Trophy Elk Hunting Articles

Do you have the ability to instinctively measure distance in the field?  

The old saying “practice, practice, practice” is a must for bow hunting; however, knowing your distance in the field without using a range finder is key. Often times bow hunters will practice their shooting at 20 yards, 30, 40, 50 and sometimes farther distances, but do they really know how to judge distance in the field when it’s most critical.  You see, shooting at a range or even your back yard is completely different than knowing distances when still hunting in timber or when a shot presents itself when shooting across uneven terrain.    

If you’re sitting in a blind or a tree stand, distance is easy to compute.  Prior to the hunt, distances can be measured and rocks placed at key distances so if an elk was to come into water, the rocks  can be used to show the distance the elk is away from the shooter.  But when calling elk or stalking, the situation is so dynamic, there usually isn’t enough time to pull out a range finder and quickly measure the distance.  This is when instinctive distance capabilities is crucial. 

The key to having a successful shot at an animal is to engrain this instinctive ability to measure distance when a situation presents itself.  To do this one must practice, practice and practice, not on your shot this time, but on your ability to measure distance.  To do this is very simple.  Every time you walk in the field, stop and look around, find an object, say a tree or a rock, and try and guess the distance to that object. Now picture an elk standing at that same object.  Now let’s see how accurate you were. To do this you can use your range finder or walk the distance and measure the distance with your steps.  Oh, this is another rule of thumb.  You should always know the distance of your steps. A key note here is to measure your steps when walking in terrain. Use a normal stride and count the steps to 10 yards and 20 yards.  This will give you an average number of steps for each distance. Once you know these distances, you can multiply the distance to determine greater distances. 

Once you know the actual distance to the object, you can determine your error and start to get a feel for how you instinctively measure distance in the field.  Some hunters will over guess the yardage and some will under guess the distance.  The important thing is that you learn how to correctly measure distance in the field.  Once you have this down, when you do get a bull elk that charges in on you or if you find yourself stalking in on a trophy bull, you will be able to instinctively measure the proper distance to make that critical shot.