Trick Pin & Welcome Darin Cooper - Check out his best archery tech article!

robby denning

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Hey Roksliders, we are excited to announce a new addition to our regular staff at Rokslide. We’ve been working on this position for a few months now and it’s finally time to announce our first ever Senior Editor: Darin Cooper.

Some of you already know he is one of the leading technical archery writers in the industry. His articles teach and entertain. For those of you who don’t know Darin, you’re in for a real treat. We promise that you’ll be a better archer if you’ll consider his advice and techniques.

Darin will be heading up our Editing Department. Not only will his articles appear on Rokslide throughout the year, he will be soliciting, editing, and publishing articles from our members and other writers from the industry, continuing Rokslide's mission to make anyone a better hunter.

Darin has been on the Prostaff since Rokslide’s inception and you may have followed some his excellent advice on the The Mule Deer Project when he was consulting with Cindy Wamsley, as well as his participation in the forums.

I spent some time with Darin this week getting to know him better. I thought I’d share some of our conversation with you all.

Robby: “Darin, you could write for about any mag or website out there, why have you decided to put you efforts into Rokslide?”

Darin: “I jumped on board with Rokslide because I felt there was a niche missing on-line for a hard core hunting site with a world-class support staff.”

R: “So you’ve been with us since the beginning working on the Prostaff. What do you see happening now that we are approaching our first year?”

D: “The community that meets here daily is a really special group. It's a relaxed environment that's a lot more civil than almost every other forum based site I've spent time on. Everybody here is concerned with positive results and progress instead of pumping up their own egos.”

R: “You’ve written for some top hard-copy publications over the years. What are your feelings about publishing on the web?”

D: “For me, online publishing gives me more freedom to write as much as needed to thoroughly cover complex subjects - No longer am I limited by page restrictions and I can post as many images as needed to help illustrate concepts. The ability to discuss topics or my articles in the forums is much more gratifying than writing in magazines because I can interact with individuals in real-time and respond to feedback and questions instantly. As our members post questions we can discuss things in an open format and come up with solutions that all participants can relate to and learn from. It's also great because I learn a ton from staff and expert community members that know way more about their specialties than I do.”

R: “Good to have you Darin and I think I speak for all of us in welcoming you on.”

D: “Thanks to the Rokslide staff and the Rokslide community for giving me this opportunity. All in all, Rokslide just feels like home. I'm looking forward to helping us grow and maintain our trajectory as we collectively build this site into one of the most respected places for serious outdoorsmen on the web. “

Check out Darin’s complete bio at:


Best yet, here is Darin’s latest article, exclusive to Rokslide members of course:

The Trick-Pin System – Quit Your Range-Finder Habit

If there are any questions on the article, please post them here and Darin will get them answered.
 
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Travis Bertrand

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Darin great article and your an awesome asset to Rokslide. Thanks for all you do.

Your recent article is interesting. I do something similar with my rifle, I have never thought about doin it with my bow!
 

shanevg

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Fascinating article What if I have no idea what FPS my bow shoots? How do I figure that out? Is it arrow/bow combo specific?
 

RosinBag

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I have never met Coop in person, but I have talked go him plenty. He is my first phone call when I get stuck on a tuning problem. He always makes time for me and his advice works 99% of the time. The other 1% I screwed something up explaining my problem.

I did shoot in a archery tournament with one of his Double D guys last week and he confirmed all my initial impressions of Coop.

I would say welcome, but he has been here longer than me.
 

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WKR
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Fascinating article What if I have no idea what FPS my bow shoots? How do I figure that out? Is it arrow/bow combo specific?

For most "average" hunting setups start with your 50 yard pin... at 25 yards with this system, the worst you will be off is a few inches. You don't really have to worry about losing an arrow.
 

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WKR
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Darin great article and your an awesome asset to Rokslide. Thanks for all you do.

Your recent article is interesting. I do something similar with my rifle, I have never thought about doin it with my bow!

Funny, I never thought of that but of course it would work for rifle hunting also... Just gave me an idea for another article!

Coop
 

Slim Jim

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Darrin great article. One question though, I'm planning on buying a three pin adjustable pin sight but after reading your article you have me thinking that a single pin might be better. What is your opinion on that?

I haven't read all the replies hopefully someone didn't already ask the same question
 

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WKR
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I personally prefer having multiple pins over a single pin sight because my effective range allows me to shoot pretty far. I like to be able to pull back and shoot various distances (beyond trick pin range) without having to adjust the sight when needed.

However, If I did hunt with a single pin sight, I would always hunt with it set at the trick pin range and adjust it to the exact range only for shots over 50 yards. Utilizing the trick pin system makes using a single pin bowsight a lot more versatile and effective in my opinion.

Depending on your effective range - you might consider still getting the 3 pin sight, but setting it up with your pins at 40, 50*, and 60. If you're not comfortable past 50 yards, then set it up 20, 40, 50* or 20, 30, 50* where 50* = your trick pin distance. In either case, I would probably leave the 40 pin in there to help you gap shots that are just beyond trick pin range - in the 44 - 47 yard range. Having the 40 pin there for reference would be an advantage.

Hard to say what's going to work best for everybody. I think you need to experiment and see what you're most comfortable with. You also need to figure out where your trick pin will be sighted in. If it ends up being 45 yards, then that will shake things up a little and you'll need to adjust accordingly.

DC
 

Maxhunter

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I've used a single pin for the last 6 seasons. I always set it at 35yds and just compensate. Anything over 40yds I'll range and adjust. My bow launches my arrow at 268fps.

Darrin- Thanks for the info I'm going to have to try this trick pin. Again thanks for posting this valuable info!
 

Eagle

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This is very similar to the gap shooting method that tons of traditional shooters use. Taking advantage of the flatest portion of the trajectory is ingenius, and if folks will take what you just wrote to heart, it'll take care of a lot of headaches.

Thanks for the great article.
 

Matt Cashell

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Funny, I never thought of that but of course it would work for rifle hunting also... Just gave me an idea for another article!

Coop

Darin,

With rifles it is similar to sighting in for maximum point blank range (MPBR), and ballistic calculators (like JBM) have a function that calculates the optimum sight in range for your specific load and intended target size.
 
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