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How far?

I, like quiet a few here, practise to 60 regular BUT it would have to be a special circumstnace for me to take a shot at an animal that far. The practise at longer distances makes the closer shots feel like a chip shot. Love getting in nice and close. We do a lot of shooting through small lanes etc, trying to simulate a shot in the field.
 
Knowing a larger pool of people’s comfort zone does help, it helps define a base line of realistic expectations to use as a goal. Also, I am ordering a new sight and if the average is only 40 then I really only need to order a 3 pin verses if the average is 50 then I should probably get a 4 pin. So when they asked how far I wanted to shoot I didn’t really know. In my original post I said I have never had to shoot any further than 25 yards. Most of my shots were less than 10 yards from a tree stand. Which really didn’t give me those base of knowledge I needed in setting up a bow for Western spot and stalk.
Take into account your practice yardage, if you want to shoot, with confidence an animal, at 40. Practice out to 60 and get familiar with the sight picture to aid in yardage estimation. If that bull is standing at 45 you can gain confidence in gapping pins as well.
 
I seldom shoot under 40 yards while practicing. I shoot out to 80 regularly and out to 100 sometimes, i am very confident and shoot very well at 80 yards and have zero reservations sending arrows at a 100 yard 3d target. Hunting the furthest shot I have taken at a mule deer was 80 yards and the closest was 40, most of them have been right at the 50 yard range. For Elk my furthest shot was 53 yards but most shots are 30 or less, my closest shot was 14 yards, i hunt thick timber for elk and really don't get much further shots than about 40. I would feel perfectly fine taking a 60 yard shot at a bull if i ever get that opportunity though, hunting open country i think it would be a tall order getting much closer than that.
 
Practicing at the longer distances 50-100 yds will help your shooting at ranges less than that. Like Maxxis31 and some of the other posters said practice far and kill em close. There is a ton of good info out there these days from Dudley and others on YouTube and other sights to help coach you on form and other things you can do to maximize your effective range.
 
One would think compound bows may exceed the desired intent of archery in the near future as advanced as they are getting.

Who knows I sure as hell cannot shoot out past 50 yards and feel comfortable about hitting something with the confidence I would personally like however to each his or her own. We all know our skill level and we all have our ethics.

Edit added: 50 for my personal skill is out of reach though that's my Max practice range... More to assure the fine tuning of my sights are in line... If I'm able to shoot 3 and feel I was dialed in /smooth release to evaluate any decision to adjust by fragment, my sights.
 
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I practice all the way out to 100 even though most of my hunting is out of a tree stand. I also practice from my stand often and set up targets at different distances. Known and unknown. Just the way I do things. Everyone is different and will feel comfortable at different distances. Practice A LOT. Also look and see if there are any 3D shoots near you and go to those. They help tremendously and throw different situations at you.
 
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