more than a yard or two different from the measured distance.
If those things worked as accurately as they claim, you better believe competitive field archers would be all over them. For 99.9% of hunting scenarios, it simply won't matter much at all, but for competitive field archery its a different story. You will often find yourself on strange angles up and down hill on a course, and can be shooting distances out to 80 yards. If you look and learn from what the Pro's are shooting at the elite level in field archery, you will see they are printing out "cut" charts that will show them yardage cuts based on distance, and angle. You can create these charts in ballistic software, I personally use OnTarget2. Some will even use angle finding tools as well to determine the exact angle. The charts work extremely well, and I even use one for open class 3D where I may see as much as a 40-45 degree angle at distances up to 50 yards. I also use one when competing in Harrisburg's Sportsmans Show, where your shooting ridiculous shots straight up and into the bleachers at up to 45 degree angles. Below is an example of the exact cutsheet I use for 3D with my Constituion shooting roughly 305fps. Numbers across the top in green are the actual distances, the numbers on the left side are the angles. To give an example.......a 48 yard target (actual) on a 27 degree downhill grade, should actually be shot for roughly 42.5 yards. To give you an idea as to the difference in impact point should you not cut the yardage.......at 305fps thats a roughly 5.5" difference in impact.
That is exactly correct. The further from the tree you are in the less of a variance there will be in the two distances. Those things really work. Funny but they do. I just range other trees at the same height that I am but anything that works for you, do it.
I have that model of Leupold range finder, but I use it for going out west where your angles and distance to contribute to accuracy. If not, at least if makes me feel better.
I was looking at that when I got my range finder, and I think i figured that at 30' ina tree, if your target was ten yards away, there was a 3 yard discrepancy. Those numbers might be a little off. It was a while ago when I was thinking about it. At any rate, 3 yds difference at ten yards makes no difference. Most of todays bows can use the same pin to ATLEAST 20 yds, and by the time your target gets out to around thirty, I think the difference was like one yard. So yeah, I agree with what you are saying. They're not that practical for treestand hunting.
Only use for them IMO, is in a mountain setting...like a mtn goat hunt or something similar...these type hunts can offer crazy up and down angle shots. Your math proves the old treestand hunting rule, range it, subtract a yard, and let er fly.
