A raw wind pushed up whitecaps on the open bay behind me as cold rain mixed with snow splattered on my parka and stung my face with wind-driven force. It was hardly hospitable, but it was seasonal weather for Quebec in early October. I spent little time thinking about comfort given the caribou convoy that flowed past my rocky hideout. The trail they followed was a knee-deep rut in the tundra worn down by hundreds of thousands of cloven hooves since the last ice age. Every animal was making fast tracks for the winter range, and try as I might; it became readily apparent that I wasn’t going to stop them or even slow them down. Short of my jumping in the trail, there was no way any of those bulls were going to pull up and risk a rear-end collision from a head full of antlers. If I was going to shoot it would have to be at a fast walking target.

At the pace they were traveling (much faster than a man’s top walking speed) even the 20-yard shot I faced would require plenty of lead. Moving my bow arm to keep pace with the biggest bull, I held the top pin in the center of his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The bow limbs thudded forward in an explosion of mist and the bull’s next stride brought his chest squarely in front of the arrow. My first caribou was quickly down.

Moving game is just one of four tough shooting challenges that I’ve encountered often while hunting everything from farmland whitetails to high mountain sheep. Mastering these four shots will make you a better bowhunter.

MOVING GAME

For bowhunters who pursue rutting whitetails, moving game is a common occurrence. The bucks seem to walk nonstop. The perfect broadside, standing shot squarely in the middle of a shooting lane is a dream. What you need is a plan for handling reality. Whether you take these shots or don’t take them, that isn’t the point. You need to at least think it through so you’ll know what to do when a nice buck walks past your stand this fall.

Let’s consider the challenge. Arrows get to the target a lot slower than most bowhunters may think. Even a shaft traveling 280 feet per second at a range of 20 yards will permit a walking animal to cover nearly a foot from the “now” command to impact. In other words, moving shots aren’t a snap and even close ones shouldn’t be taken for granted.

A standing shot is my goal every time I draw my bow, so I stop every animal I possibly can. But, if the situation doesn’t permit the ideal shot I have a strict set of conditions that occasionally allows me to take them on the move. My maximum distance for such a shot is 25 yards, and then only when the animal is walking fairly slowly, roughly equal to a normal human walking pace. Beyond 25 yards I try to stop everything, and any animal moving faster than a walk gets whistled at regardless of distance.

Know your limitations and hold that line even when tempted to step across it. Your personal shot selection criteria can’t be based on the size of the animal, or the number of days you’ve been hunting or what your friends have shot. It has to be consistent with your proven abilities. It is important that you practice moving shots until you’re totally comfortable with them. If you aren’t familiar with the timing involved or have never practiced moving shots you should forget about them until you’re better prepared.

Technique: The best way to make a walking shot is to swing with the animal and squeeze the trigger as you keep the pin a prescribed distance ahead of his vitals – wingshooters call it sustained lead. I find that a sustained lead of 4 to 6 inches is about right when shooting 20 yards. Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t work well when you have narrow shooting lanes. It is too difficult to time both the animal and a small opening when swinging the bow. Instead, aim for the opening and quickly pull the trigger when the middle of the animal’s shoulder appears beyond the pin. The proper lead for me seems to be about eight to 12 inches.

UPHILL, DOWNHILL, SIDE HILL AND ELEVATION

It had been a long, hard 14 days and my Alaska non-resident dall sheep tag was still in my back pocket. Below me, across a gaping chasm, lay the ram of a lifetime and my last opportunity of the season. It was really the last opportunity for me for years. Success or failure hinged on how well I could remember my high school geometry.

I knew I couldn’t just hold my pin a couple of inches low and let the arrow go. The true horizontal distance to the ram, not the line of sight distance, was the number I dearly needed. I pulled three arrows from my quiver to form a right triangle with the hypotenuse and vertical side of the triangle of equal length. I pointed the hypotenuse at the ram and added the bottom leg. The length of the bottom leg of the triangle was about 75% that of the hypotenuse and vertical side. Multiplying .75 by the distance indicated by the rangefinder gave me the true horizontal distance.

It takes a serious leap of faith the first time you intentionally choose the “wrong” pin on a steep slope, but I had done this enough in my life to know it was going to work. When the bow went off the arrow hit the ram solidly . That ram is one of my most cherished trophies for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the memory of the shot I had to pull off to get him.

If you hunt in rough terrain you’ll almost certainly face a shot with a significant elevation change some day. Understanding the necessary adjustments is the key to making these shots routine.

