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Bow Sight Opinions

Easy3actual

Easy3actual

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Joined
Nov 10, 2020
Messages
111
Location
Shelby County
I'm wanting to get into bow hunting to extending deer hunting season. I've never shot a bow before. I visited two different shops yesterday to get a feel of what I need. I've settled on a Mathews V3 27. I've been looking into sights. I'm torn between a single pin setup (HHA or Accupin) something with the adjustable wheel or Garmin Xero/Burris Oracle 2. I know there's a big difference between them. What y'alls opinions and/or experiences with these sights?

TIA
 
Hmmm. It's a toss-up. I did the archery section for a Hunted Education class. I asked the class how many pins they had. One guy had one, basically an instinctive shooter. The guy down the row had seven pins. I learned to shoot about 63 years ago and sights were rare as a pork chop at a bar mitzvah. My hunting bow has three pins: 15, 25, 35 yards. I'm shooting low poundage so I'm not going out past the 35 yards. I'm counting on either a stupid deer that gets close or one that is careless and gets closer. I hunt from the ground.
There are a bunch of sights on the market. If you want to spend big bucks, there is one with a built-in range finder.
 
Depends on what you like to see with your sight picture. I have one compound set up with a single pin. And another compound set up with a 3 pin slider. When hunting whitetails you have time to get your shot prepared before you fling one so it really comes down to what your eye likes to see IMO
 
New bow hunter here so take it for what's it worth. my bow had a 5 pin sight on it when I bought it. I knew right off the bat that was way to many pins for me. I removed 2 of the pins and set mine up like described above. 1 pin at 20 yards, 1 pin at 30 yards and the last one at 40 yards. I set that 40 yard pin up for target practice, but highly doubt I'll use it in the woods. 40 yards is a pretty far poke for me at a whitetail.
 
I love a single pin but you need to be able to use the rangefinder before adjusting the yardage which creates extra movement is the only downside. I've never had this be an issue. I have hha
 
I like a single pin sight, and have been using one for a long time now. Single pin advantages of not having to gap shoot, and only one pin to look at.
 
Have a slider 1 pin now but used a 1 pin fixed for years. Set pin at 30 yards. Used pin at 20 and arrow was 2 inches high. Used same pin at 40 and arrow was 4 inches low. So you have a 6 inch kill zone with 1 pin never having to know the yardage as long as it's not past 40 yards.
 
In theory, more pins "sounds" better, sounds more precise.
In reality, it can be very easy to use the wrong pin while hunting,
especially in low light.

If you use more than one pin,
be sure that EACH pin is very different than the others.

For example, your "close" pin can have a very large white fluorescent ball of a bead,
the aim point being much larger than the others, and "white" in color.
The white color will help you in low light.
It's comparable to a lighted pin, but for me, better.

Your next pin can be a different color, such as red or green, with a smaller bead.

Two are three pins is about as many as I've found to be "practical" for most hunting.

In theory, a single movable pin also "sounds" good, but requires movement and time to adjust.
 
I've been running a 2-pin Spot Hogg Fast Eddie for the past 3 years and have been pretty happy with it...with my setup it gives me 20 and 40 yd. pins without having to adjust, but the ability to roll the sight up for long distances. (20 and 40 pins are all I need for stand hunting)
 
In all reality past 40 in a hunting scenario is a just too iffy for most, myself included, too many variables to go wrong. However I'm a fan of a 5 pin, I run a CBE with micro adjust. Pins are set 20 out to 60 with the 20, 30 ,40 pins being .029" and the 50, 60 .019". In my practice sessions I always shoot heavily from 40-60. I feel that distance helps to nail down your form and highlights problems more so than close range, tuned arrows and bow are also crucial. It's amazing how much tighter close range (20-30 yard) groups become after taking some time to focus on longer ranges. Now obviously you could practice in the same manner with a slider of some kind but having zero experience with one I can't speak to the pros and cons in a hunting situation. I will say though, having shot a 5 pin for 8-10 years killing 1-3 deer a year with archery tackle I've yet to get so worked up that I shoot the wrong pin.
 
Waterman21 said:
In all reality past 40 in a hunting scenario is a just too iffy for most, myself included, too many variables to go wrong.
Click to expand...
Totally agree.
I don't like a shot over 30 yrs.
If the deer SEES your limbs move at release, they will typically "jump",
sometimes greatly changing where the arrow hits.

IMO, when a deer "jumps" the string, it is often due to the sudden bow limb movement more than the sound. But in the 30 to 40 yd range, they sure can move unexpectedly before the arrow hits regardless of why.

Waterman21 said:
I will say though, having shot a 5 pin for 8-10 years killing 1-3 deer a year with archery tackle I've yet to get so worked up that I shoot the wrong pin.
Click to expand...
You're a better man than I.
Even using a 2-pin setup, each looking very different than the other,
I have done it.
 
I previously had a 5 pins sight and it was hard for me to focus, I sometimes used the wrong pin. I've since switched to a single pin sight and wouldn't change it. I have my sight tape marked out to 50 yards so far but I set it for ~25-26 yards and with that I can hold dead on out to 31-32 yards which 35 is my personal limit anyways for hunting. If I were you, I'd save the money from one of those Garmins and go with an adjustable single pin sight. You can get a good one like a Viper Sidewinder for ~$150 or even an expensive one like an HHA Tetra for $280 or so and still be under half of what the Garmin costs.
 

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