Does a 3D shoot reflect you bowhunting ability?

[Walksalot]

First 3D shoot of the season and shot 327, not the best but if you figure all 8's as good kill shots on a two rounds of 20 3D coarse= 320 not a bad hunting score. One fellow who shot rather poorly stated that if it were live animals he would have shot better, I say bull.

[Dillershortbow]

If you cant judge distance on the 3d range you cant hunting. Just somtimes the whey thay position the critters you would not shoot them in the 10 hole. How was the shoot ? How was the top shooter?

[greybark]

:lol: Hey Walksalot , that sounds like a good Hunting score to me. However there are a lot of varibles when it comes to rating your score-- type of bow , terrain, weather, type of targets, difficulty of course. One knows in their heart when they have done well. Your buddy obviously did not shoot good enough to cut the lines and fell into that trap we all do at one time or another - Look for excuses. :D

REMEMBER;-- Keep Your Fingertab On--

[Walksalot]

I use a Browning Midas Hunter. Oldie but goodie. All McKenzie targets from ground hog to elk. The guy who made excuses was a traditional shooter. I shudder to think of him out hunting. Every time I talk to this fellow he has a tale of woe about wounding an animal having it get away and he jokes about it. Having said that, there was another traditional fellow who shot with us who was a very good shot.
I personally tried a recurve, practiced for a year, took in a few 3D shoots and I sucked. Before taking it hunting I went out to my range and set up a McKenzie deer at 20 yds and took 30 shots at it. 20% were good kill shots and I deemed that totally unacceptable so I sold the bow and went back to my compound. I chalked it up to the fact I was not prepared to log the hours of practice and continual practice needed to be a good instinctive shooter.

[sniper]

First of all let me say that I am very impressed with your dicipline.
Alot of guys out there hardly take the time to site their bow in for hunting season let alone see if their any good with it. It takes alot of balls to put down the bow and say that the animals we hunt deserve better than that.

Second 3D is a really good guage of your SHOOTING ability, it will tell you weather or not you can judge yards and know your shot placement.
But we all know that a good hunt and good hunter is much more than just a good shooter.
Knowing how to stalk, cover your self, your smell, the area, the animal, and a hundred other things I havent mentioned, will get you in to the range that your confident at. And practice being a good shot.
All this is what will make a good hunter.

And third just go have some fun and enjoy the privalage of the hunt, and have some fun and meet people at the 3d tourneys.

[Walksalot]

The top shooter was in the 370's. There were a lot of tight shots in close but through windows, not glass but windows though the bush. There were some up and down shots but not a lot. Average compound would have been 30 while the traditional was 15-25. Poor turn out about 40 shooters as there was snow on the ground and it was storming that morning. There has been up to 150 shooters at this shoot but not yesterday or for the past few years for that matter. Maybe archery is going through a down cycle.

[tecspec]

Maybe a lot of us are just getting older. I have a hard enough time getting my butt out there to hunt in bad weather, though I always do. :wink:

[Dillershortbow]

So walksalot when is the next shoot in that part of the world Merit ???? Last year was my first year 3ding but the guys where saying numbers were down all over.

[petew]

The only draw back to 3D for hunting practice is that to score on quartering shots you are not making kill shots if the target were an animal.
Some targets have quartering score rings to reflect proper shot placement.If they don't you are practicing poor shot placement on quartering shots.
Otherwise it is great practice and practice is a must.

I think this is what the "trad guy" was refering to.

[Walksalot]

The next Penticton shoot is on March 14th. I have been trying to get a schedule and am cautiously optimistic I will have one on Wednesday. There might be shoots listed on the TBBC web site. Plasticpail, on our 2001 shoot we had a Hunter Round shot seperately from the 3D round. The kill zones were drawn in by hand to compensate for the different angles. Anything in the kill zone was 5 points, anything out of the kill zone was classed as a wound and there was a -3 deduction. A 0 was entered if the arrow missed the target or one chose to pass on that shot. It was a lot of fun but a bit of a pain in the ass to set up. We haven't done it since.

[littleal]

Walksalot
Yes I believe that 3D ing will your hunting skills and second You've shot a decent round in my books Our 3d shoots only have 30 targets Last month I shot a 280 of 300 and this month was 259 of 300. We have good days and bad ones BUT the most important thing is that we enjoy ourselves
AL

[Blake]

Obviously the better you are at shooting your bow can only help. But, the variables in the field and how a man reacts to live game(ie; buck fever) and the conditions etc. is a whole nuther ball game imo.

I feel target practice, including range estimation is mucho importanto, but only so as to get familier with your equipment, to make the actual shooting part more second nature.

