This topic has come up a lot lately, so I figured I'd touch on a little more information. It has been covered many times, and I take zero credit for this concept.
NOTE - if your bow shoots slower than 250fps, or you intend on shooting critters past 35 yards or so, you may want to consider other options. But for 90% of bowhunters, shooting a bow built after 2005, who shoot deer at 30 yards and in, this is a very effective way to shoot well.
First, let's talk about the variables in the environment that can affect your accuracy - they are many, and there is no need to expand on each: Form, appropriate draw length, draw weight, bow and arrows being tuned properly, temperature - being hot and sweaty or freezing cold, skeeters, a fight with the wife distracting you mentally, adrenaline, holding bow at full draw for a long time, wind, etc.
Each of these things affect how accurate you are. And the number one thing that affects accuracy? CRITTERS MOVE. They move when you range them. When you draw on them. When you have your pin settled in. When you release your arrow. When your arrow is about to reach it's intended target.
What is the single best way to overcome all of this? Hang up your bow and fling lead at 3000fps....Or, if you like, just make things simpler.
The age old question of sliders and multi pin sights improving accuracy - Do they? Well, yes, they do - sometimes. Where are they effective? When you're shooting at known distances, at fixed targets. They are also great for long range shooting - when fall off in arrow trajectory gets excessive.
But are they not good for short range shots at moving animals at unknown distances? They're not necessarily bad - they're just not necessarily necessary...
There are some arrow trajectory programs that allow you to project how different weight arrows fly out of different weight/length bows. But I have confirmed their relative accuracy in the field, and you can too with a little tinkering.
Let's take a right down the middle example for today's new bowhunter. He buys a bow built in 2010 off the classifieds, and sets up a 400 grain arrow at 65lbs draw weight. He's shooting a 28" draw. His arrow will be flying at roughly 260fps. He has self determined a max distance of 30 yards.
He may set up his 3 pin sight at 10, 20, and 30 yards. His 10 yard pin would hit .5" lower than his 20, which would hit about 5" higher than his 30 yard pin. So you would say - I don't need a 10 and 20, they basically hit the same spot. What will you do if a deer is standing at somewhere between 20 and 30 yards? Well, you're going to compensate, and "bracket" your aiming point between two pins.
So I'm going to have a "20" yard pin - and anything inside of 20 gets that pin, then I'll do 25 and 30 yard pins. Well, those 3 pins would now be so close together, there'd hardly be daylight between them. Why does this matter - well, when the bright lights are on, and you factor in all the variables listed above, a cluster of pins will get awful difficult to make good use of. Now imagine trying to cram 5 pins into a useful range of 30 yards - same problem, only further exaggerated.
So why not a sliding single pin? You could just range the deer, dial the pin in, and shoot it. I've only killed 30 deer or so. But I can count on one finger the amount of them that stood still long enough for me to range it, draw, and shoot it where it stood when I ranged it. Maybe your deer do something different. But mine don't pose. So you've now let your release hand come off the bow, to your rangefinder, then adjusted your sight to, say 30 yards, and you draw. The deer moves 4 or 5 yards closer to you. What do you do? Let down, range it again and adjust slider, then shoot it? No, more than likely you compensate. Which brings me to the punch line.
Now, let's keep our same bow and arrow setup as above, and put a single fixed pin sight on. Some folks would recommend zeroing it at exactly 20 yards, then aim high if you have to shoot past that. This is a pretty good fix, but we can improve that. Tweaking the exact distance the pin is zero'd, will allow an easier compensation.
At a 20 yard zero - you'd be .5" high at 10 yards, all good! 20 yards, dead on, good. 25 yards - 2.5" low this is still acceptable because of all the variables listed above. At 30 yards though, you'd be 6" low! That's not great, and may result in a clean miss or a wounded animal if you didn't compensate properly.
Now - set that zero at 26 yards. You'd be 1.5" high at 10 yards, 2" high at 20 yards, .5" high at 25 yards, 0'd at 26 yards, and 2.5" low at 30 yards.
What does that mean? It means in the heat of the moment, if a deer steps out between 10 and 30 yards, and you can pull it all together and get that pin settled in the exact spot you want to hit with no compensation, you're likely taking him home. If you're the calmer type, and the deer isn't moving quickly, you can easily compensate a little to hit exactly where you want to - the same thing you'd be doing with the multi pin sight or slider.
Is this the best aiming system for tournament shooting? No. Is it the best system for shooting long distances? No. Is it the best system for deer hunting inside of 30 yards with today's modern compounds? You'd be hard pressed to prove otherwise - IF YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALL OF THE VARIABLES IN A HUNTING SCENARIO.
Again - I am not advocating this for folks shooting past 30-35 yards. This is aimed at beginners, and folks who know they will be shooting deer close. I'd be willing to bet the house that over 90% of deer killed by bow are within 30 yards.
Hopefully this helps someone new who is considering what sight to buy, or how best to simplify their hunting setup. Good luck this season!
