flyfishpj

How does shooting down, like from a treestand or hill, effect the arrows flight? What components are missing compared to shooting straight? Do you have to aim higher or lower? Or vice versa. I am still not understanding it.

MOTOWNHONKEY

Draw in a standing positionthen bend at the waist. If you do that you can aim dead on.

Washington Hunter

The angle of trajectory is a bit different, but not so much that it affects your shot.

The best way to look at it is to remember to "aim for the exit hole."

Always remember to bend at the waist, don't drop your bow arm to compensate for the angle.

Dipsnort

I'm not clear on this concept either. I don't understand what bending at the waist does for up and downhill shots.

Edit: oops, spoke too soon. Thanks for the pic, WH...I can understand that concept now.[&:]

jminon

The measurement that need to made is the horizontal distance to the target. How far is the deer from the bottom of the tree? Wheather you are 50 ft up or 10....the 20 yd pin is the same. Gravity affects the arrow the same over that distance.
Make your aim point the spot that will take the arrow thru the middle of the lungs/heart. From a treestand that puts your entry point higher and the exit point lower.

Dipsnort

That's true. Same with shooting a bullet from your gun. However, it seems to me that the longer the shot, the more air resistance will slow the arrow, causing it to drop more than the "gravity factor" alone. So for instance, let's say you're shooting a distance of 50 yards but the horizontal distance is only 25 feet, I would expect to have to aim slightly higher than the 25 yard pin. Can anyone back that theory up with practical experience? Or at least tell me I need to go back to remedial science class.[&:]

Finch

I would be cautious about doing that if I were you. That string loop could come undone and cause you to dryfire your bow. We don't need that this close to season.

Just looking out.

bagem

I'll attempt an explanation based on some physics. If you don't want to read all the numbers, the short answer is that shooting down will cause your arrow to hit high, but we are only talking an inch or two. So for all practical purposes, you don't need to aim any different in most situations.

Lets say you sight your bow at 20 yards on flat ground. Let's use an arrow speed of 200ft/sec. Now use the equation time = distance/velocity. So time = 60 feet/200 which means your arrow reaches the target in 0.3 seconds. Now lets use another equation which shows how much your arrow drops during that 0.3 seconds. distance(feet) = 0.5 X 32 X time X time (32ft/sec2 is the acceleration due to gravity). So distance = 0.5 X 32 X 0.3 X 0.3 which equals 1.44 feet. So to hit your target, you aim 1.44 feet high (but your pin is right on the target)

Now lets get into a tree stand that is 20 feet high and aim at a target that is 60 feet away (line of sight). To calculate what angle from horizontal you are shooting at, is arcsin 20/60 = 19.47 degrees. When you were shooting on a horizontal, gravity had it's maximum affect on the trajectory of the arrow (perpendicular to travel path). Since you are now shooting at an angle down, gravity has less affect on trajectory and more affect on increased arrow speed. When on a horizontal, your arrow dropped 1.44 feet, but now at an angle of 19.47 degrees down, it only drops cosine19.47 X 1.44 = 1.36 feet. The difference between 1.44 and 1.36 is 0.08 feet, or 0.96 inches. So if you put the pin that you used to sight at 60 horizontal feet on your target, you will hit about 1 inch high. The higher your stand is, the bigger the difference in arrow drop compared to a horizontal shot. This is why it's really not an issue, unless you like shooting from 30 feet or higher.

Washington Hunter

Oh yeah, I know. This picture is about three years old, actually. Right after I first got my bow.

Finch

LOL. Ya know..I thought you looked older than that. Disregard.