[jcrayford]

Originally Posted by beansgunsghandi

I shot a deer recently and had my arrow hit sideways over a foot from where I was aiming. It all worked out fortunately, and initially I thought it was just the excitement of the moment when I shot. I train for that and normally shoot decently so it seemed weird but that's hunting. So yesterday I went to the range and all my arrows were flying 12 to 20 inches left at 50. Good vertically, just left like crazy. What's up with that?!! I haven't been shooting as much recently as I've been hunting, but even at my worst I'm not that bad.

Turns out I shot all summer and early fall in relatively light clothes. A few days ago I was spot and stalk hunting in a mildly breezy -15, and had a whack of puffy clothing on and zipped up to my chin to combat the temps. Turns out the puffy collar of my jacket presses on the bow string just a bit when it's zipped up and I'm at full draw... I was back in my usual groups as soon as I unzipped the same jacket. The jacket was moving my anchor point and the string... Doh. The sleeve of the down jacket also sticks out farther, and was just touching the string slightly.

So I learned something, fortunately at not too great of a cost: Shoot in the gear you hunt in. I'd checked different gloves and my backup release, but not a jacket that big as it hasn't been that cold. Not sure how I'll deal with this as I like hunting in the cold and fresh snow, but something I'll be aware of in the future. More experienced people on here likely know big clothing can move anchor/string, but new to me how much of a difference a simple thing could make. Here's to good clean shots.

Go get yourself a strap on arm protector and size it for your jacket. It'll snug down the sleeve of the jacket and virtually eliminate the problem on your bow arm.

J.