THE DISTANCE TO SUCCESS

Use Multiple Systems To Determine Distance

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many hunters prepare for hunting season by shooting 3D archery. Several critical elements will help you win 3-D archery tournaments, including your bow's ability to perform flawlessly, skill at holding the bow steady through the shot, control over your nerves and emotions in the face of high-pressure competition and the ability to judge your distance from the target. 3-D tournament archers often find judging distance the one chink in their armor. Misreading the distance even by 1/2 to 1 yard can determine whether you hit the 12 ring or the 8 ring. Most of the nation's best 3-D archers utilize more than one technique to judge distance to a target. Here are some of their secrets.

Pete Works of Southside, Alabama, has won the IBO World Championship, shot as a member of the World Champion Manufacturer's Team on the Cabela's circuit, finished second in the IBO Nationals and had several other top 10 finishes.

"Most of the tournament archers I know, including myself, have more than one system for judging distance," Works said. "Although each of us favors one system of yardage estimation, we all recognize that under various course conditions, different systems of yardage estimation may be more accurate. My primary system is to ground-judge the distance I am from the target. I use 5-yard increments. When I first walk up to the stake, I get my first impression based on the size of the target as to how far I think the distance is to the target. Then I start at the stake and look at the ground, mentally measuring off 5 yards of distance all the way to the target. This is the best way for me to judge distance on flat ground. However if I'm shooting rolling terrain, I go with my best estimation of yardage without using my ground-checking system. I look at the target, I look at the stake, and then I try to look at the stake and the target at the same time and determine the distance between those two points.

"One of the techniques I use during practice is to walk through the woods, look at a tree, say aloud the distance I believe I am from the tree and then check that distance with the range finder. Sometimes I'll nock an arrow, walk away from my target in different directions, then turn and instantly guess the distance and shoot. One of the hardest distances to judge is the distance to a target on a hill across a valley from where you are. If you try to judge the yardage in 5-yard increments on the ground, the yardage will be much further than the target actually is. In this instance, you have to judge distance by looking at the target instead of at the ground."

Each tournament pro has a slightly different method of judging distance. However, all the pros seem to use more than one system to come up with their final distance estimations. Choose the systems that fit you and your style of shooting best to shoot more accurately in 3-D archery tournaments and a field with your bow.