Have you ever missed a shot because of a steep angle?

[elkaholic]

well guys it 's not always related to taking shots with a rifle -

 

 

I'm an avid archery hunter - I 've taken lots of javelina and a few elk - but never a deer .

Now i' practice a lot and concider myself a good archer. I'm good- out distances of 40-50 yrds . I practice all the time on my back yard.

 

this happened to me in wisc. aa long time ago ' -

I had achance to go deer huntin - archery

Now I've never hunted out of an elevated tree stand - never need to - while hunting in Az.

the area was baited so- it was a sure thing - I had shot a few times in my cousins back (from the ground)

i was ready.

A nice little 3x3 came in - I'm 20 feet up this big tree in a great stand - How easy is this gonna be- I'm think -first deer - first shot - I'm done . -I took my time line up the pin - he can't be 25 yrds away

shot right over his back - I'm like no way - i had him - he runs off.

 

Ten minutes later , here comes agin -same spot - ok now way I'm missing agin - shoot- same thing right over his back . Now i'm down to my last arrow - here he comes for the third time a little farther out.- you guessed it - missed agin .

 

I watch him run away - I'm out of arrows , so i get down collect my arrows and climb back up in the tree.

 

he never came back - I'm totally bummed out - how did i miss this guy 3 times .

 

I know the bow is sighted in - I had practiced - so I set get back to my cousins house - take 3 shots at 25-30 -40 yrds- dead-on . i'm like no way . so i set-up the target by the house - ,climb up on the roof and try it agin - i shoot over the target every shot - i get back up - aim for the bottom of the target and sink the shot dead center - i was easily missing by one foot!

 

 

I know since then that one should never forget to allow for the angle of the shot.

 

hunting with a rifle is no different! Gary

[hunter1026]

I had my wife shoot at a really nice Buck last year uphill and was so excited I forgot to take off some yards when i tokd her where to hold and she hit just over its back would have been her first deer and about a 100" Buck BUMMER!!!!!

[Millhouse]

A few years ago I missed a decent buck because of the downhill angle. It was almost in the same spot as the year before, but didn't account for the change of angle. Anyways, after missing four times (figured I was shaking until I thought about it later). I got the whole thing on film, and you can see all of my shots hitting above the buck. Dump move that I will not repeat....hopefully.

[bowhunter4life]

After thinking for awhile, I must be getting old..... Sometime 22-24 years ago I was shooting a shoot at Ben Avery and I had overheard a few older guys talking about angle shots. What I thought I heard was; if it is a deep angle downhill shot then you subtract 1/2 the distance and if it is uphill you double the distance....

 

Well fast forward 4 months to the September Archery deer hunt in 17b. I just crested a hill between 2 mountains and heard some noise and as I looked up. Here was a buck of a lifetime! Thinking back he was a minimum 170" plus. Ok.....I split my 40 and 50 yard pin....Then this thought came during full draw........, I need to double the yardage, it is up hill.... ok crap I only have a 60 yard pin.......hummmmmmm ok put the 60 pin on top of his back.

 

Welllllllll: As I watch the arrow sail 2 foot over his back the rest is history. I think I shot 3 -4 arrows after that in disgust! Trying to figure how, I missed so badly. Every time I double the distance I was sailing them arrows into no man’s land. Then I tried cutting the distance, would you know, I hit what I aimed at.

 

Lesson number 280.... Do not always believe what you hear. Try for yourself before a great opportunity presents itself and vanishes in a blink of an eye.

 

 

[ZJARCHER]

Im also a victim of steep angles, haha... This years archery pig hunt! We were on a good sized heard of pigs moving at a good pace down a VERRRRY steep bowl/run. I ended up on top of a 30 ft tall rock structure shooting downhill at a pig 58 yards away according to the ol bushnell yardage pro 400. Not a tough shot typically, buttt I totally forgot to compensate for the steep angle. I let the arrow fly... Heard the arrow smack rock. ouch!!! Right then it clicked that I hadn't compensated... Took about 2 minutes for me to re assess for the angle, and the pig hadnt moved an inch! Let a second arrow fly and that one did the job. That 2 minutes of brainwork seemed like forever and I got REALLY lucky the pig stayed there!

[1azbowhunter]

in utah my dad was hunting elk and missed 2 elk because of the steep angle.he had a bull at 80 yards and he put his 60 on him and missed high.Next he had a really big 6by at 60 yards put his 50 on him and shot over!

[bojangles]

a few years back, i was hiding in some boulders behind my house, as the muleys were thick in there that year. I could only hunt till 8, i had to go to work, but i'd been watching a bachelor heard of 5 bucks wander thru this area daily. Next thing i know a forker was sneaking around me. He was nervous, so i didn't take time to use the range finder (mistake). I drew my bow and settled the 40 yard pin on his shoulder. It was a steep down hill shot, and the arrow sailed harmlessly over him and burried itself halfway up the shaft in the soil. That deer took off like a scared rabbit, and i hung my head low on yet another trip back to the truck.

