There’s this primal satisfaction about seeing things fly. For many of us, the flight of an arrow is totally awesome to watch. The longer the flight the better, am I right!? Long shots are simply in our DNA, it entertains our core. Even in the movies, the best drama is seeing a line of archers fill the sky with arrows raining in from above. In recent years there’s been a big growth in extending your range as an archer or bowhunter. Some archery events use longer more challenging shots as a draw. Although some may question its ethics in bowhunting, I would argue its importance! I will use my own path as an example. I started competing in archery as a teenager as a way to get better as a hunter. As my career expanded from local 3D events to global competition I quickly was submersed in shooting longer distances than I ever thought was needed. My first International Gold Medal was at an event where we competed at 90 meters, or 99 yards. What I learned from this training is that my archery had never been better once I had learned to do it! But with that came a learning curve of the equipment and better technique. Forcing yourself to become accurate at the longer ranges simply doubles down on your accuracy on the closer shots, the bowhunting shots! What I have learned is that there’s no better magnifying glass for your archery technique and archery gear than DISTANCE! The further you are from the target the more your mistakes and flaws are magnified. The bottom line is, if you can get good at long range, you are exceptional at every range and twice as good close! What I would like to do is show you a few simple tweaks you can make to your set up to maximize your accuracy down range. These are things that I slightly modify on my archery set ups during the offseason so I can train more at the longer distances as preparation for the hunting season.

The first thing I adjust for having better groups downrange is my sight picture. This starts with your front sight choice. You need a sight that will allow you to move it down for aiming at longer shots but also give you a more refined aiming spot. I have a Spot Hogg NE scope that allows me to roll the dial to any yardage that my arrow clearance will allow for. What I also like about this sight is that you have the ability to shoot a multi pin housing or reduce it down to a smaller aperture with a single pin which I recommend. This really helps improve finite aiming on a target that is further away. With a single pin and a .019 fiber you can keep the target visible while aiming and you won’t be blocking what it is you're trying to hit. If you have a larger housing multiple pin set up you may find it to be cluttered, and covering up too much of the target to really have a clear steady aim. I swap the big sight out for a smaller one with a small precise aiming fiber.

Once I have changed my from sight I then change out my peep size to a slightly smaller peep to perfect match the diameter of my front sight. You may ask “why change the peep?” The rule of thumb with peep size is this, The smaller the peep the smaller the groups. The reason for this is that you should also have your front sight perfectly centered when looking at it through your peep sight. The smaller the peep hole, the more your are forcing to perfectly center the front sight in that hole. A smaller hole forces a front sight/rear sight alignment that is very tight. Tighter sight pictures simply equal tighter groups! There is no denying it. What I want to stress about this is that once you start to see how these things affect your accuracy, you may start to slightly change your gear for hunting. Sure, the micro peeps aren’t going to be practical for hunting situations in low light, but what it will do it teach you to better focus on centering up your sight picture even when you have a massive hunting peep.

Next up to change on my gear during the off-season long distance training is my pulling weight. I know some of you may want to “practice exactly how you hunt” but hear me out. Shooting at full max pull weight doesn’t allow most people to get in high numbers of reps. Reps will bring you repeatability and more accuracy. I was forced into this method because in some target archery rules you can only shoot a 60lb max pull. I had no choice but to shoot less weight than I hunted with. What I learned is that honing in your technique is much easier when you’re not under so much load while at full draw. I can simply shoot longer and more often. Lower poundage is easier on the bow, the body and the bag target. When you shoot at longer ranges you will probably notice that your time aiming on target will naturally be a little longer than aiming close. It’s because you are seeing more movement and you will learn to spend a little more time on the importance of lining up that front sight/rear sight picture, leveling the bow, ect… All of that will be much easier when you are holding a manageable poundage. Backing out your bow limbs to reduce weight is easy. Remember to loosen or tighten your limb bolts evenly.

Once you are going full send at the longer distances you will start to see just how much an arrow, fletching choice, and arrow weight can affect accuracy for longer distances. This part of the equation is very much a trial and error learning curve and may not happen quickly. As I learned to get better and better downrange I started to have more curiosity on what different arrow choices means to performance. You will start to be able to answer your own questions on subjects like:

• “How much arrow drop will I have with this weight point vs another weight?”
• “How do these vanes/feathers fly or sound compared to these other ones?”
• “What importance does speed or arrow weight have in a windy condition?”

These are all things that are absolutely necessary to know for every hunter and certainly the types of questions you will start to answer as you send arrows further down the field. For my long range setups, I follow a few guidelines. First, I normally will reduce my overall arrow weight, (which helps with speed and the bows ability to get to further distances). If your arrow is too heavy, it will be so much slower that the sight’s ability to adjust for the arch will be limited. Next, I will shoot a slightly smaller fletching choice. Less fletching and less helical equals less drag. Less Drag performs better the further it gets because it isn’t decelerating as badly. One of the things I ask people to think about for long range shooting is this. There is no better metric for long range accuracy that olympic style archery. Over the years, these archers have shot millions of arrows at up to 99 yards in competition. When you look at what arrows they have all determined to be the best grouping/most accurate arrow configurations are smaller diameter shafts, smaller profile fletchings and an arrow FOC of 11—15%. They aren’t extreme FOC or extreme weight arrows. If you are a shooter trying to maximize long distance results you will see that these things I’ve discussed are critical components to achieving downrange success.

The last topic I want to discuss for building on your long range success is that your technique and archery form is under a microscope. If you make an error, it will show up but also be magnified. In my experience, 100 yards shots magnify mistakes by 5X. At times this can be frustrating but also very rewarding once you learn what’s happening! Here are some key topics to consider, and also topics that you can find much more detail on by checking out the Nock On Archery YouTube channel or our website. First off is the front sight rear sight alignment. You must also make a perfect eclipse with your front sight housing and peep. If you have any variation in this alignment or “orientation" then it’s no different than having an incorrect sight adjustment or setting. Pay strict attention to this and your groups will improve!

Next is follow through, your follow through with a compound bow is critical. When you are aiming on the target you should constantly be pulling back against the stop of your bow at full draw. Continual pull! If you are static and aiming and waiting then groups will also start to be static. You must build pressure from a constant pull and when the releasee fires it should be a surprise and you should finish your shot with a perfect follow through! By this I mean your release hand should end up over your rear shoulder after the release. What you don’t want is the release to fire and the pulling arm is just static and doesn’t go anywhere. This causes random arrows downrange. The last recommendation I have for boosting accuracy is to think of every arrow as if it was a close 20 yard chip shot. A very common mistake people make is overthinking a long shot. Again, technique is so critical and if you are going to be as accurate up close as you are in triple digits then you need to strive for the same exact shot. Long shots, are simply just another shot. You should not take longer to make them happen, you shouldn’t try to over aim and hyper focus on just being steady. I mentally tell myself, “distance doesn’t matter, technique does!” Commit to the shot. Draw, anchor, align front sight/peep, level the bubble, engage the trigger, pull through the shot and finish. I want you to understand you are going to see more sight movement because the distance is longer, but just trust that’s going to happen and try to make your longest shots have the same rhythm and timing as the close ones! If you do these things I described today, then the arrow has no choice but to find the middle!