Your Bow Isn't The Problem, Or Is It?

Bow Fit Matters

I've never been a gear guy, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. My hunting gear is a mix of the popular brands, usually whatever was on sale or was given to me as a birthday or Christmas present. I'll spend money on gear, but for the most part I have a simple but effective collection of equipment and clothing, most of it torn and patched in one way or another, that I feel I can use for 90% of hunts in North America.

For the past 9 years, I had the same mentality when it came to my archery setup. I was the guy that when asked about the latest and greatest bow from (insert trendy bow brand here) said something along the lines of “the Native Americans did it with bows made of cedar branches and bison sinew, it doesn't f#$!%ing matter”. I was right in some ways, but I was wrong in more.

I want to be clear, I am NOT writing this to sell you a product, and am not even encouraging you to spend more money than you already have on your archery setup. That said, finding a bow that fits you, or adjusting your current bow to fit you correctly, can transform your shooting capabilities.

In 2015 I was 17 years old, fresh out of high school, and my old man’s graduation present to me was a brand new bow. On a hot Saturday in July, we hopped in dad’s pickup and headed for the local bow shop. I shot several bows, and eventually settled on a 2016 Hoyt Defiant. After shooting hand-me-downs that were as old as I was for 10 years, this was a major step up. I was pumped. I shot that bow for 8 years and it never crossed my mind to get a new one. I had never been a great shot, but my Hoyt worked. I knew how to shoot it, knew when there was something wrong with it or it was out of tune. Why would I change it?

Fast forward to August of 2024. Montanas archery antelope season opens next weekend. I've got elk on my cameras, and to top it all off dad and I decided this was the year that we were going to scratch archery moose off of the bucket list and had booked a trip to Canada for late September. There was one problem; something was wrong with my trusty old bow. The past two weeks of shooting I

found myself constantly moving my sight housing down and widening my pin gaps to account for shooting low, and it felt like my draw weight was dropping. Being the not at all bow savvy person that I am, I went to the local shop to ask my favorite tech, Cody, what he thought was wrong. He checked the draw weight and it scaled out at 62, 8 pounds lighter than what it should be. My limbs were going bad, and the bow was probably not safe to shoot anymore due to the risk of cracking a limb. I asked about replacement limbs and was told that they couldn’t guarantee delivery in the next 2 months. A week out from hunting season, and my bow was effectively useless. I had to buy a new bow, and I wasn't happy about it.

On my old Hoyt, my draw length was maxed out at 30 inches. As a late-blooming 17 year old, that was the proper fit for me. I couldn't remember my draw length at the time, so Cody measured me. “Jeez man, you've got a 6’5” wingspan, you should have at least another inch, maybe two on your draw length.” That was news to me, and at the time I didn't understand the significance of what he had told me. He set me up with a couple of longer axel to axel bows to try out that he felt were well suited for someone with a longer wingspan. Draw Length was set at 31.5. The first few shots felt weird, like I was just learning to shoot all over again. After a few arrows through each of the bows, I knew that I had been missing something. The added 1.5 inches on my draw length completely changed how I shot. The way that I could get my pin to just sit exactly where I wanted it was a completely foreign concept to me. When I was short strung, hunched over my bow, I thought it was normal to have my bins bounce and jerk around my point of aim. Now I felt like I had laser beams for eyes, and wherever I buried that pin was exactly where my arrow was going. I'd never felt confidence like that with a bow in my hand before.

I had always been able to shoot a decent group at 50-60 yards, but couldn’t wrap my mind around guys that would practice at 100 yards, and shoot a softball sized group at that seemingly impossible distance. Having a bow that was properly fitted to my length sent me down a rabbit hole of archery tuning, practice, and equipment. Once I dove in, I couldn't believe the rapid progress that I made. 70-80 yards felt like a chip shot, and I was more confident in my setup than I ever had been. The biggest change I noticed was that now I truly enjoyed shooting my bow. While before shooting felt like a chore that I had to do to get

ready for the season, now shooting 100 arrows after work felt meditative and relaxing.

The first week of October rolled around and I found myself at home on a Saturday, with no tags left in my pocket, (minus a few white tail doe tags). Something that hasn’t happened to me before. I sat and reflected on the season and came to the realization that while there were many reasons for my successful season, primary amongst them was the ground I gained as an archer. I attribute almost all of the increase in my shooting capability to having a bow that fit me properly. While I didn't shoot any animals past 60 yards this season, the confidence that I had in my shot was undeniable. If a buck or bull presented a broadside shot within 70 yards, I felt like he may as well have already been vacuum sealed and tucked away into my chest freezer.