Uphill and downhill: The real distance of any shot is the horizontal distance, not the line of sight distance. Horizontal distance is always less than line of sight on angled shots, so whether you’re shooting uphill or downhill you have to aim low to keep from missing high.

For example, when shooting up or down a 40-degree slope you must use your 30-yard pin when your rangefinder says 40 yards. Most bowhunters wouldn’t allow for this much compensation. If the slope flattens to 20 degrees, treat a 40-yard shot as if it were slightly over 35 yards. Because your bow is already sighted in based on arrow speed, these numbers aren’t affected significantly by speed.

If you expect to take uphill and downhill shots on slopes steeper than 20 degrees you should seriously consider buying the new rangefinder from Opti-Logic that automatically compensates for shot angle.

Sidehill shots: If you lean your bow to the left you’ll shoot to the left and if you lean your bow to the right you’ll shoot to the right. To achieve perfect left and right accuracy you need to align your bow exactly the same on every shot – perfectly vertical.

Unless you shoot with a bubble level, you probably use the horizon or the ground between you and the target as a subconscious reference when aligning your bow. You may not even think about it, but I bet you do it on every shot. This may work great in Kansas, but not if your dream hunt takes you to the mountains of Colorado. Under these conditions nearly everyone will be influenced by the angled terrain and they will tend to align their bow improperly and miss to the down-slope side.

There are two solutions. First, you can use nearby tree trunks as a form of vertical reference (unfortunately, they won’t always be vertical and may not even exist where you’re hunting). Second, practice with and use a bubble level until it becomes an ingrained and automatic part of your pre-shot routine.

Elevation changes: If you sight your bow in at sea level and then hunt 9,000 feet higher you are sure to shoot high. Gravitational pull decreases the farther you are from the earth’s core and the air also gets thinner. Both factors contribute to slightly flatter arrow flight.

You can try to remember to aim low - during the excitement it is very easy to forget – or you can turn down your bow’s draw weight to reduce arrow speed. Of course, this will cost you some kinetic energy. I guess you could also make up a set of arrows that are a little heavier than those you sight in with at sea level and use the heavy ones for your mountain hunting. You may still have to make slight draw weight adjustments (up or down) once you get to camp. Or you can just re-sight once you get to camp.

CLOSE SHOTS FROM A TREE

One of my friends recently told me about a slam dunk shot he missed on a Boone & Crockett class whitetail. Broadside and under 20 yards, my friend took the shot for granted. Bill is usually a pretty good shot at game and for him to miss such an easy poke was shocking – I’m sure more so to him than me. He later admitted that he never picked a spot and simply pulled the trigger when the pin was close – possibly even peeking at the moment of release. It was a hurried and sloppy shot that cost him one of the biggest bucks he’s ever had in his sights.

It’s easy to take the short ones for granted, but they require just as much thought and preparation as the long ones. You may not be worried about missing a 5-yarder, but if you don’t pick a spot and concentrate hard you may hit the animal poorly and bring on a tough tracking job. Treat the short shots with the same respect you give long shots and you will never be disappointed.

I hunt from the ground more than I do from trees and consequently I have to practice tree stand shots a few days each fall before heading for whitetail country. It takes a little getting used to. Few bowhunters ever practice enough from stand height to get comfortable bending at the waist rather than simply dropping their bow arm – a bad habit that results in poor shots at close range.

SHOOTING THROUGH HOLES

I had never seen the bull, but my buddy told me he was a bruiser and because he hadn’t drawn a tag he told me right where to find him. Now I was keeping pace with the herd using the occasional sounds of their hooves on rock and his huge rack bumping through the tangle of trees. For the better part of the morning I hung on their downwind flank, waiting for an opportunity. Finally, the bull stopped to rub a juniper tree and I dove in, quickly closing to 12 yards.

Even at that distance all I could see were his legs and the movement of the tree branch. His frenzied rubbing was enough distraction to permit me to move around quite a bit. Finally I realized that if I got down on the ground and then canted my bow slightly to get even lower I could find an opening to his vitals. I had to shoot under a branch 3 feet in front of my bow and even though it obscured my 20 yard sight pin I knew the arrow would go under it. The arrow flew clean and in a flash was through the bull’s chest. I was more than happy to treat my friend to a big steak dinner. That bull is one of my biggest with a Pope & Young net score of 372 inches.