NOTE - if your bow shoots slower than 250fps, or you intend on shooting critters past 35 yards or so, you may want to consider other options. But for 90% of bowhunters, shooting a bow built after 2005, who shoot deer at 30 yards and in, this is a very effective way to shoot well.
First, let's talk about the variables in the environment that can affect your accuracy - they are many, and there is no need to expand on each: Form, appropriate draw length, draw weight, bow and arrows being tuned properly, temperature - being hot and sweaty or freezing cold, skeeters, a fight with the wife distracting you mentally, adrenaline, holding bow at full draw for a long time, wind, etc.
Each of these things affect how accurate you are. And the number one thing that affects accuracy? CRITTERS MOVE. They move when you range them. When you draw on them. When you have your pin settled in. When you release your arrow. When your arrow is about to reach it's intended target.
What is the single best way to overcome all of this? Hang up your bow and fling lead at 3000fps....Or, if you like, just make things simpler.
The age old question of sliders and multi pin sights improving accuracy - Do they? Well, yes, they do - sometimes. Where are they effective? When you're shooting at known distances, at fixed targets. They are also great for long range shooting - when fall off in arrow trajectory gets excessive.
But are they not good for short range shots at moving animals at unknown distances? They're not necessarily bad - they're just not necessarily necessary...
There are some arrow trajectory programs that allow you to project how different weight arrows fly out of different weight/length bows. But I have confirmed their relative accuracy in the field, and you can too with a little tinkering.
Let's take a right down the middle example for today's new bowhunter. He buys a bow built in 2010 off the classifieds, and sets up a 400 grain arrow at 65lbs draw weight. He's shooting a 28" draw. His arrow will be flying at roughly 260fps. He has self determined a max distance of 30 yards.
He may set up his 3 pin sight at 10, 20, and 30 yards. His 10 yard pin would hit .5" lower than his 20, which would hit about 5" higher than his 30 yard pin. So you would say - I don't need a 10 and 20, they basically hit the same spot. What will you do if a deer is standing at somewhere between 20 and 30 yards? Well, you're going to compensate, and "bracket" your aiming point between two pins.
So I'm going to have a "20" yard pin - and anything inside of 20 gets that pin, then I'll do 25 and 30 yard pins. Well, those 3 pins would now be so close together, there'd hardly be daylight between them. Why does this matter - well, when the bright lights are on, and you factor in all the variables listed above, a cluster of pins will get awful difficult to make good use of. Now imagine trying to cram 5 pins into a useful range of 30 yards - same problem, only further exaggerated.
So why not a sliding single pin? You could just range the deer, dial the pin in, and shoot it. I've only killed 30 deer or so. But I can count on one finger the amount of them that stood still long enough for me to range it, draw, and shoot it where it stood when I ranged it. Maybe your deer do something different. But mine don't pose. So you've now let your release hand come off the bow, to your rangefinder, then adjusted your sight to, say 30 yards, and you draw. The deer moves 4 or 5 yards closer to you. What do you do? Let down, range it again and adjust slider, then shoot it? No, more than likely you compensate. Which brings me to the punch line.
Now, let's keep our same bow and arrow setup as above, and put a single fixed pin sight on. Some folks would recommend zeroing it at exactly 20 yards, then aim high if you have to shoot past that. This is a pretty good fix, but we can improve that. Tweaking the exact distance the pin is zero'd, will allow an easier compensation.
At a 20 yard zero - you'd be .5" high at 10 yards, all good! 20 yards, dead on, good. 25 yards - 2.5" low this is still acceptable because of all the variables listed above. At 30 yards though, you'd be 6" low! That's not great, and may result in a clean miss or a wounded animal if you didn't compensate properly.
Now - set that zero at 26 yards. You'd be 1.5" high at 10 yards, 2" high at 20 yards, .5" high at 25 yards, 0'd at 26 yards, and 2.5" low at 30 yards.
What does that mean? It means in the heat of the moment, if a deer steps out between 10 and 30 yards, and you can pull it all together and get that pin settled in the exact spot you want to hit with no compensation, you're likely taking him home. If you're the calmer type, and the deer isn't moving quickly, you can easily compensate a little to hit exactly where you want to - the same thing you'd be doing with the multi pin sight or slider.
Is this the best aiming system for tournament shooting? No. Is it the best system for shooting long distances? No. Is it the best system for deer hunting inside of 30 yards with today's modern compounds? You'd be hard pressed to prove otherwise - IF YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALL OF THE VARIABLES IN A HUNTING SCENARIO.
Again - I am not advocating this for folks shooting past 30-35 yards. This is aimed at beginners, and folks who know they will be shooting deer close. I'd be willing to bet the house that over 90% of deer killed by bow are within 30 yards.
Hopefully this helps someone new who is considering what sight to buy, or how best to simplify their hunting setup. Good luck this season!
Last edited:
Great minds think alike I guess
