Practice close shots

[MADMAX2]

Do you practice for close shots inside of 20 yds with your bow or gun and what are the results?
My buddy from work missed a bird with his shogun at 10 yrds and was wondering why?
We came to the conclusion we do not pratice those ones

[Ont_Excal]

At 10 yards the shot would have hardly started to open up.
It would be a very small package especially with some of these turkey chokes.

I hunt mostly with a bow.
I still shoot a few shots at close range to know the POI.

[TPM]

Also, if he had a scope dialed in for 30 or 40 yards then close shots are going to be an issue. Not an issue if he just uses a bead.

[mr meat]

at that distance the shot would be the size of a slug, no room for error in that shot! join the club! did i just admit to doing the same thing

[rayman]

I never practice with the xbow less than 20 yards and the only deer I lost last season was about 10 .

Seen people miss at close range with turkey chokes. Agree with what has been said on that. My personal issue this season was with shooting at them too far away.

[bugs]

I do because my first experience having a deer up close below my stand made me realize I wasnt positive about where to use my scope with the crossbow. Never had a chance to shoot that day anyway but after that I always did shots at 10 yards or even closer if I was high up just to be sure. With my shotgun I dont have a scope but do 15-30 yard shots

[wheelie]

Well folks time to spill the beans as I have never told a sole this. Not my wife nor my hunting buddy... noone but I am going to tell yous and hopefully make some people think.

Last NovemberI had a big buck walk under my stand. He had his nose to the ground. He got 10 feet out from my stand and I let the arrow fly out of my crossbow. I was not shaking but was calm and thinking out every move I was doing. I gut shot him and could not find him. Searched for 2 full days for him and I still feel bad. For those that don't take close practise shots, don't make the mistake I did. I figure that was my deer last year and I quit hunting them after that. Hide sight I don't think I compensated for the angle of the arrow going down. Be responable and know where your arrow is going to hit on close shots as I was not. In my mind, I am still paying the price. I still look for this horns when I go out. This summer I will take a target to one of my stands and practise close shots.

[bugs]

Congratulations on fessing up Wheelie The only mistake is if you (or someone else) cant learn from them. It would suck and I am sure I would have made the same choice you did and not hunted again that season. I always believed eveything happens for a reason. The only big buck I ever had up close and that was the day my trigger messed up. I have always been glad it did or I may have made that shot and regretted it.

[strum]

I missed a turk 2 years ago at close range..it was about 8 yards away. i never dreamed it would run away but it did

[DuckHunt]

I don't think I compensated for the angle of the arrow going down.

Its easy to overlook the close shots, but they are actually tougher than some of the farther ones. Thats just one reason I try to keep my shots around 20 yards. Very close shots at steep angles have a much smaller margin for error.

I set up ON a deer trail once with my compound bow and had a small doe walk right under my stand. I took a shot that was literally straight down. It worked out in the end, but I didn't hit the spine as I expected and the recovery was way harder as well.

After that experience, I only take shots I have practiced. If I don't practice inside of 5 yards I don't take shots there either.

DuckHunt

[Dash]

I was in an mixed archery comp a couple of months ago. It covered distances 5 meters to 60 meters unmarked distances. Surprisingly it was the targets between 5 and 10 meters that knocked down the high average score of the tournament leaders !
People who didn't have a target mark below 20 on thier compounds and crossbows didn't generally practice for them closer distance shots.Its definately worth practicing a few close shots so you know the difference in your POI.

[VixChix]

At 3D shoots the close shoots can throw you for a loop! It's a great chance to practice though. (And a fun way to spend a day in the woods between hunting seasons )

In my Varizone the line above the crosshairs is thin for a bit then it gets thicker. That point where it changes is my 10 yd mark.

[DirtyGun]

Regarding the shotgun misses, not only has the shot pattern not started to open up, but it's also still rising after leaving the barrel. I have taken a couple people out turkey hunting the past few years, called a bird in to under 15 yards and watched them miss because they took aim at the noggin and their shot flew right over the bird. At that distance, aim at the waddles when the bird's neck is stretched out.

My turkey gun scope is dialed in at 25 yards, but in practice you learn where the shot pattern hits at other distances. Plus, the 'turkey plex' reticle from Leupold is really neat. A bird's head really does fit right inside the reticle at 40 yards.

[TPM]

Regarding the shotgun misses, not only has the shot pattern not started to open up, but it's also still rising after leaving the barrel.

This is probably the biggest problem especially with a scope. The further your sight line is off the bore axis, the more problem you're going to have with close shots. It's always best to take practice shots at 5, 10, 15 yards etc. to seeing exactly where you're hitting in relation to your site line.

[Raymond]

Hey Folks,
I never practiced shots in under 10 yards before. I thought I was safe. Hmmmm, , little did I know that I had a deer within 5 feet of me, 3 years ago and I missed it. I didn't know which spot on my Phoenix crossbow scope to use. It was my first year with a crossbow but that was no excuse because I have a scope on my rifle. And always on all my other rifles that I once owned. I should have used my center cross hairs with a deer that close. I could have reach out and touched it with the Phoenix and pulled the trigger if I would have straightened my arms out, that deer was so relaxed. I was in a ground blind and that deer had no idea how close it came to dying that day. Now I know where to shoot when an animal is in close. It was meant to happen that way to teach me a lesson and boy did I learn the lesson well, .
Thanks,
Raymond