crawl set up advice

[the rifleman]

I tied a fixed crawl not on my serving to give me a 15 yard point on.  My max range for whitetails is 20 yards no matter the circumstances.  My 10 and 15 yard groups were very tight.  When I moved back to 20 yards my arrows impacted 6 inches low, so I moved my fingers up to just below the second nocking point.  My groups opened up quite a bit (more than usual for 20 yards), I started thinking that the nock I had tied on for the crawl, although small was interfering with the cleanness of the release, so I removed it and my 20 yard groups improved.  Does this sound right or is am I imagining things?  Could the knot cause issues with how the string comes off the tab?  I use a very smooth Bateman tab.  I use my bow for 3D so I did not want the crawl knot interfering with shooting 2 under (like 3 under but I leave out the ring finger).  Any other ideas for marking the 15 yard point that would not hurt the string (I thought about using white out)?  I go to these lengths as after many deer and many years I know me---I get excited and need to make my set up and shot as idiot proof as possible.

[longbow fanatic 1]

I string walk for 3-ds and hunt with a fixed crawl, so I will take a crack at answering your question. What I would recommend is if you know where your 20 yard fixed crawl serving is at, instead of marking the string with a substance such paint or marker pen for 15 yards, why don't you just put a mark on your bateman tab at the 15 yard location. In other words, place your tab under your 20 yard crawl, find your 15 yard crawl and mark your tab right there. Then all you have to do is index your thumb on the 15 yards mark at your tab, slide your tab to that spot and shoot the shot. That is essentially string walking.

[the rifleman]

Thanks Dennis.  I played around with this at a 3D shoot this past weekend.  Most shots were between 15 and 22 yds and I found that if I used the same crawl I would hit the kill zone at those distances.  When confronted with a small target between 10-15 I just crawled down an undetermined distance further---not an exact science for me but it worked.  When I got home I put a small piece of masking tape on the string to mark the 15-20 yd spot and it seems to be working so far.  I think the previous knot was interferring when I tabbed over it for longer shots...

[longbow fanatic 1]

Hey John,

Glad you're figuring a system out that works for you. When I am shooting a 20 yard fixed crawl, I just shoot the same crawl at 10-15 yards to see how high my arrow impacts. For me, that is usually about 6". Then, when I am faced with a small 3-d target at 10 yards, I just aim 6" low and the arrow impacts where I wanted it to (assuming I did my job). I do the same in reverse for longer targets. You might also give this a try to see if this might work better for you rather than crawling down below your fixed crawl.

[D.B Cooper]

I set my crawl for 20 yards and gap shoot from the crawl for other distances.  I won't shoot at an animal past 30 so it's not much figurin' to do on the fly.

[BenBow]

Be careful using a fixed crawl or string walking in 3D unless you want to be put into the barebow class with compound shooters. Then expect to add 15+ yards to what you normally shoot. Most organizations say you have to have a finger touching the nock in the traditional class.

[the rifleman]

Thanks Dennis!  Ive been playing w nock height and very high anchor to get 20 yd point on.  I was sure the high anchor would put me offline, but everything seemed to come together with it and no worries w the 3d shoot rules.  Still learning it.