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EZV vs Dead on Range finder

MattMan81

Well-Known Member
SH Member
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Jan 13, 2020
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The Mitten
So came across that Dead on Range finder. I tried the EZV last season. Not sold on it yet. Put it back in the box for a while. Might go back to it at some point. I see few years ago on the product review this got some conversation. But I think that's for Members? So might not get a lot of attention. Though I would drop it in here and see what anyone has had to say about it now that they have run it a while.
 
I make a Dead-On rangefinder on any and every bow I hunt with (trad or compound) with 2 thin strips of white electrical tape on my riser.

If you figure out the AVERAGE size of the game in your area, it isn't hard to do and it works well.

If the average deer in your woods has a body that averages 16" from the top of their back to their belly line all you have to do is cut a 16" piece of cardboard and place it against your target. Walk back to the distance you are comfortable with - say 20 yards in this example.

Put one thin strip of tape on your riser and hold your arm out as if you are shooting, even better, nock an arrow and draw your bow while holding the tape marker along the bottom of the cardboard. In your mind imagine where the top of the cardboard will line up on your riser above this piece of tape and place your other piece of tape on that line so that from your chosen distance, the tape represents 16" at your draw length. Verify the placement a couple times to ensure that both pieces of tape are where you want it - you want both pieces of tape to hit exactly the upper and lower edges of the 16" cardboard which is the representation of the AVERAGE deer in your woods at whatever distance you picked; 20 yards in my example. Be as accurate as you can be. If you hunt in my home state of O-H-I-O, you will want a bigger piece of cardboard, if you hunt in Florida where I live now, you can use a smaller piece, the key is knowing the AVERAGE deer in your area.

When hunting, you can draw your bow and place the bottom tape on the belly line of the deer, if the deer's back is larger than the gap of your tape marks, it is closer than your 20 yard calibration. If the deer's topline is in between your two lines, you know the deer is further than 20 yards from you.

Be sure to use thin pieces of tape, I prefer 1/16" strips. Any smaller and they disappear during prime shooting light.

As an added bonus, I put my lower piece of tape EXACTLY where my 20 yard gap is on my bow therefore it serves 2 purposes - a range finder and a sight pin.

I love trad archery but I am not a purist.rangefinder on riser.jpg

Here is a SF riser that I love, it has a thick mark (my 20 yard gap) and two thin(ner) marks corresponding to 20 and 30 yards respectively per the average deer in my region. I may not shoot at 30 yards but it is nice to know where that 'distance' is for me to help determine if a shot has presented itself.

...now all I have to do is find the dadgum deer here in Central Florida.
 
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I make a Dead-On rangefinder on any and every bow I hunt with (trad or compound) with 2 thin strips of white electrical tape on my riser.

If you figure out the AVERAGE size of the game in your area, it isn't hard to do and it works well.

If the average deer in your woods has a body that averages 16" from the top of their back to their belly line all you have to do is cut a 16" piece of cardboard and place it against your target. Walk back to the distance you are comfortable with - say 20 yards in this example.

Put one thin strip of tape on your riser and hold your arm out as if you are shooting, even better, nock an arrow and draw your bow while holding the tape marker along the bottom of the cardboard. In your mind imagine where the top of the cardboard will line up on your riser above this piece of tape and place your other piece of tape on that line so that from your chosen distance, the tape represents 16" at your draw length. Verify the placement a couple times to ensure that both pieces of tape are where you want it - you want both pieces of tape to hit exactly the upper and lower edges of the 16" cardboard which is the representation of the AVERAGE deer in your woods at whatever distance you picked; 20 yards in my example. Be as accurate as you can be. If you hunt in my home state of O-H-I-O, you will want a bigger piece of cardboard, if you hunt in Florida where I live now, you can use a smaller piece, the key is knowing the AVERAGE deer in your area.

When hunting, you can draw your bow and place the bottom tape on the belly line of the deer, if the deer's back is larger than the gap of your tape marks, it is closer than your 20 yard calibration. If the deer's topline is in between your two lines, you know the deer is further than 20 yards from you.

Be sure to use thin pieces of tape, I prefer 1/16" strips. Any smaller and they disappear during prime shooting light.

As an added bonus, I put my lower piece of tape EXACTLY where my 20 yard gap is on my bow therefore it serves 2 purposes - a range finder and a sight pin.

I love trad archery but I am not a purist.
I did something similar to this with my shotgun. Under the eyepiece cap I created a little card that tells me the approximate distance of deer using the BDC hashes as reference. I was able to use a ballistic calculator to then tell me which hash to use for what distance. The only caveat is it has to be at max power to work properly.
I hadn't thought to do something similar with my bow until seeing this post, thank you very much.
 
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