It’s common to face shots through openings when hunting. If the hole is close to the animal it generally presents little more than a mental obstacle. When you focus on the spot you want to hit, everything else will disappear. But, when the opening is either very close to you or midway between you and the target you may have a real problem. Your line of sight is not the same as your arrow’s trajectory and that fact is the reason many bowhunters end up with deflections. They take a quick look and see nothing between them and buck’s chest so they shoot. That’s when their arrow hits a branch above the sight line and deflects into the next county.

It takes an extremely composed bowhunter to recognize potential obstacles that are not in his line of sight. A simple step added to your pre-shot routine should help you avoid some deflections. When deciding if you have a clear shot, take an extra moment to look close to the bow for any obstacles and look farther out above your intended opening. If there is a branch framing the bottom of the opening a few feet away or one framing the top of the opening at some mid-range distance, you had better take an extra few moments to decide if your arrow is likely to deflect.

If you have the time, you can use your sight pins for this task. Simply place the proper pin on the target and look at the pins above it. If they are clear, the arrow will not hit anything. By the same token, you can use your pins to determine if you can shoot over a midrange obstacle. Again, place the proper pin on the target (or, if the target is obscured, hold it where the target would be). Estimate the range to the obstacle and look at the pin that corresponds with that distance. If it is above the obstacle your arrow will loop over it and hit the target.

It is not enough to simply realize that bowhunting can at times present some tough shots; you have to take the time right now to prepare for them. By learning to handle four common, but challenging shots you will fill more tags and become a more ethical bowhunter in the process.

Sidebar: Make a Wind Table

I’ve had to aim as much as a foot off an animal on the upwind side just to make a clean kill in a moderate crosswind. Without plenty of practice under these same conditions my success rate on windy days would be poor. The key is simply to know how much your arrow will drift in various wind conditions. Set up to shoot with a direct crosswind on several windy days and jot down how much the arrow drifts depending on wind speed. You may have to guess at the speed, but that’s OK because you will also be guessing when you are hunting. Hopefully, your guesses will at least be consistent.

I recently saw a good indicator of wind speed being promoted in a different sport. If you drop dry grass tufts or clippings from a height of three feet, for every 10 mph of wind speed they will drift three feet before hitting the ground. It is pretty rough, granted, but this indicator may serve as a basic reference.

The amount an arrow drifts depends on weight, diameter, speed, broadhead style and size and fletching style and size. Therefore, it is up to you to make the table for your specific set of conditions. However, as a starting point an average hunting arrow will drift about 8 inches at 40 yards with a direct 20 mph crosswind. Realize that when the wind is at an angle to your shot it won’t have as much effect.

Sidebar: Accessories to Help You Shoot Better

Rangefinder: This is possibly the most important of all accessories that are not attached to your bow. Knowing the exact distance of the shot is critical on any shot past about 25 yards. This past season I tested the Leica LRF 800 and found it to be very solid. I like the lighted through-lens readout that made for easy use in shadows and low light conditions.

Drop-away arrow rest: A good drop-away rest serves two purposes. First, it gets out of the way of the fletching, and second it picks up the arrow and positions it perfectly for the shot. Last season I used the Golden Key Futura Mirage and was very impressed. I didn’t have to worry about keeping the arrow on the rest during the last stages of a stalk or when sitting in tree stands – the Mirage scooped it up flawlessly every time.

Low stretch bowstring: One overlooked accessory that should be on every bowhunter’s list is a low-stretch bowstring. If the string stretches during a hunt the bow can change impact point dramatically. Also, a string that stretches is much more prone to show signs of serving separation than one that doesn’t. I’ve been testing the new Formula 8125 string material from BCY and found it to be easy to work with and very stable.

Bow silencing products: The ability to make a fast bow quiet will improve your score on string jumping game. In fact, with this new generation of quiet bows bowhunting may cease to be a one-shot sport. I load my bow up with all the products in the Sims Vibration Laboratory catalog each fall to remove shock and vibration from my bow and to make it super quiet.

String loop release aid: Releases made expressly for use with string loops tend be easier to load and, because of their short heads, permit you to switch to a loop without having to shorten the draw length on your bow. There are a number of good string loop releases but I like the time-tested Fletchunter from Jim Fletcher and the One Shot from Carter Enterprises. Both load fast and have great triggers.

Wrist sling: While wrist slings are certainly inconvenient when a fast shot is needed, they should still be standard issue on all hunting bows. The sling eliminates the fear of dropping the bow on a proper surprise release permitting you to shoot with a relaxed hand – a key to good accuracy.