Archery “Q&A”: Why are my sights off?
Go the extra mile by writing down/physically marking key measurements on your bow after it is set up and sighted in
This week’s question comes from Brian, who emailed me this past week with the following scenario:
“I was practicing with my bow the other day just in case I shoot a good buck early with my muzzleloader(I still have a bow tag). I have a 30 and 40 yard pin. The last time I practiced(probably the 1st week in Nov.), both pins were accurate. When I shot the other day, I was shooting about 5 inches low at 40 yards. I moved up to 35 yards and was dead on. Thought I better check my 30 yard pin and it was shooting about 3-4 inches low. I moved up to 25 yards and it was dead on. Somewhere along the line I lost a little power or something? I checked my sights and they were not loose. Any suggestions?”
Well, the above scenario could be the result of many different things such as a bump of the entire sight bracket, string stretch, a bump of the rest, movement of your peep sight, a personal change in anchor point, a weak limb, the list can be endless. In archery there are many variables. My suggestions for this is simple; If you are consistently shooting low, it is time to adjust your sights. Make your adjustments, and if you want to go the extra mile, shoot a few arrows through a paper tuner to make sure your rest didn’t move. Although 3-4 inches is quite a bit of movement, it doesn’t take much of a change in your set up to cause this to happen, so to prevent this in the future, here are a few things you can do;
1.) Measure your draw length with a measuring arrow. Have a friend mark the arrow for you at the rest hole while you’re at full draw. Keep this marked arrow in your bow case, and occasionally double check to make sure the draw length is the same.
2.) Once you get your bow sighted in and tuned the way you want it, use a sharpie, or white out to mark where your peep is at, where your sights are in terms of where the main brackets are locked down at. (Many of the new sights already have numbered marks in place so if that is the case you can just write them down) and mark where your rest is locked in at.
3.) If the weather changes from the typical fall conditions, to the sub zero late season temps, try to shoot a few arrows in the cold with your gear on. Most likely it won’t affect you too much, but archery is a game of many variables, and any time a variable changes, it can change your accuracy.
All in all, paying close attention to the details of your set up, and recording/physically marking where your rest, sights, and draw length are at will help you self diagnose any problems that may arise during the season! Try this, and instead of scratching your head, you will maintain your shooting confidence, and make what ever adjustments need to be made to put you back on target! Good luck and shoot straight!
If you have an archery related question that you would like answered, be sure to email archeryquestion@gmail.com
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About the Author (Author Profile)
Growing up in southern Iowa, Blake Lefler obtained his passion for bow hunting from his father. An avid hunter, Blake’s father taught him the basics of hunting giant whitetails and since, Blake has made it a passion. Throughout the years, Blake has been blessed with the opportunity to pursue not only whitetails but wild turkey, elk, antelope, and exotic game species. In recent years, Blake, along with a few good friends, has dedicated himself to capturing his bow hunting season on film. Although Blake’s roots lie in the challenge of chasing giant whitetails, he has also made a career shooting target archery tournaments sanctioned by the NFAA, IBO, and USAA. A multiple time Iowa State Archery champion, when not in the deer stand, Blake spends much of his time training and traveling to professional archery tournaments.Subscribe
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