Learning to shoot uphill and downhill is a must if you ever plan on hunting steep or hilly terrain. The fact is most bowhunters who are not experienced in shooting up and down invariably shoot high. Deer and other game live in a wide variety of terrain, and if you are hunting out west you will be hunting them in steep canyons and mountains. Learning how to shoot effectively in these conditions is imperative.
The illustration shows the problem you encounter when shooting uphill and downhill. In this situation, the ram is actually 30 yards in a straight line from the bowhunter, so in his mind he sees the ram at that distance. But the actual lateral distance is only about 21 yards. Gravity pulls on the arrow the same whether going up or down, at least as far as we are concerned in close range bowhunting situations, so the actual shooting distance would be closer to 20 yards, not 30 yards. The result of shooting for 30 yards would be to shoot high, either missing the ram completely or wounding it. Since the vast majority of traditional archers use instinctive shooting, the only way to learn how to shoot uphill and downhill shots is to practice them.
If you don’t have hills where you can place targets high or low, try using an elevated platform or treestand to practice. Using a couple of 3-D targets will be more realistic. Just remember to always shoot for the vitals. The more experience you have at shooting from these angles the better your chances of making a killing shot on game in the same situation.
This tip is an excerpt from T.J.’s book The Traditional Bowhunter’s Handbook.
While the difference in distances in the triangle are important to understand aren’t the adjustments in angles more to the point? I am asking my tenth grader to refresh my memory of geometry in an effort to answer my own question. After shooting high in the past I built a stand in my yard that replicates tree stand angles and I shoot at small targets (plastic bottles) weekly to improve accuracy shooting down. It will be interesting to see how angles differ from the calculations even though it will still be an instinctive shot.
Bruce
Vashon Island
Good review on up and down hill shooting. As hunting season nears, we need to be reminded of these things. Good thought!
I think the reasoning here is faulty. Yes the distance from the tree to the deer is less than 30 yards. However, the arrow doesn’t fly from the base of the tree to the deer. It flies from the hunter to the deer which is 30 yards. Going to need to find a different explanation.
Ben, basic physics proves that gravity is a constant over azimuth, not angular distance; gravity pulls the same up and down, making the actual distance of flight of an arrow, up or down, as you cite, irrelevant
TJ,
Isn’t the arrow traveling 30 yards in both examples? It says in the article that the arrow is flying closer to 20 yards, but that isn’t true. If the hunter was standing at the base of the triangle then it would be 21 yards of flight. From the elevated position, the arrow is traveling 30 yards from the hunter to the sheep, which is the same as the standing on the ground example. Unless it was meant that the hunter paces it off ahead of time and thinks the shot is 21 yards when really it was 30. That would result in a low shot though.
I’d guess we suffer more from posture or form adjustments than from misjudged distances. It’s a little hardet to get into your back when shooting a steeper angle.
Just for fun, try angling you bow to the opposite side when shooting down. As in having the bottom tip on the right side instead of canting the top to the right. The can work well especially if your shot is off to your left. This is for righties, lefties reverse that. Just a thought. Dwc