Bow sight distance

[bearhunter338-06]

I have a 3 pin sight on my bow. Should I sight for 10, 20, 30 or would 20, 30, 40 be better. Is there much arrow drop from 0 - 20 yards.

[Mountain Man]

Your largest arrow drop on most bow starts at 40 yards.

I would say this,

If you ever get a 10 yard shot at a big game animal, you will notice that all your pins will be well within the kill zone of even the smallest deer. If you like shooting small game at 5, 10 yards its nice to have a pin for that. .

If you want to surprise yourself, once you get a 20 yard pin set shoot your bow at 5 yards, and 10 yards using your 20 yard pin. You will then notice how low you will hit. Many times your 5 yard pin will be your 30 or 40 yard pin and your 10 yard pin will be a 50 yard pin. For instance when im competing in tournaments they will give you a 2 yard shot at a small target. My 2 yard pin is equivalent to my 70 yard pin. If set up for short shots you can put an arrow in the same hole every time.

Back to your question, set up 20, 30, 40. 40 is a tough shot for most ! If your not hitting a 4" group at 40yds every time you should not even be shooting that far unless its for fun in your back yard. Its not ethical in the field hunting.

[Howy]

Yep that will about cover it. However i might add that if you can't put up 4" at 40 you should be practicing at 40 + yards. I will alway shoot at least 10 groups of 4 at 60 during each practice session. The more proficient you can be at greater distances the better you will become at shorter distances. Thats not to say you should be shooting extreme distances at an animal because you can group 4 at 40. Hunting shots are almost never like practice shooting. Also shooting further back will help you determine if there is a tuning issue with your bow or your form. Try shooting from all diferent positions once you are comfortable with your form and shooting ability.

[Bowzone_Mikey]

What he said .... my 9 yard and 20 yard are idendical on my Diamond ... under 5 yards it gets high ... to shoot 2 for example I have to dial 71 ...

20 30 35 depending on your ability and expiriance is what I would reccomend or conversly 20, 25.30 depending on your bow as well ... for complete newbies ... I dont see much point in a pin below 20 as long as you know where your arrow peaks in its flight

[Bow Walker]

How fast is your bow with your hunting arrows? Over 290 fps? If it is as fast as that (or faster) then you might only need to set your pins at 25, 35, 45 yards.

Go out there, set the first pin at 20 yards. Get it so you can hit a two inch circle every time. Now back up to 30 yards and shoot at the same spot - still using your 20 yard pin. Any drop?

Your 20 yard pin should be good for distances of about 15 yards to 25 yards, meaning that the arrow will hit within a two inch circle at those distances. Good for hunting, but not too good for target or 3D where you want to score points rather than kill.

Basically there are two ways to set your pins. One is using set distances like 20, 30, and 40 yards. The other is basing the pin settings on the speed of your bow, where you might end up with pins set at 18, 26, and 34 yards - as an example.

20, 30, and 40 yards is a lot easier to remember than those other odd ball numbers.

I've tried both ways and it seems that basing pin gap on bow speed should only be done if you have a really fast bow that is shooting in excess of 300 fps. I much prefer the set yardage way of doing things.

[qhergt]

I have mine set at 10 yards apart starting at 10 (10, 20,30,40,50) Im shooting a fairly fast bow (Mathews Switchback IBO 318 )I did this because I like to hunt both small and big game and Id like to start shooting 3D and I figured this set up would be the best and easiest to remember (as per what Bow walker stated)

[Night Hawk 3]

20, 30, 40... and once you get good at 40 years, get a 5 pin sight (or better). The longer distances you shoot, the better you close-in shooting gets.

NH3

[greybark]

Hey Bearhunter , Do you practice during the winter months shooting indoors ? If so most indoor ranges start at 20 yds . I recommend setting your first pin at that range as it is firmly planted in your mind (good range platform for estimating distance) and muscle memory .Two more pins would get you out to 40 yds . If you ranged in that giant White Tailed buck at 45 place pin on back . If you become very competent at 40 then to 50 . A point to remmber that too many pins close to-gether will result in using the wrong pin (been there , done that) .
Good luck on your archery venture .
Cheers