Simply imagine, you climbed into a tree-stand just before the hunting time and you heard a twig breaking sound at daybreak. It’s totally unbelievable, just out of the corner of your eyes, a gang of antlers passing through.
One of them walked softly away from you at a distance of 30 yards and paused for a while. It’s probably your last chance before he went disappeared – 30 seconds in your hand to guide it down.
Humm! This subtle moment is very crucial to your success in hunting. It will decide either you’re going to miss a chance or you’re going to enjoy your patio time full of steak smoke.
If you have adequate knowledge of how to sight a bow, it is only then you can truly enjoy the pleasure of shooting.
If you’re a fresher or greener apprentice, there’s nothing to think about.
Our article will take you through the overall process of how to sight in your bow.
You need to be able to shoot a bow clearly, and reliably during practice before you get out of archery hunting.
Once you aim, you have two main options: fire with a bow sight, or do some innate aiming (i.e., shooting without a sight). Sights are more common than ever, but there are still many archery enthusiasts who enjoy the thrill of instinctive shooting. So, we’re going over both of them.
Before head out to the wood, it is advisable to maintain some safety issues if you are a beginner in this industry.
Basic Bow Safety Considerations
Although bows do not seem as scarier as firearms, they are still a deadly weapon for shooting. And if you use it in the wrong direction, then any tool will injure you or somebody else. So learning how to train before you know how to fire a bow accurately!
Like a firearm, you should be drawn a bow always point in a safe direction. Even scattered firing on fields could kill somebody. So, never fire at anything unless you’re more than 100 percent sure it’s an object or target you want to shoot at.
Therefore, it is the key to consider what lies beyond your goal before the firing. It’s safer to always choose a sturdy backstop, like an earthen ridge or a hanging wall.
If you miss your target too, in this way, it won’t go anywhere. Never dry-fire a bow, either-that is, aim it without a nocked arrow. This can cause failure in the bow and can damage you too.
Basics of Bow shooting
There are some basics of proper shooting techniques, such as how you stand (stance), your posture, and especially your anchor point-the position on your face that you pull the bowstring back to every time. If you want to produce the most out of sight, you have to be careful in every aspect.
What is an Archery Sight?
The archery bow sight is nothing more than a tool that contains a few pin/pins, a circle, a lens, or other markers to help the archers precisely reach the target. A sight usually provides the archers with a point of reference by centering it in the middle of their target.
How to Aim a Recurve Bow without Sights
Usually, recurve bows are not paired with sights when you purchase them. Therefore, there is a fair chance you haven’t got a sight when you’ve just begun archery.
Practice without sight is also helpful in correcting your aim. The steps below will show you how to hit the target better.
- Fix a standard target of 10 yards and begin your shooting with a minimum of five arrows. Though we’re aiming for the bulls-eye in the very beginning, hitting on it isn’t the key. Our main goal should be to place a grouping of arrows anywhere on the target. A cluster will indicate whether our stance, anchor point, aim, sight picture, release, and follow-through are consistent or not. Therefore, tight groups show us that we are consistent enough in our attempts to hit the aiming spot or not.
- To get consistent performance – look down the arrow and place the arrow point on the target. Then close your less dominant eye, focus on it with the dominant eye as it will help you to find the goal easily.
- In the next lesson, once you have released the arrow, place the arrow point based on where the previous dart landed. If it was on the left, then push the point a bit further to the right. If you find it too big after your shot, then lower it down for your next chance.
How to Use a Bow Sight
Bearing in mind how excellent your vision is, you may not be able to see more distanced points without using sight.
Therefore, you might want to invest in sights to improve your precision at some stage, below are the steps to use sight to hit your target.
Keep in mind that not all sights are the same in nature, but during production, they retain the same working concept.
- The next step is to look down the middle of the scope after lifting your bow upward.
- Often the hunting scope will have a ball pinpoint in the center, put this in the target’s center.
- See where it landed after you have fired your arrow and change the sight depending on where you want to land it.
- You have to change it with sights, depending on where the arrow is going to hit. You would switch your eyesight left if it went left. If the arrow lands too high, then you must lift your sight in the upward position. That can leave many beginners confused.
Tips
It should not wise to spend a much longer time aiming at the target. Most of the beginner archers make this mistake as they spend too much time aiming at the target. It might address the following happenings to you.
- The arm/hand by which you hold the bow for a long time may start shaking.
- It might reduce the draw weight to some extent or alter your stance.
On the other hand, if you don’t spend enough time aiming, there is a chance that you miss the target. Therefore, you have to find a balance point and practice makes it easier and quicker over time.
EndNote
Finally, before changing your sights, fire more than a few arrows, unless you are seriously off-target. Shoot at least five arrows or probably more before turning the sight if you notice that the arrows are on the goal, but do not trounce the place where you are aiming.
Look at the group as a whole, locate the center, and use this point to change your sight. E.g., if half of your arrows are above your label and half below the first, don’t change your height. But if the arrows just right of the mark, change your sight to the right.
Therefore, it’s not a hard job anymore. You’ll be reaching your target with practice and a mix of some thoughts in no time! That’s all on how to sight in your bow.