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Arrow Trajectory

The Silence

The Silence

PMA Member
I noticed that on most of the deer I had shot, the arrow was connecting with the deer higher then I had been aiming. So this spring I took a 3D target out to one of my stands and shot from various distances to see the results. I know I have read several articles about arrow trajectories coming from a tree stand but to actually see what took place was really, really interesting. Almost, without exception, all my arrows landed higher than where I was aiming from 15-40 yard shots. It was also interesting to see the angle of the arrow when it connected with the target- it was a much flatter angle than I was thinking it should be. That particular stand is hung at 20' or a tad higher. Do any of you know if shooting a quicker bow will affect the fact that your arrow will hit higher than you're aiming?
 
Are you using an angle compensating range finder? What you are explaining is usually the result of poor form, mis-estimated distance either due to your estimate or using line of sight range finder. Line of sight range fiders will give a longer distance reading on steeper angles. That and improper form (not bening at the waist) have caused my shots to go high in the past.

With proper form and an ARC range finder I seem to hit where I am aiming at and I hunt pretty high. If you you are doing all of the above and still hitting high, I'm not sure what would be going on.

Hopfeully somebody with more bow knowledge than me will chime in.

Good luck!:way:
 
Are you bending at the waist or just dropping your bow arm? If you don't keep your form correct you will shoot high from a stand.
 
Thanks for the advice. I think my shooting form is fairly good. I always try to bend at the waist. I do use only a "regular" rangefinder though so I haven't been compensating for the angle involved. I will probably aim a little lower than usual from now on.
 
I have laid out several different shot angles in my CAD software and the only need I can see for the arc is super steep angles. When I laid out a 20 ft stand height and a checked the actual shot angles from that height, at 40 yrds it made less than foot difference than from the base of the tree, 30 yards just under 2 feet diff, 20 yards 1 yard diff, and here is the kicker at 10 yards it made a 6 foot or 2 yard difference. If your stand is at a lower height the difference will decrease, and of course increase if your stand is higher. I used 20 ft as that is the average height of my stands. With the speeds of today's bows, in my opinion the arc technology is a wasted cost. I have shot at 3D tourneys with a buddy that has one and we would often get the same reading because of the rounding of the yards.


At 30 feet the angle gets steeper, so the difference is more. with a 30 ft stand, at 40 yrds there is just over a yard difference, at 30 yrds 4.5 feet difference, at 20 yards 7 feet difference and at 10 yards a 12 foot difference. So even at 30 feet up and a 10 yrd shot, you are talking about a 4 yard difference. I guess with this close of a shot, that could be allot, and mean the difference in going through a lung or just nicking it.

So reading this, at 20 feet up there is a 1 yard difference shooting out to 20 yards. A yard difference is only going to equate to inches with today's bows. Even looking at being up 30 feet and shooting to 10 yards and a 12 foot or 4 yard difference is still only inches.
 
Very likely a form or anchor issue as many have said. I have used the compensating rangefinders a great deal, and in the whitetail woods it is a moot point. Make sure to line up the peep with the sight housing and if they are inline, you should find that the height matters not.
 
Gravity only affects arrow flight across the horizontal plane of the arrow flight so the arrow will always hit hgh if you are shooting at a steep uphill or downhill angle.

If you have a rangefinder, as someone said, that provides true range, you will be surprised at how much difference there is between the horizontal range and the line of sight range.
 
Shooting form is extremely important but it may also be worth remembering that while hunting, you are shooting at a living target. Unless that "target" is very close, it is likely that it will begin to drop at any sound. This happens while the shooter is recovering from the bows recoil so it may not be noticed but can also account for some hits that are higher than expected.
 
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