Hunting is totally different. The live animal, that moves and rarely gives you all the time in the world to settle that pin in the right spot, is so much different than at any sort of target imo. I feel there are many better ways to practice for 'hunting' than 'target' shooting. I believe in mixing it up, i believe in practicing in the field(stump shooting/gophers, small game etc.) and shooting quick. Getting your speed up and shooting from different positions and 'really' practicing/getting to know how to shoot your bow like second nature. 3d's are certainly far better than just plain shooting at the range imo.

My history. I bought my first bow in november 02, an 02 mathews legacy, i shot it for the first time july 1st 03, so this past season has been my first every archery season. I practiced all summer on gophers, put the sneak and wait on a few badgers(humbled each time) and shot at the bag at work just about every day so as i could get as familier with shooting my bow as possible. Got a couple rabbits with it too. Plenty of gophers, even on the windy days i went out, and a few cowbirds fell to the mighty zwickey judo.

How my season first season went then. Second day of season, first shot at a big game animal with bow, i missed clean at about 25 yrds...a huge 6x6 whitetail that i don't want to talk about. Did too many things different and didn't realize my shot would be that far off, gloves, headnet etc. Stupid rookie mistake, didn't take me long to straighten that out. A couple weeks later at shot number two(a different buck), i missed again, this time i misjudged the distance, deer was further than i thought. Shot number 3, a muley doe at 30 yrds, i score, not a perfect hit but she laid down in 80 yrds. Much celebration, confidence goes up, still practiced and confirm zero's with bow just about every day.

The above all happened in september, then the first week or two of october if filled my two antlerless tags back to back in 30 seconds on a whitetail doe and her yearling. Both heart shots at 35 yrds, the yearling only went 20 yrds(thru center of heart) and mom made it about 90ish(hit and severed arteries just at the top of heart). Much celebration again, confidence goes way up, right where i like it. End of season rolls around, i hold off until the rut, last week of november i score, this time its my buck, 35 yrds and you guessed it, right through the center of the heart. That makes three in a row through the heart, and the last shot was tough, i didn't think i'd get an opportunity, but he turned in and gave me the quartering away...you'll see in pic below the entrance.

Moral of my story? Even though i shot a lot, and on the bag and the gophers i was a menace, but hunting the big game ended up not being near the breeze i figured it was gonna be. It could have been a lot uglier, and i've heard about a lot uglier but that bow never left my hand from July 1st to the end of november. Maybe some 3d's would have helped(especially in range estimation? maybe? gophers are pretty small ya know, lol), maybe if i'd shot 3d's all geared up with headnets and gloves etc. i would have had a more perfect season? Taking it from the target to big game and expecting to do the same can be a frustrating mistake imo.

I don't think i could judge a guys hunting success by watching a 3d. Just way too many different variables imo. I think a guys hunting success will come mostly from just being honest with himself and only taking shots he really feels good about.

Don't get me wrong, i felt good about all my shots or i wouldn't have shot...so you can imagine my amazement, confusion and resulting frustration i felt and dealt with early in the 'real' season :shock:.

Next season should go lots smoother, i learned a lot, and no matter what anyone says....You can practice until your blue in the face but if your going to be good at closing the deal....your going to have make it to the table. When at the table, i believe there is still some practice needed(ie; dealing with all the 'real' hunting variables including yourself etc.). The difference between theory and application...its real, it exists. I didn't think so, i was shootin so good so quick, i was cocky...i missed a 180-190 whitetail on day two of season because of it!

I wouldn't trade any of it for a minute mind you, if i would have scored on that deer on my first ever shot at big game with a bow...anyhow, i chalk that up to beginners luck and the deer just knew he was in no danger. The bitter sweet of 'hunting' and how it goes is what makes me love it even more now. I will chase that monster for years to come...its personal now, lol. I had several minutes to watch that hog after i flubbed the shot, never saw him for the rest of the season. Dang those biggins are smart. Don't ask where i hunt either...there are a few areas and i aint tellin where any of em are :lol:.

Btw, i didn't get all that bad a buck either...see pic here. Like i said, not a bad first season with a bow, i'm off to a good start.

http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL326/824048/2330635/39166487.jpg

And here's a pic with the heart.

http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL326/824048/2330635/39166552.jpg

B

p.s. already can't wait for the gophers to come out, gonna get started early this year :wink: :D

p.s.s. i'm sure i have the least amount of experience on this forum, so please take this as my own personal learning experience and therefore opinions on 3d vs hunting...if a guy can't hit well when its easy and not moving then yeah, he's gonna have some trouble in the field.

[petew]

congrats. Nice deer and super luck you had.
Don't expect this amount of success every year though.Practice does pay as you demonstrated.
Pete

[Walksalot]

Right you are guys. The thread should have read bowshooting as I totally agree that bowhunting is more than just shooting a bow and range guesstimation.