Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Rangefinder for Bowhunting?

I have an older CRF Leica 1200 but would like to get something that has angle compensation. Not looking at getting another Leica as I already have Swaro EL Range bino's, What works gooed in the +/- $300 range?

I have the archers choice from Nikon for about 5 years now accuracy is acceptable. 1 hand operation is not so great they may be improved now.

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob

I use a bushnell chuck adams edition I believe. I think it was around $150. It works great, only complaint would be optical quality is low but thats what binos are for.

Can’t help you on advice. Been using a Leica for quite a few years. At the ranges and angles I shoot, th angle compensating is not needed.

An archery pro shop owner and I used to drag Leupold 1000 around shooting 3D with a cpl of them.We run'm through the paces pretty tough,lots of extreme angles on the courses we shoot.Even though we're stick bow shooters,the come in very handy.He's a pure gap shooter,I'm split finger instinctive.By ranging during our competition,it's interesting to see and range before/after,the differences in those two distinct styles.We've both won our fair share.....so the above testing was very enlightening.

Depending on the terrain you are shooting in, and the bow speed you're shooting, the angle compensation is pretty much wasted on the bow hunting ranges.

For 3-D, sure, the far ranges are usually beyond what most hunters will usually shoot in the field, and the extra features help with your ranging.

Here in VA, we get some steep wide stream gullies that push the shot angles pretty high.

I use the Leupold above or one close it, and the bow speed I'm shooting runs between 280-310.

The most I've had a range change on an angle shot was about 2 yards, and I think that was at 40 yards IIRC.

I just picked up a Nikon Arrow ID 5000 model from Camofire at a good price for my daughters first RF. She hunts rifle and archery and this model does everything she needs. Simple one-handed operation.
I think it's a discontinued model as Nikon has gone to a 7000 which probably has even more features she doesn't need.

I use the Nikon Aculon, think it was $139 from Cabelas. Works great to ~300yds - I don't use it like a spotting scope........

The simple way to figure out if you really do want a new rangefinder is this:

At 25 feet up a tree a deer 25 feet from the base will be 1.414 x 25 feet of arrow flight away, which is what the CRF 1200 will measure. That's about as close to shooting straight down as you will go.

You will never be 150 feet up a tree shooting at a deer 50 yards from the base.

Mostly you'll be shooting at deer 20 yards or so out.and you might be 20 feet up. That makes the distance the arrow flies is getting close to 20 yards, maybe 70 feet. Any further than that and the CRF 1200 will be awfully close to the horizontal difference and dead on at the arrow flight distance.

Is it really worth worrying about to find the distance you have to walk from the stand to the spot where Bambi stood?

I have been bowhunting for so long that I have a good sense of my effective range.
I'm old school and still use my TLR-75 optical rangefinder to range landmarks.
Optical rangefinders still have a lot of advantages over lasers when it comes to bowhunting distances.
With optical rangefinders, you’ll never have to worry about a battery dieing right when you need it. Optical rangefinders are much lighter than most lasers and you can recalibrate an optical rangefinder if you find the accuracy to be slightly off. Optical rangefinders use a split image system, so you never have to worry about a nearby object causing you to missjudge the distance to your target once you’ve used your range finder. Cost is another reason they are cheap and reliable.I have carried mine for more than 25 years and it still works great.

+1

I use a Simmons 4x range finder for bow hunting. Hasn't got angle comp. on it, but I'm shooting a crossbow at around 330 fps. At close ranges, the 4x is easier to use than the higher powered magnification finders. Standard 9v battery last all year long. +/- 1 yard accuracy is close enough. The only drawback is it's max. range is about 250 yds on a deer size animal, but I didn't buy it for long range use.

I've been bowhunting for 40 years and I still have trouble with ranges from a tree stand. I use an inexpensive Halo laser range finder to mark landmarks. A ten yard mistake at 30 yards can be the difference between a good hit and a bad hit.

I use a Vortex Ranger 1500 for all shooting. Archery to rifle range.