Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - October 2020

When shooting from a tree stand, the length of the arrow’s flight trajectory (RED line) is always LONGER than the horizon- tal distance that the arrow travels (BLUE line). Since gravity acts to pull the arrow downward over the horizontal distance only, your arrow’s point of impact will ultimately be higher than your aiming point. How much higher your crossbow arrow will hit depends mainly on the degree of steepness of the angle at which you are shooting. In other words, the closer the animal is to you when you take the shot, the steeper the downward shooting angle is from your position up in the tree stand down to the animal. The steeper the downward angle, the shorter the horizontal distance is that the arrow travels, and the higher your point of impact will be, up to a point. Keep in mind, if you shoot straight down at an animal directly beneath you, your point-of-impact will no longer be high but will instead be low. Unfortunately, there is no mathematical formula that you can use to derive exactly how high you will hit when taking angled shots or how low you will hit when shooting straight down. The best way for you to determine the height increase for your crossbow is to practice shooting out of your tree stand at a target set up at closer distances (for steeper angles) and longer distances (for gentler angles). You should also practice shooting your target when it is positioned directly below you to determine, in this unique scenario, how much lower your point of impact will be. Using this approach, you can learn how much you will need to compensate your point of aim to achieve your desired point of impact with your crossbow, regardless of the animal’s distance from you. Whether you hunt from a treestand, elevated blind, or from a blind positioned on a hill where you may shoot uphill or downhill, you will benefit from taking practice shots from a similar elevated position. At times, knowing how much to compensate can make a lethal difference on your shot placement and whether you are ultimately able to harvest and recover the animal.