LOL You guys don't have enough brush back east or something? so you go hunting "B.Y.O.B." bring your own brush....
Sorry...i couldn't resist that one.....
as far as measuring your trajectory goes, i used a number of techniques that all worked in measurable degrees....i am fortunate enough to have a lot of room at my place and have a range i can shoot up to 80 yards before utilizing the back pasture. so using temporay metal fence posts worked the best for me. but there are a number of other ways to accomplish the same thing.
What i did was take butcher paper, or painters masking paper is a lot cheaper. i taped the paper accross my shooting lane at half the distance i would be shooting at a height i could still see the lower half of my target. at twenty yards i'd set my paper at ten yards. i place a florecent dot on my target so it's exactly center of the bottom edge of the paper from the position i'm shooting at.....after each shot you you hit your dot....you can measure from the bottom of the paper up to the hole it makes and know exactly how flat your arrows are shooting....now this may not seem important to folks that have to "BYOB", But hunting seriously brushy areas, or vine maple, or areas with lots of trees, shooting through....over....or under hanging branches become an art form rather than a hindrence....once you have a good feel of your exact arrow trajectory at different yardages it's really good to practice it on 3D courses or with trad gear, stump shooting.... it's a bit different when shooting instinctive than using sight pins....its a mental challange to focus on something THROUGH the brush, and not involintarily focus on the branch you are trying to shoot over.....
We constantly do this kind of practice while shooting 3D....a lot of folks think we are nuts trying to shoot though brush and tree limbs....but all you need to do is find a "Window" to shoot through.....That's what came to mind when i saw this post.....
Chad.....i would spend more time window shooting than long distance shooting that rubber elk of yours....you are about to experience what vine maple is REALLY like here in Oregon..... find some branches to prop up between you and your elk, and shoot though it at different angles....
you increase your shot opportunities by 200% being a good window shooter.....Kirk