How to Judge Distance when Shooting

This article is intended to share the skill of simple range estimation for hunters and shooters. This method works best for distances less than 100 yards and is excellent for use with archery and airgun shooting/hunting. It works well in the field because it relies on the eye. Once the eye is trained it allows for quick shots on game that may not stay in one spot for long.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Measure off 10 yards (30 feet) and place something on the ground. Now you know what 10 yards looks like.

2. Practice walking around the yard and trying to find objects that are about 10 yards from you. You can measure to be sure, but usually stepping off the distance will give a close enough approximation.

3. Once you are comfortable with judging 10 yards, imagine a giagantic stick, a 10 yard stick. Now flop it end for end so that you have doubled the distance. Now, if you can range 10 yards you should be able to approximate 20 yards using this method.

4. Next practice doubleing 20 yards to get 40. Always remember when you are rangeing an object to first range 10 yards and then begin doubling it or adding another 10 yards until you get a close approximation of the distance.

Tips & Warnings

• Example. I see a squirrel in the timber I am hunting. There is a sappling 10 yards in front of me. I double that distance to 20 yards but that's not enough. So I mentally flop my 10 yard stick again and come up just a few steps shy of the squirrel. I estimate the squirrel is between 30 and 35 yards and can then make a quick shot. With practice this method works. You'll be surprised how well it works! Often you will be within 2 or 3 yards of being correct.

Resources

• Dead_Nuts Web Blog