What do you consider accurate?

[Leef]

Only been shooting the longbow for two years, havent hunted yet.  What do you consider accurate?  Being a compound shooter for many years, I'm being a little tough on myself I think.  At twenty yards, what should my "before I hunt" standard be?  paper plate? softball? golf ball?  Thanks for your thoughts.

[jacobsladder]

i'd say an 8" circle should be acceptable at 20 yds..of course a 3" would be better...but vitals are the key and i think an 8" circle should get us there. im thinking deer size animals

[Rico]

Leef being a compound hunter for many years I assume you already know the kill area of your quarry just hunt from there in other words get as close as you feel necessary to hit that kill zone. Maybe it will be alot less than 20yds.

[jacobsladder]

I agree with Rico...the closer the better... but if you do take a 20 yd shot i'd say you should feel very confident that you can put your arrow in a 8" circle.

[BRITTMAN]

Id say a 3 arrow group consistantly baseball size would be very good . I used to be a hard core compound shooter like your self so I know what you are going through and still have problems with confidence now. One thing that will help your confidence is to go to a traditional shoot or two and get a feel of where your at with your accuracy compared to others that have been shooting for a long time . Also , I try to make all my hunting shots under 20 and more like 10 or 15 so I do ALOT of pratice at 10-20 yards  and have done very well taking a deer or two and some small game every year so far. Make sure to pratice out of some kind of elavated stand regularly if you plan on stand hunting and keep your shots up close and personal. I love bowhunting because it is a up close and personal type of hunting so if I can convince the deer to climb up the tree Im in happy as a hog .

Mike

[Widowbender]

For me would be about the size of a softball. I limit myself to the distance that I can hit with my first arrow, cold. Right now I would not take a shot over twenty yards, though I can group okay a little further, my  first shot outside that distance hasn't quite got there yet. I am working on that now, to try to focus on getting better between 20-30 yards. My preferred distance on a deer would be close enough to tickle them with the arrow.  

David

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I shoot at about a 4-5" targets at 20 yards. the farther I move out the smaller target I use.

[brettlandon]

I consider a coffee can lid (about 5-6") to be an excellent measure of accuracy for white-tailed deer.  If you place a quarter sized black dot in the center of a small paper plate (not the standard 9" ones) and are able to keep three arrows of three on the plate, then your accuracy is only varying a maximum of 3 inches.  You must consider that if the focal point is in the center, your miss cannot exceed the radius and still engage the plate (approximately 6 inches in diameter).  I believe that this size roughly approximates the vitals of a deer.  JMHO.

-Brett

[R H Clark]

For me I had to shoot some 3D games to know.Sort of gives you look at where you would have hit the animal.Real deer are a little faster though.

[Bjorn]

Softball at the comfort zone is accurate enough for me. My comfort zone is 15-20 yards and I don't go beyond that yet; but I am working on it.

[Bonebuster]

An 8" circle I believe is a good indicator.

Most days, I can hold my own and shoot beside anyone and be confident in my accuracy. An 8" circle is no problem out to twenty yards.

However, that 8" circle becomes much smaller, after a two hour sit on Saturday morning, after working fifty hours, and staying up a bit too late to watch a movie with my wife on Friday night. Suddenly twenty yards is a long ways.

If you have refrained from hunting with your longbow for two years, it means you care. If you feel you are ready, then I for one am sure you are.

As hunting season approaches, putting yourself in a realistic hunting situation, and making one good shot without warm up is going to be the real test of your accuracy.

When the time comes, you throw the thought of the 8" circle out the window, concentrate on a single hair, and your hands, your eyes, and your longbow will do the rest.

[myshootinstinks]

I like to shoot at a tennis ball hanging from a string over the front of my target. No, I don't claim to hit it every time or even half the time. If I hit the tennis ball 25% of my shots at 20 yds I'm having a decent outing. If I hit it 3-4 times in a row I'm having a real fine day. Focusing on a tennis ball will usually keep shots in a 5"-8" circle.  Deer and elk don't come with bright green spots on them so a few weeks before the season I do away with the tennis ball and try to focus on a spot on the burlap target I use. At that level of accuracy, I can honestly say I've never hit an animal poorly so that it got away. I've missed a couple of shots cleanly but I really shouldn't have taken those shots to begin with. Everything else I've drawn on has wound up in the freezer.

[mcgroundstalker]

Right On Target Bonebuster. A cold shot is what counts for hunting. Accuracy with a trad bow is relative. Speaking for myself, longbows and compounds are not even on the same page. (I'm not putting down compounds here.) If we use the "become the arrow" method or some sort of visualization we can be very accurate when hunting.

... mike ...

[myshootinstinks]

I meant to add that I agree with Bonebuster's comment.  I think we all concentrate our very best when drawing on an animal.  In any target shooting situation my mind will eventually start to wonder and accuracy will suffer.

[kctreeman]

ake a walk inthe woods anstump shoot. You will be amazed how accurate you can become.

[wtpops]

If you are confident you can put the arrow into the vitals at whatever distance you turn lose of the arrow from, you are ready

[Otto]

This is as good as I can shoot.  There's a dozen arrows in that target shot from 25 yds in my basement.  Two of em I pulled just because it's daggone hard to concentrate like that for a dozen consecutive shots.  So I reckon there's 10 arrows in about 4 inches there.

 

[Shawn Leonard]

I have been to quite  few shoots and 90% or more of the guys and girls there cannot keep them in a softball size group at 20 yards on a consistent basis. Sorry but true. Go out and hunt and take the shots you feel confident in, I passed 3 good bucks this year at 30 yards or a tad less, but I have killed deer farther, for me it is about how I feel. If I feel I am gonna kill the deer 30-35 yards is not out of the question.  Shawn

[myshootinstinks]

Nice shooting Otto. You have a BIG basement, in my back yard I have to stand in one corner of the yard with the target in the other to shoot 25 yards.

[Threebows]

I think KC hit it. Take walk and stump shoot a little. It will give you the feel for an unexpected shot at an unknown distance.