How far can you judge yardarge accurately?

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I guess ranges and walk them all the time, almost every day at work, long hallways. Can't say I've ever correlated my pace to yard tho. Probably ought to do that.
 

Btaylor

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I guess ranges and walk them all the time, almost every day at work, long hallways. Can't say I've ever correlated my pace to yard tho. Probably ought to do that.
Carry the range finder one day. Pick a target, call distance, step it off and then range back to your starting point. Might not want to practice drawing on co-workers though even without the bow folks can go all skwerlly on you ;)
 

cnelk

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I’m fairly decent at estimating yardage - both archery and rifle.

For archery elk I mainly hunt timber and have found that is real hard to shoot further than 30-40yds without hitting a limb (I have a drawer full of those Tshirts)

For rifle out to 300 I can be pretty close too. Any further than that a guy should have plenty of time to accurately range
 
OP
E
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If I saw an elk at what I judged to be 40 I would feel comfortable shooting. They are big and the drop from 40 to 45 or 35 to 40 is within the kill zone of an elk. Beyond 40 and I would want to use my range finder.
Do you judge on ground distance or perception of body size?
 
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Guess it depends on what accurately is.

I shoot IBO, unknown yards, 3d. I can normally be within 2 out to 50, usually pretty dead on.


Rifle range when you get past 100, I'm doing really well to get within 20 yards.

With a bow, I tell people especially with elk, you need to be able to shoot to 50 without a rangefinder. That doesn't mean you need to be able to look at it and know tge yards, but you need to have your bow and pins/references set so within 50 yards only movement you are making is drawing your bow.
 

BFR

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Once upon a time in my earlier life I did pretty good out to 300 yds or so. Nowadays I’m happy if I can judge out to arms reach.
 
Joined
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Do you judge on ground distance or perception of body size?

Ground distance as a priority. When hunting I try to range random things, guessing the range beforehand, to stay sharp.

To be clear I've never shot at an elk like this before, but I would. Deer would have be to closer, probably 30 or less.
 

svivian

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I've shot several deer and elk without ever ranging and some were close to 300 yards out. With that said I did have one hunt where there was a cow elk down hill at a steep angle. I thought 250yards no problem with the 30-06 and sent two bullets and completely whiffed. Couldn't tell where the bullet went at all. Went down to check for blood and ranged back up at the rock I setup on and it was 415 yards. My buddy gave me good shit when I pulled out the rangefinder to verify. Lesson learned...
 

SlimTim

FNG
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Mar 4, 2021
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I won't shoot an animal past 40 yards so my three pin sight works a treat. I always range too. I'm not confident enough not to.

That said, I have practiced and thought about judging distances a lot after watching pros do it at some comp with incredible accuracy.

In regards to pins, could you set your pins to 30, 40 and 50 (or 40. 50. 60) yards and guess anything less than that or do you still need a pin for "bearings"?
 

eddielasvegas

WKR & Chairman of the Rokslide Welcoming Committee
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Feb 2, 2020
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Scottsdale, AZ
I noticed I'm decently good at this after getting back into hunting and shooting 5 years ago.

I attribute it to practically living on a golf course in my teen years, and long before range finders and GPS enabled carts were available.

Eddie

P.S. Just an FYI. I still use an abacas. :ROFLMAO:
 

TreeWalking

Lil-Rokslider
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Sep 22, 2014
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100 yards +/- 10% then +/- 25% out to 250 yards assuming relatively flat. After that, don't rely on my estimate. I also am not very good at figuring in slope impact on effective yardage as prepare to shoot. I use my rangefinder and I keep a cheat sheet on my rifle stock for bullet factors due to slope, wind, temperatures, altitude, etc.
 

Wvroach

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Nov 23, 2020
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Bow hunting always makes me second guess my ranging capabilities.

My stride is a yard long which is nice, if I'm setting somewhere I'll pace off common trees or markers around me to have my range down. Spot and stalk I have a rangefinder on the ready. I'd rather lose the animal without letting a arrow go and making a poor judgement on the distance and wounding it. If it's over what I think is 20 yards and I'm unsure I don't take the shot.

Now rifle I'm confident to be within 25 yards with my judgement and will shoot out to perceived 400 with no rangefinder.

Admittedly I shoot rifle way more than I shoot my compound as I find it more enjoyable.
 

Mojave

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8 inches, but I hear from a female friend I am over estimating by 2 or 3.
 

Yarak

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My pasture is exactly 300 yds to the creek and I’m pretty good at distance up to that point most anywhere
 
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I've golfed since I was a kid, so I'm decent out to 250-300 yards. Basically within driver range :LOL:

When we golf I like to test my yardages and I am not sure what is worse my guesses or my golf game...

Do golfers carry rangefinders? Determining yardage might be the only thing hunting and golf actually has in common. I'm just glad I don't have to carry as many rifles as golfers carry clubs. I think yelling "four" right before I shoot might also be counterproductive.
 

cgasner1

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Mar 12, 2015
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We shoot a lot of walking courses with the bow from different spots and such and never range till after the shooting is done it’s helps tremendously


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

def90

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Aug 12, 2020
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If I am in a position I'll range a few trees or objects around me to keep as references..

As for a sight, I used to use a single pin which was fine with elk as it wasn't all that hard to dial in as they got closer. A couple years ago I started hunting deer and realized pretty quickly that you can't waste time messing around with the sight nor make un-needed movements. I ended up getting a 3 pin slider, set the pins for 20-30-40 and can dial the sight up for longer distances.
 
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