Downward angle compensation...

[cupper]

Bear with me here folks, but I need some advice/guidance. I'm a relative newcomer to archery hunting... been doing it now for 5 years. I've only taken one deer with a bow (a doe last year), but each year I seem to be improving. Every year I see more deer and have more and more shot opprotunities. I practice as much as possible both from elevated platforms and on the ground. This year I hit a slump... I had two deer on different sits dead-to-rights and choked on both. Both were does and both my shots went low barely grazing one and hitting shoulder bone on another resulting in almost no arrow penetration. In both instances my stands were about 20 feet up and I was shooting at deer well below the base of my tree (bluffside slopes). How high do I need to compensate based on the downward angle of the shot? I never have problems when target practicing from elevated positions, but the downward angle is not as steep.

It's bad enough to miss out on two chances to put meat in the freezer, but wounding the animals makes it even worse.

Thanks for your help!

[cowboy bowhunter]

I have a question for you. Do you bend at the waist when you shoot or drop your bow arm?

For me I range the trees for distance at the same hight i am at and that normaly gives me the best range. Way better then ranging the ground where the deer are.

[cupper]

I bend at the waist... learned that lesson early on. I do have a range finder that is supposed to compensate for downward angle so I range the trees in the shooting lane to get the distance. I can try to range the trees at the elevation I'm at to see if that will make a difference. Thanks!

[Stump]

Shooting at steep angles coupled with bad form generally result in a high hit, high miss. Simply because a person doesn't retain the T position. I'm not sure what happened on your low hit. I know that in the past on my misses, I just simply used the wrong pin. Maybe that's a possibility. Suggestions I would have are A) go and recreate your misses and try to figure out what happened. Intentionally use the wrong pin....what happens, etc.... B) lower your stand height if possible and decrease the shot angle.