A simple range finder for deer.

[Daveinthebush]

An apple fell on my head one day about 8 years ago and I came up with this idea.  It is an easy way to range find a deer with hardly any cost.

1. Draw 2 lines on a piece of cardboard about 1/2" thick and 18" apart.

2. Paint a thin white stripe on your site pin guard and tie a piece of white thread just below the painted line.

3. At ten yards, bow extended, slide the thread until the first mark and the thread line up with the 18" marks. When aligned, paint a mark where the thread was.
Repeat process to your maximun yardage.

Now in the field, if the deer fits between the top and bottow line, the deer should be at approximately 10 yards. If he fits between the top and second one up, he or she should be at 20 yards.

Get the idea! A cheap rangefinder that only costs time.

Now you boys in the south may have to use lines only 12" apart for your tiny deer, but the theory is the same. :mrgreen:

[kimberruger]

I'm completetly lost.

Could you elaborate please ? Where do you put the cardboard ? How long is the thread/string ?

Sorry if I'm being thick headed ....

[Daveinthebush]

The 2 lines on the cardboard represent the chest heigth of a deer approx. 18".  So if you place the cardboard at 10 yards, the top and bottom line would represent the chest of a deer at that distance.

The string on the sight is only there to give you a sighting device to slide up and down the pin guard to align with the lines on the target.  Once you slide the string to the correct location, remove it and paint a thin line there. Repeat to 30 yards or so.

[HuntenNut]

Dave,

I do this to range deer with a rifle scope using the crosshairs and I can say that it is at best a very rough range estimate, but I'm not sure how acurate it would be for bowhunting where you usually want a pretty accurate estimate. I hold point blank out to 25yds, but beyond that, a yard or 2 off could mean a miss or bad.

I usually pace off my shooting lanes for all my stands and hang a tape at 25yd perimeter. I usually will not even think of attempting a shot at longer range, but then, where I hunt, you can't even see 25yds usually.