Practice shooting not from an elevation?

[Fish- N- Hunt]

I started bow hunting on my own and had to educate myself about everything having to do with bow hunting. I am still in the learning process and have learned a lot from all posts. I live in a residential area where I have no deck or tree to practice shoot from an elevation. I know it is a good idea to shoot from the elevation that you are going to hunt, but don't have the place to do it. Basically I was wondering if you are suppose to aim lower on an animal if you target shoot from a flat elevation, but hunt from a 15 foot elevation? Thanks for all the help all of you have given me.

Thanks

Fish- N- Hunt

[leechlake]

I bow hunt a lot but am not an archery expert. I'd be happy to be corrected. I shoot high from an elevation (as opposed to level ground). The shorter the shot the higher I shoot. What I was told once was that because I lower my front hand and my anchor point remains the same the arrow goes high. Made sense to me. My buddy told me to bend at the waist rather than lower my front hand, that would solve it. I just know how I shoot and compensate instead.

Remember also that especially on lets say 10 yard shots from 15 feet up that if you hit the deer high on one side the arrow will come out low on the other side due to the big angle. Hope my thoughts came out like I meant to. Good luck.

[bigbucks]

I'd say leechlake's got it right on the form thing. My mechanics have gotten better with practice & years of hunting & that need to hold low has gone away. (Plus now I have a pendulum site which automatically adjusts either way.) I used to figure for a close shot, 10 yards & definitely less, aim for the belly line or just above. I've killed every deer that offered me that shot, assuming I took the shot, using that logic. I also remember not holding low on a 10 yard shot once & the shot just cleared the top of her back. That bright colored nock was winking at me from the leaves from just over her back. I was dumbfounded, I couldn't believe I'd missed. I'd never shot a deer with my bow at the time & didn't get one that year.

I also tried that on a deer at 20 yards & shot right under her. If you come close & miss on a 20 yard shot you might get a second one, on a 10 & under you won't. On that 20 yard miss I grunted her back in to 15 & drilled her.

[TomBow]

The thing that worked for me was to keep my upperbody form in a T-shape. While in the stand I will draw as if I am going to aim at a target that is on the same horizontal level as me, then I bend at the waist so I maintain that T (top of the T is a line drawn across your shoulder blades that points to the target and the "stand" of the T is your backbone). Another way to think of it is to be sure your elbow on your drawing arm is pointing directly away from the target. Dropping your bow arm is a common problem among treestand hunters. Keep the upperbody form and bend at the waist until your pin is on target.

There are two walk-through ranges that have elevated platforms for shooting in the cities that I know of: Spring Lake Park and Elm Creek park reserve range off Cty. 121 (French Lake Road?) West of Champlin. Or take a portable target so someplace with a hill and shoot from the top of the hill down to your target.