[AzHuntingAddict]

Funny thing about shooting downhill or uphill, I have always missed! I never considered the way the shot would land at the extreme angle. Shooting from a canyon ledge down to the bottom of a drainage, I didnt consider the angle compaired to the distance. My shot was off and I lost a good chance for a nice sized buck. For some dumb reason, I didnt think the bullet would be that off with the extreme angle, thinking gravity would have helped me shooting downwards was a rookie mistake, so I lost out. I have considered placing a chart on the rifle stock next to my windage and drop chart. Learning how the angle affects the shot made the difference for me this season, even if the buck was a tiny guy, first kill none the less with lessons learned from last year.

[Vbraley]

This year was going to be "The Year" to get some payback after last years fiasco that landed me in the hospital after rolling my 4 wheeler only a few hours in opening day. I drew the same tag and on one day glassed up a dream buck at about 0830, hiked up to and around the backside of the mountain we last saw him and found him bedded about 1pm. Set up for the shot, 368 yards, extreme downhill which I have never had experience with before, squeezed and missed? he was northbounnd at mach 6. Five Days later same mountainside, same buck, we watched him go around the mountain and found him bedded within feet of the same place. Setup for the shot which would be within feet of where I missed him before, this time 375 yard extreme downhill again, missed! Watched him walk then bed again. two more shots and 2 more misses, been out everyday since and can't relocate him. The buck of a lifetime gone due to extreme angle shots and not being familiar with how the bullets carry at those angles.

[Chef]

Very interesting stories with some good lessons taught.

 

Angle compensation has always been a "mystery" to me.

How much do I subtract from the yardage? How do I read them "fancy schmancy" cosine indicators and

what to do with the reading?

 

Well, playing around with Mr. Boyds' donated cosine indicating tool, I now have a much better understanding of how things work.

Sure, it will take a little extra time, but will up your success at a kill shot tremendously.

 

Here are two examples that he uses on his chart...

 

Shooting angle of 45* at a ranged 400 yards = 280 yard actual shooting yards.

Shooting angle of 60* at a ranged 500 yards = 250 yard actual shooting yards.

 

Wow.

[cohntr6]

I was fortunate enough to draw a late tag in unit 31 this year and was very excited.

Due to work I wasnt able to get out until December 14 and 15 but only saw small bucks those days.

One 80 or so inch 3 point was following a doe, making scrapes and rubbing on small trees so that made me

hopeful for the next week when I would be able to get out again.

 

On monday, december 19th I was on the trail and half way were i wanted to be when It was barely getting light.

I made it to my first glassing spot, sat down, got behind the binoculars and almost immediately saw a couple deer.

I knew the way one buck was acting there was a doe around and he intended on keeping a 2 point away from her.

I couldnt see the 3points rack very well so I just sat and watched for a while. I got a little video of him with my phone

through the binoculars of him raking over a tree and keeping the 2 point from his lady friend.

Some fog rolled in so I took advantage and moved down the steep hill another 200 yards or so. It took a few minuted to find them again as the buck followed the doe up the hill into some thicker brush and trees. I ranged him at 374. My ballistics chart said a drop of

16.4 inches with the 90 grain Hornady GMX for 400 yards. I knew though to aim lower than that because of the the downhill angle.

After 4 shots however the buck just looked around and walked off perfectly fine!

I had to walk down the ridge to my truck, cross over to the next ridgeline and go up the hill to check and make sure though.

About half way up I saw his doe so I froze. She moved and sure enough he moved to where she was just standing. I saw him lip curling and was suprised that this doe was in heat in the middle of December!

They walked off in the thick brush but I was able to keep tabs on them as the buck grunted constantly wherever he followed the doe.

I had never heard a buck grunt so much.

Well it was quiet for a bit so I moved to my right and saw them on a knob between to ridges, I got ready as he offered a good broad side shot so I stood and took a offhand shot. Boom, blew up a rock next to him. Off he went up the hill, when he temporarily forgot his hot doe and did a 180 when I got another shot, missed again! I jacked another round in and led him just a bit and squeezed, whack, I finally heard what I wanted! I saw him hunch up, go uphill, then turn and start going back down the hill very slowly.

I lost him in the trees and brush and I thought I was going to lose it! I had to walk back down the hill, back to my truck, then back up the same ridge I first shot from just lower. As I got to where I thought he was I couldnt see anything till i got a whiff of

rutty buck, looked down the hill and there he was! I was dang happy!

I grossed him about 95 inches with two little extras coming straight out of his brow tines.

So I missed 4 shots because of the steep but eventually got him!

Jeff

[cohntr6]

Where can I post the video? Anybody?

[CouesWhitetail]

Where can I post the video? Anybody?

 

Easiest thing to do is to upload it to Youtube and then paste the link into a post using the "insert medie" button(the one that looks like three photos in the toolbar above the text box).

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Yup.... ... missed the biggest buck ov my life at 505 yds in October... shot about a inch over his back on a down hill angle of about 22-25 degrees....

[ThomC]

I just dont hunt where it is so danged steep anymore. I evaluate the steepness of the hill. If I dont want to climb or worse go down that hill then I hold my fire. Solves that problem. Please dont let me win that gadget.