My goal with this post is to share my experience with you guys, in hopes that you won't have to go through the pain of being a crappy shot like I was. By my limited experience, if you’re not confident as hell taking a shot at an animal at 50-60 yards in the West, your opportunity is decreased by 50-60%. With that in mind, let's do some simple math. If general archery elk units in Montana have a success rate of 9%, and your opportunity is decreased by 50% if you can't shoot past 50 yards, then .09*.5= .045 or 4.5% chance. Otherwise known as a snowball's chance in hell.

Public land archery elk is an odds game. The more variables that you can stack in your favor, the higher your likelihood of success. In a low success pursuit anything that you can do to separate yourself from the unsuccessful 90% is worth doing.

In conclusion, here is a short list of low/no cost options to consider in your archery setup. These are the few things that I feel can get you 90% of the benefit, and enable you to increase your shooting capability without dropping a bunch of cash on an all new setup.

1) CHECK YOUR DAMN DRAW LENGTH
I am not a bow tech, and don’t claim to be. There's plenty of youtube videos that you can watch and assess your own draw length with, but going to a good local archery shop and having them adjust your length until you have that AHA!

moment is well worth your time. From my experience, if you're short strung your pin will seem bouncy and twitchy, with short and somewhat erratic movements. According to my trusted sources, (two Youtube videos and a guy I met at the bar last weekend) 60-70% of people are short strung on their archery setups. If your draw length is too long your movements will likely be long and swoopy, rather than short and jerky if you're short strung. We’re looking for that sweet spot in the middle, that's where the magic happens

2) CHECK YOUR DAMN PEEP HEIGHT
Again, if you don't work on your own bow, this is where a good bow shop is important. Get on a first name basis with the bow techs, they'll take care of you. Checking your peep height is fairly simple. Draw your bow with your eyes closed, anchor, touch the tip of your nose to the string, and open your eyes. If your peep is set correctly and you have decent shooting form you should be looking through it and see your pins when you open your eyes.

3) YOUR PINS SHOULDN'T LOOK LIKE A NEON SIGN
This one won't be true for everyone. People with farsightedness often shoot better with a brighter (larger) pin, and some people that shoot a multi pin sight like to have a larger pin for their top pin. Common sizes are .019 (larger) or .010 (smaller). I run a 4 pin slider with all .010. The reason I say that most western hunters should opt for smaller pins is because the larger pins make it much more difficult to see your point of aim when shooting farther distances, and cloud your sight picture. Some whitetail guys prefer bigger/brighter pins, because they're mostly shooting shorter distances and often at dusk/dawn. Bigger pins are beneficial in that scenario because they soak up more light. To accommodate for smaller pins soaking up less of that precious light in the wee morning hours, I run a green pin for my top which seems to perform better in low light scenarios. Unfortunately, many bow sights come stock with larger pins, so you'll have to order smaller ones and install them or have your local archery shop do it for you. Those bow techs need something to keep them busy in the winter.

4) RANGE FORGIVENESS IS YOUR FRIEND
Talk about beating a dead horse. It feels like the debate over arrow weight and arrow speed has been going on for as long as I can remember. Here's my brief but practical take. I don't care about arrow weight, I don't care about arrow speed. I care about range forgiveness. Of the few archery elk that I've been

fortunate enough to take, I've had time to range approximately zero of them. I imagine as my hunting style evolves into a spot and stalk style rather than a calling style that will change, but the need for range forgiveness is beneficial nonetheless.

Think about it; a bull that you've been dogging for the last 2 hours pushes his cows in front of you. Your hands are shaking, your heart pounding. You’re dehydrated because your dumb ass dropped your pack a mile ago thinking you were going to seal the deal right then and there. You range the lead cow, 45 yards. You draw, bull steps out, sight, bubble, pin, pull, the shot breaks. Arrow is a little back, maybe got liver? Nock another arrow, draw. He runs away a few steps and turns broadside, no time to range. You bury your 50 pin mid-body and pull through. Pinwheeled him. After the shakes wear off you range where he was standing. 56.5 yards. You might not have recovered that bull without range forgiveness. It can be the difference between “I missed him low” and “I clipped the bottom of his lungs and he died within 100 yards”.

Some people are lucky to have long draw lengths, some people are strong enough to pull heavy poundage, some people do both. Those people don’t have to sacrifice arrow weight to get range forgiveness because it's already built into their setup. If you aren't long and lanky with a big draw length and can't pull heavy, you have to sacrifice some arrow weight to get a flatter trajectory. I'm not saying you should shoot a toothpick at 1,000 fps. However, if you can get to the point where you can shoot at 40 yards and fit your 20,30, and 40 pins all in the vital zone of a life size 3D elk target, you're on the money.

I hope this article was helpful and wish you all the best of luck on your upcoming hunts!

-Gibson B.