Bucks&Brews

I realize most people shoot compounds and don't think about deer dimensions, but I gap shoot a barebow recurve. What that means for my sight picture is that my arrow (seen in my peripheral vision) hovers a certain distance below or above my intended point of impact. So I am asking if anyone has accurate measurements of a deer's height in inches. My gaps are between 14-18 inches at my effective ranges so I need to know the vertical distances above and below the vitals. I would like those measurements for both coues and muleys since the differ in size. I hate to make rough guesses and misjudge a shot on an animal, doesn't seem responsible. Anyone have any ideas?

Excellent information, thanks for your input. What have you found were the dimensions on a mule deer?

Agreed. I have adjustable tiller on my bow so I can get the noise down mostly but I will lose some velocity. I don't understand how your finger has to touch the nock. I always use a double nock point so even if I shoot three under, my finger is still a hair under the nock. If I slipped my tab over the bottom nock then the it will either tear into my tab or the nock point will spin and change. Or is that small distance acceptable? Someone told me that on a range and so that ended my interest in trad shoots, at least in Arizona. Where would I go to verify that information for Arizona trad classes?

I have not been able to achieve a small gap with three under. That's why I had to crawl down the string to change my launch angle. I had a set up last year that put me at a 25 yard point on but it took some tiller adjustment to get good arrow flight. An 18" maximum gap for me is pretty doable. The yellow line I drew is if I'm really up close but the smaller 14" gap is at 20 yards. I don't know how your point on is 26 yards shooting just three under....do tell. I would guess you're shooting full length 31-32" arrows and have a fairly high anchor point right? That is definitely a forgiving sight picture under 30 yards.

Based on a 30-32 height, I used some grid lines and rulers found in Paint to estimate a 14" gap (red line) and an 18" gap (yellow line) on a coues deer. I pretty new to hunting coues (hunting in general) but I'm guessing this photo is of an average 3 year old buck, maybe someone with more experience in judging these animals could comment. For practical purposes, it's about 12" from a heart shot to his knee joint.

You are correct that my point on is a little outside my effective range or really my "ethical" range, which for me as of now is under 35 yards. I use a fixed crawl too and estimate my gap initially then let me instinctive subconscious slightly adjust and hold that sight picture until my shot breaks. It helps me stay focused and process oriented under stress. I like to target shoot at much longer distances for a little challenge and fun which is why my point on is farther. I don't like having to stack or hold over a target too high as my accuracy diminishes quickly. I would guess your fixed crawl is unnecessary with that SRF sight. I almost got one but I wanted to compete in barebow classes so I decided not to but it seems a good tool.

Hey all, I am new to this forum and new to serious hunting. Small introduction, I hunted off an on since I was a kid but have been wildly unsuccessful. I am here to learn. I have fairly well developed periphery skills that contribute to hunting such as bushcraft, land navigation, physical fitness, etc. I just don't know what the heck I'm doing when it comes to finding and harvesting deer. I shoot a recurve bow (don't judge, I just like stickbows) and would love to eventually kill something with it, especially a trophy coues. So I have a few newbie questions: 1. How do find good spots to hunt? I'm not asking for people to give me their spots, I really want to find some on my own. How do I go about doing that? If you were to pick a random unit you had never seen but you knew held coues deer, how would you breakdown that large terrain? What is essential for big bucks to thrive? 2. When you find deer, how do you close the deal? Do you stalk them while bedded or ambush them through a choke point in the terrain, etc? Like I said, I'm not new to the outdoors, I just suck at hunting. I got some 15's on a tripod now and I'm skilled with a bow, I just need to fill in the gaps I guess. I'll be cruising the forums trying to answer my newbie questions and soak up some knowledge. Any help from this community would be so appreciated. I'm pretty tired of wandering around on hunts, not seeing game. I gotta figure this stuff out so I can pass it on to my kids and keep it going. Thanks.

Haha, that's great deer sign. Well I'm going to get out there in January and start putting into practice some of these things. If I can find game and put a few stalks on, whether I pinwheel one or not, I would feel more than successful. Thanks again everyone, I look forward to learning more and being a part of this community.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Paul, what you're talking about reminds me of bass fishing where it's said that 100% of the fish are in 10% of the lake. It's our job to find where that 10% is. I imagine it will be very rewarding finding animals after putting in the hard work and research. I'll start hunting small game in the off season and maybe pick up a javelina tag to gain some hunting experience in the meantime. Any places online you would consider "good information" other than this forum? There's tons of "advice" online but not all of it is sound.

I started listening to lots of podcasts like kifarucast, south cox, jay scott, etc....From there I ended up hooking up with Duwane Adams for some glassing lessons. You're right about money well spent. He made me realize how much I didn't know about hunting, there is just so much to learn. I like what you said about the hiking trails. Sounds like I need to start hiking a few trails and focus on one unit at a time to get familiar with it. Where do you look for javelina? I've only ever bumped them on accident while fooling around in desert. I wouldn't mind putting some stalks on them.

I live in the Gilbert area and planned on checking out unit 22 and 23