Downhill/Uphill Shots

hbh · Sep 8, 2005

This past weekend I missed a decent buck at forty five yards, shot just over the top of him. It was an angled downhill shot. Just wondering how much typically you need to compensate for uphill and downhill shots?

DBLung · Sep 9, 2005

Your story is all to common. Sorry he got away. There is a simple formula to know where to aim on a down hill shot. first remember that gravity only has an efect on a horisontal plain. so judge distance on a horisontal plain. If the deer is 45 yards down a hill, he is probably only 30 yards away horisontaly, depending on the steepness of the hill. so aim with your 30 yard pin and you will putt the SMACK DOWN on him!! Good luck
DBLung

c3 · Sep 9, 2005

Another issue is your form that changes. If you lower your bow arm to compensate for the angle, you change the peep to anchor position and will generally shoot high on steep downhill shots.

Try to work on that T shape and bend at the waist to change angles.

I think that 32 yards is the pin for a 50 yard shot at a 45 degree angle. Call they guy at Sportsmans Archery in Sandy Utah. They have a gizmo to tell you exactly how much to take off for any angle and distance.

Cheers,
Pete

Cazador · Sep 9, 2005

I've been taught to angle the upper half of your body to match the angle of the terrain you are taking your shot. By doing this you should not have to compensate because you are creating an even horizontal plane between you and the animal. I've taken a few animals using this method. Everybody has their method but the key thing is, is to practice taking these shots in the field.

Robin_Hood · Sep 9, 2005

Not to make things more complicated, and I doubt anyone takes a calculator hunting, but there is an actual formula to figure this out. Take the cosine of the angle times the distance of the shot. For example, if your angle downhill was 20 degrees, take .939X40 which equals 37.5.

I usually only take off 2-4 yards, max.

Kevin

Lien2 · Sep 9, 2005

Just practice from different heights and ranges then you will know. In the heat of the moment, all the formula's and calculations go right out the window. Practice......practice.......practice with your hunting situations and it'll be second nature.
Good luck, sorry to hear about your miss, live and learn.

Lien2

alpinebowman · Sep 9, 2005

What you need is the slopeshot it will give you the info you need. slopeshot is an pitch meter that you combine with your rangefinder. then you use the cutchart with it to give you the right distance to shoot. At 45 yards and a meer 30 degree angle which isn't that much you need to take off about 8 yards. you can see that you would easily shot over a deer at 45 yards on a hill. Remember it doesn't matter if it is uphill or downhill you have to aim low.

alpinebowman

>>>---shots that are true pass right through--->

hbh · Sep 9, 2005

Thanks everybody for the advice. I'll go practice some shots and hopefully give it another try.

Cruizin · Sep 9, 2005

It really only matters when you are on a hill steeper than 30 degrees and shooting past 30 yards. I have a spread sheet if anyone is interested. Email me at [email protected]

buncoboy · Sep 9, 2005

WOW! This has really become complicated the last 30 years. I will stick to the old school and aim 2-3 " low. Never failed yet and I shoot little to big things with this method, with several different type of bows. Not sure if I would ever figure out these new modern methods and if I did, the critter would be gone before I made my estimates!

HoytHntr · Sep 9, 2005

Great advice has been given, however i'm a pretty simple minded person so I personally need to keep the shot as "simple" as possible. First off, like mentioned earlier form is extremly important. If you can (given the situation), draw your bow as if you were taking a standard horizontal shot and then bend your waste either uphill/downhill depending what shot you are taking. By doing so this will keep your form solid, in addition it will keep your anchoring point the exact same.
As far as judging distances, if the animal is downhill try to pretend a tree goes straight uphill & the top matches your horizontal location. Example: If the deer is actually 35 yds. downhill, & he was standing next to a tree that was only 20yds from your horizontal location, then you would use your 20 yd pin, holding low. Same for uphill. The only way to feel comfortable w/these type of shots is practice, practice, practice. Good luck, you will nail him next time

hbh · Sep 9, 2005

Thanks for all the advice...I'll give it another try. Hopefully I can knock one down.

bckcntrybuck · Sep 9, 2005

What you need to do is go down to Sportsmans Archery and buy yourself a pitch meter. With this you can get the pitch of the uphill or downhill slope. Also when you are at the shop you can do the Archers Advantage Program. With this program you take all thes measurment on your bow and arrow. (arrow speed, weight, draw weight, ibo speed etc) then they take all the measurments punch it into the computer and WALLA you got your self a sight tape and a cut chart. with the site tape you can set your 20 or 30 yard pin and match up you pin to the sight tape and adjust all your pins to the tape to the rest of the yardages you want up to 150 yards. This sight tape is very accurate. Also from the same program you can have them print out a cut chart for the uphill and downhill pitch. this will tell you exactly how many yards to shoot if you are shooting on a 0 to 45 degree pitch. Takes all the guess work out of it. They also have a video from FMP that shows you how do do all of what i just explained just before they shoot a real nice 170 inch buck.